Part 1: Preparation and Journey (You are currently reading this.)
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
With all the professional and family duties, trekking in Himalaya once in a year is also an achievement. Considering I had trekked to Har-Ki-Dun in Uttarakhand last year, I was muling an option to change the region and zeroed on Great lakes in Kashmir in Aug 2016 with my other trek mates - Sandeepak and Ajay. But as luck would have it, I had to cancel that plan and I finalized Roopkund Trek in Uttarakhand only. I searched for probable dates in June, posted the message in my trekking groups to get some company. From our Pune-Nasik trekking Group, three group members from Pune and four members from Nasik were finalized.
Pune Members: Amol Chandurkar, Prashant Kothawade, Tushar Kothawade
This was Tushar's and Amol's maiden Himalayan trek. Being a great trekker in Sahyadri, I was not worried about Tushar but somewhat worried about Amol. Amol was slightly irregular as part of my trekking group but being the meticulous and cautious in nature, Amol prepared really well before the trek. He accompanied us at Kalsubai trek via Udadavane route and also did 3-4 hikes on Sinhagad. I observed him keenly in few of these treks and considering his daily improving fitness, I thought we really had a group ready to tackle Himalayan challenge.
Next task was to finalize the trekking organization and we finalised trekking group of Neeraj Joshi founder of "Himalayan Climber". Neeraj was part of our facebook groups and we decided to provide him the opportunity in preference to already established trekking groups.Initially only 5 members had confirmed and I went ahead for Pune-Delhi flight bookings for all these members. Later Ashwin and Vipin confirmed and they booked Mumbai-Delhi flights around the same time of ours.
Nana and Kiran travelled whole night from Nasik to Pune and came early morning to our home, got refreshed and we left for Pune airport. Indigo flight was on time and we reached Delhi around 1.15PM.
Trying my hands with the new wide angle lens that I purchased just before the trek:
Unbearable heat greeted us as we stepped out of Delhi airport. Airport taxis demanded some exorbitant prices and reluctantly we took a rickshaw ride to a nearby restaurant. After lunch, we kept waiting in the restaurant as we didn’t want to expose ourselves to the heat outside. Hotel owners also took pity on us seeing our heavy backpacks and allowed us to chill inside the restaurant.
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
The amazing Himalaya! Land of pristine beauty, land of lofty mountains, land of
virgin snow, land beholding many mysteries, land beckoning the trekkers all
over the world! After my first sojourn in Himalaya, it got me completely hooked
and I madly fell in love with it.
With all the professional and family duties, trekking in Himalaya once in a year is also an achievement. Considering I had trekked to Har-Ki-Dun in Uttarakhand last year, I was muling an option to change the region and zeroed on Great lakes in Kashmir in Aug 2016 with my other trek mates - Sandeepak and Ajay. But as luck would have it, I had to cancel that plan and I finalized Roopkund Trek in Uttarakhand only. I searched for probable dates in June, posted the message in my trekking groups to get some company. From our Pune-Nasik trekking Group, three group members from Pune and four members from Nasik were finalized.
Pune Members: Amol Chandurkar, Prashant Kothawade, Tushar Kothawade
Nasik Members: Sanjay Amrutkar, Kiran Awasarkar, Ashwin Alai,
Vipinkumar Chaudhari
This was Tushar's and Amol's maiden Himalayan trek. Being a great trekker in Sahyadri, I was not worried about Tushar but somewhat worried about Amol. Amol was slightly irregular as part of my trekking group but being the meticulous and cautious in nature, Amol prepared really well before the trek. He accompanied us at Kalsubai trek via Udadavane route and also did 3-4 hikes on Sinhagad. I observed him keenly in few of these treks and considering his daily improving fitness, I thought we really had a group ready to tackle Himalayan challenge.
Next task was to finalize the trekking organization and we finalised trekking group of Neeraj Joshi founder of "Himalayan Climber". Neeraj was part of our facebook groups and we decided to provide him the opportunity in preference to already established trekking groups.Initially only 5 members had confirmed and I went ahead for Pune-Delhi flight bookings for all these members. Later Ashwin and Vipin confirmed and they booked Mumbai-Delhi flights around the same time of ours.
Nana and Kiran travelled whole night from Nasik to Pune and came early morning to our home, got refreshed and we left for Pune airport. Indigo flight was on time and we reached Delhi around 1.15PM.
Trying my hands with the new wide angle lens that I purchased just before the trek:
Unbearable heat greeted us as we stepped out of Delhi airport. Airport taxis demanded some exorbitant prices and reluctantly we took a rickshaw ride to a nearby restaurant. After lunch, we kept waiting in the restaurant as we didn’t want to expose ourselves to the heat outside. Hotel owners also took pity on us seeing our heavy backpacks and allowed us to chill inside the restaurant.
Mukesh Chaddha, Tushar Dada's friend came to the restaurant to greet
us, loaded all of us inside his robust Mahindra XUV 500 and took us to some
sightseeing. He also treated all of us dinner. We had our share of proteins in the form of Afghani Chicken at one of the joints of Sandoz Chicken. Making sure that we were fed heartily, Mukesh Bhai dropped us at a nearby Metro station so that we could avoid evening's chaotic traffic to reach to Delhi Railway Station. A very rare hospitality by
Mukesh Bhai!
Though it was late evening, there was no respite from the heat. Delhi is really a nightmare in Summer and even evenings are not pleasant. Ranikhet express arrived on time and soon we grabbed our
reserved seats. A
fellow passenger hailing from Haldwani scared us telling us to be extra careful
as heavy rains including cloud burst were expecting in Uttarakhand. Sensing the
negativity in his tone, I immediately bid good night to this passenger and
retired for the day.
After having a peaceful sleep for few hours, we reached to
Kathgodam before daybreak. After getting refreshed, we came
outside the station where a Tempo Traveler was waiting for us. Unfortunately
few members had not yet arrived and we had more than
an hour to pass. We chose to have a hearty breakfast during this period and
once everyone arrived, we started towards Deval village, 1 hour drive prior to Loha Ganj base camp.
Kathgodam Railway Station:
Kathgodam Railway Station:
Though very scenic, route from Kathgodam to Deval village was winding with lots of twists and turns. This caused our heads reel and few of us puked all the way. You can
hardly avoid this kind of journey before and after Himalayan treks and I dread
these journeys more than the actual climbing.
With lunch break in between, it was almost evening when we reached to Deval village, very picturesque with beautiful
valley on one side and tapering hills on the other side. We were hosted in a comfortable hotel belonging to Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam.
After getting refreshed, I ventured outside. Lush green plateau at the base of the valley caught my attention where villagers were busy working in their fields. I followed a trail with few steps and reached to the base within 10 minutes.
With few quick relations of Didi and Mauvsi formed, I clicked few of
the pictures of the villagers. One Mausi even invited me for Tea at her home in
the village. Soon, it started raining for a while and I ran for shelter inside
a small temple on the plateau. It was just a passing shower.
Our trek leader Chandar Negi was about to start instructions for next 6 days' of trekking when I returned to the hotel. We had a round of small introduction and we met few more trekkers who would be part of our group for next few days.
As the evening wore on, Chandar Bhai took us to dinner at a small joint. Hot dinner was served to us of Egg Curry and we feasted on it. We had a long walk back to our hotel.
Tonight's rest was absolute must to get ready for gruelling trek ahead. With this in mind, everyone turned silent and retired for the day on fluffy beds.
Tonight's rest was absolute must to get ready for gruelling trek ahead. With this in mind, everyone turned silent and retired for the day on fluffy beds.
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