Hidden Valley Trek

This is the wilder Bhutan — a demanding, deeply rewarding trek into the high country toward Laya, one of the kingdom's most remote and culturally distinct villages, where the Layap people still herd yaks and wear their conical bamboo hats.

The route climbs through old-growth forest and high pasture, past army-guarded frontier country and the hot springs of Gasa, with the great peaks of the northern border — Masagang, Tsendagang — as a constant horizon.

It's a full-service camping expedition with a full crew, and it rewards the effort with a rare window into a Himalayan culture few outsiders reach.