29 July - Dharchula - Preparing for the 1st Day's Trek

By 8 pm, everybody was famished. Lunch had been light, remember? We unpacked in the three rooms the eleven of us shared, and headed down to the restaurant of the KMVN hotel we were staying at for an early dinner. After dinner, most of us called home to talk to parents, children, spouses left behind. We wouldn’t have access to a telephone for the next 4 days till we reached Budhi camp where there was a satellite phone and that one would cost 32 rupees per minute.

After dinner Sahji called a meeting to give us instructions and details for the 1st day’s trek. Next morning we would be transported by jeeps to Mangti about 45 kms from Dharchula. From Mangti the 14-km trek to Gala would begin. It would not be a hectic first day. But it could get complicated by landslides between Dharchula and Mangti. There had been continuous landslides for the past few days. If we came across a particularly serious one, we would have to start walking much earlier.

The mules we had rented for our luggage were stabled at Mangti. If we had to start walking early, it would be with the luggage. I had just about managed to lug it around in Delhi. The thought of hauling it for an extra 10 or so mile, on steep roads was extremely daunting. My trek would get over the very first day, it seemed. Added to this was the fact that, after Mangti, the mules would directly go to the 2nd camp at Budhi. So we had to separately pack a sack for 2 days that we would have to carry ourselves on the way to Budhi anyway.

The remaining hour before bedtime was spent in frenzied preparations for the next day. Sometime after midnight, it started pouring. I creaked open the door to the balcony and watched the Kali roiling and churning in the faint light reflecting from the clouds. I went back to bed praying for the rain to stop before morning. But anticipation, and a slight apprehension, kept me tossing and turning the whole night through.

29 July - Kathgodam to Dharchula

As we made our way outside the Kathgodam station, we found our guide Sahji waiting for us with 2 jeeps ready to go. There were introductions made, our sacks were tied onto the overhead carrier, covered with tarpaulin because it often rains in the mountains and we pushed off on the 285 km long road from Kathgodam to Dharchula.

About 45 kms from Kathgodam, we took our first halt at Kainchidham. Here, we found an ashram, dedicated to Shri Neeb Karori Maharaj who is especially revered in north India. The ashram complex had 4 temples, of Vaishno Devi, Ramji, Hanumanji and Shiva. The temples were unique in that they were spotlessly clean. The idols were made of pure white marble and the inner walls of the temples were decorated with fine tapestry in rich colors of yellow, red, blue and gold.

We had breakfast at a little roadside restaurant next to the ashram. Hot pyaaz pakoras and tall glasses of lemonade flavoured with jal-jeera. Needless to say, we hogged. And lived to regret it. The road ahead was so winding and full of hairpin bends and curves that within an hour at least 2 people had lost that delicious breakfast.

So we opted for a late and light lunch and made our way to Almora. Almora, in the valley, is pretty. The tiny cottages and lavish bungalows clinging to the cliffside look like a picture postcard. The mountains are covered with tall pine and leafy rhododendrons. Little brooks and mountain streams play hide and seek amongst the rocks and foliage. Puran Singh, our 2nd guide was an expert on the local flora and fauna and pointed out interesting specimen. See the trident-shaped pine in photo.

A foaming white river called Dhauli Ganga, kept us company towards the end of our journey. The wide expanse of the river, especially when viewed from a height of 500 or so feet was a dizzying sight. But it was just a trailer of things to come. We would soon catch up with a demonic river, the Kali, near Kathgodam. Most of the 230 kms of the trek would be spent walking alongside this river and she would give us nightmares for quite some time.

We reached Kathgodam by 7.00 pm, almost 12 hrs after we started. And saw the Kali for the first time. No love at first sight there. Just across the river is Nepal. Kali acts as a border between India and Nepal. People freely walk across the bridge connecting the two banks. Hindi Nepali, Bhai Bhai.

28 July - Delhi to Kathgodam

Delhi was humid and sweltering, even though it was supposed to be mid monsoon. We spent the day at the residence of some relatives, crosschecking that we had all we needed and buying last minute stuff. None of the guys had sunscreen as I suspected, and I forced them to buy some. The ungrateful brats, of course, made comments like "God, I'm sure you must have 5 litres of the stuff, why do we need to buy extra?" but they would eat their words later.

At around 7 pm we lugged our haversacks, climbed into cycle rickshaws and made our way to the metro station at Dwarka. This time there were no trolleys and we hefted the sacks onto our shoulders. My bro-in-law quipped that I looked like an ant scurrying with a huge leaf on its back.
Sudhir uncle in his infinite wisdom had told us to keep our sacks unopened after the airport security check, upto the point where we boarded the metro. This allowed us to bypass the metro check. They only checked that the airport seals were unbroken and waved us in. It would have been an ordeal to open the sacks and repack them.

At the old delhi Station, we had dinner in the waiting room. We had carried methi parathas, sweet puris and laddoos to avoid eating at the station canteen. After dinner we climbed up and down the numerous stairways to reach the appropriate platform. Our train, the Ranikhet Express was right on time. Gratefully, we dumped the luggage and made ourselves comfortable. It was 10:45 pm when the train left Delhi Station and all of us fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up refreshed at 5 am. It was to become a habit over the next few days. After freshening up, I woke up the few in the group who were still asleep. By the time we had some tea and got the luggage together, the train was pulling into the Kathgodam station. It was 6:30 am and the train was on the dot.

Even there, standing on the platform at the railway station, I could feel the difference in the air. The cold mountain air of Uttaranchal was crisp and the sky was a vivid blue. Adi Kailash, we are on our way, I thought and felt a thrill deep in my bones.