Panchpokhari Trek 2016

It was just a random message from Shishir bro that popped up on my on facebook messanger, Paanchpohari janey ho? Without thinking more my first response was just huncha. Well, it was some weeks before the actual trekking schedule. He has planned it for the Janaipurnima. He had asked other friends too, and among them only Dharma had also agreed to join this trek. Infact, this was Shishir’s 4th trek to Paanchpokhari in two years. Paanchpokhari; the holy 5 lakes is located at the remote mountain of Sindhupalchok district north of Kathmandu below the beautiful Jugal Himal. As Janaipurnima approached near, we had few informal preparation talk and I did my final shopping a day before we were supposed to leave Kathmandu at our own shop, the Kalapathar! There were two trekking routes to choose from, one from Melamchi and another from Chautara, and we choosed the first one.

Day 1: Kathmandu to Manekharka
Previously we had planned to take the shorter bus route to Melamchi from the Sankhu Nanglebhaare route. With some phone talks with one of my friend we got the information about Aama Hyolmo Buspark in Jorpati and reached there at around 6:45. Unfortunately, we had to wait around another one and half hour for the bus to leave Jorpati. So we took this time to have a good breakfast at one of the the local restaurant and also managed to buy some munchies and few rolls of toilet paper, and which came handy later!

“This trek is offbeat, very few people from outside visits during Janaipurnima, so it's not crowded like Gosainkunda. That’s why I love this trek”, Shishir used to say this repeatedly. But, we met a group of trekker, I guess they are from the same family, including 2 middle aged ladies on the same bus supposed to take us Melamchi. The bus was crammed with local passengers even on the aisle as we left Jorpati. And, as we crossed Nanglebhare it got lighter but the windy steep road got worse. Had to wait around half an hour when a bus climbing to Nanglebhaare got stuck on muddy road before it was finally rescued by an excavator!

Finally the bus dropped us at Melamchi bazaar at 11:30. We went to a nearby hotel to have dal bhat. It was a real quick meal, and it was noon when we left Melamchi and crossed a suspension bridge over Indrawoti river. So guys, this is the river we will be following for few more days, Shishir informed us. Infact there is a seasonal road leading up to Yarsha village only functional on rainy season. And, we were following the same road so, the trek actually didn’t felt like real trekking. Its obvious you look for single trails while you talk about trekking.

Later, the trek got interesting after crossing some overflowing springs and suspension bridges. After crossing a bridge over the Dhap khola suspended about 50 mtrs high we met an interesting bajey who was pretty interested to talk in front our movie camera. Well, I was recording this trek on selfie mode; like some vloggers on youtube ;). Soon after bajey finished his some minutes long Bhasan, it started showering pretty heavily. Our trek continued despite the rain, and even met other trekkers walking up to Manekharka. We took the detour from the road for the climb to Manekharka.

Well, Dharma and I were walking slowly. I got problem on my right hip joint, this always happens on initial days of my trekking. And, it was getting dark so,Shishir managed homestay at one of the local house before reaching Manekharka. Khatri dai and his family were kind enough to share his meal and bed for us.

Day 2: Manekharka - Taapkharka

Khatri dai and his wife had already left home for their daily household chores. So, without breakfast we prepared for the second day trek at 6. After 30 minutes of morning trek along the beautiful paddy field of Manekharka, we found a hotel at the small bazzar above the village and managed to fed us with hot Thukpas. Even after having thukpas, we were still walking along the jeep track. But, the trek got interesting with beautiful tamang villages and streams gushing down the hills. View from one of the village, Bhotang back to the Indrawoti valley towards Melamchi was mesmerizing, actually we were walking above the clouds and that gave an awesome feeling.

Early Morning at Manekharka

At 10, we arrived at Yarsha village, another Tamang village on the trail but was connected with the seasonal road. We had another quick lunch, this time few cucumbers with spicy onion flavored aachar. After leaving this village, the road ended and had to follow the trail which now felt like the real trekking trail. That was after crossing a suspension bridge over another stream, a bigger one this time. This time the trails were pretty visible just after leaving Yarsha village, and we knew it will be a serious climb up to our lunch station because Shishir had pointed up to the mountain where we will be in another 1 and half hour. Well, well that was a pretty serious climb. Shishir was crawling up on few places then we met a gang of teenagers, returning from Panchpokhari just before a tea house where we were supposed to have our lunch, actually daal bhaat.

The last suspension bridge before the serious climb.

That was a pretty expensive daal bhat up there, it was a plain (veg) daal bhat but Sahuji charged us Rupees 700 for 3 plates. But, he charged me 150 last year later Shishir spoke out. Actually, this is the season for these tea house owner around the time of janaipurnima and are a little expensive than other season. The uphill after the meal went through some dense forest and streams. After walking for 3 hours we found a tea house who prepared us some rotis. Shishir and Dharma waited there till they cooked us 2 dozens of rotis, but I kept walking because I was bit slower among the three. And, even Shishir helped me by carrying my backpack for another half an hour. I waited them at a bank of stream for another 20 minutes by the time we were dead hungry.

Roti Break!

Those rotis turned out to be a good fuel for another 3 and half hour trek. Well it was a pleasant and gentle trek, but we took rest at several spots. We actually were gaining a pretty good altitude and it was taking toll on Dharma and me. It was 6:30 when we reached Taapkharka so we decided to stay on one of the temporary shed. Day 3: Taapkharka - Paanchpokhari and back to Nhosampati

This was the big day for all of us, so we woke up pretty early this time at 4:30 and started packing our belongings. These temporary tea houses do not serve early in the morning so we started our trek without breakfast. It was full moon but its light were not enough to show the trail and we were on our headlights. As soon we started our trek, we met some hundreds of pilgrims returning back from the Pokhari down towards us. The darkness and cool weather outside increased our pace and reached Nhosompati at 6.

We started early, before the sunrise.

Dancing Shamans

After having few rotis with mayonnaise (saved from yesterday’s lunch) we started climbing up the final climb of this trek. By the time we walked about one hour from Nhosompati, few thousands of pilgrims crossed us. Even we had to wait for some minutes on some sections for descending pilgrims. Those pilgrims included some gangs of super energetic shamans, they were dancing while climbing down, old ladies and many youths. The final climb from Lauribina were super rocky and steep and the descending crowd started getting lesser. By the time we reached Paanchpokhari, the visibility was just few meters and actually we couldn’t figure out the lakes.

Nhosompati; the basecamp for Paanchpokhari.

Later, we waited at one of the sheds near the main temple with some last pilgrims packing their belongings. But soon after 15 minutes suddenly, the clouds disappeared and we got the clear view of all the 5 lakes. We spent another half an hour capturing videos and photos and exploring the lakes and climbed up towards the north expecting the good view. This time we were not lucky, soon all the lakes disappeared! We waited another half an hour to try our luck but still didn’t favored us. Then we prepared to descend down towards Nhosompati. Walking down was not easy either because of the rain and empty trail which was crowded with thousands of pilgrims few hours earlier. We managed to find a decent tea house this time at Nhosompati. Dharma was having real bad time he went to sleep after having dal bhat at 5:30 and Shishir and I came out to check the view and capture some timelapse videos.

Paanchpokhari

Day 4: Nhosompati - Maidan

We were earlier had prepared to return back via Chautara because it makes a round kinda trek and Shishir was too curious for this because on his last 3 treks he had used the same route to go up and return back, the Melamchi route. We left Nhosompati early at 5:30 in the morning. It was still dark when we started the trek, and as soon dawn got little brighter lit up the entire mountain range we got super pumped up by the view and the amazing trail ahead us which passed through some Kharkas and rhododendron forest. The trail was mix of uphill and downhills, and finally after 2 hours of trek at 7:30 we stopped at Hile Bhanjyang for breakfast.

Trail back to Chautara

That was a pretty expensive breakfast for Rs 200 per person, just bhat and aaloo! After this not so good breakfast, we hurried for the trek. This time we had to walk along the shades of pretty good forest and was a gentle uphill. It was sunny when we climbed the Noontalkharka but as soon we prepared to descend down to the other side, the clouds soon covered up the entire kharka. The descend was pretty steep and soon we followed pretty sweet trails along the kharkas and bhedi goths. We met several sheep herders en route and later it started raining quite heavily. We were quite drenched after walking about 30 minutes in the rain and asked one of the herder for the shed. He happily welcomed us and also offered tea and boiled potatoes that turned out to be the only lunch for this day.

Looking down to Indrawoti valley from Sherpakharka.

It rained lightly as we walked along the Kharkas, Sherpa Kharka. As we looked down the Kharka saw familiar landscape below which later turned out to be the Manekharka and the Indrawoti valley. We couldn’t get good view because of the monsoon clouds. Soon after the uphill was over and crossing Sherpa kharka, a couple of Munal crossed our trail. That was one pretty rare encounter for us. We had no idea where we will be staying tonight but we kept walking down. After climbing down for one hour, we saw trail markers with detailed route and it helped us a lot to prepare mentally. It was around 5 when we left the high grassland and entered below the tree line. The trail below felt like our Shivapuri national park, it was getting dark and we were the only trekkers so we speed. Forest got more denser and trail got darker, and finally, finally we saw some houses and maize field below the forest. That was a huge relief, we hurried down to the village to be welcomed by a gang of kids.

GoPro Selfie at Noontalkharka, the highest kharka en route Chautara.

We found a decent tea house to spend our night. All of us were dead tired by this time even Shishir, so we hurriedly ask where is the bedroom. But soon we were picking leeches from our bags and socks before finally laying down in peace.

Day 5: Maidan - Kathmandu

For this final day we prepared ourselves a little late than usual and we left the tea house at 6:15. The trail for this day was total downhill along sherpa villages. You could find a bus leaving for Kathmandu down from Saule bazzar if you are early, tea house owner had informed us earlier. But, we were walking down on our own pace just thanking Shishir for selecting this route for the return and praising the beauty of the Kharkas we walked across yesterday. It was drizziling lightly while following the jeep track below to Saule bazzar. We reached at the bazzar at 8:30 and first thing we did was buying tickets to Kathmandu.

No room for kids, Rabina just manages to find space among her siblings and grandmother on this local bus.

The 7 KM bus ride from Saule bazaar to Chautara became pain in the a** with cram passengers even in the aisle, a very common scene in bus services of rural Nepal. But, upon reaching Chautara the bus almost got empty and we had more pleasant ride back to Kathmandu.