Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sikkim Goechala Trek - Part 3

(press Shift and click) Please click here to view 177 photos from another photo album. Photos courtesy of Tammy, Carina and Group.
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Administrative check point in Rangpo, Sikkim. It sounds unique with "Police Welcome You to Sikkim"
.Our crew consisting of 15 workers (2 guides, 1 chef, 5 kitchen helpers, 2 personal porters, and 5 general porters + 13 horses & dzos). Rest stop at Paha Khola
. Soap and water to clean before our meals
.Our first lunch stop at Sachen.
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First night camping in SACHEN
. A cute, mountain baby girl holding red raddish.
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Smiling faces of Tammy & Teresa (both are Pacesetters members) at Tsokha.
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Another lunch stop at Phedang with excellent views of the KANCHENJUNGA range of mountains
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Trek from Kokchurong to Thangsing crossing Prek Chu river. Mt. Pandim at the background (6780 meters).
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Group photo shot at Pemathang hotel before leaving SIKKIM for Darjeeling.
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An extracts from communication with Carina Tan:.
Yes, Sikkim has beautiful, very different from Nepal, Everest trail. Kanchendzonga national park has a lot of greenary, rivers & waterfalls and national flowers, Rhododendron trees can be found all the way to Thangsing especially during spring & summer months. In the photo album, we missed the flowering season in October. The challenging part is camping in the extreme cold weather, from Goechala view point 1 back to Thangsing, 3930m on my way down I got caught in the light falling snow flakes. We were blessed with good weather, wonderful cook, good guides and camp crews.

I am thinking of making other trips there, a taste of their early Spring or even Oct to go to View point 2 & 3 passed through the glacier and dessert. I even thought of short trip to Dzongri la is sufficient for those with limited leaves. Well, there was slight change in the itinerary as descending down was much slower for the group and last day was long recommended to stay another night in Yuksom. Roads are not so good in Sikkim, so its better to drive before dark through uphills & downhills terrains. Thus, we shifted 1 day earlier, cancelled stay in Lamune for next early 3am hike to Goechala pass to day trip instead, with majority agreed to it.

Well, the last hike from Goechala view point 1 to 2 & 3 were challenging for us due to the narrow strips of sandy paths. The guide told us another 2.5 hrs to view point 2 and half hour to view point 3 which is slight lower. Well, as seen in Dr. Lee's DVD, the 2 super fit guys from Kuching rushed off all the way to view point 3 which was then overcast with clouds over the mountains. They came back to Thangsing when dark after 6 pm. The sacred Samiti lake was very nice for photo shots in the afternoon with the lake reflected 4-5 different colours due to algae.
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Posted by KC
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