ARUN BHATT TREKS ACROSS SIKKIM AND IS MESMERISED.

After much discussions and planning, and considering the number of days that were available to us, we decided to do Yuksom – Dzongri – GocheLa trek ( It is spelt in multiple ways, like many other places in Sikkim. The trek would last for 6 days – 4 days to GocheLa and 2 days to return – and would take us to 16,400 feet from less than 4000ft in a little more than 40kms of walking distance.

The Itinerary We were to travel from Bungler to Kolkata by flight, take a bus from Kol to Siliguri and then take some incidental transportation to Yuksom. We had to hire porters at this place and start the trek that is to last for 6 to 8 days, and then return to Bangalore in the same manner.

The trek would start from Yuksom. The destination was a place called Gochela where we were told to expect a great view of Kanchenjunga. We were to stay at what is called 'Trekkers Hut'each night in places named – Tsoka ( pronounced Choka), Dzongri and Samiti before we reach Gochela on the 4th day and return to Yuksom, stopping at nights in Kokchurong and Tsoka.

Sikkim Siliguri is just a few kilometres away from Sikkim border.

On inquiring for further transportation at Siliguri, we found that we had to take public transport jeeps to reach Yuksom, stopping at a small town called Jorethong. If we start at 7- 30 in the morning, we would be reaching there around 2pm.

Within 10 minutes after we leave Siliguri, our road starts moving along with river Teesta. Teesta is the biggest river in Sikkim, and is actually pretty small in comparison with the rivers of north India. It is a typical Himalayan river, which has enough water all through the year, sourced from the rains for half the year, and from melting ice for rest of the time. It offers great views, flowing in zig zag fashion in its valley, where our road slowly starts climbing uphill. All the way till Jorethong, the jeep ride is very enjoyable with good views alongside the hilly roads, with some hanging bridges and Teesta flowing near the road.

Once in Jorethong, we have to change transportation again and take a jeep to Yuksom.

The journey lasts for around 3 hours and this time we move uphill much quickly.

We see the hills getting taller and taller as we move further, and in this part of the journey we travel alongside river Rangit – the next big river in the state.

The Trek Day One Route: Yuksom to Tsoka, 14kms The trek route we were taking is inside Kanchenjunga National Park. So we had to get some clearances and permissions.

We completed this first thing in the morning after paying the necessary fees. We started on our journey around 7- 30 in the morning.

Two porters who carried utensils, food materials and other common things we needed while we carried our personal stuff in our backpacks, accompanied us. I guess my bag must have weighed close to 15 kilos and it was probably the first time I was carrying so much stuff for such a long distance. Estimated time for the journey was around 7 to 8 hours. The way to Tsoka starts as a small path in the jungle starting right behind the place where we had stayed. The first few hours was a fairly easy trek through the tropical forests amidst beautiful views of the forest, hills and a river flowing far below in the valley. This portion of the trek looks very similar to western ghats in Southern India – a region I am very familiar with.

Himalayas We encounter plenty of streams and water bodies on the way even in summer and hence we need to carry very little water. There were some occasional leeches on the way but not in numbers big enough to cause any worry. While we went ahead by ourselves, porters started easily and made it a point to stay behind us. We kept walking slowly, resting as little as possible. When they start walking, porters would catch up with us very quickly and again rest somewhere for us to go ahead.

Day Two Route: Tsoka to Dzongri, 9kms Early in the morning, around 7am, we heard loud noises and wake up call from the Bengali guy. As I opened my eyes, he rushed into the room and shouted at us to wake up and take a look at the amazing views of Pandim and hurried back with his Minolta. I slowly crept out of my sleeping bag cursing the guy for waking me up from a good sleep. After taking my own time, I slowly walked out and saw some people gathered, looking at the west.

And so I look around – and what a great view had I woke up to! Standing there, tall and snow- clad was majestic Mt.

Pandim and surrounding peeks shining in the sun. That was the first time ever that I was getting to see a himalayan mountain and I suddenly felt that travelling a few thousand kilometres was worth the effort. Clouds and sunshine were fighting each other to kiss the mountaintop in the early morning. It lasted only for around 15 minutes when the clouds decided we had enough of the great view.

We then continued our preparation for the tough day ahead.

Day Three Route: Dzongri to Samiti Lake,~ 10kms Today we had to wake up as early as 5 in the morning. We wanted to be there at Dzongri top before the sunrise to see first rays of Sun falling on the mountains. After consuming some hot tea made by the porters, we started off around 5- 30 and reached the top a little before 6. Unfortunately it was a cloudy morning and was covered with fog in all the directions. We could see nothing.

We all waited anyway hoping to see the weather getting clearer.

Luckily, after 15 minutes or so, the clouds started clearing Day Four Route: Samiti, Gochela, Kokchurong. 16kms The next morning, I woke up around 3- 30am to a chilling cold weather, with an aching body and little enthusiasm.

I could not sleep or stay in my sleeping bag any longer so I had to getup. The plan for the day was to start before 3- 30am to climb up 2500 feet to Gochela before sunrise to get a close view of the mornings golden yellow light kissing the mighty Kanchenjunga. And my plan was to stay in Samiti while others could go and come back. The porters were also getting up and planning to prepare some tea. I opened the door to see that it was not going to be a great day. It was raining outside and the skies seemed to be cloudy and persistent.

But by the time we had our tea and breakfast, rains had subsided comp Day 5/ 6 Rturning to Yuksom The next morning we started from Kokchurong and reached Tsoka. This time we took a shorter route and did not have to go to Dzongri. We stayed in Tsoka for the night and reached Yuksom the next afternoon. We were greatly relieved to get back to the civilised world. A week of hard terrain, walking and cold had made us very tired. As soon as we reached Yuksom, we checked into the best hotel in town for a good rest and sleep.

The hotel guys were probably surprised at seeing the amount of food that we hogged for dinner that day.

If I remember correctly, we got into the restaurant at around 6pm and kept ordering something or the other for next 3 hours.

It was a lucky day for us at the hotel. They had some special batch of visitors and so had arranged some cultural programs. We also got a chance to see children perform on stage and listen to some local music.

The next morning, we moved out of Yuksom and were back in the city of Bangalore a day later.