I planned for Goechala
trek for long time. This time I was able to persuade one of my friend
to accompany me during the trek.
We arranged for all the items required for the trek:
Tent, Sleeping bag(-20),sleeping mat,4 TRACK SUITS, Under
garmets,4pair of socks, Woolycot, Windcheater, Sweater, Woollen cap, Holofill/fur
jacket, woollen waterproof gloves, Raincoat, Good quality trekking shoes(quechua
500),Walking stick, Camera, extra batteries , tripod, Medicine(Diamox, disprins,
cetrizine, Imodium, norflox-tz, ORS packets), Backpack(1 20L,1 45-55L),tent
lamp(Rs.300), torch, head lamp and a trek map
We had our reserved tickets for njp on 17.10.13. The train
departed at 9:55pm, hence our journey commenced. We reached njp by 9:30am,we
took our luggage and took a service auto to silliguri bus stand. From there
Jorethang which cost us Rs.200. as we got late to reach jorethang that day (last
service taxi at 1pm,takes about 3-4hr from njp),we spend the day at a hotel,
next day we reached yuksum at 4pm.we
have already contacted Rob for hotel room, and to solve some of our queries about
trek.We took a d/b room(Rs.400),its also gives us a fine view of mountains and
Dubdi monastery.
We took refreshment after taking bath. Finally at night we sat
with Rob to discuss about the arrangements for the trek to be started the next day.
I had already heard about the scarcity of yaks due to high tourist inflow as a
result from shutting down of trekking in Uttarakhand after the heavy natural calamity.
Rob left us with 2 options:
Opt1: purchase ration, take three porter (or 2yaks700/day
and a porter) a guide cum cook(800/dy),wait for a day more for yaks to arrive, stay
where you wish
Opt2:go dry(without ration),take a porter (Rs.350/dy)and a
guide(Rs.(650/dy), bear their fooding
cost(not lodging),stay only where chowkidar available(i.e. bakhim, tsocha, dzongri,
thansing).
As we were just two, we went for the option 2, as it was
economically more feasible, and it didn’t require to spend one day sitting idle
at Yaksom. Rob contacted the guide and porter over phone and confirmed. We had
our dinner at Gupta’s restaurant and had our last night sleep on bed and quilt.
