Nov 13, 2014 Paro and the Tiger's Nest

Today was a major highlight of our Bhutan trip and long tough hike.  We left early and headed out of town to the trail head for the hike up to Tiger’s Nest.  The hike was long and strenuous, 3 miles in and 3000 feet up to the monastery.  Much of the trail was uneven and dusty with deep and irregular steps and nothing to hold on to.  We all used walking sticks.

You could rent a horse to ride the dirt portion of the trail up to about mid-point.  Some of them looked awfully hot and tired.  

At the rest area half way up the mountain we all stopped to rest and get something to drink.  There was a mother dog and her litter of puppies.  The puppies were a major hit with the group.

The views of Tiger's Nest from the rest area were awesome but we still had a long ways to go (you can barely see the Tiger's Nest in this picture...white spot on the mountain in the upper right quarter - sort of at 1:00).

There were a number of other view points along the way that gave wonderful views of the Tiger's Nest and the surrounding mountains and the valley below.

The stairs portion of the trail was a little better as the steps were a bit more even and they had hand rails to provide assistance and support.  But they were pretty steep and there were a LOT of them. 

The walk wasn't for those afraid of heights...the drop off was pretty sheer and it was a long ways to the bottom.

There was a pretty decent waterfall along the trail with lots of prayer flags.

How do they do that?  Prayer flags spanning the gorge.

However, every step was absolutely worth the effort.  The Tiger's Nest is in a breathtaking location and is one of the most picturesque places we have been to.  
 

There were many streamers of prayer flags all around the mountain.  What was really amazing was the number of prayer flags spanning the canyon in front of the Tiger's Nest.  People must have sprouted wings in order to drape the flags from one side to the other.  Regardless of how they got there, they added a beautiful element to the vistas.

The inside of the actual monastery, however, was much like most of the other’s we have seen.  No pictures were allowed anywhere inside the complex (stairs into it, courtyards, and buildings) so we have no pictures to show you.   

Last view of the Tiger's Nest with the three of us.

Paul, Jessica and Mary, and the Tiger's Nest in the background

Then of course we had to come back down.  Sangay (driver) helped Mary some on the way up and a lot on the way down. He promised her that since she made it all the way up on her own (didn’t take a horse) that the ancient guru would reward her by fixing her knees (don’t we all wish).

One last look from the road:

And the usual animals mozying along the road on the way back to the hotel.

The trip took most of the day and everyone was pretty beat by the time we got down so we didn't do much else the rest of the day.  However, the views across the Paro Valley that night to the dzong were lovely.

Paro Dzong at night