Himalayan Trek - Part III

From Rikkata ki Odi we were climbing mostly down. If climbing up put pressure on your knees, climbing down put pressure on your ankles and calf muscles. But the route was ethereally peaceful with mountains on one side and the river deep down below.

Leopards were supposed to be around and we saw pug marks in snow and in mud but we didn’t encounter any in person.

Our next camp site was Pachitarth (11,413 feet) which was a in a small valley tad steep. It tested our calf muscles. It had a small pond which had water during the day and ice during the night.

We were still freezing thanks to the wind chill factor which reduces the temperature a good 5⁰. We learnt to keep ourselves busy playing cards in the tent. Rummy and Ass were the norm but we were also introduced to a new game – Thanks & Sorry by our fellow trekker and diamond jeweler Shyam Sundar.

The next day we climbed further down along the mountain ridges to Bada Tatch (9,511 feet). It was again a beautiful setting overlooking the Supin valley. We were treated with some Maggi noodles and tea for the evening. We started getting mobile phone signals sporadically from this point onwards. This unwelcome development saw us being pulled back to the hectic city life when calls came coming thick and fast. I had of course switched off my mobile. During the night we encountered a couple of wild foxes near our tents. Spotted by our trek organizer Daya we flashed our lights to see their fiery eyes glow in the night. After playing hide and seek for a while they disappeared into the dark.

We then made even more rapid descent to reach Baincha (6,973 feet) which was very close to the Supin river. En route we passed mountain villages which had solar panels and some breathtaking scenery.

Our trek leader Ganesh proposed a dip in the river which some of us eagerly agreed to as we had not taken bath for the last 7 days. However, our eagerness to take bath was dampened as we found that landslides caused by a recent earthquake had sealed off access points.

Our support crew made up for the disappointment with some hot samosas and spicy thukkadas for the evening. By now we were used to our diminutive chef churning out delicacies with his supplies and his support crew.

With the temperatures becoming tolerable we experimented with some outdoor games. Well, they turned out to be bum twisters designed by Daya to exercise our frozen bodies. We were still not prepared for the next day which entailed navigating landslides very close to the river.

We had to literally clutch the dust to come out safe. We were chided by our guides when we stopped to take photographs as they were nervous about another landslide being triggered anytime putting our lives at risk.

The rumbling river however was irresistible as it made a roar navigating around rocks. There were numerous water falls along the hillsides which supplied the river. The human traffic increased in our route as we were getting close to civilization. We made our way to the village of Jakhol (7,202 feet) our trek terminating point from where we got picked up in vehicles back to Sankari.

If we thought our adventures were over we were proved wrong. The ever reliable Chain Singh Rawat who had designed this trek and supported with his crew and supplies slipped up for once. He came late to Jakhol for the pick-up and worse he didn’t have rooms for us in Sankari. We were waiting in the streets of Jakhol and Sankari for an hour each. He made it up by hosting us in his own house. Thus we were treated to authentic mountain living.

The houses here are made of wood padded up with rocks! This combination insulates them from wind and cold while protecting them from rocks coming down the slopes. We were ushered in to cosy wooden rooms with quaint furniture. Most importantly we broke our bathless stint with copious amount of hot water provided by our host.

We were treated to a sumptuous dinner cooked by his wife and mother. The highlight was the mountain rice which was very tasty and the staple rajma masala accompanied with the tastiest raitha I ever had in my life. The raitha had potatoes, pumpkin, cucumber, chillies and other spices.

The next morning we made our way back to Dehradun passing the villages of Netwar, Mori, Purola and crossing the beautiful Mussourie in the evening. The route was so beautiful that I couldn’t resist doing some high speed shooting – from clouds to landslides to langur monkeys to local politicians.

It was an awesome trek where we covered about 50 kms by foot over some rough mountain terrain. I lost about 2-3 kilos and about an inch as I shed fat walking all those miles. My cardio fitness increased as the trek progressed. We drank water from the cool streams without catching a cold. We were one in nature for a complete week.

I resolved I should do this more often at least once in two years. If you want to plan your trek you can contact these people:

Chennai:

FAWES - Daya (93831-14321) & Ganesh (93823-62933), for local and Himalayan treks.

Sankari:

Chain Singh Rawat (94129-18140), Secretary – HPMA, for planning treks in the Uttarkashi region.