The trail back from Chhomrong dived straight into the Modi Khola valley, 3000 steps straight down. We passed on making the long detour to a hot spring by the river and continued straight on down to the river crossing at New Bridge, which uses the English name to avoid confusion with the nearby trailhead Naya Pul, which means the same thing in Nepali. The new bridge is actually now getting rather old, slanting somewhat alarmingly to one side.The vegetation in the valley was once again getting jungle-like, with banana trees and bamboo. The elevation was 1400 meters, about the same as Kathmandu.
Since we had extra time, we agreed to take the longer trail over a hill rather than the most direct exit to Naya Pul. We climbed after lunch through a large settlement named Landruk up to a lodge in Tolka, where we spent the night. In the evening, we could see the lights of several electrified villages, the first time on our trek.
