GREAT HIMALAYA TRAIL
Section 1, Kathmandu to Ghunsa
It begins with a flight and a long, bumpy drive over two solid days. This is followed by a trek in humid, cardamom-filled jungle.
From the city to the mountains
Flying to Kathmandu from the United States is a thru-hike of its own. I went economy, so had to fold my body into my seat and attempt to sleep as much as humanly possible.
Still, I was near psychotically jet-lagged, but managed to squeeze in a visit to the Swayambhunath, better known as the Monkey Temple with its 365 steps, panoramic views, incensed aroma and hundreds of resident monkeys.
Below was a wonder to behold in the sheer amount of traffic moving on the roads as each car squeezed into position like so many blood cells in a maze of capillaries. I celebrated my arrival with steamed Momos at the Zen-like Garden of Dreams before crashing at my hotel for a 12-hour snooze.
Unfortunately, the recently ended monsoon wiped out part of the road we needed to take from Bhadrapur to Ilam, so after an early morning flight with zero visibility, we drove in the opposite direction of our destination for 10 dusty and bumpy hours ending up in Terhathum.
I snagged my own seat and slept nearly the entire drive, awake long enough though to experience the extremely windy roads snaking up and down the foothills on roads that were oftentimes rivers of water and rock.
We soon passed the washout and headed to Suketar, staying in the lovely Hotel Yak right next to the defunct airport, its runway a jumble of rock now after the 2015 earthquake. In the crisp morning air, we caught our first glimpses of the snow-capped Himalaya, Kanchenjunga thrusting itself a bit above the rest.
Still, an even bumpier jeep-ride lay ahead taking us deep into the gorge of the Tamur Khola valley. The road snaked high along the gorge on what appeared to be a newly built road without a single guardrail and often was washed out completely.
And now, we walk.
It sort of feels sudden to hop out of the jeep, stretch your legs and begin moving. The air is still quite warm and humid at only 5,500 feet. It’s hard to imagine we will climb 12,000 feet from here to Kanchenjunga’s basecamp!
It is a very short walk, though, past the new hydroelectric dam. As lovely as these villages are in their most primitive state, the people who live here want modern conveniences – like electricity.
Immediately, I spy cardamom growing in the forest on the very steep terrain. This may be a trail, but it’s not wilderness in the sense that an American might think. This area has been inhabited for hundreds of years. Villagers travel on these routes too, and so have built extraordinary stone stairs, oftentimes from materials carried by hand from a great distance away.
It’s steep and exhausting walking on these stairs, but for the most part manages to control erosion. Our first campsite is already set up in the lodge’s garden at Sekathum.
In the evening, we meet our staff. Oh my goddess, there are three guides and one sirdar, six kitchen crew and a cook, 27 porters and a head porter plus an international guide. We meet each one in turn to much applause and excitement. Two of the porters are women, Urmilla and Lachhimi!
The bumpy jeep ride up the Tamur Khola gorge. Nepali drivers are some of the best in the world.
So it become obvious why it’s worth hiring a team. Planning logistics, keeping us on schedule, organizing permits, finding us places to sleep — especially if another group shows up and there’s limited space — and maybe most importantly, feeding us.
Our meals include meat and bread as well as squash, potatoes, dal bhat (lentil curry and rice) as well as salads and desert. Even in the morning, we’re awakened with hot tea served in our tents. I must say, as hard as I worked, I never went hungry!
Our first real day of trekking takes across a fantastically built metal suspension bridge and up into deep forest. It’s fall now, so the huge rhododendrons are mostly free of flowers, but it’s gorgeous and lush in here, filled with ferns, bamboo, gnarled brown oaks and a fresh, earthy scent.
Pro tips:
- If you are flying from the United States, give yourself extra days to recover from jet lag. It was (almost) debilitating!
- Use Diamox (acetazolamide) to help acclimate. I brought a seven-day course from home, but easily bought more in Kathmandu.
- The start of the trail can be very hot and humid as compared to the sub-freezing temperatures of the alpine regions. Plan accordingly!
We cross a few streams fed by waterfalls on rickety downed logs, then march up and up, 3,000 feet to a narrow terrace at Amjilossa, where one single pine tree looks down on our tent array.
The next day is steeply up and down high above the river, the Ghunsa Khola. Gyabala is our destination at 9,000 feet. There’s a guest house where the porters sing and dance the night away while we camp again in the garden.
Nepal is not about solitude and deep reflection. It’s loud and boisterous, dogs running around, chickens peaking into the tent flaps, a line forming for the long drop-style squat toilet and a general joyousness that is unique to this place.
The weather is so lovely, all of us take a steep walk up to the stupa above. The views are stunning of the deep valley below through a string of prayer flags. The idea is to send the prayers into the universe, so best to put them where the wind will catch them.
The next day’s walk gets steeper and more committed as we arrive in the stunning hanging valley of Phole. Yaks — or mores accurately Dzo, a cow/yak hybrid— wearing bells and fancy red headdresses, graze in the meadow with a view of impossibly spiky, snow-capped peaks. Their dung dries on rocks in preparation to use as fuel.
The houses are beautiful in this village, wooden and painted colorfully in pinks, blues and yellow. The roofs though are metal. We pass a pile of rocks called a Mani Wall, also protected by a metal roof. Flags flutter in the breeze, and I gently touch the colorful inscriptions praying for good health and a safe journey.
We take a sharp right to head toward Kanchenjunga and pass the spur we’ll take up and over Nango La when we return. Sanskrit graffiti is all along the rocks plus a memorial to the 24 members of the World Wildlife Foundation who were killed, including two Americans, in a helicopter crash in 2006.
Our final steps are on a very narrow wooden bridge across a landslip, then across the river to Ghunsa. Hot showers await as well as many prayer wheels to spin. I look forward to a day off, when I’m corrected. We will camp here two nights, but use tomorrow to hike steeply up and acclimate ourselves for the high trekking ahead.
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Section 1, Ghunsa to Kanchenjunga (and back)
It’s a round-trip up to the world’s third highest peak, Kanchenjunga through some of the most astonishing alpine country in the world.
Thanks for this, Alison!
I’m so glad you are enjoying it, Scott! What an adventure. Thank you for your support! <3