April 24, 2023
Day 8 – The Hike to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery
At the hotel bar last evening, a handful of us briefly chatted with three women who’d hiked to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery that day. They’d said they got started at 6:40 a.m. and the trail was pretty much empty; when they finally started their descent, it was crowded with people. So – an early start would make sense: breakfast about 6 a.m. with a 7 a.m. departure scheduled.
The Tiger’s Nest (or Paro Taktsang) is a sacred Buddhist monastery that dates to 1692 around a site where Buddhism was first introduced to Bhutan. There’s a legend that the monk who first meditated there was carried from Tibet and up the mountain on the back of a tigress, giving the site it’s name. It was significantly damaged in a fire in 1998 and subsequently repaired.
It was a 10-15 minute drive to the parking lot from where the hike would begin. At that point, we already were at about 8,500 ft elevation; a cafeteria would be at 9,500; the best viewpoint – from where the most famous pictures are taken – is at about 10,300, and the Tiger’s Nest itself is slightly below that.
The weather at 7 was probably low 50’s and just a tiny bit foggy and a clearing sky. We knew that as we started the hike we’d shed layers, as the sun would climb in the sky as we climbed on the trail.
The trail itself ranges in width from about 3’ to about 8’; most of it is packed mud or clay and it twists and turns up the mountain. At various points there are 5” – 8” circumference tree limbs buried into the path, creating stairs of sort to ease the uphill/downhill. Other times there are large rocks that act as stairs, or simply a packed-earth incline, or tree roots. The first half of the climb – prior to the cafeteria – is a “moderate” hike – twists and turns, almost always uphill. Just before the cafeteria it flattens a bit, and immediately past it there’s a steep incline that eventually leads to the viewpoint. From that spot, you begin a set of 800 steps with a handrail that hugs the side of a canyon, first down from the viewpoint, then back up to the Tiger’s Nest. Once you enter the gate, you have to give-up your camera(s) and packs, and there’s a tour of four temples within the complex. After that, you start heading back along the same route.
Our guides took up the front and rear of our group, and we became pretty spread out fairly quickly, depending upon how many stops each of us made to take pictures or take a drink of water or catch our breath. And you do have to stop to catch your breath. It got sunnier and warmer as we hiked; I had two layers on – a long-sleeve t and a North Face fleece – and I carried a daypack that had my camera, a rain jacket, and a baseball cap. The fleece came off after about 20 minutes, and that’s the way I hiked the rest of the way; once in the monastery I had to put my fleece back on, as it was chilly inside, but it came off again for the return hike. I moved back-and-forth among our group, from the lead, to further back while chatting and taking pics, and back to the front.
It was great. A push physically – huffing and puffing, sweating – but never feeling as if “I can’t do this.” The views across the mountains and valleys were beautiful and awe-inspiring. Seeing the Tiger’s Nest from the parking lot and then along the way and then from the cafeteria and then from the viewpoint was great – it set a goal of sorts – and also fed the disbelief we were going all the way there.
The round trip hike itself took about 3 1/2 hours, not including the stop at the Monastery, covering 5.2 miles; the app I use said the elevation gain was 2,800 ft, which doesn’t quite match what the elevations are measured to be (tho maybe it’s “total” ups-and-downs), but assume we went up about 2,000 ft from where we started. Overall, from when we started the hike to when we got back down, we spent about 5 1/2 hours out-and-about.
After the descent, it was a stop for celebratory champagne, beer, wine, fruit, and croissants, in chairs under a tent. We sat and chatted, traded pics, with smiles on our faces as we listened to a couple of musicians play some local music.
It’s been a great day.
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