I have always had a thing for hiking and short trail running. Running the hills of Kathmandu and Pokhara was norm for me as it was hard wired into my genes. Though I loved running and hiking, I had never embarked upon any trekking challenges.I had been wanting to go on a trekking trip, however i never sat down and properly planned for it.
May be work of the fate or pure coincidence, one day I ran into the conversation of one of my cousins who was planning for the trekking to the Everest region. He had been planning for this long-awaited trekking for a long time and was leaving in few days. I so happened to be at the right place and at the right time. Opportunity to take on this adventure trekking was right there knocking on my door and I could not pass it off. Out of nowhere, now I was member of the group who were planning for Everest region trek for long time ago and were heading out in couple of days. Luckily for me, my cousin’s team were only trekking to Syangbuche (3870 M) of Khumbu region from Phaplu (2400 m). Below were our trekking routes and plan:
- Drive from Pokhara to Kathmndu – Day 1 (6-7 hrs drive)
- Drive from Kathamandu to Phaplu – Day 2 (10-11 hrs drive)
- Spend 2 days in Phaplu – Day 3 & 4
- Drive from Phaplu to Taksindo – Day 5(2hrs)
- Start trekking from Taksindo to Khare Khola – Day 5 (9 hrs)
- Khare Khola to Surkhe – Day 6 (11 hrs)
- Surkhe to Namche — Day 7 (10 hrs)
- Namche to Syangbuche – Day 9 (4 hrs )
- Syangbuche to Phaplu – Day 11 (Helicopter ride – 45 mins)
This was my first trekking experience and it was bad ass. We completed the regular 10 days trekking in half the time. This was an epic experience, but I will not recommend anyone to do such a long trek in such a short period of time. It was intense, it was physically draining but, in the end, it was worth it. One thing I have learned from this experience is that proper planning is the most. I will without a doubt plan out my next trekking in detail.
I have learned my lesson 😊.
Mt. Amadablam seen from Khumjung Valley