Tiger’s Nest, Day 2 of the Bumdra Trek

Remember when I said we thought we were going to have the best sleep of our lives? Well, that did not happen and surprisingly, not because of the cold! I ended up getting too warm in the night, maybe because of the hot water bottle? The spicy chilis I ate at dinner? The pile of blankets on top of me? Or the fact that I slept in my hoodie? Or maybe it was a combination of it all, we’ll never know, ha. The real reason we didn’t sleep well was because of the altitude, our hearts raced all night long. 

At about 5:30am I could hear the glampers in the tent next door start to stir. I knew the sun would be rising soon but I sat in the warmth of my bed trying to muster the courage to brave the cold and peak outside. When I finally did, I was kicking myself for waiting so long. Yes, it was freezing but THE VIEW! I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Eric and I immediately bundled up so we could watch the moon set and the sunrise. It was glorious.

After stuffing ourselves with a breakfast of the fluffiest pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, fried rice, cereal and more ezay, we packed up our bags and started our hike back to Paro. Before actually starting down, we hiked up to the monastery that was perched above our camp and then began our grueling decent. Heading down was actually the hardest part of the trek. It was much steeper than our climb and our poor knees and legs were not thrilled. Any little bit of flat ground or climb (despite the burn in our lungs) was a respite.

We stopped at a few monasteries on the way down before heading to Tiger’s Nest. Tiger’s Nest is a cliffside monastery located at 10,232ft and is one of most defining images of Bhutan. Most people just make Tiger’s Nest a one day out and back hike, starting and ending at the parking lot. Despite it being a day hike, we passed many ill-prepared tourists making the trek. For a 4 mile hike (round trip) that has about 1800ft elevation gain, the amount of people we passed with sandals and no water was alarming. The last part of the climb to Tiger’s nest involved climbing about 670 stairs (yes, counting them was the only way I could get through it, ha).

After conquering those 670 stairs again to get back to the main trail, it was officially all down hill. We made it to the parking lot around 3pm where Ugyen was waiting and we headed for a much needed lunch and hot stone bath. 

We enjoyed another delicious feast for our late lunch and even got to try some of their famous butter tea before heading to the baths. A hot stone bath is a traditional Bhutanese therapy where river rocks are heated over an open fire for hours and then immersed into a wooden tub of water (often mixed medicinal herbs) to help treat aches, pains, arthritis etc. Considering how sore our legs were the next day, I am not sure how I would have been able to walk had we not enjoyed a bath post-trek.