[Gotham_City]

1100D, Have rated your thread a well-deserved 5 stars. Some of the pictures you posted had my heart in mouth. Showed them to my wife in hope that she allows me to take mildly adventurous trips (may not be as adventurous as yours).

BTW, I had a few queries regarding the slope before the guest house which you had to take in reverse gear. Pardon my ignorance, is Scorpio a rear wheel drive vehicle? Also, if you have AWD activated does it matter whether you take slope in reverse / forward gear.

The road before the slope looks very narrow. How did you manage to take a U-turn in such a tight spot.

Sorry for so many queries. Thought, will ask them in one go instead of letting them clutter my mind.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

In the absence of any external lighting,

As for the leopard, what we saw for a long time were bright green eyes peeping through the bush.

Dear Predator! Leopards eyes glow bright green even when there is no external light to reflect back?

By the way, bright green eyes in the dark is not an IPR of leopards, even some canine's in our neighbourhoods do!

So, are you sure it was indeed a "leopard" leopard!!

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

1100D, Have rated your thread a well-deserved 5 stars. Some of the pictures you posted had my heart in mouth. Showed them to my wife in hope that she allows me to take mildly adventurous trips (may not be as adventurous as yours).

BTW, I had a few queries regarding the slope before the guest house which you had to take in reverse gear. Pardon my ignorance, is Scorpio a rear wheel drive vehicle? Also, if you have AWD activated does it matter whether you take slope in reverse / forward gear.

The road before the slope looks very narrow. How did you manage to take a U-turn in such a tight spot.

Sorry for so many queries. Thought, will ask them in one go instead of letting them clutter my mind.

Firstly greetings to you and your wife. Infact get out there and have fun, even this was quite mild in terms of real adventure.

Scorpio has a selectable part-time 4wd and can be used in that mode either ways forward or reverse. Only check is that 4wd cannot be activated for long stretches on good roads, and at high speeds.

I took a U-turn before the road branched off upwards and drove up in reverse. This picture represents where the car was turned around.

[desertfox]

This was fantastic, congratulations and well done. I had trekked to Sandakphu as a young lad of 16 way back in middle 80s. Great memories of some beautiful country.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by desertfox

This was fantastic, congratulations and well done. I had trekked to Sandakphu as a young lad of 16 way back in middle 80s. Great memories of some beautiful country.

Thanks Desertfox, it must have been a real adventure then, what was your night stop over point at Sandakphu then?

[Sheel]

Hi!

Don't know how your this log escaped my notice every-time I clicked on the New Posts button. Maybe the name of the thread was a bit long & never knew it was about North Bengal/Sikkim.

It is a fantastic travelogue. The narration is captivating & pictures are brilliant. Complement it rather well.

Your this Travelogue guided me to your other logs as well & I spent good part of past 2 days going through your Yangtey log, Messenjore log as well as a few others.

Because you are so frequent traveler to this part, I now understand as to how you kept updating the Avoid:NH-34 thread and the need for a 4X4.

I haven't traversed the hills much but from whatever little I have, I think it is a real necessary to have a Car with good GC & maybe a proper 4X4.

Even our highways call for a SUV if you wish to travel far off & are unsure of the conditions. The SUV gives you immense freedom & confidence to do that.

Please continue with your magnificent logs. I am sure a big one would be due near the Durga Pujas, but maybe you can tease us one with one when the monsoons arrive.

All the very best & thanks once again for sharing your logs

[1100D]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Hi!

Don't know how your this log escaped my notice every-time I clicked on the New Posts button. Maybe the name of the thread was a bit long & never knew it was about North Bengal/Sikkim.

It is a fantastic travelogue. The narration is captivating & pictures are brilliant. Complement it rather well.

Your this Travelogue guided me to your other logs as well & I spent good part of past 2 days going through your Yangtey log, Messenjore log as well as a few others.

Because you are so frequent traveler to this part, I now understand as to how you kept updating the Avoid:NH-34 thread and the need for a 4X4.

I haven't traversed the hills much but from whatever little I have, I think it is a real necessary to have a Car with good GC & maybe a proper 4X4.

Even our highways call for a SUV if you wish to travel far off & are unsure of the conditions. The SUV gives you immense freedom & confidence to do that.

Please continue with your magnificent logs. I am sure a big one would be due near the Durga Pujas, but maybe you can tease us one with one when the monsoons arrive.

All the very best & thanks once again for sharing your logs

Sorry Sheel, this time even I missed out on this post on this thread!!

Thanks for taking time to go through the logs. The avoiding NH34 route had substantial inputs from you as well, especially around the Bhagalpur side. Rather than a complete SUV, the monocoque SUV's present a great combination too.

There was one trip during 2011 Durga Puja's and it included traversing the Old Silk Route just after the massive earthquake at Sikkim. Being the only civilians at Tsamgo/Nathula was a eerie experience. That trip had so much that trying to capture that on a travelogue would have been a herculean effort!!

[wild child]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Shifted to 4WD Low straight away. Marengo was loaded and did not want to fry a new clutch. Only worry was that the first few kms (3) to Chitrey, although steep, had good surface, which is not too recommendable to switch to 4wd on a part-time 4x4 on. But since there would be frequent hairpins, I knew this would not create any major issues, instead the benefits were manyfold. The second and third gears took us up.

Hi 1100D,
Looks like you have had a lovely time at Sandakphu! Neat travelogue too.
Anyways, I need some clarification on the line that I have highlighted ( bold + underline ) in your above text.
In a part time 4wd vehicle, it is not good to steer on hard surface with the 4wd system engaged. I say this because the vehicle does not have a centre diff as present in the full time 4wd vehicles. The absence of this ensures that both the front wheels ( in 4wd engaged position ) will rotate in the same speed thereby streesing the CV joints/drive shafts while taking a turn.
Hence, could you please explain as to how the hairpin bends will be beneficial?
Cheers
W_C

[1100D]

Originally Posted by wild child

Hi 1100D,
Looks like you have had a lovely time at Sandakphu! Neat travelogue too.
Anyways, I need some clarification on the line that I have highlighted ( bold + underline ) in your above text.
In a part time 4wd vehicle, it is not good to steer on hard surface with the 4wd system engaged. I say this because the vehicle does not have a centre diff as present in the full time 4wd vehicles. The absence of this ensures that both the front wheels ( in 4wd engaged position ) will rotate in the same speed thereby streesing the CV joints/drive shafts while taking a turn.
Hence, could you please explain as to how the hairpin bends will be beneficial?
Cheers
W_C

Quite surprised that no one noted this earlier and the question came so late! On a flat smooth surface this is a strict no-no

The stress is on the word "major" given that its a small distance. Besides this, there were other aspects.

Road conditions, though pavement and smooth had little imperfections (especially at the hairpins with sand, pebbles etc), unlike the smooth pavement in the west.

Being in low-range, second gear (high torque), on a turn, pressing the throttle down, breaks traction in little ways at the back. Being an upslope, the inside of the turn is steeper than the outside, helping to push the tail a little sideways on the outside (sort of micro drift) , thus compensating for the tighter circle on the front axle (hence spining faster than the rear). As I mentioned the descent was scary especially on this stretch because could not use the 4wd here.

If one reads up the trekking directions to Sandakphu, one will know that this first few kms is amongst the steepest sections. In a loaded vehicle, especially the Landrovers that ply there, this section is very very hard on clutch, especially on the turns. So using the 4L here did prove beneficial. Have used it earlier to in other places in similar situations and have run fine.

It was quite steep. It was a calculated compromise.

[VLOCT]

Fantastic diary, 1100D.

It's great to see the family's trust in your driving capabilities, in tackling such difficult terrain. Awesome.

Regards.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

Fantastic diary, 1100D.

It's great to see the family's trust in your driving capabilities, in tackling such difficult terrain. Awesome.

Regards.

Thanks @VLOCT. Am lucky that my family, especially my father not only understands the threat but he too, in his time had the fun of driving his family through an India that was very different from now. Moreover tackling difficult terrain to reach a work site was part of his job description!

[S_U_N]

Excellent log coupled with great photography. Rated 5 stars.

Commendable to take entire family on such trips!

[mr.sinha]

Originally Posted by 1100D

I took a U-turn before the road branched off upwards and drove up in reverse. This picture represents where the car was turned around.

The Sandakphu bug has bitten me and over the past few days, I have read your and Blackpearl's Sandakphu travelogues multiple times.
I want to do this route in my Scorpio too, and would start picking both of your brains very shortly :-)

When you wrote above that you drove in reverse, was it because there was no room to take a left turn in this particular hairpin? Was this on the last 2km Sandakphu stretch? How many times (i.e. driving in reverse) did you have to do that on this route?

I wonder whats the turning radius for the Scorpio 4wd. For 2wd, it says 5.6m, but the 4wd feels much more. I have a tough time getting it up through 3 levels of parking at my office with 4 tight turns and have to stop, reverse a bit and then go at every turn.

Sorry for too many questions. You would probably be better off agreeing to meet me somewhere in Kolkata. I will be happy to sponsor the food and drinks :-)

[1100D]

Originally Posted by mr.sinha

The Sandakphu bug has bitten me and over the past few days, I have read your and Blackpearl's Sandakphu travelogues multiple times.
I want to do this route in my Scorpio too, and would start picking both of your brains very shortly :-)

When you wrote above that you drove in reverse, was it because there was no room to take a left turn in this particular hairpin? Was this on the last 2km Sandakphu stretch? How many times (i.e. driving in reverse) did you have to do that on this route?

I wonder whats the turning radius for the Scorpio 4wd. For 2wd, it says 5.6m, but the 4wd feels much more. I have a tough time getting it up through 3 levels of parking at my office with 4 tight turns and have to stop, reverse a bit and then go at every turn.

Sorry for too many questions. You would probably be better off agreeing to meet me somewhere in Kolkata. I will be happy to sponsor the food and drinks :-)

This picture was shot at Kolakham. The need to reverse was because the luggage was at the rear and the road was too narrow to drive up straight and then carry the luggage through the sides.

As such, at Sandakphu, there is no need to reverse anywhere.

We might as well plan a small S'phu trip somewhere end of this month, I am sure we can build a convoy! Lets see.

[mr.sinha]

Originally Posted by 1100D

We might as well plan a small S'phu trip somewhere end of this month, I am sure we can build a convoy! Lets see.

Oh please let's plan that. I am all for it.

[nilanjanray]

Lovely travelogue. Are the curves doable - without backing up - in a longer vehicle with a bad turning radius e.g. a Fortuner?