Dafey Bhir trek, an unknown and mostly unexplored trail, promised magnificent views to many important peaks.
We booked the travel tickets couple of months back. But 10 days before departure, I got hospitalized for 4 days because of dengue fever.
Still I went ahead with the trek despite family and friends being bit apprehensive because of my weakness.
It’s a strenuous trek but full of twists and excitement. This blog tries to highlight day to day details of our trek. We did this trek from Nov 21st to Nov 30th, 2015 withHimalaya Trekkers.
Day 0: Bangalore to Calcutta by flight and took overnight train to New Jalpaiguri (Siliguri). Missed the first train because of flight delay but fortunately my friend had booked another train ticket for me.
Day 1: Siliguri to Jorethang and then Jorethang to Uttarey (6,400 ft) by cab Lunch in Jorethang. It was hilly terrain and because of road construction work till Jorethang, drive was not that smooth.
We reached our base camp at Uttarey by 7 PM. We stayed in a hotel there. It was quite cold overnight.
Day 2: Uttarey (6,400 ft) to Chitrey (8,800 ft)
The plan was to start the trek at 9 AM and reach Chiwabhanjang; but we needed to get the permit and for that 4 copies of ID card was required and it took time to get it from a town nearby.
We started the trek at 12.30 PM.
It was steep hike from beginning. After around 4 hours of trek, we reached the Chitrey at 4 PM. There is a SSB base camp there. It was getting darker so we decided to stay there itself overnight. We chitchatted with few soldiers there, had dinner and went into our tents. Temperature there was 6 degree at around 8 PM.
Day 3: Chitrey (8,800 ft) to Gairi (11,300 ft) via Chiwabhanjang (9,850 ft)We started our trek at 8 AM and reached Chiwabhanjang at 10 AM. There was another SSB camp and so the mobile network. It was decided that lunch will be prepared there (because water was available) and so we waited till 11.30 AM. Then later we decided to carry on with our trek and support staff can get the lunch packed once it is prepared and we can have that on the way somewhere.
We restarted our trek and crossed Indo-Nepal border multiple times in between.
At around 4.30 PM, we reached peak named Major top (11,800 ft). From there, first time we got clear and direct view of various peaks like Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Mount Everest. We had our lunch there in awe of this amazing natural beauty.
From this point onwards, the continuous ascend gave way to series of ascends and descends. We started crossing hills by hills by climbing up and down. By around 5.30 PM, it became dark but we continued our trek in moon light. By 6.30 PM, we reached our camp at Gairi. Guide informed us that they could find very little water near camp site and they will search for water in morning. We ate khichdi in our dinner and went into camps. The temperature at 7 PM itself was -3 degree. These are pictures from next morning. There was lot of frosting around tent.
Day 4: Gairi (11,300 ft) to Pahadi Meghu (12,630 ft)
Next morning guide and porters searched and found a water stream 15 minutes away from our camp site and we walked till there. Breakfast and lunch was cooked in makeshift kitchen there.
We started trek at 9.30 AM after having breakfast. Our guide Tularam informed us that it is going to be a long day. Once again we started lot of steep ascends and descends with majestic views in between.
At around 2 PM we took our lunch and continued our long day. By 5 PM we were at one of the peak and hoping to reach the camp soon because it had become darker.
But the destination was far and night made the walk more difficult. Everyone was mentally tired but kept walking continuously in hope of reaching the camp. Finally at 7.30 PM we saw the hut and our support staff inside. Fortunately the camp fire was already in place and we took our well-deserved rest and a special dinner.
Day 5: Pahadi Meghu (12,630 ft) to Lam Pokhri (14,100 ft)
We started our trek at 9 AM. Again the views were magnificent and also we got to see lot of high altitude beautiful lakes.
We reached at our camp site at 5 PM which was also beside a lake named lam pokhri (means long lake). It was quite windy and cold there. So we took our dinner inside tent itself. Since the next day was going to be summit day, we planned to start early at 3.30 AM.
Day 6: Lam Pokhri (14,100 ft) to Dafey Bhir peak (15,200 ft) to Yambong (12,600 ft)
Since we had to reach at Dafey Bhir peak before sunrise, we started our trek at 4 AM. In 40 minutes or so we reached at Dafey Bhir pass and took some breaths. Again we started the difficult ascend towards peak. It was quite windy which made the climb pretty tricky.
Finally we reached at peak at around 6 AM, just before sunrise to witness the views to cherish for life time.
There were multiple high altitude lakes visible from peak. We cherished the nature for couple of hours in windy weather and then started our journey towards few other high altitude lakes; Lakshmi lake and Lakshman lake. After around one hour of trek, we reached there.
After witnessing these mesmerizing lakes, we started back for our camp at Lam pokhri. We reached there by 1 PM and had lunch.
Earlier plan was to stay in same camp again overnight but since it was quite cold and windy there, we decided to go down to another camp at Yambong. We started trekking down at 2.30 PM and after a steep descend, which were painful to knees, we reached to trekkers hut. There was no water at this camp site but porters brought water from a stream around 1 hour away from the camp site.
It was very cloudy but because of stay in hut, it was quite comfortable.
Day 7: Yambong (12,600 ft) to Chowri (7,100 ft)
It was going to be a long descend of 5,500 ft.
We started at 8 AM. Initially it was gradual descend but it gave way to painful steep descend. Though trek through forest and scenic beauty was quite relaxing.
At around 2.30 PM we reached at Rimbi River and crossed it. At river bank we took our lunch.
Near to river bank, there was a SSB camp. While crossing it, soldiers invited us for tea. It was the best tea we got during trek. We had a good talk with them and then thanked them and bid good bye. Another hour of trek and we reached at our camp site at Chowri. It is a very small village and first glimpse of population we got in a week.
Near camp site there was a small restaurant. We sat there for entire evening. People drank Chang (local drink) and ate special dinner to celebrate our success. We also danced on Nepali songs sung by our support staff. :)
Day 8: Chowri (7,100 ft) to Pelling (6,250 ft)
This was going to be a shorter trek of 2-3 hours till motarable road and then 1 hour in cab till Pelling. So we were quite relaxed in the morning.
Around 10.30 AM, we started trekking down along Rimbi River. At around 1.30 PM, we reached to motorable road. We met a teacher of primary school there who was going towards Pelling in his car and offered to drop us. By 3 PM, we reached Pelling and checked-in in hotel there. Magnificent Kanchenjunga was very kind to us and gave its glimpse from hotel too. :)
This trek was definitely hectic with almost 10-12 hours of walk every day but more than worth it. The nature was at its best. The trail, mountains, lakes were all awesome. We were pretty lucky to have chosen this trek and weather was very clear all the days to give us magnificent views. :)
