A trek to the Gosainkunda, Nepal
We, a group of six friends decided to trek to the Gosaikunda, a holy Lake situated in Langtang National Park. This national park is in Rasuwa which is north to Kathmandu valley. Langtang National Park is home to various plants and wildlife. Gosaikunda is at a height of 4380 meters above the sea level with the surface area of 34 acres. The Hindu belief of the Lake is associated with Lord Shiva. During Janai Purnima many Hindu visit Gosaikunda. Janai Purnima is a festival on the day of the full moon. It is celebrated by bathing in sacred water and tying ornamental thread to the wrists. Moving into the trekking part, the trek to Gosaikunda has three routes. One route starts from Kathmandu at Sundarijal. Another is from Syapru Besi. The third route which happens to be our route for the trek starts from Dhunche.
Our journey began with a departure from Kathmandu at 8 in the morning. We reached Dhunche, the head-quarter of Rasuwa at 2 in the afternoon. We had already reached the elevation of 2030 meters which is 600 meters more than Kathmandu’s elevation and hence resulting colder climate. Some of us had to put on heavy clothes.
Dhunche
At 3, we started walking towards Deurali(2600m). We were accompanied by many other groups of trekkers. The excitement was quite high. The first five minutes, we walked downhill and came across a small river. After crossing the river, the inclination started. But I must say that the walking aside the sound of water is a different feeling. We walked slowly but continuously. According to a group returning to Dhunce, we were near to Deurali. It was after 3 hours of trek. It was almost dark. It took us an hour to reach Deurali after that. This place had no electricity. Only source of light at night was solar. There was a single hotel in Deurali but was big enough to accommodate all the trekkers. Another hotel was at Dhimsa for which we had to walk another one and a half hours or maybe two. So, we decided to stay there. We booked rooms and went to the dining hall of the hotel. We paid 700 per person for the stay and the dinner. We ordered tea and sat around the fire with other guests. One French guy named Alexi sat beside us. He was a solo traveler. He visited several other countries. This sole purpose of visiting different countries was a search for peace in different cultures. I kind of liked his thought. Dinner was served after a while and we dined with Alexi. After the dinner, we went to bed as it was very cold. The next morning we could see a clear view of a mountain. It was beautiful. The aroma in the morning was pleasant. Around seven, we had the breakfast and after few clicks with the group, we started our second day.
Early morning at deurali
Deurali
Off from Deurali to Dhimsa
We reached Dhimsa after two hours of ascending uphill. There was a hotel where we decided to have lunch. According to the owner of hotel, the walk from Deurali to Dhimsa was the hardest in the trek. Dhimsa was at elevation of 3100 meters. We could see waterfalls from the hotel in the other hills. We finished our lunch and rested almost for half hour. One hour after leaving the hotel, we got to a place called Chandan Bari, also called Sing Gompa which is name of a monastery. This place was famous for dairy products mostly made from yak milk. We saw few horses and mule carrying daily goods and gas cylinders on way to Chandan Bari.
Chandanbari
We snapped a picture in front of the monastery and got ourselves moving. Our stop for the night, Laure Bina was now visible. We could spot different kinds of birds on the way. On reaching nearer to Cholang Pati, we were walking along side the eye-catching view of Langtang Himal. We rested there and drank coffee. The Laure Bina was forty-five minutes of uphill trek away from us. Due to elevation of the place, there was no forest. Now the mountains were clearly visible. We hiked our way up to laure Bina(3700m).
on the way to laurebina
we and our friend Alexi from france
The place is almost surrounded by the mountains and has astoundingly beautiful landscape. We sat down almost for ten minutes admiring the beauty of the place. We clicked few photos. We also had one photo with Alexi. The dusk was near. So, we booked rooms in the hotel. We enjoyed the sunset with cup of tea. Alexi was staying in the next hotel. He joined us later in the evening for chit chat. After the sunset, had dinner. However, due to the elevation, few trekkers were facing altitude sickness. We were to hike to the tower and then to the Gosaikunda from there. The next morning, we had our breakfast. Unfortunately, one of our group members felt sick. We waited for him to feel okay. We got ourselves moving toward the tower after our friend was okay.
Far away from the howling vehicles, industries and dust, the quality of air was quite pure in the region. Now, our final destination, the Gosaikunda was only three hours walk away. We headed towards it. From there, the walk was quite dangerous as well but the beauty was something else. One can turn in any direction and get a view of nature’s beauty. We saw Saraswati Lake followed by Vairab Lake on walking towards the destination. Finally, we reached Gosaikunda. Watching the Gosaikunda was so peaceful. As someone truly said, “The best view comes after the hardest climb.”
The scenic beauty was mesmerizing. Some people were swimming but we could barely touch the water because it was very cold. We prayed at the temple nearby the Lake, clicked few pictures and rushed ourselves back to the nearest hotel. We drank hot chocolate and had our lunch in that hotel with the view of Lantang Himal along with the Gosaikunda and Vairab Lake. After few minutes of rest, we started to descend towards the hotel at Laure Bina where we had our belongings. We descended quick and targeted to stay at Chandan Bari. We reached Chandan Bari at dark. We got up early the next morning, had our breakfast, bought some dairy products and headed towards Dhunche. We saw a baby deer on the way back. At noon, we reached Dhunche. We ate our lunch there and booked a jeep for us. We arrived to Kathmandu at 10 pm.
I must say, this trek was one of the coolest things I’ve ever tried in my life. This trek was like a treat to me both physically and mentally. I felt very much relaxed after the trek and I guess my fellow trekkers did as well. I could never forget how admirable nature actually is. I can still can visualize all the mountains, the trails and of course the holy Gosaikunda. The hospitality is the best like any other places in Nepal since we have a proverb, “guest is god”. The Hotel owners and people living in the Gosaikunda prove every bit of the proverb. The overall trekking was very refreshing.