A walk to remember – Kuari Pass

I am a sea person. Born and brought up in Mumbai, I have always loved the sea, its beaches, the sound of waves gushing and the memories of a lifetime associated with the different beaches visited. 

Mountains were never my cup of tea, forget trekking them. It was not until three years back that a small voice in my head said, its time you gave yourself a chance to know the mountains. I started small treks and climbing the local tekdi near my home.It was not until I trekked the Tiger’s nest and for the first time witnessed the mighty Himalayas in Bhutan that I yearned to trek in the Himalayan region. But I still didn’t budge, thanks to the inhibitions I had about wandering with a group of strangers totally disconnected from the world few thousand feet above sea level, living in a tent overnight and fearing about to pee or not to pee in the open. I needed a stronger reason to go beyond my comfort zone. Then as suddenly as I plan a trip to a beach, I decided I wanted to do a Himalayan Trek. I did not have a logical reasoning and I am glad I didn’t try to find one too. I just went with the flow, strength trained for few weeks, did some cardio exercises and kept the mindset that I was going to make it till the top.

The day to start the trek arrived. I decided I wanted to go with the group in a train.  Arriving at the station, I met a few fellow trekkers and all one could see was group of big trekking bags lying together, strangers warming up to each other over small talks and anxious parents who had come to drop off their kids for the trek.

Thus, started the journey from Pune to Joshimath (the base camp).  As the day progressed, the heat increased and I started turning red and irritated. Wetting a towel around my neck, I stood at the doorway of the compartment trying to catch some breeze. Trains have been out of my life for last few years but just standing at the door, brought back all the memories of going to college and office with friends. Trains have their own charm, the windows and fourth seat, the doors at the entrance, the fans which work only after you use a comb on them, the people who are strangers at first and soon are friends and the hawkers who get all sorts of things which makes a trip to the mall unnecessary.

Somewhere between playing Uno, Dumb C and Mafia we crossed midway towards MP and it was time to sleep. After a brief halt at Nizamuddin station we boarded a train to Haridwar. As we approached Haridwar, the outside temperature was dropping and the individual impatience level was rising. All we wanted was to take a bath, have dinner and crash on the beds.  After a lip smacking dinner, we came out for a walk as there was an electricity blackout. After some more chitchatting we went back to our rooms and slept like babies. We had almost 10 hours of road trip awaiting to take us to our base camp at Joshimath.

Haridwar with its multiple Ganga ghats, aartis, people and Shiva statue is a pleasing sight in the morning. Catching a glimpse of the Ram Jhula we crossed Rishikesh looking happily at the folks getting ready to do river rafting and thinking we might just be doing this a week down the line. We crossed Devaprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Nandaprayag to reach Joshimath. At Devaprayag, one can witness the holy confluence of Bhagirathi and Alaknanda Rivers to form the River Ganges. The first glimpses of Joshimath were beautiful, we were surrounded on all sides by magnificent mountains, Rhodenderon trees and beautiful houses on slopes among them. I had started to like the mountains.

Haridwar Ghaats

I had chosen to go on the Kuari Pass Trek only because the difficulty level was easy to moderate. Kuari Pass is situated in Garhwal Himalayas, it is used extensively by the local shepherds. Kuari means a getaway. The trail is also known as Curzon’s trail as he went around it for the first time exploring the route. The route gives full view of the Himalayas and clear view of the Nanda Devi summit. The trail is through lush green meadows, dense mountain forests, lakes, ganga tributaries, and en-route if you are lucky you will meet some local folks too. Our total trekking distance was around 45 km.

Our start of the trek was from Auli, a famous hill station and a skiing destination.

The walk from Auli base to Gorson Bugyal (Bugyal means meadows) was an uphill climb of merely few kms. We had a brief halt at top to see an artificial lake built to make ice, first glimpses of Himalayas and Maggie. Our first camp site was a beautiful pasture in middle of mountains. In the evening, we took a small hike to witness some more snow-clad mountains before going to bed. Unfortunately, I was unable to sleep most of the night and woke up at around 4.30 am in morning. It was a beautiful morning, birds chirping, trees covered in multiple shades of green with a light chilly breeze flowing. After some refreshing tea, sumptuous breakfast and a warm up we were ready to start for our second camp site (Talli Tal).

The walk to Talli was up and down meadows and small paths having beautiful small Himalayan flowers. After few kms there was a km odd path which was just 5 feet wide with a deep valley on one side and mountain on other. We crossed it like ants (one behind other). Some of the steps down were a bit slippery due to rains but with no major hassles we all reached Talli Lake by noon. The lake is a source of water for animals. After a brief halt there, we proceeded towards our base camp which was amidst a forest. It was a small clearing with few fresh water sources. There were few other camp groups at the site. We met one guy from US who was on a 4 weeks’ vacation travelling from South to North India with Kuari as his last stay. He played us a few country songs and we in return sang some classical and English songs. It was nice to connect with a total stranger over music and some nice tea. At night, we had rains hitting us badly, before dinner. The only thing I recall now is getting into the tent after few games of Antakshari and an attempt to make some fire and sleeping in the warmth of the sleeping bag.

Our next stay was at Khulara base camp. It was not far from Talli and was a small walk through the dense Himalayan forest. Khulara site was our stay for next two days for the Kuari Pass and Pangharchula Trek. Before a small descent to the campsite we halted for some snaps of flora and fauna.  A hail storm hit us post noon at Khulara. It was raining throughout the night and stopped in wee hours of the morning. When we got up the most beautiful sight hit us. All the mountains were covered with snow and the hills were alive with the sound of music. I was mesmerized with the view and ended up singing like Maria at a lonely spot near the cliffs. 

Few clips below.

The walk to Kuari pass was through some steep slopes (almost 60 deg sometimes), through small fresh water streams and some rocky paths.  When we reached the pass, there was a pooja going on (apparently done only twice in a year). We were lucky to witness it. After spending some time at the pass, we began our return to Khulara. The walk down seemed to go on forever due to the huge stones and slippery path thanks to the rains. By 2 pm we were back with feet paining a bit for the first time. I was extremely happy as I had done the trek I had come for. I skipped going to Pangharchula anticipating that I might be unable to do it but now I feel, I should have gone for it too. More than the health conditions, it was the rains which made me irritated and pulled me back to go to the base camp at Joshimath.

The next day leaving few folks who had decided to go for Pangharchula, we started our trek back to Joshimath. I guess we descended around 12 km that day across wet forests, meadows, villages and the worst set of stones with rains for the last 1 km. The entire descent was scenic with awesome flowers, village houses, small kids whom we met on their way back from school and two lovely black dogs who were with us throughout the descent. I had a new-found respect for the kids and villagers who travel daily such terrains for attending schools and jobs.

We reached at our pickup point post noon, by then my legs and soles were aching and I had developed some bad feet bruises. At one point, I thought my feet and the shoes had become one and was dreading the thought of removing the shoes, least some of the skin from the feet too comes off with it.

When I reached the base camp at Joshimath, I looked at the mirror for the first time in 5 days, I looked like a red-faced monkey, with big red nose, sunburn skin on nose, cheeks and hands but with a smile on face which was going to declare loudly to the world, I loved each moment of Himalayan trekking and I wanted to do it all the more.

If anyone asks me what was the toughest part of the trek, my response would be “the most difficult part of trekking is not the long walk, steep slopes and altitudes but getting inside the sleeping bag, then out of the tent in the cold early mornings.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Joshimath (first math established by Adi Shakaracharya), the 2500-year-old Banyan tree and its temples. Next day we went to get darshan of Lord Badrinath, drank fresh water at the ugamsthan of river Saraswati, went inside Vyas and Ganesh Guha, visited the last village on India-China border Mana, said a silent prayer at Govind Ghat for our near and dear ones.

The perfect end to the first Himalayan adventure was doing river rafting with a dip and swim in the holy river Ganga and witnessing the aartis on the ghaats of Rishikesh.

Glimpses here

Of course, the trip would not be complete if there was no mention of food, so I went on an exploration of food on the lanes of Haridwar. Fruits, Chaats, piping hot gulab jamuns, thandai, petha , farsaans and gudani later , Appy returned Happy with memories of a lifetime to take away.

 

 

I came back few kg lighter but many more thoughts wiser. 

I was finally able to figure out why people loved trekking. I initially used to think it was because one is disconnected from work, is making new friends, is following passion, is near nature at its best, is climbing new heights and conquering mountains but it was none of this. 

It was about conquering yourself, your fears, your mind and its limitations.