Goecha La trek - Looking for info

itamar

Hello,
I'm planning to travel India from mid-march to late august.
The places I want to visit are Andaman Islands, North east states, Sikkim, Himachel Pradesh and Ladakh.

I wish to make several treks during this trip.
For Sikkim i thought about doing the Goecha La trek.
My questions are:

1. I'm on a low budget. How low can we go price-wise per day in an organised or semi-organised Goecha la trek?
2. Is it the best trek in Sikkim, scenery-wise?
3. Is May an okay-month to make it?

If you have other recommendations for treks in Sikkim I'd love to hear them, as long as they are unmotorable. For places which are motorable I'd rather take the Bus

Thanks everybody!

travel joy

Goecha La is the most spectacular trek in Sikkim..off course if u can reach the top of the pass.The best trekking routes in Sikkim are from Yaksum.The path is common upto Dzongri and then u have two options. Firstly you can go towards Rathong galcier crossing the HMI base camp.Then u can advance further for the "Lake trek", reaching the beautiful spot Khangerdin. Secondly there is the orthodox route to Goecha La from Dzongri.

The per day costing for this trek will be around 400-450 INR as per my estimate.

May is a good month for Goecha La.Weather conditions will be good hopefully( that area is very unpredictable).

itamar

Thanks for commenting.
Is this rate [400-450rps] is for organised trek?
what would be included under this rate?

thanks a lot.

arjunm

Dear Itamar

I did the Goecha trek in May and everything was wonderful. Do it in late May/early June when you are going to see Rhododendrons in full bloom. The whole hill side is on fire (red).

The route is very scenic. It starts with forests. Climbs upto Tshoka and then the grazing ground of Phedang. Again a huff and puff climb to Dzongri. This Tshoka to Dzongri bit is steep but nothing that a fit person cannot do.

About organised rates it works this way. You contact a trekking agency, haggle. And finally settle down to a rate of about Rs 500 per day per person. This is on the lower side. On the higher side it could get to Rs 1000 per person. As I said earlier haggle as hell.

Now, if you do it on your own (and I see no reason why you shouldn't), you can do the trek in royal style for Rs 3000 - Rs 4000 per head (the whole trek). In fact if you do it our way you can do it for Rs 2000 per head.

So think about the options. For more information let me know.

Arjun

abhijitp

Hi Arjun,
About 6-7 of us will be leaving for sikkim next week!We were thinking of doing the goechala trek!Can you let me know some more details on the route,guide availability,porters and cost of the trek?? Is it best to contact some tour operator from here or find one there itself??

Regards
Abhi

arjunm

Dear Abhijit

If you are planning to do the Goecha trek (and you should), here are answers to your questions:

Route: Very well marked out from Yuksum, all the way to Goecha. No need for a guide. But you need some porters who can act as guide.

Places to stay: Lots of lodges in Yuksum. Depending on your budget. You get very decent stuff for Rs 200 - 300 per day (2 of you can get in and be comfortable).

Porters: Easily available. No need to go to an agent. Just ask around the market area and they'll find you! If you are a group of 6, take one porter cum guide cum cook and 4 yaks. Yaks can carry lots of load plus comes along with a driver. Porters will try to make you believe you need more people, but not on this route. Porters Rs 200-250 per day. Yak: Rs 300 per day.

Caution: Take 15 liters of Kerosene from the plains. That should be enough for the trek.

Generally if you have a smart porter he can arrange for stoves, utensils etc for the trek (need to pay extra). Or else you can take it on rent from some trekking agency in Yuksum (plenty of them). Stack up your provisions from Yuksum. You are not going to get anything further on.

Cost: You should net it within Rs 3000 per head (on the very high side). If you are a smart trekker, you can do it under Rs 2000 per head.

I may have missed some points, feel free to ask me.

Arjun

abhijitp

Thanks a lot for the info dude!On more thing,tents also should be easily available for hire I suppose??

Regards
Abhijit

abhijitp

Hi Arjun,
Can you also let me know the exact route you took?I can see that there a couple of routes from yuksom to Goechala!

Thanks
Abhijit

dooms

Is it advisable to do Goecha La in December?

arjunm

Dear Abhijit

Take the standard route to Goecha. It is this:

Day 1: Yuksum to Tshoka
Day 2: Tshoka to Dzongri
Day 3: Early morning excursion to Dzongri top
Day 3: Dzongri to Thansing
Day 4: Thansing to Samiti Lake
Day 5: Samiti Lake to Goecha and back to Thansing
Day 6: Thansing to Tshoka
Day 7: Tshoka to Yuksom

I have a few suggestions:

On day 1 instead of Yuksum to Tshoka, go only upto Sachen (where you have a log hut). Stay there. Sachen is at the foot of the Prek Chu (river). After that it is a good climb upto Tshoka. Tshoka to Dzongri is also a terror climb.

From Samiti start early (say 3.30 am) to catch the sunrise at Sunrise point (on the way to Goecha). You've got to nail Sunrise point by 5 am to see on of the most glorious sunrise you will ever witness.

Frankly, this trek is going to be cold and you may find your route blocked by snow. In case that's the case return from the point you can last make it to. The trek even upto that point is great.

Arjun

travel joy

There is no way one can go upto Goecha La in December..Even reaching upto Dzongri will be tough because of the snow.
Arjun has provided a great plan..but I will disagree at one point..
It is not worth spending a day at Sachen.Better take a halt a Bakkhim..There is a hut there too..better spot, higher altitude..help you in acclimatising better.
Bakkim to Tshoka is uphill..But I found the path frm Tshoka to Pethang the toughest..ahd to take quite a few rests

fmo1974

What about Goecha La in mid-February to March? I was intending to go to Sikkim at that time and wanted to have a go at the Goecha La trek. I did the Singalila trek at the same time in 2004 when it snowed a bit but otherwise was fine.

arjunm

Hi

The Goecha treks moves upto 16,000 ft. The altitude is higher. You are going to get plenty of snow on the trek. Perish the idea of going in Feb-March.

April end is kind of ok.

Arjun

patty

hi may i ask someone is it possible for a woman to trek alone.coz i've plan to go to goechala in november. should i go with tour agent or should i hire guide&porter at yuksom . as i read the previous information.we cant go up to goechala ,right?

arunchs

If you are there before the snowfall, you might be able to reach to Gochela. The usual season to trek is a short two month window in September/October when the rains have subsided and it hasnt started snowing.

You can hire guide/porters at Yuksom if you want to save some money. Going with a tour operator is obviously more expensive but you might be able to go in a little more comfort.

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