Tolung Monastery Trek (Sikkim)
 Tolung
Monastery was first built in the reign of Chogyal Chakdor Namgyal
in the early 18 th century. It contains rare and valuable scriptures
and artifacts of other monasteries that were brought here for
safety during the invasion of Sikkim, by the Nepalese during
late 17 th and early 19 th century. Once, every three years
in the month of April the relics are shown to the public in
the monastery complex.
Tolung, situated at an altitude of 8,000 ft,
lies in the sparsely Lepcha populated Dzongu areas of north
Sikkim and falls in the restricted area for which inner line
permit is required by Indian nationals. To reach Tolung, one
has to travel by road upto Linzey. There is a daily bus service
from Gangtok to a place slightly short of Linzey. From Linzey
to Tolung is a 20 km walk and takes approximately five hours
along the thundering Tolung river through dense forests and
cardamom groves. The easy track is surrounded by precipitous
cliffs from which plummet down waterfalls in white plumes
hundreds of feet below into the narrow gorges to the valley
floor. As one walks towards Tolung, the surrounding mountains
on the top of which ice clings tenaciously even during the
summer seem to close in.
There is Pilgrims hut. An easy walk of about an hour along
the Tolung river takes one to a religious spot -- Devta Pani.
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