The Day of Reckoning!

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Today we attack the mountain, again. The adventure today is scaling the mountain to reach the Tiger’s Nest, altitude 10,247’. (We’re starting just above sea level!) Weather today is great for trekking, 70ish for a high, no rain, slightly smoggy. Here they call that “slightly cloudy” but with all the wood fires, it’s smog!

Departed the hotel at 8:30am sharp, 20-minute drive to the mountain base, a quick potty break and off we go. Our guide, Sam, has made this trek 3 times this month, ours will be the fourth. He volunteered to carry our bag so not to disappoint, we let him.

start 2

The Tiger’s Nest is center picture (little white dot)

Start

The start

zzz Easy way

Easy way up, at least part way!

First climb the mountain on the left

So why is this monastery here in the first place? Buddhist belief has it that the Second Buddha (Numero Dos) saw that the mountain had a demon living in it that was causing bad times for the people in the valley below. Enter our hero. Flying in on a tiger, the Second Buddha defeated the demon and took over the mountain. Of course, in honor of this, the valley people built a monastery to note the occasion. And it had to be at the steepest point of the mountain face, sure.

The trek is a bit challenging. The first 20 minutes or so are a slight incline, some rocks, some steps, some dirt path. The next 2-hours is steep, rocky, and the same mix of rock, steps, and dirt path. Finally, we reach the last section which is cement stairs and pathway. 728 steep stairs down; 338 steep stairs up. The reward…access to the Tiger’s Nest temple.

The starting point

Where we started

The path

The Path

Sam checking his phone

Mountain Mom-Bear

One fourth the way up

1/4th the way up rest area

stairs, stairs, more stairs

Stairs, stairs and more stairs

Only 1 more hour…

the starting point2

The valley where we started…

After a tour of the nine temples located inside the Tiger’s Nest, time to start the trek back to the parking lot. Down the steep 338 steps, up the steep 728 steps then downhill (mostly) on dirt, rock, and steps (forgot to mention most of the steps are actually tree roots). Round trip we did it in 7hrs with 30-minute break at the café on the way up; a 30-minute break at the café on the way down. 6hrs of “no shit” hiking!

Tiger's nest2

Tiger’s Nest, almost there.

Break time!

Delirium sets in

Hungry jay

Why? So the three people that read this  in blog can enjoy the pictures. (Guess I shouldn’t count myself)

zzz Final pushEnd of our time in Bhutan. Tomorrow we fly back to Kathmandu and catch our overnight flight to Tokyo. It’s been an awesome time here with Sam and Nidup. Sam was a great guide and Nidup was an excellent driver. If you get the urge to come to Bhutan for the beauty, cleanliness, history, yoga, whatever, these are the guys to hook up with. And since you have to have a guide to enter Bhutan, why not.

 

Final notes on Bhutan

First, immaculately clean! No graffiti, trash, dented up cars, beggars, homeless, etc. Pleasant and friendly people with a strong commitment to the Buddhist lifestyle making them helpful and very friendly. 72% of this kingdom is forest making it the only country on Earth that is carbon negative. Tons of temples, and shrines and excellent hotels and restaurants. And the tour guides- the best. So why not a little adventure…

Onward to Japan!