The 23 day trek began at the ruins of Drukgyel Dzong (at 2580m), a short drive from Paro. We quickly explored the ruins before heading off into the wilds and our big adventure.
Trekking began in the Paro Chhu valley and we ascended gradually on the first day (to 2860m), and then rapidly on the second, spending the second night at 3600m and moving up to 4100m at Jangothang for our third night and first rest and acclimatisation day. The rapid altitude gain was very draining and I found the second and third days particularly taxing as I was also feeling unwell (possibly due to one or all of dehydration, altitude and Bhutanese trekking food).
The country was heavily forested until close to Jangothang where we climbed above the tree line for views of our first yaks and the feet of the surrounding mountains, including Jomolhari (7314m). The weather didn't treat us too kindly in this first part of the trek, with low cloud obscuring many of the best views. Luckily we had some better weather later (and some more low cloud too!).
On our rest day I took a stroll up a ridge near our camp site with Brigitte (our leader for this trek was the amazing and legendary Brigitte Muir) to assist with acclimatisation, while the majority of our group took a daywalk up another valley to Tsophu Lake.
Next up we cross our first 4 passes during 6 days of trekking on the way to Laya.
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