Singalila National Park

My original idea for trekking was in Sikkim. I heard there were unbelievable views but the mountains had not been cluttered with debris like the Annapurna range in Nepal.

I tried to get a trekking permit in Delhi as I heard there was an office there. The day I went there were 4 French tourists ahead of me in line when the office opened. Then when it was my turn, I was told I had come to the wrong tourist office. This was the India office. I needed to go to the Sikkim office on the other side of town. This was impossible. I would not make it there and back before my taxi would be arriving for the Taj Mahal. I would have to get the permit in Darjeeling.

It turned out that while I was at Makaibari Tea Estate, I was connected to Pasang. He led trekking groups and was a registered guide. He was taking another homestay family to Sikkim on May 10th. Too bad the timing didn't work because it would have been nice to join a larger group.

We started talking about the trek and he asked me if I had a permit. I said I didn't have it yet but maybe I could get it in Darjeeling. He told me in the Darjeeling office it can take 3 business days, so it would be better to go to Siliguri for the day. I told him, to be honest I didn't want to waste a day down the Hill Cart road and back up. It's a harrowing experience.

So he threw out another option. He said we could do a 6-7 day trek in Singalila National Park and see some gorgeous views. I wouldn't need a permit in advance and it would be cheaper. Ok, I was in. I told him I am not a fast hiker but that I am persistent. I had been up to 10,000-11,000 feet before, but not above that. He thought I would be fine. When he gave me the details, it seemed like a lot of mileage, but we built in an extra day in case of the unknown.

So on Monday, we started out. The plan was to leave from Darjeeling and drive to Manibhanjang.

Day 1 - Manibhanjang to Tonglu
Day 2 - Tonglu to Sandakphu
Day 3 - Sandakphu to Phalut
Day 4 - Phalut to Raman
Day 5 - Raman to Rimbick
Day 6 - Rimbick to Darjeeling

It took about 2 hours to get to Manibhanjang. The town means something like prayer valley. It looked much like rain the entire drive but cleared up some by the time we arrived. To hike in Singalila National Park, you need a guide. We also got a porter who carried his own bag and mine and was still a lot faster than me. We had to check in with border patrol since we would be crossing into Nepal on and off as the park is on the border with India and Nepal. The woman in our shared taxi to Manibhanjang has a guest house in Tonglu, Nepal. That would be our first overnight.

The trek was nice. Everything is so green. It was nice to be away from beeping horns and other people. You see a lot of Japanese pine trees at the beginning. These are prevalent throughout the area. We also saw many rhodadendrum plants in bloom. Pasang saw some strawberry plants with tiny and sweet baby strawberries. He picked some for he and I. The whole day we would be climbing. Sometimes the climb would be on a grassy area. Sometimes we would be on a narrow stone path. Less frequently, we were on the road. The great part of this hike versus hiking in Sikkim, was throughout, we would be hiking from village to village. We could get food and water and also spend the night without having to carry excess equipment.

We had a quick stop for tea near a Buddhist temple. The temple kept moving in and out of the fog as it was very misty. Our next stop was in Nepal for lunch. This is where the inclement weather started. While eating we had hail, rain, thunder, and lightening. After I finished my noodles, we put our rain gear on and moved onward. We wouldn't stop again until Tonglu. We had all these weather conditions on and off for the rest of the afternoon. Along the way, it seemed like the good weather was always just behind us. But that left some nice views in the clouds and mist. By the end of the day, the continuous rain and hail had gotten some of my clothes wet. And I realized my boots were not waterproof.

After Pasang showed me my room, he said I would have a "fire" and have tea. I said ok. The tea came first then after that a fire of hot coals actually appeared in my room. Whoa, was that a nice surprise! It warmed my entire body. Thank goodness for the fire, otherwise I would not have been able to start the following day dry.

It started raining again quite hard and I was glad to be inside. Dinner was pappadum, rice, daal, potatoes and squash, and potatoes with green beans. Before that I was given garlic soup and popcorn in my room which supposedly helps with altitude sickness -- just in case. We had walked 11 km, and climbed over 700 meters to 3070 since Darjeeling. Since Pasang works at Makaibari, he brought some nice Darjeeling tea along for us the entire trip.

After dinner, I was just heading back to my room and I noticed the sky was so bright with stars after the rain. Pasang showed me where to look to see the red light from Eagle Crag tower in Kurseong and also the lights in Siliguri.

I was told I should get up around 6:30 and maybe we would be able to see the mountains if the sky was clear. Breakfast would be at 7:30 and we would leave at 8.

The hike on Day 2 is Tonglu to Sandakphu. It's about 20 kilometers instead of 11. But again, it's mostly uphill and an elevation gain of 500 meters. We would be at 3600 meters or 12,000 ft by the end of the day and again spend the night in Nepal.

The skies were clear this morning and it was almost hot at times. I had to take off some of my layers. The first part of the hike was downhill, unfortunately. It was such a tease.

At a border crossing where the final downhill ended, we stopped at some benches to get psyched for the uphill climb. After we ascended the first steep part of the hike, Pasang pointed to the place we would stop for lunch -- Kalpokhri. We saw it for such a long time in advance, but it seemed like it took forever to finally reach it.

Some groups stop here and make two days of the hike to Sandakphu, but we were pushing on. Hopefully, we would arrive by 4pm. I like having a hot lunch and tea along the hike. This is the way all long climbs should be set up!

From our lunch stop onwards, it was uphill and very steep the entire way. The mist appeared again. There was thunder in the area. I kept hoping we wouldn't have rain again.

I was going really slow. I would walk about 15 steps then stop. I had tried the nuts and raisins Pasang had given me, but they didn't help so much. Finally I decided to just look at the ground and not up ahead where we were going. I walked slowly, but kept going. Sometimes they would be waiting for me, but I wouldn't stop to rest because I had this slow, slow, pace that I didn't want to interrupt.

There was snow on the ground where we were walking. It had melted in some spots and was very, very, slippery. Finally at just about 3:45, we made it. The lodge where we stayed had many rooms, but there would be no hot coals here.

I tried but couldn't warm up. Even when they brought my tea, that didn't help. Finally after about an hour of trying to warm up, I went in the kitchen and asked for more tea. They had a fire there and I slowly warmed up.

Dinner was at around 7:30. I went to the eating area and there were 3 young Swedes, then an older couple from Sweden showed up as well. A woman from France and her boyfriend from India showed up too.

Everyone was hanging out chatting. Pasang offered me some rhodadendrum rice wine called "roxy". I just took a little. It tasted like saki and looked like pink lemonade. It was nice but I had to drink it slowly. Everyone was either drinking rum and pepsi or the roxy at this point and the group became quite lively. It turns out the older couple had a daughter that went to school with one of the younger Swedes. This was pretty wild considering they were from a tiny town north of Stockholm. Another couple sat down just before dinner. I heard them say they had been here 3 days and hadn't seen the view yet. It's possible it could be clouded over every day. That would be a disappointment.

We had a nice dinner of papadum, rice, yellow daal, and potatoes and cauliflower. I went to my room shortly after 8:30 to get another layer on and to try to stay warm. My legs weren't hurting from hiking today, but I wanted to be sure I would rest well.

Because there is really thick snow on the way to Phalut, we may do a short hike to a yak farm, and spend another night in Sandakphu hoping the snow will melt some. We'll decide in the morning depending on what the conditions are like.

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