TALE OF AN AUTUMN HIMALAYAN TREK.
2018, 2nd of September, a new Himalayan trek. This time I had planned to commence my trek from Gangotri, the destination was Kedartal near Thalay Sagar mountain, at Uttarakhand a northern India state crossed by the Himalayas, is known for its Hindu pilgrimage sites, and very well known trekking destinations. A mystical land of mountains and mythologies, exquisite landscapes and exhilarating adventure.
After reaching New Delhi, the next day hired a car and started my journey at about 3 pm. On my way picked one of my old time friend Shivendra from Haridwar at 8pm, and proceeded towards Chamba. As it was late, nearly all the road side eateries (Dhaba) were closed, luckily, after a long search found one small dhaba open which was just getting ready to shut, we had our dinner here with whatever was available to cool down our belly fire.
We planned to spend the night at a higher altitude, so drove towards Chamba which is at about 1800 meters. The next day we started for Gangotri via Uttarkashi. While on our way we stopped at multiple points to experience the beauty of the mountains, this is the advantage when you have your own vehicle. The weather was not that clear, as we normally expect in the month of September. Like in monsoon, there were lot of clouds covering the sky.
After crossing Uttarkashi, we halted near Maneri Dam, it is nearly impossible to drive ahead without stopping at such a fascinating point. After spending nearly one hour at this point we commenced our journey towards Gangotri. Due to scattered rains since last few days, we could see several small and medium water falls on our way. Along with such beautiful view of nature, the most disturbing element were the haphazard laying of electric wires running from one end to other. As we were not in much hurry, we stopped at every point that allured us with its splendour. That night we had planned to stay at Gangotri itself, which was about 3 hours from the place we were at.
Where ever we stopped, we tried to start a conversation with the locals, As in most parts of North India, the locals discuss with much interest about politics, the government and it's achievements and failures.
At about 5 pm we reached Gangotri. After checking in a hotel we went to visit and offer our prayers at the Gangotri temple. Not to my expectation, at this time of the year there was good crowd at the temple. Considering the huge stretch of the Himalayas, but still it's not enough for approx 1.40 billion population of India.
The Trek - Day 1 :
The next day started with a clear sky and bright sunshine. As planned, our guide Upendra along with his team of 3 porters reached Gangotri early in the morning. We had already segregated the items we were to carry on the trek, last night itself. While our porters were packing all the trek items, we completed our breakfast and got few snacks packed for the hike. At about 10 am all our luggage were packed and were ready for the trek. Today we were to reach our first destination Bhojkharak.
Before commencing our trek, at Gangotri my friend Shivendra offered some traditional 'puja' (prayer) and we had 'Prasada' (fruits as offering to the deity). Along with our trek guide Upendra, we had three more persons - Manohar, Mukesh & Suraj, who were our porters. In most of my treks I have experienced that usually in the first day's trek the assent is more, our guide told that it's same here too. Gangotri which is at about 10000 ft altitude, we have to reach Bhojkharak which is at 13000 ft. The total distance we had to cover was approx 9 Km. The first day's assent seems more because our body muscles and joints are yet to get warmed up and loosened up. Also, we do not usually have that much time to get ourselves acclimatised by spending couple of days at a high altitude location where oxygen level is much lesser than where I come from, Kolkata. We just get down from our vehicle and get ready to start our trek, so that we can complete the trek at a least time. As a result, in spite all the pre-trek preparation I do, me after witnessing 55 autumns, during first few kilometres my legs are reluctant to move on. But the expected joy on reaching the destination, the feeling of an achievement, the captivating scenery, beauty of nature, the sweet smell in the breeze, these all creates an ambience which boosts our energy level and we move on.
From where we were hiking, down in the valley we could see the place from where the trekkers go for Chirwasa, Bhojwasa and towards Gomukh.
Have met our trek guide Upendra for the first time during my trek to Gomukh- Tapovan, in 2014. He was staying at Mouni Baba ashram along with his trekking clients, where we also had put-up. That time I chatted a lot and had decided to do the Kedartal trek with him. During our chat I came to know that his main job was laying guide ropes for mountaineers who venture to Kedar Dome, Satopant, and Bhagirathi peaks.
On our trek rout we went through dense Deodar forest (Himalayan Cedar tree), with sound of gushing mountain river all the way. This river is called Kedar Ganga which has its source from Kedar Baumukh glacier. We were actually trekking towards this glacier.
Mobile signals are very rare to find, normally you wont get any signal, but suddenly reaching a ridge you will get strong signal, therefore we should not set our expectations based on some one else's experience, as the situations go on changing.
Now, after hiking for couple of hours could see few Bhojpatra trees (Himalayan Birch tree), Upendra told that we could see many more as we hike ahead. As our trekking speed was not bad, so had enough time to relax, had some light snacks and experienced the beauty of nature in the surroundings on our way. Only because of these local guides and tough hard working Nepali porters hikers like us are able to venture into such treks. Though we pay them for their job, but every job can not be measured with money alone.
During September if the weather is clear then it's altogether a different fun in trekking. It looks like the nature has taken a dip in a pool with different colours, everywhere we could see different colours on trees, flowers, fallen leaves, mix of green and brown grass. We hike along right side of the river during Kedartal trek, but for Gomukh trek we trek along the left side of the river in the adjacent valley. During this route there is a rock formation known as 'Spider Rock', crossing this point is considered very tough. We were to cross this rock formation on the first day itself, I had brought ropes, for use in crossing this point if required.
Suraj, who was from Nepal informed us that tonight he will prepare a Nepali dish for dinner, made with roasted tomato and lots of red chilly from which I stay miles away. After trekking for nearly three and a half hour, since we started from Gangotri, covering nearly half way mark, we decided to take a break and have some snacks. After resting for half an hour we again started our journey. Upendra, our guide informed that the 'Spider Rock' formation will come shortly. More than feeling nervous, I was more eager to see and experience crossing it. Most of the trekkers who had undertaken this trek start their conversation with this 'Spider' rock formation.
Now the trees we could find all around were only of Bhojpatra. Looking Ahead we were sure that the forest area will end shortly, could see only boulders and mixed patches of green and dry grass slopes. After hiking for about 20 minutes I saw our guide waiting for us, now this was 'Spider Rock' area which have to be crossed. It was about 6-8 meters wide, will mention later about how we crossed and the level of difficulty. We have to trek for about 1 km more, at a distance we could see the Thalay Sagar mountain. Suddenly we saw a tin shed on the other side of a small water falls, that was Bhojkharak.
We had to just descent a bit and cross that water fall and the climb a bit to reach our first destination. On reaching the site though the shed looked bit tattered, but from inside it was not bad. Our guide along with porters went inside the shed, for us they erected a tent outside. We had reached Bhojkharak at 4 pm, taking halts on our way it took nearly 7 hours.
We did not find the climb that tough, as we were told when we were making plans of this trek. Just below where we had put up the Kedarganga river was flowing making loud sound. We were surrounded with huge majestic mountains. The advantage of reaching the site during day light was we could experience the beautiful landscape. After preparing tea for all of us, our team started preparation for dinner. Once it got dark, one of our porters made a fire with some dry twigs and wood which he collected from nearby. While our team was making dinner, we started to chat with our guide and porters and tried to know them more closely. Also, we did bit of next day's planning. At about 7.30 pm we had our dinner and went for a much awaited sleep.
Day - 2
We woke up at 6 am. It was slightly cloudy, but the clouds soon started to move quickly. For breakfast, we had very yummy sweet cereal, in this pleasant atmosphere, we ate quickly while watching the snow capped mountains, because we wanted to leave for the journey ahead.
As always the same place was looking more beautiful in morning daylight, as compared to evening. Soon we got busy packing our tents and belongings. As in the mountains if the atmosphere is clear then the sun rays are strong, as a result the portable solar panels that I carried for charging electronic gadgets and batteries, worked excellent. Packing sleeping bags and tents in covers are not so easy.
Around 8 am, me and Shivendra headed forward, our guide came with us, everyone else stayed and completed the packing and then caught up with us. As per the weather forecast today and tomorrow clouds were expected, but seeing the blue sky we were really overjoyed, this was an ideal weather for trekking. After leaving Bhojkharak, on covering nearly 300 meter we found beautiful colourful flowers on bushes all around the trail, these flowers are normally found at an altitude of 10-20 thousand feet. Today, our destination was Kedar Kharak, which was around 4 kilometres from Bhojkharak. We were slowly hiking while enjoying the surroundings.
Now the last few trees were left, but there was quite a lot of beauty in them. Shiny, colourful leaves, on top of which was sunlight, cold winds, a blue sky, and behind mountains embedded in snow, and a completely different looking Mount Thalay Sagar. Then , suddenly it started to rain. Waiting for some time, when the rain receded, we resumed our trek. Now, Mount Thalay Sagar started dominating this landscape. I was told that the mountain to it's left is called Mount Bhrigupanth.
Upendra and his team looked quite relaxed, there were reasons for this. First of all we did not have to walk that far today, and the weather was good as well. On the way, we came across a few points where it would be not at all easy to cross alone, but the weight of all the items would be a problem for the porters. Mountain trekking is always a team effort, everyone does their own things, but also has to support others. It is also important to note that more than weight, luggage volume causes issues.
The environment is so delicate here, by looking at the conditions of the mountains one can very well judge. On the mountain slope in front of us we could see a heard of Himalayan Blue Sheep, I was expecting them, because in places around Gangotri there are always many of those. Gomukh which was behind the mountain in front of us, has plenty of such Blue Sheep.
I also noticed plenty of landslides compared to other parts of Himalayas, I found more of them here. I noticed these conditions in my Gomukh trek too. On both sides of the river, big grasslands were hugely impacted by landslides. It is noticeable that the Himalayan mountain range is very unstable at the moment.
At one spot, found Upendra waiting for me, at first I thought that he might have stopped to wait because I was too behind, but it was really because he needed to accompany me in the dangerous area ahead. Around half a kilometre of the journey was crossing a landslide zone, underneath was the fast flowing Kedar Ganga river, and the entire path was made out of soil and dirt, towards the top, there was risk of rocks tumbling down. In these types of trails, there is no harm in walking, just that you need to try and avoid stopping there as much as possible, and you need to be aware of whats happening above you. This is because, even the smallest rock can bring many rocks down with it, and all of those travel down at extremely high speed. This is because of the Himalayan Blue Sheep that walk these areas push rocks down.
It was 1 pm, we had left Bhoj Khadak at about 8 am, until now, we could only cover about three and a half kilometre. It took so long because we were constantly stopping and drenching our eyes with the magnificent surroundings. If we had hastened our steps without appreciating these surroundings, then what's the use of such treks.
The herd of the Himalayan sheep was moving along with us, above us on the rocky slopes. There were 3 advantages to this - first, seeing a group of these is quite a beautiful encounter, secondly, there is the sense of not being alone on this trail, and the third is the excitement that behind or around them, we might spot a snow leopard too. Now we had around one kilometre to go, because of this, while looking at a captivating view, we sat down at a nice place to eat something and appreciate the stunning Himalayan view.
After around half an hour, we resumed our journey, and headed upwards towards the left. As we headed forward, the mountains and hills around me were looking more and more beautiful, which was hampering my trekking speed, because normally, I struggle to trek, but on top of that, I cannot resist these types of picturesque views, which always allures me to stay fit so that can undertake such Himalayan treks.
Scattered clouds on the blue sky have the same effect on landscapes as spice in food does. Without clouds, the landscapes look slightly pale, but when the clouds appear, they now look mystical. However, when there are too many clouds, the beauty simply vanishes. Upon reaching the top, we saw the field where we planned to stay for the night. This was Kedarkharak, the base camp of our destination.
At first glance, this place looked like Tapovan, similar to it, there were many grass fields, and small streams which were flowing the glacier's crystal clear water. Around us, many mountains covered in snow stood still, and clearly visible stood Mount Thalay Sagar. For a while, I stood staring at this scenery.
Outside the snowfall had already started, tiny flakes of snow. The clouds were not very dense, but since we left Gangotri, we kept a close eye on the clouds and had prediction of a possibility of lots of snowfall. one of the porters, who was also our head cook, with help of others were preparing dinner. My friend Shivendra took this opportunity to capture this moment outside on his mobile phone camera. As I had hoped, the snowfall intensity increased and we all went inside the tent and listened to songs on radio. The clouds slowly dispersed, and the weather opened up. The rays of the setting sun was now shining on the tips of snow capped mountains.
After a while, it became dark. Now, we were eating hot potatoes with salt on top, while watching videos on our phones. After having an amazing dinner, we went to sleep.
Day - 3
The next morning, as expected, the weather was clear. Brightly shining sunlight spread in all directions, and because of frost, the surroundings were covered in white. During the morning, the the rays of the rising sun looked beautiful on the peaks of the mountains. Me and Shivendra were appreciating this view while sipping hot tea. It was cold, but in the Himalayas, if it isn't cold, then what's the fun?
In front of us was Mount Bhrigupanth, then was Mount Thalay Sagar, and to its left was Mount Jogini- 2. The same group of Himalayan Blue sheep that was with us yesterday, were in front of us at a slight distance. While sipping our 2nd hot cup of tea, we were following their movements, and in the background was the sound of a Kerosene stove coming from our kitchen tent, which made me feel warm.
The rear side of Mount Bhrigupanth is joined with Mount Meru, the same Mount Meru which is visible from Tapovan. What to say about Thalay Sagar, it's beauty is why I came on this trek in the first place.
Unlike my previous treks, today I wasn't in much of a rush, because I only had to travel around 3 kilometres. At around 8 am, we left for Kedartal. With me joined Shivendra and our guide Upendra. While our 3 porters stayed at the tent. To our right flowed a stream of crystal clear water, and behind that was Mount Jogini. Our guide Upendra told that this is actually Jogini-2.
While hiking towards Kedartal, I was expecting to see the same group of Himalayan Blue sheep that we saw this morning, because I saw them heading towards this direction, however I ended up not finding them anywhere. The sunlight was glorious, and it was quite cold, but this is the weather in which trekking becomes most fun.
Down towards Gangotri , the weather looked clear, but where we were heading the clouds were rising quickly. I was told that after half an hour of walking, we would be able to see all the peaks right in front of us. Judging by the rising clouds, we thought that the weather might not be clear for long, so we hurriedly moved on. As always, Shivendra was walking ahead of me.
We were walking at an altitude of around 14000 -15000 feet, but we weren't really that exhausted. The path was well-defined and clear too. As I was told, before reaching much higher, we were beginning to get a clear view of all the mountain peaks. When we reached the top, we felt like our trek was worth it. Left to right, huge mountains embedded in snow. Right in front was Mount Thalay Sagar, which was now even closer for us to look at. Mesmerised my the beauty of our surrounding, we had completely forgotten that we had to trek till the Kedartal lake.
Even though we were walking on moraine (loose stones and mud that have been carried along by a mass of a glacier and left when melted), there was a clear path available to follow. Himalayan trekking is not fun until you have to cross a glacier or see a crevasse.
Until now, the trek was quite easy for me, but how hard a trek is depend on the conditions - for example, if it started to snow, this rout would become significantly harder to cross. If it rains heavily, it would be too slippery, but more importantly, rocks would start to fall at a high speed, making the rout dangerous. In addition, our body works differently in different situation and time, my body may be active today, however tomorrow it might be exhausted instead. Therefore calling a trek easy or hard depends on various factors, again this may vary from person to person.
Ahead towards the right , I was expecting to see the Kedar Baumukh glacier, the source of Kedarganga river. Now, I had reached the point where I could see Kedartal. Half a kilometre from here, we would have to ascend towards the right. Once we got there, we could see the Kedar Baumukh glacier.
As I expected, the Kedar Baumukh glacier was right in front of us. This was a big and massive glacier. This is where the river Kedarganga originates, this is the same river that has been flowing besides us since our departure from Gangotri. Our guide Upendra informed us that the water in this river actually comes from three glaciers of Bhrigupanth, Thalay Sagar, and Meru.
In one way I was quite lucky, because even with the muggy weather , I got a stunning view. Otherwise, the peaks would have been hidden behind the clouds, and the entire trip would have been ruined.
After about 10-15 minutes, Upendra & Shivendra started the descend towards Kedartal, which was around 100 metres from here. For the first time, we saw KEDARTAL lake. I stood for a while, looking at the view, and 15 minutes later I arrived at the lake. Even though the weather was cloudy, the lake water looked as if there was blue sky above.
Shivendra was preparing for some religious rituals, so did our guide Upendra. He told that there it is believed that, Lord Shiva from his side contributes the water from this lake to Bhagirathi river, that is why it's called Kedartal.
For me, it does not look as if the water in this lake comes from any glacier, rather, it looked like water accumulated from rainfall or from the ice melting nearby. When considering length of the lake, there was less water in the lake, still the length was nearly 1 kilometre, and the width about 400 metres. Here, everyone takes a dip, and I had not even touched it yet. So, I thought that I might as well splash some lake water on my head and face. Truly speaking, I was so charmed with the surroundings that I was not paying much attention to the lake.
Mount Thalay Sagar, which was right in front of us, is around 6000-9000 metres in height. The first ones to go to the top of this mountain were a British and American team in 1979, and the first Indian team scaled this Mountain in 2008.
It had been around an hour since we reached this lake, because when we left for this place we only had some tea, now we were quite hungry. We had packed some snacks with us, while admiring the surrounding we had our snacks.
The weather was ever-changing, some times it was snowing, some time it became sunny and clear. We were to return in a while, so we started to take some pics. Because of the surrounding snow, even in bit cloudy weather, we had to wear goggles, because there was so much daylight around us at this altitude. We stayed here for about 2 hours, and my mind was quite satisfied. Now we began our return to Kedar Khadak. On the way back, we met few trekkers, their plan was to set camp at Kedartal.
In around an hour we reached Kedar Khadak. Down from there towards Gangotri, the weather was looking clear. Our porters who had stayed back, had prepared food for us - rice, beans and Nepali spicy chutney. As soon we started to have our food, a group of Himalayan Blue sheep started to come towards us and grazing, assumed this was the same group we had been seeing throughout the past 2-3 days. This was a new experience for me, I had never seen them this close before. Before we could make the assumption that we were somewhat special and that's why attracted these animals, Upendra told me that these sheep love salt, and whenever they see humans they always come near expecting salt. One of our porters spread salt at a distance for them.
It only was 3 pm, few more trekkers had arrived, Upendra suggested that on our way back, there is a great place where we can pitch our tent for the night as there it was less cold, and Thalay Sagar is also fully visible from a distance.
At around 4.30 pm , we started our descend , we only had 2 kilometres to hike. We were just a bit tensed about the landslide zone, which we crossed quickly, there was no group of sheep above, so there was less of a risk of rocks falling. We arrived at our destination for night stay in an hour, now the path from here to Gangotri was 2 kilometres lesser. Instantly our team laid our tent and got in for a rest.
Day - 4
Next morning I woke up seeing the sun rays spread all over Mount Thalay Sagar. The morning bright sunshine and the excitement of accomplishing our mission induced a wave of energy into every member of our team. All of us, specially our porters who were fond of dancing, started dancing to the tune of local folk music, to which me and my friend also joined.
It was 8.30 am, after having a light breakfast, we started to pack our belongings. This was a bit emotional moment for me, as we glimpsed Mount Thalay Sagar for the last time. We took few photos, and started our descend at 9 am.
After hiking for some time, we could see Himalayan Birch trees again. Behind them could see the Mount Thalay Sagar, as if bidding goodbye to us, in such a clear weather it was looking more magnificent. I looked at it for the last time with a heavy heart and continued moving forward.
My wish to go on a trek with Upendra had now come true, and what a wonderful trip it was. I found this trek easier compared to my previous treks only because I had a guide like Upendra and his wonderful team of porters.
And then came again the 'Spider rock', which I had mentioned before. All I will say about this rock is that, on this trek, in different seasons, there could be many sections of the trek that could be scary, but 'Spider Rock' is not one such section. To cross it, you don't even need a guide.
Now we were nearing Gangotri. I think none of my treks were this smooth. I had made up the plan that if I ever went on a trek to Kalindi Khal, it would be with Upendra only. At around 12 noon we reached Gangotri, and ended our journey by looking at the Suraj Kund waterfall.
Though, end of any Himalayan trek makes me very emotional, but when you realise it's so amazing how much of the world you get to see when you trek then you feel rejuvenated and start planing for your next trek. One thing I had realised in life that - You can not buy happiness, but when you go for a trek, that is pretty close. I am not addicted to trekking, I am addicted to the way it makes me feel.
My one suggestion to all who read this blog is - do not let age be an excuse to not start your trekking journey. The body is capable of amazing transformations at any age, just you need a positive mindset and few very basic physical training, that you can do at your home.
Trekking has taught me that, I am capable of so much more than I ever imagined. Any Himalayan trek will heal whatever it is you are ready to heal.
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