Since my childhood days I was always drawn towards mountains, hills and the scenic beauty associated with it. It was not long that I decided to go for a trekking expedition to Sandakphu, the highest peak of West Bengal. It was around mid-October and I was in my 4th year and I had just bagged my first job. I called upon my locality friends and we decided to go for a 3-day trek to Sandakphu. Initially we did a detailed planning which included how we would start our journey, arranging rucksack, chalking out the resources we would need, carrying hollow fill jackets and many more. Finally, we decided to go for our first trekking expedition.
We boarded our train from Howrah Station at 9 pm at night. We were a group of 7 people. We reached NJP (New Jalpaiguri Station) at 6 am in the morning. After having breakfast, we booked a shuttle car from NJP to Manebhanjan which charged us 2000 rupees per head. 2 hours into our journey the normal roads were soon replaced by hills and eventually, we were going through a zig zag way travelling from one mountain to another. Soon the temperature started to drop. We reached Manebhanjan at around 2 30 pm. Since we were travelling for the first time we had to arrange for a guide. Thankfully one of our locality seniors had gone to Sandakphu before and he suggested us a guide with contact number. Soon we met our guide Kewal. He was a young chap probably in his early twenties. He suggested us that we should not start our trek from Manebhanjan as there was a storm two days before as a result a tree had fallen in the trek route. He suggested us that we should go via the normal transport road and reach Tonglu from where we should begin our trek.
It was a 1-hour journey but the condition of the road was dilapidated. We reached Tonglu soon enough and there we resided in a hut. It was a similar to a homestay. The landlady greeted us with hot tea and with biscuits which was a delight after the arduous journey. At night we arranged for a campfire where we had the local drink “Chang” and barbeque chicken. There were other travellers who were discussing about the struggles they faced while coming from Manebhanjan to Tonglu because of the storm. We hoped that we wouldn’t face such an incident during or trek. Soon after we went to bed as Kewal instructed us that we should start out trek at 6 30.
Day 1 (Tonglu to Gairibas): – 5 45 pm and my alarm started to ring. I got up and got ready and had breakfast and soon I was ready for my first trekking expedition. It was a beautiful day, a bit windy but our entire group was really energised. This was the first time anyone has ever come for a trekking expedition; we were really excited what faith had in store for us.
Soon we began our journey with Kewal leading the way and 7 of us following him. Soon we were mesmerized by the floras and the mountains all around us. We were trekking through a thin road with abyss on both sides. It was a delight to pass through hills and forest and we were also quite lucky enough to actually get to see rhododendrons which was particularly common around this time of the year. The trek was quite easy. We covered a total of 10 km the first day and finally at around 3 pm we reached Gairibas. There was a local temple nearby which we explored and we also had a birthday of one our friends which we celebrated.
Day 2(Gairibas to Sandakphu):- We started early at around 7 am. But this time the trek was really challenging. There were close to 600 steps which we had to cover. Also we were carrying a 15 kg rucksack which was a real challenge. Kewal gave us some basic instructions as how to get rid of our fatigue. The first and foremost was to never try to rush at the top and also he asked us to control our breathing. He made sure we took a few stops in between to revive our energy. Although it was a 9 km journey. But covering that 9 km undoubtedly was one of the most challenging aspects in my life. It was really difficult. At times the terrain was at a 60-degree slope and also the roads were really thin so we had to be very careful and we needed to have a good sense of mind. On our way to Sandakphu we met a couple who had come from France and were also travelling there. It was a very interesting to know about the couple who had come all the way from France to Sandakphu. Soon after we finally reached Sandakphu. We had pre booked huts and decided to rest. We had reached our destination. It was a delight for me. Fortunately I had network at 12000 ft ( I still don’t know how. I guess Airtel wasn’t lying about network everywhere) and I called my Dad and I told him that right now I was standing at the highest peak of west Bengal. I also did a video call and showed him the glimpse of the beauty that I was witnessing. Soon we came to our huts. We were all excited and satisfied. This was truly an achievement for us. We had a bonfire that night. The French couple joined us. We sang, we danced, we were totally carefree and we undoubtedly had one of the best times of our life.
Day 3: – Sandakphu to Rimbik: – We woke up at 5 am that day as Kewal told us that we had to watch the sunrise as it was a stupendous view and we were not disappointed at all. It was truly mesmerizing. We could see Kanchenjunga and it was fully golden due to the sunrise. I took out my camera and quickly took pictures.
After that we started our descend towards Rimbik. All though it was around 15 km but due to the downslope it took us less time. But the descend downwards was even more challenging for me as I had a fear of heights. But soon I had to muster up the courage (Dar ke age Jeet Hai) and Kewal helped me a lot here. Finally, we reached Rimbik and there our trekking expedition came to an end finally.
It was one of the most memorable journeys that I have ever made in my life as it was really challenging but the feeling of satisfaction of achieving the target outweighs the challenge and I hope to do more treks soon enough.
sam 