DRUK PATH TREK
Day 1: Paro – JiliDzong
Distance 7 km, 4-5 hours, 1,090 m ascent, camp altitude 3,480 m.
You will start your trek from TaDzong (National Museum) in Paro and today you will ascend more than 1,000 meters in elevation. The route begins from a gravel road and then you will go through agricultural farms for about 30 minutes. You will then climb up a steep ridge after which you will go through bluepine and fir forests leading you to DamcheGom. You will then reach a ridge below the JiliDzong where you will camp for the evening.
Day 2: Jili Dzong – Jangchulakha
Distance 10 km, 4-5 hours, 310 m ascent, 50 m descent, camp altitude 3,770 m.
Today you will start your hike with a steep climb for about 90 minutes after which the route evens out and the ascent becomes easier. You will pass through alpine forests and dwarf rhododendron trees. At your campsite at Jangchulakha, you may see local yak herders and yaks.
Day 3: Jangchulakha – JimgelangTsho
Distance 11 km, 4 hours, 230 m descent, 330 m ascent, camp altitude 3,870 m.
Today, you will hike begin the hike from a ridge. A clear day will give you amazing scenery of the high mountains and alpine vegetation. You will camp near the JimgelangTsho (Tsho means Lake), which is well known of its giant trout.
Day 4: JimgelangTsho – SimkotraTsho
Distance 11 km, 4 hours, 820 m ascent, 400 m descent, camp altitude 4,110 m.
Today you will leave your lakeside camp and move to another lakeside camp. You will pass through rhododendron vegetation and also pass a lake, Janetsho, along the way. Along the route, you will meet yak herders and see theircamps giving you first hand experience of nomadic life in the Himalayas. You will camp near the SimkotraTsho Lake.
Day 5: SimkotraTsho – Phajoding
Distance 10 km, 3-4 hours, 130 m ascent, 680 m descent, camp altitude 3,750 m.
You can begin the day with a prayer to have a clear whether. After a gradual climb and if your prayer is answered and the whether is clear, you can view the spectacular Mount GangkarPuensum (7570), the highest unclimbed
mountain in the world. You can also view several other high peaks. From here, you will descent towards Phajoding where will camp for the night just above the popular Phadjoding Monastery.
Day 6: Phajodhing – Motitang; trek ends.
Distance 4-5 km, 3 hours, 1,130 m descent.
You can visit the Phadjoding monastery from where you will walk downhill through blue pine forest for about three hours to reach the Bhutan Broadcast Service (BBS) Telecommunication Tower in capital Thimphu.