Green Lake Trek (part 2) |
Yabuk to Sona Camp - what a day! |
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I opened the tent flaps at 5.30am; not a cloud was to be seen. The morning sun shone gloriously off the high peaks surrounding us and soon melted the snow around our tents. After breakfast on the outdoor deck, we readied ourselves for the next push on to so-called Rest Camp. Climbing steadily at first, we soon made a short steep descent to the level of the Zema Chu, reaching the enormous rocky U-shaped bed, left by the retreating glacier. The cairn-marked track led us slowly and steadily up the boulder-strewn valley and across the steep scree slope; above us, on the steep grassy slopes, a small flock of blue sheep were grazing nonchalantly, oblivious to our presence far below. |
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Rocky bed of a mountain stream |
Looking back at the mountains above Yabuk |
Wandering up the stream next to the morain |
It's tough walking above 4000m |
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Our porters were all sitting on the grassy verge soaking up the sun. Apparently, a check had revealed that there was no suitable water at Rest Camp and Wangchuk decided to set up camp here at Sona (4505m). In this setting there were few arguments! After a short break, Wangchuk led the three of us up the extra two kilometres up to Rest Camp and back again. By that time, the high altitude effort had hit home and we all retired to out tents to recover a little. |
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Sona Camp to Green Lake - and then there were two |
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What a snow leopard does to a mountain goat |
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Sona Camp to Yabuk - on the way down again |
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We set up a table and played cards outside until the sun finally dipped below the mountain tops - how quickly the temperature drops when it disappears! We retreated to the cook tent, warmed by the sputtering stove, as Pemba worked his magic on another superb meal. Sadly, with appetites knocked by altitude, we could not do it justice. The mind was elated, but the body still suffered. |
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Yabuk to Tallem - a double descent |
We awoke to another wonderful cloudless morning, wondering for how long our good fortune would last. It was time to do a double descent, skipping the campsite at Jakthang and heading straight on to Tallem, 700m lower down the valley. Going down is just so much easier. The cream rhododendrons glowed in the morning sun as we strode down the steep slopes of the Yabuk plateau. Soon a long line of porters passed us at at trot - the Lachen boys were obviously keen to get back and their loads were considerably lighter! |
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Tallem to Lachen - home again |
We were woken by the dawn chorus of Himalayan birds on the last day of our trek. The light overnight rain had cleared to a cloudy morning and soon we found ourselves on the paved track once again, descending through the beautiful old fir forest to the Zema Chu. We were enjoying this section more now than on the climb up - there was more time to look around and appreciate the river and vegetation of this deep valley. |
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New growth was everywhere; the light green tips of the young firs sprouting, willow catkins swelling, wild berry canes reshooting, and deciduous trees leafing up. We were farewelled by the rhododendrons, splendid in their ornate red, pink, mauve, apricot and cream blooms and by the simple white blossoms of the wild roses. If this white stony path were the Sikkimese version of the yellow brick road, then we had been to the land of Oz and it was magnificent. |
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Finally we reached the trackhead at Zema. The cooks had raced ahead to prepare a final picnic lunch for us on a grassy flat across from a delicate waterfall. And then the trek was over - a rumbling from the road below signalled the arrival of a "goods carrier" (one of the monster ornately-decorated Tata trucks used for transport in India) to carry us back to Lachen. A quick pose for the standard end-of-trek photo and we all clambered on board - 25 porters and sherpas on the back with all the gear, 3 trekkers and an Indian army officer in the front with the driver. The slow 5km journey back to Lachen was the most adrenalin-pumping of the entire trek, as the slightly built Sikkimese driver propped his foot on the dashboard to wrench the steering wheel as he guided the heavily loaded behemoth around narrow hairpin bends above steep drop-offs. Still, we looked down to the distant river below with a surprising degree of detachment - after all, the driver has been doing this all his life. |
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