Our first Himalayan hiking experience

The call of the Himalayas

The Himalayas have a way of calling her ardent devotees back again & again. The first time we landed up these mountains, on its eastern side, it didn’t turn out so well – a misguided ill-timed honeymoon at Sikkim became harsh although we did conjure up some good memories of the local people, culture and food. Next time, we approached it from the Tibetan side while exploring the mighty Chomolungma, Mount Everest as its popularly known. Although it was an amazing experience to watch the sunset on this glorious mountain, we had to go down & sleep low that night as my daughter felt uncomfortable (mostly due to food). The Himalayas called us again, and this time we decided to undertake a hiking adventure. My wife had become a hike convert thanks to Indiahikes organization, our 13-year daughter is always open to hikes and we selected the Ali-Bedni Bugyal trek, it seemed more family friendly. This was to be a spring trek, our first family foray into the Himalayan hiking experience! We were so excited.

DAY-1: Rising above the clouds

Indiahikes (let’s call them IH for brevity’s sake) transport team picked us all up near the Rishikesh Livefree hostel and we started our ascent (on vehicle) by 5:45am to their Lohajung campus pitched at 7700ft. The journey winded through some narrow, and at times real bad roads, lots of construction and dust along the way. Nevertheless, the scenery on the mountain side was very nice. In 1.5 hours, we arrived at Devprayag. This was to be short stop to stretch and admire the sangam (confluence) of two rivers Bhagirathi and Alaknanda to form the most sacred rivers of India, the mighty Ganga! The view from the top was amazing and the Keerthanas (hymns) playing out of loudspeakers at the local school down below created a divine vibe.

We stopped next for breakfast at Sukh Shanthi at Maletha. Aloo parathas were good; coffee was just ok. Next (stretch) stop was at the hilltop overlooking the gorgeous Dhari devi temple, the whole area was so picturesque.

For lunch, we stopped at a busy area in Dewal, at the Gadiya restaurant. The lunch here turned out to be the highlight of the day for us. The soft-spoken, polite Mr.Bharath, the proprietor, made us feel comfortable at his smallish eatery and suggested to try their Garhwali thali. Bajra Roti, dal, rajma curry, and rice, truly was an epic lunch. Unlimited serving (thali costs Rs.150) and I enjoyed 3 roti’s and 2 servings of rice with dal and rajma masala, unbelievable taste! What was also unbelievable was the narrow “main” roads of the local towns of Rudraprayag and Chamoli. Two-sided traffic on an almost one-way street, a true test of patience and confidence, with vehicles parked in between. There was one another stop for tea/bio-break and we finally reached around 4:30pm.

A short 100 meters walk from the road to the IH Lohajung camp seemed a good way to acclimatize. We were soon joined by Lakshya, IH trek leader, who introduced Dhan Singh dha, IH local guide, as they welcomed and gave us a brief tour of the camp, do’s and don’ts as the light drizzle dropped the temperature, bit too cold for our liking. Each hut housed 8 bunk beds, and we segregated into male and female dorms.

We picked up the rentals from the cross-trek area, as we braced for a cold night ahead. The dining rule was simple – get your own lunch box & spoon, enjoy the food, wash the utensils yourselves. At this high altitude, deliciously cooked bowl of rice and dal makes a lot of difference. They also had soya chunk curry and some dessert. The night grew colder, local furry dogs got their barking acts together and we lumbered into sleep. We were high above the clouds, as the daybreak showed us the next day.

DAY-2: Bombay ka fashion aur Garhwal ka mausam ka koi barosa nahi

Multiple jeeps picked us from the camp and in 35-40 mins, over a tricky terrain, reached the Wan village. A short 100-meter hike up and we reached the starting point of the trek, a serene Laatu devata temple. There is an interesting story behind this temple, do read it up from the Internet, found this detailed post.

We got introduced to two other gentlemen here, Gopalji and Rakeshji, our two other guides. We had a quick training on how to carry the trek bag properly, using the trek poles and interestingly, how to tie shoes the right way. Tying shoe-knots rightly, removing the foot just by relaxing the strings without untying, converting shoes into slip-ons. These are so essential in the cold mountains, as we found out later. We soon started after some basic warm-up exercises, with Gopalji leading the pack, Rakeshji handling the middle pack. Dhan Singh dha was the last man walking, ensuring nobody got left behind. The walk was rather peaceful.

The weather was not on our side today, and it soon started drizzling. We stopped by at a nice little tea shop enroute to have tea/water/snacks. Next was a hike down to the NeelGanga river, which was nice and easy for most. Quick water break near the beautiful flowing river should have given us enough energy, but soon there was steep ascent, it became tough for lot of us who started questioning their physical ability, and also their decision to take up this hiking trip. A hard struggle followed and we reached our lunch point – a beautiful canopy of trees – as the drizzle continued. The packed lunch – pulao – had turned cold, but I enjoyed it, nevertheless.

After lunch, Lakshya thoughtfully divided us into pairs/partners as part of game, a game to know the other person better, we had to introduce the other person at the camp later that evening. What this game did, as I soon realized was that people started moving bit quicker, as the focus was more mental now, hiking seemed like walk in the park (well, not really, but easier!). By the time we reached the first campsite (aptly named Ghairoli Paataal), drizzle turned into snow, it was nice and worrisome at the same time. We got introduced to the camp in-charge, more training followed, this time on how to use the tents, hygiene liners, the sleeping bags, the bio-toilet, all of which was new to most of us. We chose our tents as the snowfall gave us all a very warm (or cold?) welcome.

After settling into our tents, we were invited to the community tent, a much bigger tent used for group meetings and dining. The sub-zero cold and the high altitude soon caught up with some of us, as few started showing signs of nausea and discomfort. Dinner was again very nice with rice, dal and another curry. The introduction game started, as the Angeeti (fireplace) kept us all warm.

After sunset, it got pitch dark, and now it was evident why we needed the head torches. Energy here is mostly derived from solar, which is few and far in between. I thought it was very thoughtful of the IH team to provide everyone with a second (smaller) sleeping bag. We wished each other good night (although this seemed more like good luck with this cold!). We entered our 2-person sharing tents, crawled into the hygiene liner, the smaller sleeping bag, and finally the bigger one. One thought pestered me at this time “Why the hell did I sign up for this adventure!“.

The forecast was ominous and it was obvious already that we couldn’t continue our normal itinerary, for now it was to be Plan-B, doing a day trek to Bedni bugyal. I am pretty sure most of us secretly were happy about Plan-B (lighter daypacks to carry!), but little did we know the severity of the trouble brewing outside our tents. Snow continued to pelt our tents all through the night, the black furry dog though didn’t seem to mind it as it continuously kept barking, apparently at some wild animals or marmots, we couldn’t be sure. Interestingly everyone thought it was barking right outside their own tent. Some thought probably the dog was feeling very cold and wanted to enter their tents for warmth, nobody asked the dog though. Night was just getting colder.

DAY-3: Welcome to Paataal-lok

Tents were covered with good amount of snow and Lakshya announced it was to be Plan-C unfortunately – just being at the camp today, as the hiking route and the bugyal had been covered with deep snow. Another team had been stuck at the Bedni summit.

The IH team rightly had to follow safety protocol. Safety is important to one and all, so entire team agreed to just hang around the snow-clad tent area, restricting our daily movement to 10-20 metres radius, from sleeping tents to community tents, and occasional visit to bio-toilets. Snow was still pouring and the ground was now completely covered in white. I thought the IH team managed the situation quite well, continuously providing the fireplace in community tents, hot water, lemon tea, tea/Horlicks from time to time.

While most decided to hang around the fireplace, me and fellow trekker, Girish, went for a walk along the well-marked trail. The scenery was indeed magical as the entire trail had turned into magical wonderland.

Tree branches sagged under the weight of snow; it was interesting how the branches shot up when we cleared the snow. This was the first time ever that I was inside a live snow environment, it snowed heavily, it was magical, simply magical. We did around 500 meters of trail walk (return); it seemed enough to experience first-hand.

Some folks were at the community tents, some taking rest in their tents. We had no prior experience of all this, and it was scary to see the tents sagging under the load of snow. At this moment, we came out of the winter fairyland mode to reality check – If it didn’t stop snowing soon, we could be in for some trouble, real trouble.

After another good lunch, we played couple of rounds of Dumb charades, and then a good round of Chinese whisper. This particular game really uplifted the team’s morale, which had been sinking under the weight of snow so far. I probably overate the yummy lunch (dal rice + paapad), and if there is one thing you shouldnt do at high altitude is to over-eat. By dusk, I started having symptoms of indigestion and nausea. The next 12 hours were quite testing for me and many others. A popular Kannada saying goes, “Sankata Bandhaaga Venkata ramana” – translated to “When there is trouble, only then we remember god“, was very apt here. I prayed to my Ista devatha, grama devatha, kula devatha, even the local gods of Garhwal, hoping they could stop the snow somehow.

Extreme cold, not experienced by most coming from lower altitude tropical places slowly started working some of us up. Some just became silent, some very anxious, some started crying, experiencing something weird that never happened before. Most of us, including me, skipped the evening snacks (Thukpa) and dinner. I felt so annoyed with this nausea feeling that I put finger to forcibly vomit, after which I felt much better! I had some sweet dish at the dinner after this. The IH team provided ajwain water, which would manage the nausea situation better, and all of us had as much possible.

Now there is a catch here at high altitude, especially at nights – Stay hydrated, drink lots of water, but this results in frequent urinations due to cold weather. Urination by itself is ok, but this ritual of getting out of three layers of sleeping bags, unzipping the freezing tent from inside, then outside, wearing shoes (fingers struggling in cold), walking to urinate (ladies had to go all the way to bio-toilet, a good 50+ meters away), walking back, removing shoes, zipping up the tents outside and inside, getting back into the hygiene liner, two sleeping bags, was quite some circus. I had to undertake this ritual couple of times tonight (thanks to ajwain water, disturbed sleep, cold weather and just plain anxiety).

Although I had crawled into the sleeping setup by 9pm, I woke up multiple times, once at 10:45pm to pee, then again at 12:45. Then again at 3am, then by 4am, I had the urge to urinate again! There is another problem – the dog bark. Not about the dog, I was concerned if it had actually sighted some wild animal, I didn’t want to become news like “Trekker goes missing at night in Uttarakhand” types, so I held the urge for as long as I could, eagerly waiting some daylight. I finally woke up at 4:50am and sat inside the tent waiting for daybreak. One thought crossed my mind throughout the night, “Iss raath ki subah Nahi” (this night has no morning!), as I kept glancing at my watch from time to time, hoping the night would pass quickly. Finally, I went outside at 5:30am, by this time the snow had stopped, and the place had turned into a winter wonderland!

DAY-4: A winter wonderland

People say, “No pain, no gain!”, it turned out to be so true today! Yesterday we felt like hell, and today the morning had come with a hint of serenity, a white magic swept across the area, one that we were accustomed to see only on TV’s and movies.

Great experience to walk on snow, and probably the notion that we would finally leave this place today probably gave us more thought to enjoy the remaining time in this “heaven”. We walked around clicking pictures around, everything was so beautiful.

The sky had become clearer, and we sighted the majestic Mount Trishul, what a lovely sight that was!

We had to start our descent soon as the weather was unpredictable and there was a forecast that it might rain by 11am (again the Garhwal ka Mausam legend!). The IH team provided hot water and lemon tea, and packed lunch (some noodles or sandwich or both as we liked). They also requested us to clear stuff from tents, put all offloading bags, sleeping bags, luggage’s in the stables area. There were apples and oranges too, and we soon started our descent by 8am.

The walk down was easily the best experience for all of us, as we descended down the snowy path, sighting trees, plants and rocks completely turned snow-white. Was it birds or wind I am not sure, but many times we would get nice showers of snow, it was great fun. Lots of pictures, videos as folks brought out the kid within to play and enjoy the snow. What a turn of events I thought! Previous day seemed like hell and today was heaven. The snow got lesser as we climbed down, and it looked more familiar sight with the trees and sparse views of Rhododendrons.

We enjoyed a nice pit-stop at the bed of Neelganga river. Weather was beautiful, and some of us dip our feet, hands and even our faces in the icy cold waters.

The point about Neelganga river location is whichever direction you go, after this river we have an ascent to climb! Things became slower and we somehow crawled to our next stop at the Tea stop.

We enjoyed the Omlettes, Maggi and Chai, and took in some final views of the landscape. We were going back to Rishikesh a day ahead, so all of us took time to ensure our accommodation were booked. We soon reached the Lato Devata temple and then we saw the roads, our hike had come to an end.

Another 30 mins drive and we reached the Lohajung campsite. Having suffered the extreme cold up in the mountains, a bit of confidence sunk in that now Lohajung could be manageable, we soon found this was not to be. One thing we all wanted to do was to enjoy some local food at the town, nice walk and we found one smallish eatery, an interesting person there was excited to see the huge number of customers. His momos, especially his home-made chili paste was amazing, at least it felt so after just few days of hiking. We saw him mix the dough, put the fillings and fry the Samosas live, it was like we had a lot of time to enjoy the complete process, unlike the life in city. Samosas were amazing, and we all enjoyed it very much.

There was a nice debrief session led by Lakshya as we all spoke about our experiences, what went well, what could have been better, and learnings. Although folks were not ready for the winter experience, everybody found the experience very different, something that people consciously looking also might not end up having. We had the final dinner at the camp, as the night got colder. It was interesting to note how life is driven by perspectives and relative experiences. First day we arrived here from Rishikesh, the Lohajung camp looked very basic, with bunk beds, cold water, basic toilets. Today, coming from the mountains, the same camp seemed luxury. There was nice bunk bed to sleep, running water, and regular toilets. I have always believed the mountains have a unique way of humbling one and all, but I hadn’t thought from this point of view.

DAY-5: What goes up has to come down

The morning weather was beautiful, though cold. I enjoyed the walk around, the volleyball ground, the clouds below, the birds chirping around, and of course the magnificent Mount Nandaghunti far away. I admired how good this place was, overlooking the picturesque village of Mandoli, the mountains hosting Brahmatal, the complete setting was so serene and peaceful. I would definitely like to come back, although the long bumpy drive from Rishikesh was indeed a pain-point. We took our bags and walked down to the road, where couple of tempo travelers were waiting for us.

Breakfast today was at the Gadiya restaurant, already a favorite amongst some of us. We enjoyed their Aloo/Aloo-Pyaaz and Paneer parathas, chai was also very good. The lunch was at the same place where we had breakfast on first day, where I enjoyed their Thali, and my family found their noodles very nice. There was plenty of choking points for traffic midway, and we finally reached Rishikesh by 5pm. The descent was complete. We bid each other good-byes, as we went our direction, some taking another 6-hour cab to Gurgaon, some to check-in at their respective hotels. The first thing everyone wanted to do was to take a nice hot water shower!

Final Comments

We had signed up for a nice spring trek, to hike along and sight the famous Himalayan peaks in the area. But what the mountains treated us with was a wild winter experience. Not exactly what we went for, but a magical experience, nonetheless. Nature has its way to test us humans, but now we are more determined to come back, to try and hike to see those glorious peaks. Until next hike then!