Goecha La Trek

Before I start, I have to say that no words or pictures can describe the beauty of the place/mountains we visited. 

We conquered a bit of ourselves while climbing the amazing Goecha La summit this May - at 16200 feet, trekking 90+ kilometers, in 8 days!

The rejuvenation I feel after our trek is so real as I am carrying so much of the mountains in me now 😃 May sound cheesy, but its true! 

Disclaimer: There are too many pictures in this post 🙈, I just couldn't help it, I love them all 😂

Day 1

6 of us started our journey from Bangalore on a Saturday early morning! We left home at 3.30 am and headed to the airport to board the 6.25 am flight. After 3 hours we landed in Bagdogdara at 9.30 am. We had rented a car (xylo) to reach Sikkim from Bagdogra. The drive was scenic throughout. Siliguri, the first place we passed had lavendar coloured orchid flower trees (I guess it was orchid) all along the road on both sides! Even though there was a lot of traffic in Siliguri, there were a lot of interesting things on the road to see and kept us busy. We stopped around 11 am at 'Laddoo Gopal' for breakfast, where we had aloo parathas, lassi, samosa, rasgollas. 

We passed Teesta valley and stopped for few minutes to take pictures of the gorgeous Teesta river. We had another stop at a small cute quaint town called Jorethang where we had tea and rasgollas and took a very quick stroll to see how well the town was built with neat footpaths and shops. 

Teesta Valley

First chai of our trip :)

And second 😝

Jorethang

With few more stops to take pictures along the way, we reached Yuksom, a small town in Sikkim around 6.30 pm. Yuksom was the first capital of Sikkim. We had rooms booked at Yuksom where we stayed that night.

Still on our way, a quick stop for pictures

Our Yuksom hotel

We met our amazing guide - Gurung ji at Yuksam. He had arranged everything for the next ten days for us! Everything was PERFECT for us because of him and his staff. We are so grateful to him and his team.

We had carried two bags - one big backpack and a small day pack. We used to pack/repack both the bags every day so that our small day pack had all the things needed for one day's trek - snacks (mine had energy bars, dates, threptin, amla, dry grapes), two water bottles (one with orsl powder mixed), raincoat/rain pant/poncho, gloves, cap, monkey cap, tissues, extra layers depending on the day.

 

So Saturday night, we did a bit of repacking between the two bags after freshening up at the hotel. It was very cold at night even to walk to the nearby restaurant. We Gurung ji's restaurant run by his wife. We relished the simple food cooked for us and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep. 

Place reached: Yuksom

Altitude: 5840 ft

Day 2

The next day I woke up to the sounds of birds around 3.30 am and by 4am it was so bright! Our room had a balcony with mountain view. Got ready and took a nice long hot water bath knowing that I won't have this luxury for the next 8 days 😁

Enjoyed a cup of hot tea standing in the balcony. Later called up home and the phone went off for the next 8 days as we were starting our trek. 

View from our room

We had a good breakfast at the restaurant at 8am - omelete, chapathi, sabji and tea. We started our trek at 9.30 am from Yuksom, stopping for few minutes at the forest check post where they collect ids, photos and medical certificates before giving permission to enter. 

And we start the trek!

The first day was a 10 km comfortable trek to Sachen. I reached Sachen camp site around 3.30 pm. Our guide and his staff boys would reach early and setup tents for us and get started on cooking. As soon as we reached the campsite, we were given hot masala black tea, followed by hot noodles soup. Later on we had pasta for lunch.

UNESCO heritage site

We strolled around and found a katte with a roof, sat here for a long time chatting till it got dark and cold. We returned to our tents, changed into floaters, took out our head torches and had dinner outside - chapathi, sabji, dhal and rice. 

I rolled inside the sleeping bag and tried to sleep :) 

Place - Sachen

Height - 7000+ ft

Day 3

At around 3.30 am, the birds started chirping :) After freshening up we got ready, had breakfast at 7 am and left Sachen at 8 am. 

Our tent

We trekked along lush green meadows, with gorgeous views of huge mountains playing hide and seek behind the clouds. We could see and hear the river till we reached Bakhim. It started raining roughly around 11 am till we reached Bakhim, where we stopped for hot tea and maggie noodles. The view from here was again beautiful! My shoes and socks were fully wet from rain.

At Bakhim

We started again upwards, eating yummy wild strawberries all along and taking lot of pictures. There was a small window, where the mountains cleared up and we got an amazing view. We spent few minutes sitting here to take pictures. 

We reached Tshoka at 3.30 pm. It was a lot more chilly here. 

In love with Rhododendron flowers

Our tent right below the Rhododendron tree

After changing from shoes to floaters and having soup and eating lunch we went up to see the lake and monastery located there. The monastery was beautiful and serene! I was too thrilled to just sit inside the monastery.

We sat outside watching the clouds/mountains/sky for a long time, till it started getting dark. There were two stupas also nearby. We went back to the tent and played cards till dinner at 7 pm.  We ate and retired for the night.

Tshoka stupas

Outside the Monastery

Inside the Monastery

Places reached: Bakhim and Tshoka

Altitude ~ 10000 ft

Day 4

We were warned that this day was going to be the toughest day during the trek. Woke up early, freshened up, had breakfast and left Tshoka at 7.30 am. After one of the steepest climbs of our lives, we reached Phedang at 11.30 am where we had hot tea, hot soup and hot lunch. It was super cloudy/misty and we could hardly see. So we wore our rain gear and started trekking at 12.30 pm. 

Phedang

Tea, soup and lunch

We climbed, walked and finally reached Dzongri at 5 pm. It was completely misty and raining and we could hardly see anything except our pink/red color tents that were set up. It had turned super cold as well. We changed into thermals and our thick jackets and had tea, soup and snacks. We stayed inside the tent for sometime chatting till dinner time and then came out to have dinner at 8 pm. It was a very cold night and we headed back to the tents quickly as we had a long one the next day.

Dzongri

Places reached - Phedang and Dzongri

Altitude - 13000+ ft

Day 5

Woke up at 1.30 am and I stepped out of the tent to see a crystal clear sky! I saw the milky way for the first time in real life from Dzongri at 1.30 am. It was a crazy amazing sight! The sky was filled with stars and all shining so brightly. It was a celebration in itself!

Milky Way!
Captured by friend, dslr camera

After having tea, we started our climb at 2.30 am to Dzongri summit. After a very very steep climb, we finally reached the top at 4 am. From then onwards we sat and waited for the sun to show his face. We were waiting for the first rays to fall on the top most peak to see the golden glow. Slowly between 4.40 and 4.50 am the glow was visible on the Kanchenjunga peak - the highest peak visible from Dzongri top and the 3rd highest mountain in the world. Kabru, Rathong, Pandim, Goechala were few other peaks we could see from a very close distance. 

Early morning mountains

After spending  a satisfying one and half hours at the top, we started our descent at 5.30 am back to the tent area. The campsite looked so different during day light with clear sky and sun shining. We could see lot of mountains from here as well.

View from the camp site

We sat watching the huge mountains and clouds passing for sometime.

Watching the clouds

Later freshened up, had breakfast and packed to continue our trek up. We started climbing up at 8.30 am and we were given packed lunch as we would reach the next camp site around evening. We reached Kokchrung at noon. 

We had lunch sitting next to the river and as it started getting very windy/chilly we did not spend much time here and continued our climb. 

We had to cross rivers and bridges before we reached Thansing at 3 pm. We had hot tea and started using the thick winter jacket as it was very cold. We were surrounded by mountains on all 3 sides with a small stream flowing next to the tent. Of course all our campsites had streams flowing nearby as that was our only source of water.

We played cards in the tent for sometime and I had an early dinner as I could not keep my eyes open any longer (we had been on our feet since morning 2.30) and crashed inside the sleeping bag!

Places reached: Dzongri summit, Kokchrung and Thansing

Altitude ~ 13800 ft (Dzongri summit), 12000 ft (Kokchrung), 13000 ft

Day 6

I woke up around 5.20 am, stepped out of the tent and walked around a bit as others were sleeping, drank hot water watching the huge mountains surrounding us. Kanchanjunga and Pandim were the two huge mountains standing tall in front of us.  After having tea at 7 am and breakfast at 8 am, - parathas, porridge and aloo bonda type we packed and left Tansin at 9 am.

It was the shortest trek day of the whole trip - 4 km, more or less flat land, along the river - was a very pleasant walk :) We reached Lamuney at 12 pm. 

After having hot ginger tea watching the river flow, we spent the next one hour playing with the stones, watching and listening to the water gush through on the river bank. 

Lamuney, ready to eat lunch

We had lunch at 1 pm and settled inside the tent as it became very cloudy and chilly. Changed to thermals, winter jacket, gloves, woollen socks - wore everything I had got to keep myself warm inside the tent. We had tea and pakodas also inside the tent at 4.45 am. It had started raininig as well. 

Inside tent

Later, like every evening, all of us sat in one tent and chatted till dinner at 7 pm - hot soup, rice and sabji. 

Places reached: Lamuney

Altitude ~ 13600 ft

Day 7

It was the day of our summit trek, so we had planned to leave at 2 am so that we could reach the summit before sunrise. I woke up to at rainy morning at 1.15 am! Since it was raining with heavy clouds looming in the sky, we knew we would not be able to see the sun rise from the summit. After having tea, we left the camp at 2.30 am, with our head torch on. We passed Samhiti lake in the dark and kept climbing up. That is when a light snow fall started. It was getting brighter, and we could see snow fallen everywhere around us! 

Finally after 4 hours, we reached the Goecha La summit at 6.30 am :) It was a surreal feeling to be at the top. Though it was misty, the sky cleared very slightly just to give us a glimpse of the huge mountains standing tall surrounding us! So we saw Kanchanjunga and Pandim from a very close distance and I did not expect the mountains to look sooooo tall from the summit. We spent one hour here just soaking in everything we could. 

Glimpse of the tall Kanchenjunga from the summit

Yaaay, The Summit!!

A glimpse of the mighty Pandim

We did it!

Started coming down at 7.30 am. 

And just like blessings from the sky, there was a heavy SNOWFALL! This was the highlight of my whole trip! I was already in a different world, but the snowfall took me even higher 😀. Not to sound cheesy, but it was the perfect icing to our trek!!!!! We walked enjoying every single moment, touching the snow, trying to eat the snow, holding in my hand........

Snow tasting

We reached Samhiti lake - a gorgeous beautiful and holy lake - spent sometime here, watching the snow fall. 

We had to head back to Lamuney as we had to start our descent that day, so we forced ourselves to walk back to the tent. 

We reached Lamuney around 10 am, had tea, freshened up and packed, had breakfast - soup and kichdi - and left Lamuney at 11.30 am.

We reached Thansing where we stopped for a while and had super yummy hot momos! 

We continued our trek down to reach Kokchurang at 3.30 pm. 

We had tea with pakodas and we made ready to eat gojjavalakki that one of us had got. 

For a change, we stayed in a common room instead of 3 tents that night as our guide booked a room for one night. It was very good to be warm inside the room. We played cards till 7 pm and had dinner before crashing in!

Room for the night

Places covered: Goecha La summit and Kokchurang

Altitude ~ 16200 ft and 12000 ft

Day 8

I woke up around 4.30 am. It was a clear sky with the sun shining between the mountains that were clearly visible. I kept drinking hot water, freshened up, had tea at 6 am and breakfast at 7 am. We had a long interesting day planned to get down 😁, so we started at 7.40 am.

Moss covered trees throughout gave me a feel that I was walking in the middle of a Harry Potter movie set 😎. We crossed so many rivers, and each time we had to cross a river, we go down the hill, and then climb upppp. We also crossed many bridges. And with the rains following us, we reached Phedang at 1 pm, where we had one of the yummiest hot lunches in the cold rain - momos, noodles soup, rice and dhal. 

From Phedang, we had to pass the steepest downhill trek - the steepest climb we had done on day 3. And the rains added to the fun :) 

We reached Tshoka at 4.50 pm. We were covered in mud by the time we reached the tent. It was a relief just to remove the shoes and change to floaters. 

We had tea and I went with Rinchen to the monastery uphill. I sat outside the monastery for a while. It was just me and the mountains and the peace!

Went inside the monastery, and spent sometime at the house of the couple who are in charge of the monastery while sipping tea. I was in for a shock to hear that they go up to Phedang (where they run a restaurant) every morning and come back to Tshoka every evening!!!!!!

I got back to the tent at 7 pm. We all were gathered in one tent, listening to music and talking. It was the last night where our guide's staff would cook dinner for us. We had dinner at 8.30 pm - soup, bitter gourd curry, brinjal curry, roti, rice and dhal - it was again one of the tastiest meals of our trip. After dinner, our cook had baked a cake in the cooker! It was the sweetest gesture! We were so grateful to our guide and his staff, we thanked them - honestly our trek was possible mainly because of them!! We could not have trekked without them! 

After saying goodbye, we retired to our tents and slept.

Distance covered: 14 km

Places covered: Phedang and Tshoka

Day 9

I woke up at 5.15 am and freshened up. Had tea at 6 am and breakfast at 7 am. It had started to drizzle by then and it was the last day of our trek where we had to cover more than 16 km. 

We left Tshoka at 8 am. The views all around were too scenic! I loved eating wild strawberries all along till we reached Bakim. 

We stopped at Bakhim to sip hot masala tea watching the mountains. 

We were given packed lunch which we had at Sachen. 

We had fun singing songs all along while coming down.

 

From Sachen it took a long time and I found the stretch a bit tough not because of the terrain, but because I could not see the end. We crossed many rivers, bridges, drank water from the streams and finally reached Yuksom at 5.30 pm. 

Once down in Yuksom, we had chowmein and tea at the same restaurant in Yuksom before heading to our room.

Yuksom roads welcome us with these flowers everywhere

And the joy of taking a hot water bath and using a toilet inside a bathroom - unexplainable 😂😂

The weather felt so pleasant as we walked around in floaters. I packed my shoes deep inside my check-in bag 😁 not to be worn for few days! I bought a few things from Yuksom to take back home from the quiant little shops. We had a nice relaxed dinner of roti sabji dhal. We came back to the room and fell asleep.

Rhododendron

Places reached: Sachen and Yuksom

Distance: 16+ km

Day 10

I woke up to the sounds of birds at 5 am. After finishing packing the bags suitably, we went out and had milk tea in a small restaurant nearby. 

After having breakfast at 8 am, we left Yuksom at 9.30 am in an innova car. 

With small pitstops for a quick ice-cream and lunch we reached Siliguri at 5 pm. We could feel the drastic change in temperature as we entered West Bengal! It was super hot and humid in Siliguri. We had booked a hotel for the night, as there are no evening flights to Bangalore from Bagdogadara. 

Sipping coffee, we sat in the room talking. We had dinner at 8.30 pm and slept after sometime.

Day 11

We left the hotel at 6.30 am and reached the airport in 10 minutes. We had breakfast at the airport as our flight was at 9 am. Reached namma Bengalooru at noon, and we had to drink hatti kaapi :) We were back home by 2.30 pm.

Candle light dinners, sleeping bag nights, toilets in the wild, head torch lights, crossing rivers, climbing down and up all the time, each one of us walking at our own pace, sipping hot masala black tea, different coloured Rhododendron flowers, different birds in each place, unique terrain each day, being in the moment (every moment for 10 days), taking hundreds of pictures/videos, snowfall, being wowed by nature every moment - each one of us enjoyed in our own way. 

Many pictures in this post are taken by others in the group in their cameras. Thanks everyone for clicking such amazing photos!

To summarize, this was one of my best trips! Thanks R, A, K, M, C and our guide Gurung ji and special thanks to Rinchen whose company and conversations I enjoyed a lot (learnt so much about Sikkim and the culture) 🙏 😊

Everytime I think about the mountains 😝😜😆

The one and only jumping picture from Goecha La!