Goechala; wilderness of the Himalayas - My 1st Himalayan Trek ever - Day 4/10

Today's destination: Dzongri. The lonely purple patch is our tent :)

After the Reality check on the previous day at Tshoka, Day 4 can be termed as "The Real climb begins".

It was time to go ahead and Bheem asked me, if I was in a state to go on. I was still feeling the fatigue, AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) had caused me, but doing this trek was very important for me and Avi. It was not about proving that 'We could hike'. But, it were challenges & experiences like these, for which we had come to this place and I knew even before starting the trek, that it is going to be challenging.

Universe was on our side today; as if supporting me in my decision to climb, with much needed sunshine. I was taking regimented steps and was consciously taking deep breaths, as instructed by Bheem; and it actually helped!

It was going to be a steep climb of 10 kms to our next destination

After a continuous climb of an hour and a half, we came across a beautiful pathway, handmade by locals from the forest resources. It looked serene, with the flowers spread all across and surrounded by beautiful trees on both the sides. It was like a dream, walking on this pathway

The pathway ended and climb started again... While the morning was sunny at Tshoka, as we moved ahead, the rains were back in full flow. Along with getting steeper, the trail was getting muddier and slippery too. Bheem skidded, followed by Avi after a few minutes. But the best part of the day was; my fatigue was all gone. We were now peacefully settled in the rhythm of the trek :)

The trail from Tshoka to Dzongri is where the landscape completely transformed, right in front of our eyes. Rains gave way to snow. Our gloves were on and feet were cold. Thank God we invested in the waterproof trekking shoes, just before travelling to Sikkim!

Snow, snow, snow!! We were loving it!

It would take another hour of trek for us to reach Dzongri from here. Dzongri is an important milestone, in the trek to Goechala for 2 reasons. First, the altitude suddenly increases here (it is at 13778 feet) and 2nd, one can view the peak of Mount Kanchenjunga for the first time in this trek. Many trekkers end there journey at Dzongri.

We reach Dzongri finally. It took us 8 hours to cover this challenging hike of 10 Kms from Tshoka to Dzongri. I had slowed down the team's speed today; but nevertheless, I was extremely satisfied with myself; that I overcame my fears and inhibitions and managed to continue this journey :)

Our tent was pitched, but we retired to the kitchen tent to celebrate our little achievement with our team, singing Nepali songs together. We recorded all these songs and used them as background score for our pictorial video of Goechala on YouTube.

The next day was going to be another beautiful day in this paradise, when we climb up the Dzongri top to take a view of the Majestic Himalayan mountain range and then carry on to our next stop, Thangsing... All this in our next post on our life changing journey of Goechala :)