Category: Gokyo trek

For the next 3 days we hiked along Dudh Koshi River, kind of, because steep slopes of the valley often push the trail far and high: from Jubing  to Khare, Surke  and Monjo  passing several other villages on the way, with many lodges and restaurants to stop for the night or just short breaks. Some parts of the trail were very nice, some not so much – the same trail is used to deliver goods to Namche by mules. We visited monastery in Kharikhola and stopped for a break in Bupsa. We spent the night in the most popular lodge in Khare. On the not so interesting section to Surke, we still got good views of the Dudh Koshi Valley, good lunch in Paiya and  a first glimpse of high mountains (towards Kusum Kanguru massif) in late afternoon light.  In Surke we stayed in Thamserku Lodge (OK, but not very good, shower in sister lodge Namaste). Two other lodges we checked were already full when we arrived. The next day, we walked through beautiful Chaurikharka. In Cheplung we merged with heavy tourist traffic to/from Lukla – happy madness. Some groups were 30-50 strong. Difficult to keep your own hiking pace. By the time we finished lunch in Thadokosi, with nice views from the restaurant terrace, all the groups were pretty much gone. The traffic got lighter in the afternoon as most people trekking from Lukla stayed in Phakding. We continued to Monjo. We had nice room with bathroom at quite large Mount Kailash Lodge (good food, not enough sun to power solar panels for water heaters). 

The first 5 days from Phaplu ( 2479 masl) to Monjo ( 2870 masl) we walked 56 kms and felt like we were conquering some “serious” mountains, because the trail was going up and down all the time (1500 – 3100 masl), but in the end we gained only 400 m in altitude. We were a day behind our plan already (= lost reserve day allocated for a day-hike in Thame), but our plan was to warm-up slowly before we go higher and hiking was getting easier every day. 

Phaplu at the end of paved road and with small airstrip is one of the entry points to the Khumbu (Everest) region. Most people fly to Lukla further up Dudh Koshi (river) to shorten their walk to EBC or Gokyo, but supplies and luggage is often carried by porters and mules from Phaplu or Nunthala.

We are on the move.  First, it was an easy and relaxing walk on mountain road along broad valley to small village  Ringmu. We were passed by only 3 or 4 jeeps carrying porters with their load heading to Nunthala. The jeep road under construction ended there when we visited. We met only 4 hikers with backpacks. In Ringmu we joined popular trail from Jiri (marked with orange circles, other trails we walked were not marked, but navigation was easy).  Then we hiked up on paved steep trail over Taksindu La  (pass, 3066 masl) to Taksindu. It was as far as we could walk on the first day, although the original plan was to push on to Nunthala. Somehow we could not stick to the original plan to walk a few extra kms to Chiwong the day before, even though we arrived in Phaplu surprisingly early. And now we were half a day behind our plan. We stayed at nicely renovated Taksindu Resort Lodge. We visited Taksindu Gompa (monastery) and watched a bit the evening puja, and then walked around again in the morning.

Taksindu Gompa

Taksindu Gompa

 
The following day we rolled down to Dudh Koshi = leg-tiring 1400 m drop in altitude, and after crossing the river and walking up the hill for a while, we parked for the night  at Gorkhali Lodge in Jubing. On the way, we stopped in Nunthala for lunch and to break long descent. Jubing is a nice village with green fields and flowers, good dal bhat with unusual local veggies at the lodge. We walked 23 km the first two days.

We drove 10 hours from Kathmandu to Phaplu in jeep with 9 people packed like sardines (it was’n too bad). Started the day at 4:30 picked-up by the driver near our apartment, left Chabahil Chowk around 5:30 AM and arrived in Phaplu around 3:30 PM.  Part of the road is quite scenic, along a river and then up out of the valley traversing steep slopes. No time to stop for pictures, only a short break for lunch at road-side restaurant. We parked for the night at a small hotel across the street from Phaplu airport (not good for the price, toilet outside). The following day we started walking towards higher ground – day one of trekking.

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We have 1 week for the final prep for our trip to Nepal. Making reservations, researching trails and teahouses, and working-out. And compiling packing lists for the trek: every item is carefully evaluated and weighted. For now, it looks like my total load “from bare to hiking” is 16 kg, Joanna’s 10 kg.

Phaplu-Gokyo-Lukla trek is the main goal of the trip:   18 days, ~167 km, altitude 1490-5345 masl, average slope 17%,  ~13900 m total altitude gain, expecting dry weather, but temperatures at night may fall to -15℃. It will take us 12 days (~100 km) to hike to the upper Gokyo lakes, half-way between Gokyo and Cho Oyu, along the Ngozumba Glacier. Five of the 15 World’s highest mountains will be within sight: Cho Oyu (8188) and Gyachung Kang (7952) – closest, Everest (8848) and Lhotse (8516), and Makalu (8485) – further. We start on November 1 traveling all day by bus/jeep to Salleri/Phaplu and next day further up to Ringmo by jeep, if possible. We start hiking at low altitude and go slow, with a lot of flexibility how far we hike each day and where we stay. Namche Bazaar and Gokyo are the only fixed points. We plan 4 day-hikes, if we are strong and have enough time. We fly back to Kathmandu from Lukla. We will also visit Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, and Doha on the way.