Trek Sandakphu-Gordom – The red panda was hiding, but a squirrel was hopping around

18. April 2025

 

 

5.45 am: I’m where I had arranged to meet Asish. He isn’t. I look outside: he’s not there either, but there are a few people scurrying around hoping to catch a glimpse of the 8,000 metres. You can see some on the roof in the picture above. There’s also a lookout round the corner, so I go there.

 

 

Yes, you can spot tall white giants between the clouds from time to time, but it’s not really that great. I walk back quickly: no Asish. I walk back and forth in the accommodation, there’s no one there to ask. But the music is already blaring again in the restaurant.

 

6.20 am: I’m still feeling peckish and don’t want to wait any longer. And then I just set off – maps.me makes it easy to find the way. We had agreed on a route the evening before: 1,400 metres in altitude on the descent. Whew.

 

But yeah, I really enjoyed hiking alone! Me alone in the mountains. There was no-one else out there either. However, I did feel a bit guilty: what if something happened to Asish? If he wasn’t feeling well? (Then he could have sent a roommate?) What if he got into trouble now because his tourist had simply left? I should have at least sent him a message about the weak wifi. But it was too late, I didn’t want to go back up and just hoped that he would catch up with me at some point.

 

 

 

 

At some point, a rider with two horses came towards me and I was able to shout to him that he should let Asish know when he met him. And then a hut came into view. An old man lived here, who made me a cup of tea. It was very idyllic, with colourful birds fluttering around and a squirrel hopping around the corner.

 

 

 

 

Despite a long break, nobody came and then I continued down again. It slowly became more strenuous as the path was steeper and slippery. It was hard on the legs, but I held my own. I had mobile signal 2 kilometres before I arrived and sent a message. A little later I received a reply: Asish was 3 kilometres from the finish.

 

 

When I arrived in Gordom, my legs were pudding – 4 hours including 4 breaks and 1 muesli bar for the 1,400 metres. I squatted down and waited – and then Asish arrived at some point. We both blamed each other (he had been there at 5:55, but I hadn’t – and he didn’t think to look outside where my easily recognisable rucksack was, he had looked in my room and it had been empty – we had somehow missed each other in the house) and then it was fine again.

 

Gordom was a joy! Despite being in India, it has two really nice accommodations! We had a good breakfast in the first one.

 

 

I actually wanted to go further down, but I couldn’t because all the accommodation was fully booked. Why was that? Resolution in the next blog post! This one was also full, but the one further down still had 1 room for me. An alternative route to mine is to start in Rimbik, spend 1 night here, scramble up the 1,400 metres and then return to Rimbik in a circle from Sandakphu via Phalut and Gorkhey. I would only offer this if someone is interested.

 

Apart from us, there was also 1 British and 1 Indian who were studying together in England and 1 other Westerner with a Mumbai Indian as well as a larger group from India Hikes. These are somewhat controversial in India (mass tourism, own guides etc.), but are very popular with Indians because a) they are cheap and b) they take good care of them. This group also had to do some stretching and tapping exercises on arrival.

 

 

The atmosphere in the group seemed very nice and pleasant to me, they seemed to be a mixed bunch but very positive towards each other. And they simply offer great treks all over India. I like the fact that trekking is becoming more and more popular with Indians. Better than those in the cars who want to party and karaoke up on the mountain.

 

We had quite a bit of time now and I got to learn about a few plants.

 

 

 

This second plant seems to be a medicinal miracle cure – but only for a lot of physical ailments that I didn’t have at the time. Dinner was the most delicious and sumptuous of the whole tour. The accommodation was run by a lovely family, 2 grown-up daughters, father and mother danced through the kitchen as if following a sophisticated choreography and working harmoniously hand in hand. It was lovely to watch. The son also arrived later – he had just passed his army exam and everyone was delighted. One of the daughters studied politics and was now thinking about what she wanted to do with it.

 

And so the day was actually quite nice after all (and no rain!) and I went to bed satisfied. Before 5.00 a.m., however, it got loud in the courtyard and people were bustling back and forth. What was going on? Find out in the next blog post!