bunchberry
New member
I met Arlene Blum (www.arleneblum.com – if you don’t know who she is, she was the first person to lead an all-American and all-women’s climb of Annapurna in 1978) at AMC’s annual meeting at the end of January (she was the keynote speaker), and through a series of emails and phone calls back and forth, talked with her about an upcoming trek to India she was planning for April. I was offered the opportunity to be her assistant trek leader, and jumped at the chance. I was ecstatic that I’d be hiking along Arlene, and hoped to hear more about her mountaineering stories and learn from her leadership. I’ve led trips for AMC, Girl Scouts, and the annual fundraiser hike “Wilderness Heals,” but I had never had any responsibility for helping to lead a group in a foreign country. This only made me more excited, however, and I figured I’d learn as I went. 
The trek was from April 15-30, and we were going to be hiking in the regions of West Bengal and Sikkim, India—near the borders of Nepal to the west, Tibet to the north, and Bhutan to the east. The first week we would be staying in farm houses and doing dayhikes in the area, and during the second week were would trek toward Kanchenjunga and the Nepal border for 5 days and 4 nights. Before I left, I helped Arlene with a whole lot of logistical organization—corresponding with the 9 other trip participants and our tour company “Gurudongma Tours and Treks,” and even had to make an urgent trip to New York City to fix a mistake on my visa…but that’s a separate trip report.
My flight from Newark to Delhi was the longest I had ever taken, about 13 and a half hours to India (and more like 15 hours on the way back). But the time flew, and before I knew it I had arrived in Delhi and got to crash for the night before the final flight to Bagdogra where I would meet up with the rest of the group. Flying into Bagdogra I was worried that I hadn’t seen any mountains yet…where were the Himalaya? The weather had been hazy and hot ever since we had arrived, and I was thoroughly exhausted. In Bagdogra, Sydney and I, who had flown from Newark to Delhi together, met up with the rest of our group members—finally! But we still had to make a two and a half hour drive from the airport to the Tour operator’s home in Kalimpong, a city nestled in the hills at around 4,500 feet where we would stay for the night.
We drove through the forest for awhile, and then started gaining elevation on a narrow, twisty road that followed a steep riverbank. Looking out to the river was gorgeous, but unfortunately, the road was very dangerous with cars honking and passing each other all the time, and so I couldn’t stop to fully take in these new surroundings. The road was very steep in places, and always bumpy. And when I say bumpy I mean I was bouncing all over the place, and had to hold onto the car for safety. We saw lots of monkeys by the roadside, some of them huge, some so small they must have been newborns.
Arriving at the house, we met the guides that would be with us for the remainder of the trip. Depending on where we were hiking, we would need to hire local guides who know the trails well, because there are no maps. But Sudesh and/or his sister Catherine were the main guides that would spend the full two weeks with us. It was late afternoon when we arrived at the house, and we took about an hour walk and then came back to the house for tea before dinner. I’m not usually a tea drinker, but this Darjeeling tea was absolutely amazing. And that should have foreshadowed the incredible Indian feast that was to come that evening, but somehow I was still surprised Dinner started with a chicken and broth soup, then came rice, a chicken dish with tomatoes (I forget what it was called), saag paneer (a spinach and cheese dish), a bean and chick pea dish (chaana masala?), gobhi something (cauliflower), chapati (Indian bread), and a rice pudding for desert. After the meal I knew I was in trouble. I was feasting already and I hadn’t even started hiking yet!
That evening I started keeping a journal…I think for the rest of this trip report I’ll just take excerpts from it, rather than try to remember things all over again. I hope those of you reading this don’t mind that hiking was really only a part of this grand adventure—I feel like the trip was so much about getting to know the local people and hearing their stories. If you actually decide to make the journey through my 301 photos up on Webshots, you’ll see what I mean.
Tuesday April 18th
It is 6:15 in the morning and it is pouring. It rained all night long, and I was awoken several times by the immense thunder and lightening storm that passed through. I guess when I wished it would rain last night to burn off the haze and open up our Kanchenjunga view, I forgot to wish that it would stop raining by the time we woke up! It is going to be a very interesting first hike today in the rainy, muddy weather. And we are camping tonight…I definitely hope it stops raining by then!
[Disgusting story warning!!] We’ve made it to the campsite. Today we had a leech-infested hike, something that I was definitely NOT prepared for. For the first time ever, I had leeches attach themselves to my feet and suck my blood. They have got to be the most disgusting creatures ever. When leeches bite, they insert an anesthetic and an anti-coagulant into you so that you can’t feel them bite and so that your blood won’t clot up. I found the two on my feet when we started seeing them all over the place on the ground, and Sudesh suggested we check our feet. Turns out they can bite through expedition weight smartwool socks—great. I had two bloody patches on my socks, and the leeches had thoroughly engorged themselves. Ever since, I have been extremely paranoid about every little itch or twitch I feel on my skin. I feel like there are leeches all over me. Give me mosquito and black fly bites anyday—at least they take their bite and fly away!! I can hardly even think about the disgustingness of these creatures.
On a much more pleasant note, we had a fantastic hike today that started down a steep, terraced hillside walking among houses and farms, then we rock-hopped across a river, and then hiked back up the steep hillside through a very beautiful foggy forest. Truly, breathtaking. In many ways, the trees reminded me of the Pacific Northwest. It started raining pretty hard on the uphill hike, and has kept up for most of the rest of the day. We arrived at camp in time for a late lunch, and then after lunch we set off for the village of Lava. We were hoping to visit the monastery, but by the time we had arrived it had been closed for twenty minutes. The outside of the building was gorgeous—beautifully painted with bright colors, and we could sort of make out the adornments on the inside through the dingy glass. We had missed the monks chanting, and we were all soaking wet. But it’s more about the journey than the destination, right??? We decided that we could turn this failure into a success by finding some prayer flags. I really wanted to buy some, but we hadn’t seen any yet. Arlene, Sydney and I set off through the town looking in the stores, and asking people where to buy them. We had a great adventure searching from store to store, with each new villager pointing us to the next. We finally arrived at a store that was closed, and it appeared to sell prayer flags. There were some kids running around, and we were able to explain to them what we were looking for. The kids told us to stay there, and in about ten minutes, returned with a woman who could sell us the flags. After all of that work, they only had one left of the kind that we were looking for, and graciously, Arlene and Sydney let me buy them. I felt like I had really accomplished something
…
I’m writing from the tent now, and it is almost time to eat dinner. I wish I had eaten more for lunch because it is pouring again and there are leeches out there. Just waiting for me.
[yes, that was written at a pretty low moment!]
…to be continued...
a link to my 301 photos (sorry, no typo):
http://community.webshots.com/album/550157910MynlpQ
-katie
The trek was from April 15-30, and we were going to be hiking in the regions of West Bengal and Sikkim, India—near the borders of Nepal to the west, Tibet to the north, and Bhutan to the east. The first week we would be staying in farm houses and doing dayhikes in the area, and during the second week were would trek toward Kanchenjunga and the Nepal border for 5 days and 4 nights. Before I left, I helped Arlene with a whole lot of logistical organization—corresponding with the 9 other trip participants and our tour company “Gurudongma Tours and Treks,” and even had to make an urgent trip to New York City to fix a mistake on my visa…but that’s a separate trip report.
My flight from Newark to Delhi was the longest I had ever taken, about 13 and a half hours to India (and more like 15 hours on the way back). But the time flew, and before I knew it I had arrived in Delhi and got to crash for the night before the final flight to Bagdogra where I would meet up with the rest of the group. Flying into Bagdogra I was worried that I hadn’t seen any mountains yet…where were the Himalaya? The weather had been hazy and hot ever since we had arrived, and I was thoroughly exhausted. In Bagdogra, Sydney and I, who had flown from Newark to Delhi together, met up with the rest of our group members—finally! But we still had to make a two and a half hour drive from the airport to the Tour operator’s home in Kalimpong, a city nestled in the hills at around 4,500 feet where we would stay for the night.
We drove through the forest for awhile, and then started gaining elevation on a narrow, twisty road that followed a steep riverbank. Looking out to the river was gorgeous, but unfortunately, the road was very dangerous with cars honking and passing each other all the time, and so I couldn’t stop to fully take in these new surroundings. The road was very steep in places, and always bumpy. And when I say bumpy I mean I was bouncing all over the place, and had to hold onto the car for safety. We saw lots of monkeys by the roadside, some of them huge, some so small they must have been newborns.
Arriving at the house, we met the guides that would be with us for the remainder of the trip. Depending on where we were hiking, we would need to hire local guides who know the trails well, because there are no maps. But Sudesh and/or his sister Catherine were the main guides that would spend the full two weeks with us. It was late afternoon when we arrived at the house, and we took about an hour walk and then came back to the house for tea before dinner. I’m not usually a tea drinker, but this Darjeeling tea was absolutely amazing. And that should have foreshadowed the incredible Indian feast that was to come that evening, but somehow I was still surprised Dinner started with a chicken and broth soup, then came rice, a chicken dish with tomatoes (I forget what it was called), saag paneer (a spinach and cheese dish), a bean and chick pea dish (chaana masala?), gobhi something (cauliflower), chapati (Indian bread), and a rice pudding for desert. After the meal I knew I was in trouble. I was feasting already and I hadn’t even started hiking yet!
That evening I started keeping a journal…I think for the rest of this trip report I’ll just take excerpts from it, rather than try to remember things all over again. I hope those of you reading this don’t mind that hiking was really only a part of this grand adventure—I feel like the trip was so much about getting to know the local people and hearing their stories. If you actually decide to make the journey through my 301 photos up on Webshots, you’ll see what I mean.
Tuesday April 18th
It is 6:15 in the morning and it is pouring. It rained all night long, and I was awoken several times by the immense thunder and lightening storm that passed through. I guess when I wished it would rain last night to burn off the haze and open up our Kanchenjunga view, I forgot to wish that it would stop raining by the time we woke up! It is going to be a very interesting first hike today in the rainy, muddy weather. And we are camping tonight…I definitely hope it stops raining by then!
[Disgusting story warning!!] We’ve made it to the campsite. Today we had a leech-infested hike, something that I was definitely NOT prepared for. For the first time ever, I had leeches attach themselves to my feet and suck my blood. They have got to be the most disgusting creatures ever. When leeches bite, they insert an anesthetic and an anti-coagulant into you so that you can’t feel them bite and so that your blood won’t clot up. I found the two on my feet when we started seeing them all over the place on the ground, and Sudesh suggested we check our feet. Turns out they can bite through expedition weight smartwool socks—great. I had two bloody patches on my socks, and the leeches had thoroughly engorged themselves. Ever since, I have been extremely paranoid about every little itch or twitch I feel on my skin. I feel like there are leeches all over me. Give me mosquito and black fly bites anyday—at least they take their bite and fly away!! I can hardly even think about the disgustingness of these creatures.
On a much more pleasant note, we had a fantastic hike today that started down a steep, terraced hillside walking among houses and farms, then we rock-hopped across a river, and then hiked back up the steep hillside through a very beautiful foggy forest. Truly, breathtaking. In many ways, the trees reminded me of the Pacific Northwest. It started raining pretty hard on the uphill hike, and has kept up for most of the rest of the day. We arrived at camp in time for a late lunch, and then after lunch we set off for the village of Lava. We were hoping to visit the monastery, but by the time we had arrived it had been closed for twenty minutes. The outside of the building was gorgeous—beautifully painted with bright colors, and we could sort of make out the adornments on the inside through the dingy glass. We had missed the monks chanting, and we were all soaking wet. But it’s more about the journey than the destination, right??? We decided that we could turn this failure into a success by finding some prayer flags. I really wanted to buy some, but we hadn’t seen any yet. Arlene, Sydney and I set off through the town looking in the stores, and asking people where to buy them. We had a great adventure searching from store to store, with each new villager pointing us to the next. We finally arrived at a store that was closed, and it appeared to sell prayer flags. There were some kids running around, and we were able to explain to them what we were looking for. The kids told us to stay there, and in about ten minutes, returned with a woman who could sell us the flags. After all of that work, they only had one left of the kind that we were looking for, and graciously, Arlene and Sydney let me buy them. I felt like I had really accomplished something
…
I’m writing from the tent now, and it is almost time to eat dinner. I wish I had eaten more for lunch because it is pouring again and there are leeches out there. Just waiting for me.
[yes, that was written at a pretty low moment!]
…to be continued...
a link to my 301 photos (sorry, no typo):
http://community.webshots.com/album/550157910MynlpQ
-katie
