Trekking around Dzongsar

After our breakfast in Menshod guesthouse, we will start our trekking. We hike a small hill up to Dzongsar monastery and make a quick visit to the monastery. The hill behind the monastery serves as a great platform where you can view the whole Menshod valley. We hike the hill and picnic at a higher point while appreciating the beauty of a peaceful small Tibetan village called Gyalgen village. We keep on walking till the nomad camps of Gyalgen village. We take a rest at the camp having yak milk yogurt and black tea. At the nomad sites, we will experience their warmth and genuine hospitality.

After that we walk up to the Chungtak holy mountain where we will visit meditation caves of Guru Rinpoche. The local people believe the mountain goddess is Garuda as the shape of the mountain is perceived as the structure of Garuda. It looks exactly like what they say. We can camp or stay in a meditation hut there as you like.

Overnight: Camping or sleep in hut

We hike up to the pass of Chungtak mountain with altitude of 4000m, and climb over the top where Nyadra Mountain covered with heavy snow and many beautiful mountain ranges will emerge before us.

Walking down the Chungtak mountain to Karmo Taksang, a holy place for hermitage. Many great masters took meditation in early times at the place and nowadays graduate monks from Buddhist College usually meditate for five years there with some even retreating for their life time. We can visit and make a Kora around it. After that, we will walk up to Thuruma, where the nomads of Ronmey village stay for two months in the autumn. It is a very remote and quiet place where only sound of rivers flowing and birds singing can be heard.

Overnight: camping

On our way to Dorphu Valley, we will bypass Siling Yangtso, a sacred lake with crystal clear water that mirrors the blue sky. In Tibetan areas, every twelve years there is a big Kora festival that celebrates the inauguration year of these sacred places and at that time all local people go for it. The past 2016 marked a year of such a big festival. After hiking around the lake, we will climb over Shachen pass which stands at 4000m high and then descend the mountain to Dorphu valley. As an unexplored hidden paradise with breathtaking scenic landscape, natural forests thrive in the valley, rivers of different shades of greenish blue flow along trekking paths and a variety of animals co-exist peacefully in the area.

The flora and fauna cover many species. The valley is also a great site of spiritual resonance and a place of protective mountain gods. There are only several nomad camps in the summer time in the valley. We ensure you will enjoy the silence and beauty of this valley. We will camp at Tashi Darthang.

Overnight: Camping

We hike to the upper parts of the Dorphu valley and will see the beauty of Dorgyal Monlam mountain covered by snow at the top, which is above 5500m high. We will find several nomad huts and small lakes on the way. There are rare flora and fauna that you have never seen. The area is enriched by multi-biodiversity and surrounded by ranges of mountains.

Overnight: Camping

At the end of the valley, on the hilltop, there is a meditation center or hermitage called Gagu Shangchuk Ritrehk. This is a holy site of Cherenzig. The Great Masters Ngari Kunga Jamyang, Penlop Lothar Wangpo, Lama Jamyang Gyaltsen and Deltul Kunga Gyaltsen all did religious practices at this place. At present it is used in this way by Dzongsar Monastery. Monks, nuns and even may lay people pray and study at the retreat center. We relax on the hilltop viewing the whole picture of the retreat center. We walk down to the villages after leaving retreat center if it is early and explore the villages. The car will pick us up there and return to the Menshod guesthouse. On our way back we can pay a short visit at the Blacksmith center, pots-making workshop and weaving center if they are open.