• This lovely day-wise photo feature makes one feel one actually did the 9 day trek to Goecha-La in Sikkim. It also has tips for trekkers and lots of insights. 

We were going to Sikkim for the Goecha-La trek after two false starts and a wait of three years. October-end is a good time for this once in a lifetime trek that runs for only four months a year.

Let me tell you upfront, this trek is not a walk in the park. Well, it theoretically is, because almost the entire trail lies in the Kanchenjunga Natural Park. But few treks in India take you so close to the big mountains or gain so much altitude so rapidly as the Goecha-La. Add to this the ever-lurking fear that a medical evacuation is unlikely for the most part of the trek, and you would start to understand why some have rated this among the top ten difficult treks of Asia.

You need to be really in good shape to think of attempting it, and preferably have some experience of high-altitude trekking before taking on this expedition. If you are struggling, maybe you would still complete the trek, but you likely wouldn’t enjoy it. And this is a trek to be enjoyed at every day and every turn. Months later, not a day goes by when I don’t glance at those unforgettable vistas. So let’s climb right into one of the greatest treks in the world!

Day 1 - Siliguri to Yuksom (5800 feet)

Your starting point is Siliguri – either New Jalpaiguri Railway Station or the Bagdogra Airport. Not the cleanest of towns yet Siliguri  does have a variety of good places to stay from budget lodges to high end luxury hotels. And a huge mall with a well-stocked Decathlon outlet in case you forgot to carry something from home.

You will need to reach a day earlier as the first day is an 8-hour long drive to Yuksom in West Sikkim. At about 5800ft altitude, Yuksom used to be the capital of Sikkim for many centuries before Gangtok. It is a pretty little town no bigger than a large village. You can see Pelling and the huge Buddha statue atop the hill right across your base camp.

The weather is not particularly cold yet at this time, though it does get chilly at night. You can buy the hottest chili in the world, bhoot jolokha, here. Don’t listen to anyone who dares you to eat a full chili, you will regret it forever. The other unique product at Yuksom is a type of local rice beer that you cannot carry along or bottle. After a good night’s rest, we commence our trek in earnest.

IndiaHikes Goechala Trek Map. 

(Map courtesy Indiahikes, my favourite trek agency that always puts safety first and removes tons of garbage from the mountains every year, keeping the mountains pristine for our future generations)

Day 2 - Start of Trek - Yuksom to Sachen (7400 feet)

This is a relatively straightforward and simple trek that goes right up the hill from Yuksom and then comes down again to enter the Kanchenjunga National Park. You cross numerous pristine waterfalls.

A beautiful river flows below along the trail throughout your walk.

The trail continues to go up and down though by the end of the 5-6 hours it takes to reach Sachen, you would have gained an altitude of 7400ft. Some very fit trekkers skip Sachen and proceed directly to Tsoka, but this halt helps in acclimatisation. Sachen has a small clearing for camping and is in the heart of a grand rainforest. It is rare to see a full-blooded rainforest in the Himalayas and rarer to camp in one. Tall and ancient trees tower over you. Most of them are covered with lichen – the sign of a healthy forest.

Watch out for leeches along the trail, because this is after all a rainforest and it is wet for most of the year. After an overnight halt at Sachen, you resume your “walk in the park” towards Tsoka the next day.

Day 3 - Sachen to Tsoka (9790 feet)

The climb from Sachen to Tsoka (9790ft) is quite similar in nature to the previous day’s climb. You gain a similar altitude as the previous day but the trail itself is quite different even as it runs through the same rainforest.

Once you reach the Tsoka campsite, if the weather is clear, you have a gorgeous view of the big mountains on one side and Yuksom on the other. Clear weather is not a given in the mountains, and if you are unlucky you can go the entire trail without seeing much in a worst case situation. We could not see a thing when we stayed at Tsoka during our ascent, but while descending the weather was clear and we enjoyed views. Tsoka also has a small monastery that you can visit. The monastery is one of the few points on the trek that has a mobile network!

Day 4 - Tsoka to Dzongri (13,190 feet)

The first two days felt like lovely walks in a magnificent rainforest. The third day brings you crashing down to reality. Dzongri sits at an imposing altitude of 13,190 ft which makes an altitude gain of almost 3,500ft. After a gentle climb to begin the day, the famed ‘wooden trail’ kicks in, in large part made up of logs of wood put to prevent you from slipping on the mucky trail. It is double-edged, though. At places the logs themselves are slippery and best avoided. This section runs for about 6km and is stunningly beautiful. The rainforests are home to the endangered red panda, but it is quite unlikely that you will catch a glimpse of this rare and beautiful animal along the trail. If lucky, you might. 

The next part of the trail is a steep climb till you reach a pretty little tea house at Bakhim, taking a welcome break with some delicious hot  food and drinks. 

The last part of the trail is an even steeper climb all the way up to Dzongri. This is the commonest segment where people can develop Acute Mountain Sickness and are forced to descend to recover.

If you are trekking in April-May, you will be rewarded by the experience of walking through a riot of colours as this forest has a high density of rhododendrons. If you are doing the trek in October-November, the rhododendrons are not blooming but you will see a different riot of colours that are even more impressive. Once you reach Dzongri, the views are stunning. You are surrounded by some of the tallest mountains on planet earth on all sides. And you may see the tip of Kanchenjunga lurking behind the clouds.

As you relax after a long and tough climb, you step out in the dark to be rewarded by an infinite number of stars. We also had a beautiful moon that lit up the entire campsite, making the use of torches redundant.

Day 5 - Dzongri to Dzongri Top (acclimatization day)

Having gained altitude so rapidly, it is prudent to stay put at Dzongri for a day and take an early morning hike to Dzongri Top for a great view of the Kanchenjunga range. The big mountains could not be seen at all due to cloud cover. In fact, we are yet to see them even once as it has been cloudy since we started. You struggle to reconcile that the entire trek can be a white-out if nature chooses not to share itself with you. It is very windy and cold tends to aggravate due to wind chill, so you need to dress accordingly. There is a small monastery near Dzongri. We hiked up to it, but it was closed. We sat on a ridge near it for a long while, admiring the valley views on all sides.

Watch out for the yaks, though. These high-altitude animals freely graze around Dzongri, and you should keep your distance from them as some of them behave unpredictably. Once you reach Dzongri, you are out of the rainforest and you will see mostly shrub vegetations. During October-November, this is an unbelievably pretty trail due to lichen of innumerable colours and shapes.

Day 6 - Dzongri to Thansing (12,190 feet)

The long walk from Dzongri to Thansing is not very challenging compared to the climb to Dzongri. You descend back into the rainforests and then ascend again through some spectacular terrain to reach Thansing. The mid-point is a government cottage at Kokchurang.

The location is something out of a fairytale-in the middle of a dense forest, pretty streams with crystal clear waters all around, tall snow-clad peaks in the backdrop.

You need to cross some boulder sections here and take a bridge across the mighty Prekchu that looks awesome against the backdrop of Mount Pandim. As you climb, you start wondering whether such a beautiful place is indeed possible in real life or is it a dream!

You reach Thansing by evening and immediately rest, because tonight is the big night. You lose some altitude overall as Thansing is at 12,910 ft. But, Thansing is much deeper into the mountains and is a very cold place (its name literally translates as cold place). It is located close to the foot of Pandim. If the weather is clear, you can see the mighty Kanchenjunga and several other huge snow-clad peaks all around.

The dominating mountain of Thansing is undoubtedly Pandim, which is also a twenty-thousander. You can see it next to you from top to bottom. If you have heard of the famous Sleeping Buddha view of the Kanchenjunga seen from Pelling as well as the Sandakhphu Trail, the head of the Buddha is the Kumbhakarna peak, the body is the Kanchenjunga and the feet are Pandim.

Day 7 - Thansing to View Point One and back (Night trek and back)

Tonight, we will summit. Our goal, View Point One at a height of 15,100ft, is on the mighty Pandim. We will be walking in pitch darkness for 8km guided by our torches to reach it. The plan is to start walking at midnight and reach View Point One in time for sunrise. You hop across innumerable streams and after a few hours you cross a large lake, the Samiti that we could see well at this time due to the darkness.

And keep your fingers crossed that you get clear weather. The thumb-like projection you see in the picture is View Point One. It is now forbidden to go beyond this point for most trekkers as the trail ahead lies within snow leopard territory. This very shy and highly endangered predator in fact roams this entire area. However it likes to keep a fair distance from humans, so it is not likely that you will come anywhere close to it or spot it except by some incredible good fortune.

I had started praying to Devii Kanchenjunga from the time I first saw Her at Dzongri. Now it was up to the Mother to reveal Herself in all Her glory. She did. The Mother’s beauty cannot be described in words. 

The climb to View Point One is tough. The last bit as you cross 15,000 ft altitude makes every step an effort. But when you reach there, you are just a stone’s throw away from the Mother Goddess of Sikkim. The entire Kanchenjunga range towers in front of you, and you shed copious tears of joy at the sight of the Mother glowing golden in the first rays of the sun as you approach View Point One through desolate terrain of rocks and scree.

This is the closest you can get to Mother Kanchenjunga. It is just across the glacier that feeds the Prekchu. To its left lies the Goechala peak. As you turn around, you realise that you are standing on Mount Pandim itself, at the feet of the Sleeping Buddha, the Divine Goddess of Sikkim.

The golden “alpine” glow soon gives way to dazzling white, and you start descending. The trail you walked up from to reach View Point One in darkness is suddenly transformed into a wonderland of blazing colour.

The Samiti Lake with tall peaks reflecting in its clear waters now reveals its beauty as you walk around it for the next couple of hours.

The valley now opens wide in front of you with its innumerable colours. The mighty Prekchu river flowing in all its glory from the Samiti and crashing down along the entire length of the trail. This is the sort of beauty you look at in travel magazines and think, no, this place cannot really exist, can it!

This area is home to another endangered species, the blue sheep. They are easy to spot and quite fleet footed. We managed to capture them on camera. Your fatigue has long disappeared as you are now descending and you gasp at the incredible panorama that surrounds you.

Your legs may soon start reminding you that the walk back to Thansing is really long! You hop across dozens of little streams to reach Thansing in time for a well-deserved lunch, and then crash into your tent to rest. Mount Pandim watches over you as you enjoy the moment with your team and drift into a deep sleep peacefully. It is bitterly cold by early evening and the tents are already covered with a layer of ice by 7pm.

But you need not worry as it is nice and cozy inside. And if you are wearing the correct layers, these sub-zero temperatures can easily be managed.

Day 8 - Thansing to Tsoka via Phedang

You wake up to yet another spectacular sunrise and watch Pandim and Kanchenjunga glowing golden again, if the weather is clear.

Today, we will descend from Thansing to Tsoka via a different route from the one we used to ascend. We backtrack from Thansing to Kokchurang and cross the Prekchu again. This is the last time you will see Pandim in its entirety on the trek. So pause a bit and take it all in, imprint it deep into your memory.

From Kokchurang, the trail branches off into a dense rhododendron forest that just keeps going on endlessly for over 10km. You keep ascending and descending repeatedly across the narrow, winding trail that is broken at parts. You may need some help in getting across certain sections that are tricky.

The strong advice is never to be alone at any point on this section as you can very easily get disoriented, lost, or even fall off without anyone coming to know. It is not dangerous or treacherous, though. Just be careful until you reach the safety of the Bakhim tea house where you celebrate having gone through this mind-numbing section successfully.

The trail after Bakhim is a long, steep descent up to Tsoka. About 6km of this is on the wooden log trail. If it is dry, you can go along quickly but as is most often the case, it is usually wet and cloudy and you need to go slowly and carefully. We reached Tsoka after it was dark but it depends on the weather and your fitness. You are briefly back in network area! Enjoy your last night in the rainforest.

Day 9 - Tsoka to Yuksom

The last day is another long descent right up to the entrance of the Kanchenjunga National Park. You walk through the dense rainforest that is now your companion of many days. You admire the dense foliage and cross your first campsite Sachen on the way. If you are into birding, you are in for a treat as the Goecha-La trek has an impressive variety of birdlife. You cross the high ropeway bridges over pretty waterfalls as the river tumbles down at breakneck speed below you. Finally, you have reached the entrance of the Park again.

You will soon painfully realise that the trek is not over yet, as you ascend all the way back to Yuksom for the next two hours! The first thing you notice about Yuksom is how pretty and well maintained the village is. You reach back to your small hotel and the first thing you want to do is have a hot bath after more than a week. Then hop over to the Yuksom marketplace where you can chill to live music and enjoy some food and drinks over karaoke.

The trek has ended, but you have made friends for life. The trek mates who walked with you and spent days together, helping each other to become better trekkers and better people. The best photographs are those you captured in your mind, but the physical ones you took refresh your memories and make the entire experience come back during the times you need something to look up to.

Some people trek because they want to prove something to themselves. Some like the challenge it poses. For others it is a journey of self-discovery. Mad people like me simply love the mountains. There is something about them that makes you want to return. The mountains keep calling. And we return.

The Author is a regular trekker and Surgeon. eSamskriti is grateful to author for sharing this piece and pictures. 

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