October 17, 2023 - Jigmelang Tsho/ Tshokam From the itinerary: From Camp, climb steeply on a rocky trail and walk north for about 10 minutes on the ridge with beautiful views before disappearing into a rhododendron forest. Cross over to the easterly side of the ridge at 3700 m/12,135 ft. Go up and around a small peak, a steep 100 m ascent to an altitude of 3750 m/12,300 ft. To the south, the Dagala range is visible (another trekking area). An hours climbs from here and you will reach your campsite at Tshokam which is actually a yak herders settlement, is just after a small saddle. Today’s hike will be approx. 10 kms and will take about 6 -7 hours to complete. Spend one night at Tshokam Campsite which is at 3,962 m (12,995 ft). Your accommodation will be in a Standard tent on full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner) basis.
Sunrise was beautiful
This morning my pulse ox was 95 so I declare myself acclimatised. It was a very frosty morning - there was even frost on the ponies.
Thank goodness breakfast was in a heated tent.
We started on the trail and got a bit lost in the beginning, going along the pony route, instead of up to the ridge. We returned and started up a very steep portion to the ridge. We took a small rest at ruins which were used by monks for meditation. It fell into disuse when the trail became popular. There were some small finches along the way. The views opened up as we reached the ridge.
From the ridge we could see the lake where we camped
The profile of the trail today was up/down/up /down/up/down. We finally got to the last big uphill which turned out to be 12,999 feet, but 13,800. We ran into some sleet as we climbed. I hadn't expected a second high altitude saddle, so this was a bit of a strain. We saw ponies and pony minders coming down, but no tourists. Turns out these people were going up into the mountains to find their cattle and bring them down for the season.
We had lunch at the top which included fiddler fern.
Coming down we went through several meadows and finally down through a forest
We had a blood pheasant sighting coming down and also saw a Buzzard near camp site - unfortunately, no photos of either.
Rain started as we came down into the campsite. There were some other ponies coming the other way with big red hats
They offered a warm water wash - still not sure how to do it
and tea which included some soup
Forgot to take pictures of dinner: soup with cabbage, rice, chicken (with bones), fried tofu, sour fern, beans with capsicum, tea
Another group of two Germans was also camping here - the wife decided not to continue, so they camped at our site 2 nights and will camp at a small village near a road tomorrow for a drive back to Paro.
Sleep was a bit of a challenge as two dogs were in camp- one of which insisted on barking and I asked he be sent away.
There were also some cows at our campsite.
Can hear the pony bells and a stream somewhere
The stars were nice, like on the first night
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