A journey amidst the four big mountains - Sandakphu Phalut Under 8k #TravelGoal

Gurdum - Tumling ( 11km / 5-6 hours)

The trek started from Gurdum within the dense forests along with the glimpse of the mountains on the side followed by both ascents and descents throught out the day. In between there's a village called Meghma where you can have your lunch for the day and proceed towards Tumling which is 4km away. The lodging and food in Tumling is really good with cozy clean rooms and tasty meals.

Tumling - Kalipokhri ( 13km / 6-7 hours )

The day begins by proceeding towards Kalipokhri from Tumling we go through the Singalila National Park check post and trek up further through the forest and the wide open valley and a descent from the valley leads to Gairibas. From here trek upwards till Kaiyakatta to have your lunch and get your foot some rest and a steep climb of zig zag motorable road will lead you towards Kalipokhri. The rooms are decent enough but the toilets are the worst here in Kalipokhri.

Kalipokhri - Sandakphu ( 6km / 4-5 hours )

The trail of the day starts with a gradual ascent which is followed by another steep ascent. The trail gets covered with hard snow which affects your walking speed. You'll eventually reach Sandakphu during your lunch time. Head over to Aahl which is a mere 2km walk up from Sandakphu to enjoy the sunset and don't forget to carry your windproof jacket with you cause the wind speed is very high at top of Aahl. Spent the night at Sandakphu by sipping a peg of old monk .

Sandakphu - Phalut ( 21km / 9-10 hours )

I was told by my guide Budhha Bhaiya, to sleep early at night in order to start early for the next day. Early at 4:30am I woke up for the sunset but unfortunately it was cloudy. And finally the most challenging day of the trek where you have to cover 21kms throughout the day. Start your day early else you'll end up reaching Phalut when its dark. I started at 8:00am in the morning and reached around 5:oopm. In Phalut you'll be staying in GTA huts run by the government where the rooms are really good with tasty meals. The temperature in Phalut dips as low as -14c to -17c so it will be the coldest night that you'll experience but you'll be getting cozy blankets so that you don't feel the cold. If you wish, you can break this journey by halting in Sabargram for a night and then continuing to Phalut.

Phalut To Gorkhey ( 15km/ 5-6 hours)

We wer'e unlucky to witness the sunrise from Phalut as it was a cloudy day. The trail from Phalut to Gorkhey was full of adventures. As soon as we left Phalut, we started to witness heavy snowfall throughout the day and this is where your waterproof jacket comes into play. The trail had all snowed up and it was mostly descent expect for the last hour which was steep descent but the weather made it very challenging for us as it was very slippery cause of muddy trails along with snow but our guide Buddha Bhai, who is indeed a great human being and is very friendly ,cracks a joke so that we can enjoy our trek to the fullest. This is the most beautiful terrain that you will be walking upon sometimes in the dense forest and sometimes in snow covered trails. We reached Gorkhey at 2:30pm and had our lunch but there was something more written in our journey. In Gorkhey it started snowing as crazy as the whole night it rained and turning the entire valley to cover with snow.

Gorkhey To Sepi ( 11km/ 4-5 hours )

The journey for the day is not very challenging with mostly level ascents and few ascents and descents. A mere 2km up from Gorkhey you'll reach a small hamlet called Samanden its one of the prettiest village you would come across. From Samanden get over till Ramam where you can have your lunch break and proceed ahead and you'll find a wooden bridge at Srikhola. Walk upwards from there for 2km and you'll reach Sepi. An overnight stay at Sepi with delicious dinner and music on the night. Get a shared cab from Sepi to Darjeeling in the morning.