Travelogue : Goecha La Trek -- by Jeet n kp
Author: Jeet n kp
The trek from Yuksom to Goecha La is a long and arduous one, however it also a route that brings forth the true beauty and grandeur of the Himalaya's. The mountains seem taller and greener than in other parts of the country. The river flowing along in pathway provided by the mountains and the wind rushing through the pine trees provide a peaceful background score to the journey in the lower altitudes and dzongri onwards one is simply blown away by the magnificence of the innumerable six-seven thousanders all being looked down upon by the huge Kanchenjunga massif, the tallest peak being the Kanchenjunga main standing at 8586m.
Our trek started off as usual; us just managing to complete the packing in the last minute before the bus left. There were 16 of us but somehow the institute bus still felt small with all our backpacks. We reached the station only to find an overcrowded train, but somehow all of us were shepherded in safely by our trek leader, Amar. After and minor exchange with some ticktless travelers we managed to grab our seats and were on our way to Goecha-La.
Two days later we were in New Jalpaiguri negotiating with taxi-wallah. We finally reached Yuksom the same day, just before midnight. With everything closed we were having a hard time finding a cheap accommodation but we somehow managed to get one when we caught one of the locals taking a midnight pee. Before settling in for the night it was decided that we would start the trek next day morning but luck was not our side. We spent the next day looking around Yuksom, taking in the local culture and alcohol. We learnt that Yuksom was the first capital of Sikkim under a monarch and more importantly that leeches were going to be a problem on the trek. We prepared an anti-leech kit that was basically the age old weapon used by man against leeches: salt. The next day morning we hired a guide, Basant, and three porters and were on our way, after taking the entry permit to Kanchenjunga National Park, to Goecha La.
The first day was a 16 km long torturous muddy route that snaked up and down through a thick canopy of trees. Most of us felt our legs would give way before any of us would be able to reach our destination. The first few hours on the route was also a fair indication of how popular this route is with our team meeting some group of trekkers returning every half an hour. Things calmed down as the day moved on with but the tiredness only grew and eventually our team split in two parts. The route was interspersed with beautiful bridges built high above the flowing river. Uncountable different shades of green could be seen on the mountains covered in as many different species of plants.
The next day the two separated groups met at sachen. The trip from sachen to bakkim was uneventful though difficult because of leeches and the almost swampy route. The scenery was almost identical to the one from yuksom to sachen.
Bakkim to Dzongri also provided more of the same for most of the route though the scenery drastically changed as we neared Dzongri. It was primarily a meadow with ample space for pitching tents. We arrived in Dzongri in the afternoon and almost immediately most of us divided ourselves into small groups and went about exploring the surrounding area. A small peak at dzongri provided us with our first glimpse of the majestic Kanchenjunga massif.
We descended from Dzongri to Thangseng, a meadow surrounded by tall mountains with Prek River flowing on one side. We could see many tents adjacent to our own. Thangseng to Samiti Lake was a flat rocky route that which we negotiated easily. Samiti Lake (sacred source of Prek River) was a beautiful lake, fed by two sources with no visible outlet, sorrounded by moraines. The next day we were to leave for Goecha-La by 5 a.m. We awoke to a bitting chill and white sorroundings caused by the heavy snowfall in the night, had tea n started for Goecha-La via Jemathang (a spot en route, used as base camp for Pandim peaks) ahead it is the Onglakhing glacier. After walking through it, we finally reached Goecha-La with East Ridge of Kanchenjunga facing…..though not clearly visible (seems we were a bit late) but still it was simply awesome!! We stayed there for an hour or so waiting for a clear glimpse of the King Kong but had to return unsatisfied.
While returning, the route didn’t remain the same we went through….all the snow was gone!! What left was just the moraine with noises of sliding rocks, flowing water coming from the ground.
Came back to Samity Lake n then next day returned back to Thangseng later we detoured from the earlier route, bypassing Dzongri reached Bakkim directly and the other day we were at Yuksum and then we went to Gangtok where we visited the Rumtek Monastry, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology and the many other places.