Trekking Day 4 - Jomolhari base camp

What an amazing place this is! We awoke this morning, at about 12,000ft elevation, to a thick layer of frost outside our tents.  I had been just slightly chilly in my sleeping bag right before getting up, and I wondered for a moment if my bag wasn't as warm as it was rated... But as it turned out the weather was much colder than we all anticipated. And I was one of the few people who was mostly warm last night.  So thanks North Face- your Snow Leopard bag did great!

The cold temps were a direct result of clear blue skies- so the views all around us were just magnificent!

The craziest thing about the cold weather, though, was that as soon as we turned a corner into the sunshine the temps went up at least 15 degrees! Everyone immediately shed 2-3 layers... some had started the morning wearing every layer they brought. We were all amazed at the change - and the strength of the high alpine sunshine.

Our entire hike today was moderate and above tree line- just gorgeous in every direction. We were now up in the land of yak-herders, and some of us (myself included) went a little crazy photographing the huge long-haired buffalo/cowlike creatures. Not only are they huge, pretty and unusual looking, they are unbelievably sure footed as they graze along the side of the mountains. So what's not to love?

At lunch we stopped at a local school and got a 'tour' - it was a small building where all the local kids walk the same trail we're hiking to get to school each day.  We haven't passed many houses, so some of them must come a long way!

As we began walking again after lunch, 5 of the local kids had just gotten out of school and so they joined us for a while along the trail. One of our guides talked them into singing for us, and so the four little boys linked arms and led us down the trail - singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for us in Bhutanese. It was priceless.

Finally, we reached camp- the Jomolhari Base Camp, that is. We are now at 13,200ft- about the highest we will sleep- and there are huge peaks all around. Jomolhari, the highest peak in Bhutan and one of the highest in the Himalayas, is directly across outside my tent door. And the weather when we arrived was somewhere above 60 degrees in the sun. We all immediately sat down in camp chairs outside our tents and marveled at the view - until the sun dipped behind the mountain and the heat of the day faded to chill.