Buddhism Sanctuary Trail – The Solu’s Soul

“A second shooting star glowed above me as I continued to climb in the howling wind toward the summit. The Sherpas were just a short distance behind me: Mingma, our guide, and our porters, Lakpa and Ongchu, who carried all of our food and cooking and camping gear for the nights in the Himalayan wilderness. Even with all my layers, the wind bit into my bones, and I marched breathlessly forward on stone steps on an icy morning. Hundreds of prayer flags waved fiercely as I arrived at the mountaintop, and I was soon joined by the Sherpas and my friend and fellow Trail Angels, Kevin from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Soon we put down our packs and waited for sunrise from the only peak on earth from which you can see seven of the 14 highest mountains on earth: Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna. After a glorious sunrise, the boys hung a few more strands of prayer flags from the colorful cairn to send prayers and peace to the far corners of the earth in these relentless winds. Then we looked into the golden distance, trying to sense a trace of our way to Shangri-La, to the sacred lake of Dudh Kunda. We began our descent from Pikey (pronounced “Pe-Kay”) Peak, trading the stars of our ascent for the distant warmth of a December sun.

Hanging the prayer flags is something quite magical, especially in such a stunning place © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

At many times during those days on the trail, I had asked myself “How did I get here?” As luck, or fate, would have it, I had crossed paths with the Trail Angels in the Western Balkans the previous summer, and had the time of my life photographing a scouting trek of the High Scardus Trail. After I arrived in Nepal for personal reasons in October, I was excited to learn there was another trail I could scout for them. After getting to know Trail Angels personally on the stunning High Scardus, I trusted that whatever they had their eyes on in Nepal would have to be simply world-class.

As expected, Trail Angels came through with an itinerary that stands in a league of its own. The diversity of experience and the value inherent on so many levels here are unparalleled.

First, is the location. In choosing a region that has been overlooked by mainstream tourists, you are truly ‘off the beaten path,’ except at brief periods where you intersect the old Hillary route, which these days feels more like a neglected relic of the past. Out on this trail, with every step, you feel as if you’re privy to a secret that no one else knows. Some of the stages are so remote, you won’t encounter another person for hours on end.

Trail scouting, here we work very closely with the local experts to work out the best routing © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

And sometimes it takes more eyes there © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

This leads me right into the next highlight: the experience of wilderness camping. Because it’s such a remote trail, you don’t have the throngs of guesthouses that appear every couple of hours along established routes such as the Annapurna Circuit, and therefore will be camping in forest clearings, exposed ridges, or on sacred shores purely out of necessity. The experience of trekking with Himalayan Sherpas opened up a completely new type of experience for me. These men who traveled with us were stronger than steel – carrying backbreaking loads up to dizzying heights, and then setting up camp, cooking, and serving always with a smile on their faces. One of our porters was a chef, so we were dumbfounded as we restored ourselves with warm and delicious organic fare from the comfort of our sleeping bags on cold nights with a steaming cup of fresh tea. It’s also one of the most magical things to wake up in the morning and look out at the sunrise from a secret vantage point above the clouds.

Not only the fire at the tent camp glows up… © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

… but also the sky in this so magnificent landscape with its mighty mountain ranges © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

The culture: The Trail is aptly named, for it leads one through a veritable Tibetan Buddhism Sanctuary, providing close contemplation of monasteries full of character, unfrequented enough by visitors to the point where they notice and welcome you warmly. Where else can you personally meet a Rinpoche? Or look upon a true city of exile monks spread across a mountainside? For these reasons, many of the other trekkers you’ll come across (if any) will be pilgrims. You trek through authentic Sherpa villages, in valleys where the workers are out in the fields, the food is all locally grown, and the commercialized guesthouses are few and far between.

Finally: If the above reasons aren’t appealing enough, the wild and stunning landscapes seen on this trail alone are more than enough reason to bring me back to this region. Aside from the breathtaking and ineffable views gained from Pikey Peak and at Dudh Kunda, you will encounter hour upon hour of blissful trekking along rugged ridges; enchanted, old-growth rhododendron forests that seem like they’re right out of a Tolkien tale; and stunning, seemingly secret valleys with rippling streams and golden pastures.

Especially on the Buddhism Sanctuary Trail there are numerous opportunities to experience monasteries, monks and their customs up close © Fair Trails®/Matthew Nelson

This trek is something I would highly recommend to a veteran traveler of Nepal. If you’ve gotten a few of the established treks under your belt, you’ve certainly established a foundational understanding of Himalayan culture and trekking to elevate your trekking to a more profound level with this experience that to me seemed as close to “authentic adventure” as I’ve ever felt before. In the Solu, there are many paths open to you between the main destinations of this trek, and so if you book an explorer tour, you’ll likely find yourself on hours’ worth of paths that our expedition had not trodden.

I know for certain that I’ll return to the Buddhism Sanctuary, as there are depths to it that I know will reveal new secrets to me upon each visit. And even as I write this, I feel the call to return to those paths and reenter the dream world that lies within the soul of the Solu.

Thank you for reading. I hope to see you on the trail!

Links:

+   Offizielle Website von Matthew Nelson
+   Explorer Tour: Buddhism Santuary Trail

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