Har-ki-Dun -- My Introduction to Himalayan Wilderness (Part 5)

Preparation, Journey and Day 1: Sankri to Seema Village
Day 2: Seema Village to Har-Ki-Dun
Day 3: A day in Har-Ki-Dun
Day 4: Har-ki-Dun to Seema Village and Visit to Osla
Day 5: Seema Village to Sankri and Return Journey (You are currently reading this.)

Finally, last day of the trek arrived. My regular trekking in Sahyadri had really helped me throughout the trek and I was still in best physical condition to take on another day of arduous hike of 16 kms.

Few members of YHAI group coming towards Sankri had spotted a bear along the trail earlier day. So, we were instructed to hike with the group all the time.

Crisp morning lifted our spirits when we left the camp-site after breakfast. A batch of slow movers were sent early so as not to delay the schedule. Aditi who was sick throughout the trek and did not complete her trek was in bad shape. Over the period of three days, she had lost of fluids and was feeling very weak. As she would not have sustained walking for another 16 kms to reach our base camp at Sankri, a mule was hired for her. Sitting on mule was equally arduous task for her. Onkar Salvekar was constantly with her along with couple of local guys handling the mule.

Crisp morning with excellent sky:

Though snow peaks were receding from the eyesight as we were losing altitude, their images were imprinted in the mind forever.

Excellent cloud formation:

Crossing small bridge along the way:

On one of the snacks joint, I interacted with an Australian guy was planning to hike in Himalaya for a month. He already had hiked at 2-3 places and was effusive in praise of India. He was also fondly talking about the love he had received from all the people. Wishing him my best wishes, I marched forward.

Along the way, I saw a little girl walking merrily with his father towards Taluka village. Her school was starting soon and her father was going to drop her to his relative at Taluka village. She seemed already adept in tackling all the hurdles along the way and at some places, where there were muddy patches, her father took her on his shoulders. It was a great sight and I walked with this father-daughter duo for many kilometres.

It was again a hard walk for most of the members. One of our group members, Sharda was feeling pain in her knees and was painstakingly slow. That made her entire group slow.

After covering more than 70% of the distance, I joined other group members who were just finishing their lunch. I too finished my lunch and lied down on the ground and had a small nap. 

Soon, the spot was swarmed with many trekkers of YHAI group. A lady mistook me as a trek leader of the group and started enquiring me about the group; make of my sack, camera etc. She had seen me motivating the members so she assumed me as a trek leader. When I told her me being the participant, we had a good laugh.

Close to an hour passed and finally our last group arrived with Sharda. By that time, most of the other group members had already left towards Taluka village with second local trek leader. As Taluka village was not pretty, I decided not to reach their too early and lingered with our last group for some time.After some time, I decided to march ahead leaving the last group behind.

Omkar Bedre also accompanied me. I was asked by Omkar to slow down a bit as it was getting difficult for him to match steps with me. So I slowed down pace and made sure not to leave Omkar alone.

The pain in the eyes of this guy stirred me from inside. For the sake of few hundred rupees, this guy  was carrying four to five rucksacks from one camp to other.

We reached to Taluka where I again met Anil Patil sir from YHAI group. He invited me for tea and soon his group left in Bolero for the campsite.

As there were many trekkers in Taluka village, we realized only a while later that few of our group members had already left to the base camp at Sankri with the second trek leader. As our other trek leaders Tejas and Vijay were with the last group, we did not have any option but to keep waiting for them. 

Some photography at Taluka village:

At last, we were joined by our last remaining group. Unfortunately, no vehicle was available at that time to drop us to Sankri. Finally after agonizing wait for more than an hour, Bolero came to fetch us. We were loaded literally like animals in the backside of Bolero and started our bumpy ride back to Sankri. It started drizzling as we were coming back and surrounding mountains were engulfed in clouds which made the entire journey of an hour very soothing despite many bumps along the way.

We were finally back to the base camp. Though the trek was over and we just had to rest, nature was unfolding a lot of miracles in front of us. Right from the camp, we were treated with majestic views of mountains engulfed in the clouds. Whenever layers of clouds turned thin, views of the underlying trees looked absolutely magical.

A small celebration ensued as finally we had made it successfully to the base camp. We giggled, laughed and enjoyed our last night at the base camp together playing different games.

Next morning, after breakfast we proceeded towards Dehradun. Our driver was much sane this time and he drove his vehicle carefully and skillfully and there was not a single puking incident despite a long, arduous travel.

Next day was free for us in Dehradun and we all decided to go for water-rafting at Hrishikesh. Hrishikesh was exceedingly hot and as we waited for our turn to start rafting, sun almost baked us and we became desperate to get into the water. I and Onkar took the front seats and with few instructions which mostly scared all of us, we started rafting. 

Few splashes of water really provided good escape from the sweltering heat and in a short while, we were fully drenched. We were really frightened when our raft toppled in a rapid and Onkar and Ameya fell into the river. With few frantic cries, they were brought onto the raft by our guide and after that all of us became very focused and followed each and every instruction of our guide with best of our abilities. Overall, it was a great thrilling experience which we would remember for a long, long time.

Finally, the enigma of Himalaya was unravelled. Spending some incredible days in the lap of Himalaya was life enriching experience. Sights of gigantic mountains dwarfing humans make you shed all your ego at once. Breathing fresh mountain air immediately lifts your spirit. Initially, there were few inhibitions of hiking in high altitude in unfamiliar conditions but this sojourn in Himalaya has really opened a vast range of possible opportunities to visit this incredible part of region time and again.

I would like to dedicate this blog to simple and healthy people living in Himalaya who teach you that real and long lasting pleasure of life is growing and staying with nature.

Trekkers: 

Participants: Anurag Saswadkar, Akanksha Saswadkar, Vishnupriya Kulkarni, Sharda Pandit, Saurabh Kshirsagar, Nihar Padhye, Niranjan Keskar, Malhar Gaikwad, Parth Gune, Vedashree Kulkarni , Grishma Pawale, Shivani Khadilkar, Sahil Kargal , Kunal Kargal, Atharva Jogdeo, Madhura Deshpande, Netra  Hendre, Mrunmayi Dharu, Aditi Joshi, Devendra Sawant, Rujuta Dharu, Onkar Salvekar, Pooja Salvekar, Arya Bondre, Balkrishna Naidu, Prashant Kothawade

Yuvashakti Trek Leader: Tejas Joshi

Local Trek Leader: Vijay Singh Rana

Tips for the trekkers:

• Practice well before you attempt this trek. Regular exercise and few hikes before this trek will hold you in good stead.
• You can join Yuvashakti or Youth Hostels of India (YHAI) who regularly arrange Himalayan Treks.
•  If you are a large group, you can directly contact Vijay Singh Rana (+91-9410153260), local trek leader. If number is not reachable, try after few days. Once on the treks, Vijay would not be reachable because of lack of network coverage.

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Happy hiking!

Appeal: No litter; no plastic; no wrappers; keep the mother nature clean!