“The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences”
- Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild
As I read Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the wild’ about the experiences of Christopher McCandless in his book and his new experiences, I am inspired. “Happiness is only real when shared”, Jon writes. I agree. And here, I share happy moments of my trek to Kedarkantha in this blog post.
The motive to do a winter trek came from the fact that I could luckily accommodate a second trek to the Himalayas in the year. “Winter trek?” “Kedarkantha!”. The decision was that simple! And, as with my two other Himalayan treks, Indiahikes was the organization of choice for this one too.
On 16th December 2017, Ajay, Pradeep, Geetha and I headed to Delhi. From here, we were to reach Dehradun from where we would be picked up by Indiahikes on 18th December 2017. We reached the Dehradun Railway station at 6 30 AM on 18th December after our visit to the Jim Corbett National Park, greeted the other folks in quick hellos. Without too much delay, our tempo traveler started en route to the village of Naitwar where we would stay for the night before beginning the trek.
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| One of my favorite stills from the trek. Captured at Pukhrola. |
Day 1: Dehradun Railway station to Gaichan Gaon (5,600 ft)
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| River Tons |
The journey from the Dehradun Railway station was super smooth in terms that this was not a bumpy ride; you could always see the mountains beside you, small villages and their people busy with their daily chores; pahadi music playing in the background. In about an hour’s drive, we hit the town of Mussorie. There’s a thin line of area separating Dehradun and Mussorie. In about two hairpin bends from a point in the journey, Dehradun ends and Mussorie begins. We saw the Kempty waterfall from a distance. The Tons river could be seen flowing in all its prosperity for a long part of the journey.
The tempo traveler halted at a place with a beautiful view of the mountains. The Aloo Paranthas and Adrak Chai calmed my growling stomach. A few minutes after we resumed our journey, we halted again to freshen up on the banks of River Tons. The water was super cold and crystal clear. I washed my face; also, dipped my face.
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| The base camp, Gaichan Gaon |
On the way, we saw the Yamunotri range. Slightly behind it was hiding the Har Ki Doon, also called the Valley of Gods which unfortunately would not see any trekkers from December until February this year because of the bad snowstorm and avalanche. And, behind this was glancing at us the tranquil looking peak of Kedarkantha. I couldn’t believe that about a week from then, I would be on top of that peak.
The 10-hour long journey took us through the beautiful villages of Chaami, Barkot before we reached the Govind Pashu Vihar National Park to get permission from the forest officials. After this, we reached Gaichan Gaon, via the village of Naitwar. This was the base camp of the trek.
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| Maggi, lost in his own world. At Gaichan Gaon |
“Welcome All, I am Imroz. I am your trek leader. C’mon guys, carry your luggage and let's go there”, said a tall man, skinny in his outfit; a funky beanie on his head. He seems to be in his mid-twenties and he pointed downwards to a wooden house, standing tall. We started walking towards the house when a huge furry white dog crossed our path. “He’s Maggi”, Imroz said as we began to play around with it. “Keep your luggage in these rooms. Get your medical certificates and disclaimers in about half an hour. We’ll take the BP and Oximeter readings. Tea and snacks will also be served”, he said. Everyone dispersed from here.
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From left to right: Guddu Bhaiya, myself and
Parveen Bhaiya. Captured at the summit. |
When we all met again, everyone was already clad in their warm clothes owing to the chilly winds. It was pitch dark outside on the mountainside. All I could see was a fire on top of a nearby mountain that looked like a lace from a distance; I sighed as I believed it to be a forest fire.
After the Oximeter readings, we huddled in a common area inside the house to listen to the trek leader’s briefing. It went on for about an hour, with the countless mentions of safety precautions, green trails- about how we are responsible to leave the mountains in a better place than we see it etc.
We were introduced to Guddu Bhaiya, a shy-natured and a short person; perhaps in his mid-twenties too and Parveen Bhaiya, who spoke in a very disciplined manner; also someone who seemed to be in his mid-twenties. Imroz even taught us how to pack our bags for the rucksack to be perfectly balanced. He closed off the briefing by telling us the timings for the next day.
Day 2: Gaichan Gaon to Jalouta (8,950 ft)
The trek began at about 9 AM. The ascent was gradual, going through small villages and farms of the natives. Enthusiastic kids greeted us with a ‘Namaste’ whenever we saw them. We even ran into a cute puppy who I named “Sheru”. He was a super active bud. He ran along with Geetha, bit us all with love and melted us all with the tantrums he threw as we cuddled him.
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| A playful Sheru, being cuddled by Geetha |
About 2 hrs of trek later, we saw a Dhaba. From the dhaba, I could see huge pine trees, standing strong for I don’t know how many years now. After quick munching and sipping on to chai, we resumed our ascent.
I was carrying a 13kg rucksack and almost a 1kg camera too. I packed terribly despite repacking my rucksack after taking the instructions from Imroz. As a result, my shoulder was starting to ache a bit. He insisted on the bag being supported by the pelvic bone. I readjusted my bag after his help and continued treading. After a while, the bag felt a part of me.
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| Imroz, the trek leader |
I kept gulping in water, eating at regular intervals and trekked at my pace, peacefully and in all happiness. There were more pine trees on the trail. With gradual ascent, we saw patches of snow. The last stretch of the trail saw a steep ascent and we reached the campsite to see that it was mostly covered in snow now. The cold wind blew across my face. I quickly dropped my bag on the sheet, covered myself with another layer of warm clothes and put my gloves on.
The itinerary for the evening consisted of some cool games, getting to know the group better and the like. After this, I was prepared to brave the night’s cold. I had at least 5 layers of warm clothing on me. But, the early morning chills were worse than the ones that were seen at night.
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| Sunset at Jalouta |
Day 3: Jalouta to Pukhrola (Kedarkantha Basecamp) (10,800 ft)
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| The vast expanse of the old pine trees, on the way to Pukhrola |
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| View of the Kedarkantha peak from my tent |
This was the shortest day on the trek. We were trekking entirely on powdered snow now. The expanse of the place was covered with pine trees. The slight glistening of the snow made this setting a perfect one for a postcard shot. There were plenty of pine trees around, making a perfectly woven background for a heavenly scenery. This is how paradise must look like, I thought to myself. The ascent was still gradual. About 5 hours of trekking later, we reached Pukrola. From here, the majestic peak of Kedarkantha was looking down at us, placidly and more appealingly now. “We’d be there on the top shortly, in about less than a day from hence”, I said to myself.
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| The campsite of Pukhrola |
After a sumptuous lunch, everyone retired to their tents only to return in about an hour for the games. We played a crazy number of games, ranging from Pong to 7Up to remembering everyone’s names with adjectives starting from the first letters of the respective names. This was very refreshing. The temperature was already sub-zero at 6 PM in the evening. But, this seemed to be the least of the things affecting us.
From here, the other mountain ranges could also be seen. The cold was ungodly. But, this ceased to affect me for the moment. The tents in yellow and orange looked perfect with majestic mountains in the backdrop. I witnessed the best sunset of my life here too! Once the sun was gone, the temperature dip was super quick. I’m positive that the temperature was at least -3 to -5 degrees in the early hours of the next day.
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Dabbing our way to Pukhrola
From left to right: Pradeep, Geetha and Myself |
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| Sunset at Pukhrola |
Day 4: Pukhrola to Munayila via Kedarkantha- Summit Day
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Summit push
Geetha in the blue jacket |
The ascent to the Kedarkantha summit was to begin at 6 AM sharp. Noises could be heard from about 5 AM when almost everyone had woken up to get ready for the summit climb. The dry ration and apricots were distributed as we all got ready. The Kedarkantha summit stood in all its glory, now starting to reflect the steady and initial rays of the run. I was prepared to see the crowd, the same crowd that I’d read about to be in excess at the Kedarkantha and Roopkund treks. Luckily for us, there was no one on the pristine mountain at that time besides our group of 21 enthu-cutlets.
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| Heading towards the summit |
It rained snow for a brief moment as we clambered. It was a setting that was too good for words to describe. I am always amazed that the best things that I’ve seen in my life have always been in the mountains. We didn’t have too much time to spare as there were dark clouds around. We kept treading on as the ascent started to get craggy and steep. It was not very tough though. About 600m away from the peak is a point where you can drop your bags and trek freely to the summit. There is a shrine on the top too. I was among the people who reached the summit first that day. I took some time to assimilate the magnificent views that I saw. I could now see the peaks that I read about in countless articles on Kedarkantha- Bandarpoonch, Kalanag, Draupadi ka Danda, Har ki Doon and all were surrounding me, bestowing upon me the best they had to offer. The dark clouds and the chilly winds ceased to bother me now. I strongly believe that when life offers you solitude, take it along with the lemons and make lemonade all to yourself (:P)
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| The shrine on top of the peak |
Coming back to life, by Pink Floyd was the only song that I could think of at the moment to bring me to become one with the mountains. I played it only so that I could hear. There was absolute silence, the green and the snow-capped mountains around me echoed the same. I contemplated the beautiful views and immersed myself in a lull before I stood up to take pictures. The rest of the group arrived shortly after and we had these views all to ourselves for a good 70 minute period.
The exquisite views cast a spell upon me and I found myself being enchanted upon. The 6-day trek was worth these 70 minutes of time that I spent on the top. The descent began shortly after.
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| View from one side of the peak |
The descent was accompanied with a lot of slips and falls. There were 2-3 slides that blazed my butt. It reminded me of the five ass-burning slides that we did in Buran Ghati. Most parts of the descent were in knee-deep snow. And, I surprised myself when I began to grasp the knack of walking on snow without falling a lot.
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| View from other side of the peak |
As we neared Munayila, the snowballs started to drop from the sky. As I looked around in desperation to see if this was another natural phenomenon, I was welcomed by several folks who shoved snow on my face before I could say “Nooooo”. The snow fights continued fiercely for quite some time until a staff shouted “Khana taiyyar hai.. Aa jao sab log” (Food is ready. Come, everyone). The tents were about 300-400 m away from the dining tent and there was barely any place outside the dining tent that the snow did not cover.
During the evening, they kept two coal boxes and everyone warmed themselves up for whatever time the heat kept going. While we were at this, we turned off all our headlamps to listen to stories of horror from the other folks and Imroz. The stories kept everyone engaged and it was a great end to the day. The dinner was palatial and I slept like a log after the long grind of the day. I woke up at 1 AM to attend to nature’s call. I legit thought that I was going to freeze there owing to the winds that were extremely chilly and hitting too fast. I decided to name this the coldest campsite that I’ve been on. Ever.
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| Warming of legs session :D |
Day 5: Munayila to Sankri via Juda ka Talaab
I opened my tent at about 6 AM in the morning to be welcomed by the super chilly winds yet again. After the early morning grind was done, I quickly went to the dining tent where I realized that I couldn’t feel my feet anymore. Rigorous rubbing of my legs by my myself and also by Mili, a super helpful fellow trekker did not seem to help. I royally ignored it after this and quickly put on my shoes as a resort to the numbness.
All through the descent, I kept wiggling my toes and slowly started to feel the blood flowing through it. At a distance, I could see the most celebrated place on the trek, Juda ka talab. It was partially frozen. But what a majestic lake it was! I could stare all day at this beautiful lake and still would not get enough of it.
What ruined it was the crowd around it. I could see at least two other trekking groups that had camped right next to the JKD and about 50-70 people who were present there at that time on the Lake. I took some time to sigh at this before the furry cupcakes, Sheru and Momo met us. Sheru is quite a popular dog on the Kedarkantha trek. I was so disappointed when Imroz told that someone took Sheru away and that he couldn’t be found on the trek for long. But as luck would have it in store for us, he came running and responded to every call of Sheru that was made. He was such an active canine.
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| The partially frozen Juda ka Talaab |
I spent the rest of my time in JKD cuddling and playing with Sheru, Momo and some other dogs who were around. After this, we descended to stop at a Dhaba where another cute little puppy who was named Bhaskar greeted us. He looked dainty but had the power to melt me with his adorability.
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| Sheru, captured at JKD |
Geetha and I bought biscuits for the dogs and started back. Sheru and Momo continued to accompany us back to Sankri. The snowline had completely receded and we were now descending through forests and bushes.
About 1 PM, we reached the Gypsy Child Mountain hostel at Sankri. The beautiful trek had come to an end. I bathed first, freshened up before appreciating the beauty of the hostel. The rooms were named after the villages of Saur, Sari and of river Tons. The village of Saur could be seen right from this hostel. There was some peace even in the chaos that existed there. I wished to live there. I wished for this whole thing to never end.
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| Momo, captured at Sankri |
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| The village of Saur |
Lunch followed slowly and then the feedback session. Like always, everyone had nice things to say about the trek and the team of Indiahikes and I don’t see a reason why they do not deserve it. They organize everything so meticulously and their team is super equipped to handle anything and everything. Not all superheroes wear capes, you say? Hell yeah! I was overjoyed to be the only one to have received the Trek Leader’s Spirit of trekking award. This was my second one in a row, after Buran Ghati. I was thankful to Imroz and the whole team. This gesture reinforced my spirit of trekking!
During the night, we went to roam around the village of Sankri. The small dhabas and in fact the small village itself was a beautiful thing for me to regard, given that I live in a very noisy city (yet lovely :P) of Bengaluru. We tried some homemade noodles, some momos and adrak chai at a local shop. They were all delicious. It took about 2-3 hours to roam the entire village before we came back to the hostel.
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| Delicious homemade noodles |
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| Momos! |
Day 6: Sankri to Dehradun
I bid everyone at the Hostel and continue to head back to my life where routine haunted me already. The beautiful and not-so-tiring journey from Sankri to Dehradun took no longer than 10 hours. We had the best of Pahadi music to listen to while we were at this. Sleep was the only thing that was on my mind, something that was honestly not missed in the past week but something that I craved for nevertheless. I slept in the hotel room to wake up to a beautiful morning.
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River Rafting at Rishikesh
From left to right: Ajay, Geetha, Dean, myself and Pradeep |
We’d made plans to go to Rishikesh, which literally is believed to be the land of Gods. Apart from visiting Ram Jhoola, Lakshman Jhoola, and witnessing the Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat, we had booked a slot for River Rafting on the River Ganga with Adventure Nation. I loved rafting through the 24km long tenacious path with strong rapids. “She is cranky today”, said our guide, Dean at one point during our rafting, pointing at the fact that the rapids were really high then. Quite a memorable experience was also jumping off the raft and letting myself be carried away by the River Ganga for a short period at a place where there were no rapids. The super chilly water only rushed the adrenaline through me. The 24km rafting experience ended in about 2 hours after which we were only left with contemplation for the sight of the River Ganga flowing in all her prowess, promising to take away anyone coming in her way.
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River Ganga flowing in all her serenity
Ram Jhoola at a distance |
We returned to Delhi on the same night and now, I craved for all the Idlis and Dosas that I had missed over the past few days. I felt guilty to have cheated on them with Aloo paranthas and momos :P I ate enough to fulfill my heart’s desire and resumed to the plans for the day, which was Delhi Darshan. In the evening, we had a flight to Bengaluru to catch.
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| Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat, Rishikesh |
I realized it was Christmas that day when I saw the Jet Airways crew wearing their Santa hats on. I had already celebrated my Christmas during the trek. Someone has said, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” It is true without a second thought. We’re who these experiences make us. Trekking in the mountains is something that means much more to me than just getting away from routine. It’s something that has taught me way more than I can pen down here today. The people that I meet on these treks, though for a short period of time have different perspectives, different learnings to offer. I’m super thankful to the crew of Indiahikes. These folks are like the well-oiled engine that makes the train run. On heights and temperatures where even sitting upright is a task for most of us, these people outbrave the cold and cook to keep our stomachs from growling. And believe me, it’s not just plain food. They go out of their way to cook some of the delicious foods, the taste of which will linger in your taste buds forever. The trek leader and his team of local guides go through a lot as well. Imroz’s happy-go-lucky nature not only made everyone feel at home in the mountains but also made us all forget about the ungodly chills for quite some time. Guddu Bhaiya’s constant encouragement, cheerfulness and Parveen Bhaiya’s advice on discipline in the trek were crucial in helping things not get out of hand. These folks are true superheroes!
On this trek, I met a lot of dogs. I’m super thankful for I found the two things I love in the same place. Dogs and the mountains. Also, the crowd at certain parts of the trek was a shocking sight. I can only imagine the amount of garbage that comes in along with the groups and how less a part of it goes back. We should feel responsible and take back the garbage, even when it’s not ours. It is the only way we can keep these pristine mountains a better place for more people to see.
When I began writing this blog post, I had too many things in my mind. I’d, in fact, finished most of the writing by January. But as I got pulled by the forces of time for some other things that needed my attention, I took about 7 months to finally complete this piece. This is my story. If you’ve never trekked, I would urge you to start trekking. Some experiences happen only in the mountains. Go, experience them and thank me later! ;) There are two quotes that are coming to me right now, one on how addicted I have become to the mountains and another on how to find self.
“We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
― John Muir, The Mountains of California
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Our group captured on the safari at the Jim Corbett National Park
From left to right: Ajay, myself, Geetha and Pradeep |
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| The Team! |
