Day 15 Gopte to Melamchigaon
We left soon after a clear Himalayan sunrise with a sea of grey, smoggy cloud below smothering the lowlands to the south. We dropped very steeply through the frosted forrest and then began a 400m climb up to Thadipati where we paused for a sunny second breakfast. We heard the village long before we saw it as amplified Puja chants were booming out from the ridge. On the south and east side of the ridge cumulus was bubbling up and we only glimpsed the giant peaks to the east before they were lost in the late morning cloud.
The path then dropped, very steeply at times, into the cloud forest below. Huge pines and rhododendron and a lovely forest descent. For a 1,000m the path twisted it’s way down through the trees before we bore off to the left to cross an ageing suspension bridge a brief climb to reach the bustling town of Melamchigaon.
Melamchigaon had been completely flattened by the 2015 earthquake and it is great to see so much energy, investment and industry going into it’s reconstruction.
The Sherpani lodge keeper at the Yangrima Hotel was delighted to host such a large trekking party this late in the season. She lit the huge and smoking stove before retreating to her kitchen to cook the various suppers on order.