[vikrantj]

Wanderings in the Himalayas : Trek to GosaiKunda

Prelude

In the hot sweltering heat of May when I was busy in the office hammering away on the keyboard a Whatsapp notification pings. The message in our trek group says "How about a trek to Gosaikund in Oct?". Gosaikunda? Never heard of it. Google comes to rescue. Gosaikund is a lake in Nepal at an altitude of about 4,390m (about 14,500ft). It is a part of system of three lakes Gosaikunda, Bhairabkund and Saraswatikunda.
It is said that after Lord Shiv drank the cup of poison from the Samudramanthan, he felt extremely thirsty and ordered some water to be brought to him. But no water could satiate His thirst. So He thrust his Trident in the Himalayas and because of that three lakes were formed Gosaikunda, Bharabkunda and SaraswatiKunda.

Info on Gosaikunda



Some more information from wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosaikunda

Gosaikunda , also spelled Gosainkunda and Gosain Kunda is an alpine freshwater oligotrophic lake in Nepal's Langtang National Park, located at an altitude of 4,380m (14,370ft) in the Rasuwa District with a surface of 13.8ha (34 acres).Together with associated lakes, the Gosaikunda Lake complex is 1,030ha (4.0 sq mi) in size and has been designated a Ramsar site on 29 September 2007.[3]

The lake melts and sips down to form the Trishuli River and remains frozen for six months in winter October to June. There are 108 lakes in this area, small to medium in size. The challenging Lauribina La at an altitude of 4,610m (15,120ft) is on its outskirts.

Trek planning

So the planning started with first contacting Mr. Rajan from Earthbound Expeditions in Kathmandu. He was the one who had arranged the Annapurna Base Camp trek for us and we were extremely satisfied with his arrangements then. We sent out our tentative plan, number of trekkers and route that we had in mind. He responded that it was do-able plan. After multiple rounds of talks about finances, schedule, etc. with him and ourselves, we decided upon the following plan.

6th Oct - Pune- Kathmandu
7th Oct - Kathmandu - Dhunche (by 8 hour jeep ride)
8th Oct - Dhunche - Thulo Syabru
9th Oct - Thulo Syabru - Sing Gompa (also known as Chandanbari)
10th Oct - Sing Gompa - Lauribina
11th Oct - Lauribina - Gosaikunda
12th Oct - Gosaikunda - Gopte
13th Oct - Gopte - Kutumsang
14th Oct - Kutumsang- Chisopani
15th Oct - Chisopani - Sundarijal - Kathmandu (by Jeep)
16th Oct - Kathmandu - Pune

We were gaining considerable height in these days. To give an idea of altitude we needed to reach everyday was :

Dunche - 6,435ft
Thulo Syabru - 7,350ft
Sing Gompa - 10,925ft
Lauribina - 13,035ft
GosaiKunda- 14,454ft
Lauribina Pass - 15,000ft
Gopte - 11,268ft
Kutumsang - 8,085ft
Chisopani- 71,25ft
Sundarijal - 4,264ft

We booked the flight tickets immediately so that we get the best possible fares. We confirmed the plan and bookings to Rajan by transferring a token amount to his account.

And the trek was ONNNNNN....

Next couple of months till October were literally spent in frantic buying of stuff for the trek and day dreaming about the trek itself. The trek team was almost the same as that of Annapurna base Camp trek except of one dropout and 2 additions. Initially the group size was 9 but due to some last minute workload one had to dropout and the final team consisted of 8 trekkers. We were provided with 1 guide Naresh and 4 porters by Rajan.

Day 1 - Pune to Kathmandu.

We had an early morning flight out of Pune to Delhi and a noon flight to Kathmandu. All the flights were on time and we reached Kathmandu around 4 pm. We spent sometime at the airport to buy sim cards. NCELL in Nepal has a better coverage than Nepal Telecom so if one has a choice between these operators. recommendation is NCELL.

Rajan had arranged a pickup from airport to Thamel Eco resort in Thamel area of Kathmandu. Rajan was there to recieve us and he gave information about trek and its plan. Thamel is a haven for trekking gear shopping. You get a rip-off of every major brand as well the originals too. I had to buy walkig poles which I bought in Thamel for INR 600 a pair. Some of us bought day packs etc.

After a light dinner we hit the sack early since tomorrow we had to hit the road at about 8am.

Welcome to Nepal



Thamel Eco Resort



Day 2 - Kathmandu - Dhunche. Of disappearing roads and sights of trek to come.

Dhunche is located about 100km away from Kathmandu. But since the roads are extremely bad we took about 8 hours to reach Dunche. We started at about 8am from Kathmandu and reached Dhunche at 4pm. Lunch was taken in Trishuli Bazaar at around 12pm. The views were getting better and better by the minute.

Dhunche is a quaint little town on the Kathmandu-Lhasa highway. It sits on the border of the Langtang National park. It is about 40km away from the China border. This was the startpoint of the trek. While entering the Lantang national park we had to take permits for the National Park. Remember to keep the permit safe since we have to show the permit and get it stamped on the way out of the Lantang National Park. We were put up in a tea house called Dragon. It had very minimal facilities and average food nothing to write about. But it was more than sufficient for us after a long drive in a Scorpio over no roads. It was pretty chilly at night maybe because we were still getting used to low temperatures. We hit the sack at about 8.30am.





Leaving Kathmandu



Kathmandu at a distance



Lhasa Highway





Day 3 - Dhunche - Thulo Syabru. Climb, forests and first sights.

Next day morning we had a hearty breakfast and we were off on the trek at about 8am in the morning. Today's trek was supposed to be first on road , then a climb up and then on a jeep track. We started off on the same road that we had come into Dunche upto Thulo Barkhu. It was about 6km walk. It took us about 3 hours to reach Thulo Barkhu, partly because of magnificent sights around us and partly because it was completely uphill.

Bye Bye Dhunche



At Thulo Barkhu we stopped a tea house for a piping hot cup of ginger tea (no milk). It was about 11am in the morning but was quite cold.

Tea



The trek after Thulo Barkhu was a climb uphill on walking track but was full of big stones and rock staircases of uneven heights. It was getting tougher and tougher by the minute but the rhododendron forest calm and views were worth it. The walking path then joined a jeep track after couple of hours.





Jeep track to Brabal



It was about 1.45pm and our tummies were rumbling away to glory so the lunch stop was at Brabal in a tea house. It took about an hour for them to prepare lunch od Daal-Rice-Sabji and papad. This was the staple food which we had over the next course of the trek. The lunch was polished off in 10 minutes and we were out on the way again.

The jeep track was a delight to off-roaders with mud, slush and rocks sprinkled all over. But no problem for the legs. About an hours walk from Brabal we reached our destination for the day Thulo Syabru or Thulo Syfru as it is called locally. Syfru is a local dance form.Thulo Syabru is a settlement of people who have Mongolian origin and they came to settle in this area through Tibet. The people are mostly from Tamang community.

We were put up in tea house called Monalisa. It was a good tea house with better facilities. A piping hot cup of milk tea melted away all the rigours of the day and we went to the terrace to soak in the magnificent views of the Langtang valley and Goasaikund trek route.

Monalisa Tea house



Dinner was a simple daal-rice affair and we went off to sleep around 8.30pm. The next day was a massive climb of about 3000ft to Sing Gompa or Chaandanbari.

Garmin Logs :

Distance covered : 20km
Time taken : 8 hours
Elevation : 2,355m











Day 4 - Thulo Syabru- Sing Gompa . The Ascent

Morning greeted us with a magnificent sunrise on the Langtang valley.We had breakfast of eggs and porridge, and were on our way at 8am. Initial part of the trek was a massive climb where we gained considerable height. It was taxing on legs and stamina. Altitude gain was making breathing harder and harder, but we soldiered on. It was a rhododendron forest in the beginning , which transformed into tall pine forest. Views were breath taking but the climb was tough.













We stopped for lunch around 12.45am. Post lunch the trek became little easier with very minimal altitude gain. We reached Sing Gompa around 3pm. Local attractions in Sing Gompa are Yak Cheese factory, a German bakery and the Gompa itself.

The cheese factory is a government concern to help local economy. Yak milk from around the area is procured and then transformed into cheese. They sell the cheese too at Rs.160 per 100gm. Yak cheese was little dry and had a hint of bitter taste. Some of us bought the cheese to be carried back.





Sing Gompa literally means Wooden Gompa. The Buddhist Gompa in the middle of town is from which this town gets it's name from. It is a beautiful structure small but artistic.





Next stop was the bakery. Cinnamon rolls were nothing to write about. Maybe they were from morning. Coffee was good and they had a local drink called Seabuckthrone fruit juice. It was piping hot and good.

Sing Gompa is a place where all trekkers stop to acclimatize for the climb ahead. It is a meeting point of two treks. One from Dunche via Deurali and another from Dhunche via Langtang valley. We were put up in a tea house called Gurkha. We spent the evening by the fire and chatting with locals and trekkers about their experiences. Lights out at 830pm.



Garmin Logs :

Distance covered : 10km
Time taken : 7 hours
Elevation : 3,214m

[vikrantj]

Day 5 - Sing Gompa - Lauribina. AMS and change of plans.

Avid trekkers usually go from Sing Gompa directly to Gosaikund but we thought of doing it in two days to help us acclimatize better. One of us started feeling nauseated right from when we started in Sing Gompa. As the day progressed it became worse and worse with headache and shortness of breath added to the mix. But he soldiered on. First part of the trek was through a Bamboo forest. You can spot Red Pandas here if you are lucky. The climb was mostly up but the walking path was good and we picked up considerable pace. We stopped for tea at Cholangpati at around 11am.

Leaving Sing Gompa



Pine Forest after Sing Gompa



After Cholangpati we started moving over the tree line. The forests made way to open dry land strewed with loose rocks and boulders. The climb was becoming more and more laborious where we had to stop after few steps to catch our breath. The slope was steep but we managed to reach Lauribina around 1.30pm.

Lagtang Lirung (7350m) from Cholanpati



Above the tree line



Lauribina



We were above 12,500ft now. We checked into Mount View tea house. It was a very nice and a cozy place run by a nice Tibetian lady. A round of hot milk tea lifted everybody's spirits up. As a practice to next day we climbed up couple of hundred meters and came back to Lauribina.

Mount Rest Tea house




Aftermath of the 2015 earthquake



As evening progressed we realized the AMS of of our fellow trekker was worsening. He had given up food since he was feeling nauseated by it. Adding to the woes was splitting headache and continuous feeling of puking, shortness of breath. We started evaluating the options we had in front of us. It was evident he could not move head to higher altitude. We could not go down to lower altitude since it is dangerous at night with bears and other wild animals. We called up Rajan to look into option of helicopter evacuation. So we took a decision on next trek course.

We decided that our friend accompanied by another will stay at Lauribina the next day or attempt to go down to Sing Gompa while others will go to Gosaikund and come back to Lauribina in a day. Next night will be Lauribina and day after that climb down to Sing Gompa to re-group with the two.

Garmin Logs :

Distance covered : 10km
Time taken : 6 hours
Elevation : 3,894m

Day 6 - Lauribina- Gosaikund. Serenity and walk in the clouds.

The estimated time of this climb was around 4-5 hours. Initial 2 hours was a massive climb up to the top of hill behind Lauribina. It took us around 2 hours to do that. There was a nice Buddha temple there. You can see the complete panaroma of peaks from here.





Facing the peaks starting from right we have Langtang Lirung (7,250m / 23,000ft). This was the epicenter of the earthquake that rocked Nepal in 2015.




As we go right we see peaks in Chinese territory, then comes Ganesh Himal range (7,400m / 25,350ft) ,



Followed by Mansalu (8,163m / 26,781ft)




followed by Annapurna Range (8,000m / 26,000ft) and finally Machapucharre (6,993m / 22,900 ft). It is a sight to soak in.




Next 2 hours was a literal walk in clouds with mostly climbs and some very steep climbs on a well trodden path. About 1.5 hours in the trek we started seeing SaraswatiKunda in the clouds below us.

Walk in clouds




Few minutes later we came to a narrow pass with a Ganesh idol on the left side.



Last stretch to Gosaikunda



After that in about 15 mins Bairabkunda came into view




and after 15-20 minutes of walk we were at Gosaikund.







Panaroma of Gosaikunda and Bhairabkunda





It was calm and serene lake and it is said that one with a calm mind can see Lord Shiv sleeping in the lake. I has no such visions but I felt at peace with the world. We had lunch in one of the tea houses and went to Gosaikund for a getting it's blessings. We sprinkled few drops of water over the head and chanted few shlok.

Gosaikund overflows into Bhairabkund and Bhairabkund into Saraswatikunda and finally it overflows and becomes the Trishuli river.

We now had to turn back to see the status of our other two trekkers who had stayed back in Lauribina or were going back to Sing Gompa. The climb down was as hard as the climb up since the loose rocks and gravel were making descent difficult.

Silver lining was that we saw Saraswatikund which while going up was hidden under clouds.



About 2.5-3 hours later we were back in Lauribina where our two friends had left us a message that they were going down to Sing Gompa. That night we spent at Lauribina and we were to go below to Sing Gompa.

Day 7 - Lauribina-Sing Gompa . Relatively easy climb down.

Temperature had dropped below freezing point over the night and so there was very light snow and frost.





But that made the climbing down a challenge because of slippery rocks.But the climb down was uneventful and we could cover all of in about 3 hours. This included a round of snacks in the beautiful pine forest.

We reached Sing Gompa around 12pm just about time for lunch. We were relieved to find our friends in Gorkha tea house hale and hearty. The descent done works like a miracle on AMS and our friend was back in his usual elements. We spent the evening watching Chupke Chupke movie downloaded on YouTube. But the highlight was the lunch we actually has some spicy rice and egg burji. It was a welcome deviation from daal-rice, our staple food.

Next day plan was to climb down to Dhunche via Derauli.

Day 8 - Sing Gompa to Dhunche. Mighty Trisuli

We started off at about 9am in the morning.

Starting the way back from Sing Gompa



The trek was a massive climb down. This area is characterized by landslides and loose gravel road which made descent pretty tiresome.




Most of the trek was under forest cover which helped with the sun but made us sweat like hogs. We took a break at Deurali for some tea and moved ahead. The path was complete downhill with some path disappearing under landslides. At about 1pm we reached the banks of the Trishuli river.




After this point we had an hour and a half walk to the Kathmnadu-Lhasa highway. We checked into Hotel Himalayan Legend in Dhunche around 3 pm.

Day 9-10 - Dhunche- Kathmanu and sightseeing


We then traveled back by the same road to Kathmandu. Now since our plan had altered from the original we had to make arrangement of Scorpios in Dhunche which proved to be a task in itself. After a lot of anxiety and cancellations we managed 2 Scorpios around 11am and managed to reached Kathmandu in the evening.

Evening dinner was at Fire&Ice Italian restaurant in Kathmandu. The next day we spent the morning in a visit to Pashipatinath temple and Baudhnath temple. And later part of the evening in some shopping and memorabilia.

[vikrantj]

Some important things to remember

1. AMS : This can hit anybody and at any altitude. Prevention is the best cure. Drink plenty of water and Diamox (please check with your doctor).

2. Water is costly up in the mountains. It can cost as much as Nepali 350 at Gosaikund.

3. Please keep about 1000 INR per day for extra food and water.

4. Insurance is important. We had taken Digit Insurance (https://www.godigit.com/) which includes adventure sports and medical evacuation.

5. Kathmandu airport is busy in afternoon. We missed our Delhi-Pune flight since we had about 2 hours layover between flights. Plan accordingly.

6. Make sure you have a good guide and porters along. It is not recommended travelling alone. Not because of safety reason but because incase of emergency at high altitudes you are on your own.

7. NCELL is better than Nepal telecom. You get a Nepali Rs 799 pack with 16GB data. You can recharge along the way.

8. Some tea houses have paid wifi connections but the speed and connections are hit and miss.


Here are the details of Earthbound Expeditions through which we did our trek booking.

Email : earthboundnpl@gmail.com

Phone : +977 1 4701855 / 4701051

[aah78]

Thread moved to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[ajmat]

Very nice travelogue. I would love to do this but my weak asthmatic lungs might hold me back. While i did not suffer from AMS in either Spiti or Ladakh, the minute I starting climbing an incline, I start huffing and puffing!

[SJM1214]

That's a nice travelogue with excellent photographs. Getting a glimpse of two of the eight-thousanders (Mansalu and Annapurna) was a highlight for me.

Thanks for Sharing.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

Some important things to remember

Many congratulations on completing this wonderful trek and thanks for sharing with us. I am awestruck by the serene beauty of the Himalayas and you have captured it stupendously.

[vikrantj]

@ajmat. This trek is definitely do-able. Maybe you can try out a few local treks around the area you live (I presume Bangalore). Couple of treks to Kumarparvat or Kodchadri should be a start.

@sjm1214 And @autoindian Thank you for your kind words. The photos are product of my iPhone.

[Aditya]

Nice thread with great photographs and a fine narration. That's quite an achievement to have undertaken this trek. I think the best way to enjoy the beauty of the Himalayas is on foot. Again, the challenges you face and overcome gives you a real sense of satisfaction.

The pictures you have posted are fantastic. Nepal truly looks very inviting to adventurers.

[vikrantj]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Nice thread with great photographs and a fine narration. That's quite an achievement to have undertaken this trek. I think the best way to enjoy the beauty of the Himalayas is on foot. Again, the challenges you face and overcome gives you a real sense of satisfaction.

The pictures you have posted are fantastic. Nepal truly looks very inviting to adventurers.

Thank you Aditya for your kind words. Nepal is a fantastic place and after the unfortunate earthquake it is coming back to its feet pretty well.

[vikrantj]

Here is a complete panaroma of the peaks seens from Lauribina along with names . Please click on the picture to have a bigger view and zoom.




Bird's eye view of complete trek. Marked with names of towns/villages. Please click on the picture to zoom.

On left is Dhunche our startpoint. On right is Thulo Sybru.

[vikrantj]

View of the Langtang Valley enroute Thulo Syabru. The river you see is the Langtang River. Village seen on right on the slopes in Thulo Syabru.





Topographical map of the area with villages marked where we had stopped.

[ARAY]

What a beautiful experience you must have had. Thanks a lot for sharing such detailed info. All the pictures are perfect. Trekking is the best way to explore every nook and corner of Himalaya, however time limit and staying far away from Himalaya has always made things harder for me but never stopped me. Such well documented trekking has been bookmared and shall be executed one day. Keep traveling and sharing such experiences.