The
night at Sandakphu was the most trying night of the entire trek. However as the
adage goes, the darkest hour of the night comes before day break, the tough
night did make way to the most beautiful sunrise of our life. The morning at
Sandakphu was welcomed with the dreary bed of clouds the unpredictable
whimsical weather, the
mist and fog along with chilled wind
enveloped the 180 degree panoramic view of majestic snow caped range which made
all us tad disappointed, but we waited like a fisherman does after throwing his
bait but to no avail. We cleared the formidable obstacles to reach the top and
it started appearing futile. There was a ray of hope which made us stare at the
huge white wall of mist in front of us which wasn’t ready to budge.
After
a tough climb it was worth facing the vagaries of nature when we witnessed the
pristine view of the celestial Himalayas floating above the clouds. Soon, the
eastern sky began to glow in somber red and our efforts got rewarded when
clouds began to clear out and we witnessed the breath taking monuments
immaculately carved by nature making all of us laconic. It was another
spectacular natural phenomenon which was absolutely breathtaking and
mesmerizing when we get the
view of massive Kanchenjunga in front of us, and Everest in Makalu’s shadow to
our left. You get to see wide spectrum of all the peaks of the dazzling
Himalayan Range right from Nepal all the way up to Arunachal. Not only did we see the Kanchenjunga,
Everest and Lhotse but every other peak that is possible to see from here!
Finally
the time to say goodbye to Sandakphu arrived when the limbs were ready but soul
was reluctant to leave such a wonderful place and walk downwards towards the
plain to Timbure. The beautiful memories of Sandakphu had squeezed itself into
the heart. The journey until now involved extensive uphill climb. However the
fourth day of the journey was all about descending, climbing almost 15 kms
downhill walking
across the jungle trail amidst the silent hills lined with the bamboo woods. Unarguably this part of the trek was
very exciting as we passed through dense forest, heard whistles of wind through
the copious bamboo growth of different shades and sizes, crossed several water
bodies and finally felt less chilly wind on our skin. The dried grass which
glowed in a golden colour in the sun, the blue sky, lending a creepy and eerie
feel to the scene gave an enchanting feeling of bliss amidst the fresh
air with dry leaves crunching beneath our feet to indicate our beautiful
journey across the path.
However
it was a test of our limbs and all of us had turned into Achilles with horribly
weak heals by the time we reached Gurdum. Another worth mentioning sight of
this days trek was coming across a forest of burnt trees. The beauty veiled
under the eeriness of the burnt trees was very well dichotomized. At Gurdum we
were welcomed to a beautiful green wooden house encompassed by towering hills
in every direction and a small garden. Then further downhill climb to Timbure
through several verdant growths, a dilapidated hanging bridge with a stream
flowing underneath a couple of tiny waterfalls.
Finally,
the last night of the trek was most stirring with everyone getting nostalgic
and at the same time celebrating their victory of covering the challenging trek
through Bon-Fire followed by sumptuous dinner. Local Sherpa’s singing and
dancing with us in their local folk music.
