Sharmila and I visited Bhutan last October and promised to go back soon. Just a 2-hour flight from Delhi takes you to Paro at 7,000 feet, where you can breathe clean and crisp mountain air. Besides Paro, we visited Thimphu, Gangtey (where we stayed at the sublime Gangtey Lodge), and Punakha. We did a lot of day hikes, visited some Dzongs, and climbed up to the Taktsang Monastery, famously known as Tiger’s Nest, at 10,000 feet.

We went back again in December for New Year’s with the kids and stayed at the lovely Postcard Dewa just outside Thimphu, where we all climbed up to Tiger’s Nest again. Since Sharmila and I both enjoyed the day hikes so much, I asked the local guides to recommend a multi-day hike we could both do. And that’s how we ended up signing up for the Druk Path trek with Yangphel Adventures.

We flew into Paro on a crisp October morning from Delhi and were greeted by Namgay Rinchen, who would be our guide for the trek and the duration of our stay. Much has been written about the amazing landing, with the pilot maneuvering the plane onto a short runway between two 18,000-foot peaks. I recently saw a video of someone on a hike who captured the landing really well. It’s a stunning takeoff and landing. This time, we stayed at the Como Uma in Paro for a couple of nights and did an acclimatization hike above Paro, halfway up to Bumdra. Bumdra is a hike that one can do in two days and offers some great views.

Day 1 of the hike starts at 9400 feet an hour by road above Paro, just beyond a dog shelter, where we were greeted by the rest of the team, comprising of a cook, camp staff, and a horseman with his 8 Bhutia horses to carry all our gear. We also noticed a lovely stray dog, a Bhutia — Tibetan Mastiff mix who was hanging around and seemed to want to join the trek. There is a new hotel that’s come up at the trailhead and might be a good place to stay for those considering doing the hike. A relatively easy first day took us through a beautiful pine forest with the canopies of the trees merging into each other, gurgling streams, moss-covered tree stumps, and a lot of gentle ascents and descents. It had rained loads the previous week, so there were a lot of damp patches. Namgay and Sharmila were constantly praying for no rain. The way Namgay described the previous week’s trek with incessent rain sounded like a nightmare. We had lunch laid out by a stream on the way up, of phasha pah (pork and radish), pumpkin curry, beans, and some Bhutanese red rice. I used a waist pouch for the first time and carried some nuts, a phone, a sun screen, and a few miscellaneous things. It sits so naturally on the waist, and one just does not feel it while walking. The waist was ergonomically designed to carry a pouch by God. We reached Jele Dzong in less than 5 hours, our halt for the night at 12000 feet. It’s a lovely campsite on the grounds of the Jele Monestry, though strewn with horse and cattle dung, with lovely views of Paro Valley and Mount Jomolhari. Dinner was beef and broccoli, roasted vegetables, and rice. The temperature dropped significantly, and we were layered in our sweaters, jackets, woollen caps, and socks. And then it started pouring and rained all night! The dog we saw at the start of the trek had made it to camp and parked himself outside our tent for most of the night. He barked through the night, maybe at some wild animal lurking around!

We woke up to a wet but clear morning, and we were on our way by 8.15 after packing up and a hearty breakfast towards our next camp at Tshokham. Today we wore gaiters around our ankles since the route promised to be wet and sludgy after a night of rain. The dog was nowhere to be seen. We walked through a lovely alpine forest with thick Rhodendron trees on the hillside. Litchen and moss formed green and rust-coloured growths on the branches and trunks of most of the trees along the way. Just before we broke for lunch, Sharmila got left behind a bit, and when she caught up with us, she said she saw a rather large grey-coloured dog-like animal for a fraction of a second! Sharmila thought it was a wolf. Namgay said there are no wolves in this forest or any animal that looks like what Sharmila described. Maybe a shapeshifter protecting us along the trail? Mahakala appearing as a dog and then a grey wolf-like animal! And to add to the excitement, we soon came across very clear pug marks of a leopard on the wet trail. Was this the wild animal the dog was barking at in the night?

We soon stopped at a mountaintop for a lovely lunch laid out on a folding camp table with chairs (this was a daily feature of the trek) of pasta and grilled chicken, with cauliflowers and chickpeas. We finally reached our camp site at 12750 feet for the night at 2.15 pm after a 6-hour hike. We were greeted with popcorn and hot water for our tea and coffee. Tshokham is a lovely camp site with amazing views of snowclad peaks. We came across another dog at the camp site, and even Namgay was surprised to see the dog since there is no human habitation nearby. Mahakal in one of his forms, perhaps. Each evening Namgay would brief us about what to expect the next day, the route, the terrain, the time it would take and always end with a Bhutanese folk tale. Day 3 promised to be daunting with 8–9 hours of walking. After a dinner of momos and stir-fried bok choy, Sharmila and I retired to our tents. Our night ritual involved getting into our night clothes in a supine position given the nature of the tents lit by a small camp lantern, making pilows out of our 2–3 jackets, getting our feet warm with the hot water bottle provided, and then lights out.

We woke up to another cold and crisp morning. Mornings were about repacking our duffle bags to hand over to the horse team, folding and stuffing our sleeping bags, filling our water bottles to carry, and getting ready for the day ahead. We set of just before 8 am for what would prove to be the toughest day of the trek. We came across some horsemen who were up in the mountains collecting herbs to make incense with a lovely herd of horses and one that was pristine white. The route was stunning, with the terrain changing every hour. Our destination was Jigmilangtsho Lake, where we would camp at nearly 13,000 feet. The lake is famous for trout. The route followed the ridge of the mountain with stunning views of both Paro, which we had left behind, and Thimpu, which we were walking towards. Finally made it to camp on the banks on the lake around 4 pm, after 8 hours of trudging the mountains. To combat the slight headache I was getting in the rarified air and our tiredness, the chef prepared some buckwheat soup for us and was most welcome. After a quick dinner of pad Thai noodles and baked fish (not from the lake!) we called it a night. I had a constant dull headache for the next two days. Sharmila had acclimatised well, and the altitude did not bother her at all. She was more worried about the state of her knees due to the steep descents and was also nursing a surgery she had to do to remove a nail just before the trip.

We woke up well rested and set out at 8am for another long day for our next and final camp at Labana. The dog who had started off with us at the beginning of the trek appeared again, and we named him Boots, given that he had a perfect socks-like patch on each foot on his otherwise thick black coat. Today was a long, challenging, but lovely hike. We started by skirting around the lake and then climbed up through a lush green forest that reminded me of Mirkwood from the Hobbit. The rest of the day was really walking on boulders, rock faces, and stone. One very long uphill section was a dried-up stream bed where hikers had built 100s of small chortens out of stones and rocks. To keep our spirits up, the chef had made chicken curry and rotis for lunch. After crossing a spur, we were greeted with views of the Simkota Lake, where people who do the trek over 5 nights camp. We finally reach our destination at 4.30 pm. Labana would be our highest camp site at 14000 feet next to a small lake lit with candles that devotees make when the lake freezes over in winters. We ran into a bunch of young Bhutenese who were returning from a day pilgrimage to another sacred lake and were returning to Thimpu. They were walking back with headlamps, and when we did the same route the next day, I just could not imagine how they travesed it in the night. Some horsemen were camped nearby and invited us to join them around a bonfire they had lit. Bonfires are not allowed in Bhutan on treks, and most trekking outfits will not light one. But it was a welcome change for us in the biting cold, and the camp team sang us a few folk tunes. After a dinner of Dong Po Pork and Pan Fried Broccoli, we called it a night. We woke up above the clouds to the most glorious sun rise of the trek. The lake and the chortens on it were shimmering in the glow of the sun.

We left the camp at 8 and climbed to the saddle at the highest point of the trek at 14100 feet. Sharmila and I took a moment to tie some prayer flags that we were carrying at Phemu La Pass. The views were astounding, and we were able to sight Mt. Gangkar and other Himalayan peaks. We also got amazing views of Thimpu Valley further on. And then it was just a nonstop descent passing Phajoding Monastery to Namgay’s exhortation to keep going on…Jogay, Jogay. The last we saw of Boots was at the monastery, where he joined another pack of dogs waiting to accompany another set of hikers, perhaps. Goodbye Mahakala. The descent really was challenging, and the path was mostly broken rock and mud. The only section of the trek we could not wait to get over. We were finally greeted by the camp team for one last lunch, which was laid out beyond the monastery, and after another hour or so, we finished our trek at 4.30 just above Thimpu.

The trek was the toughest multi-day physical activity I have ever done but was both rewarding and exhilerating. We both made it back stronger and fortunately with no soreness, aches or pains. The team at Yangphel (Choni at the office, Namgay, Karma the Chef, Kumbhu the camp staff and the horseman) was excellent both in term of organisaiton and being sensitive to our needs. A once in a life time experience in an amazing country.