Kedarkantha Trek

We reached Delhi and we were to take another flight to Dehradoon. We took metro train and on scanning my luggage the hawaldar asked “Where are you taking this sward to?” That was my walking stick sitting in my bag. On learning that we were going to board a flight, he let us go telling that they have tighter security than us.

We reached Dehradoon base camp of youth hostels for our Kedarkantha trek. We met a new friend while walking towards the taxi stand, Vijay so it was a good start. We stayed at night at the base and as usual we had not registered for the trek as our schedule was not fixed (it never is) and we wanted a spot registration. We were briefed about the trek at the night and asked to register at the Sankri base depending on the number of registered trekkers. It rained at night and we got a little relief from the heat.

Next morning all the trekkers were in the bus while some of us were in the SUV as we wanted to do shopping of certain items we had forgotten such as snow glasses etc and we were supposed to shop for our fellow friends also. So we reached the market and bought necessary things and reached Sankri before the bus reached so we went to bazaar which comprised of 4-5 shops and passed our time. The bus arrived after three hours and we were told that they had multiple tire punctures on the way. They also enjoyed much time in the tea break on the way which we didn’t get the chance. The bus takes normally 8-9 hours to reach Sankri from Dehradoon. Our camp was in the “Govind Sanctuary” and the market was about five minutes by walk from there.

The camp in-charge was angry on us as we had gone to bazaar but we did inform him our arrival and asked for a tent but he refused and told us to wait so what we were supposed to do. Anyways we got the last chance for tent allotment and that was supposed to be our punishment and it was after the dinner time. We passed the night at the camp.

Morning came and on coming out of the tent I was awe struck by the beautiful scene unfolding before my eyes as the sun rose. It was simply awesome and worth everything we came for. Still it was the first day of the trek and a lot more such scenes awaited us.

The scene out of my tent

We trekked up to “Juda ka Talab” in rather comfortable pace as it was near. What a scene on reaching the half frozen lake. We passed our time leisurely as we had lot of time. Some of us exercised, mainly push-ups on the semi-frozen floor of the lake.

This is our full team

 My partner in Crime

 The Lake

The tea stall

We moved ahead and stopped at a tea-stall for tea as the atmosphere was very good and after some time the snow started. I saw the snow fall first time in my life so it was superb experience. Vijay, my partner in crime and I stayed till last and then the guide called us so we went after enjoying the dance of the snow. We reached our camp site. It was surrounded by small hills and we were provided clean toilets and good tents. At night there was camp fire outside while my tent members played with cards and I sat there eating some home-made snacks we had carried with us and then slept. The snow fall started at night and on lighting my torch out of the tent I saw small diamonds lying scattered on the floor. It was a splendid sight so I ventured out and when I saw up I could see more diamonds there, though a little farther than the ground ones. It was simply awesome.

We woke up in morning by hearing other trekkers shout to come out. We went out and saw that there was almost 2 feet snow on our tent and it could cave in so it was needed to be cleared which we did.

Our next base was near the Kedarkantha as we were supposed to leave the camp early and summit the peak mostly before sunrise to see the rising sun from there. It was snowing heavily already and all were shivering but it was fun.

Vijay kept on falling so the guide advised him to wear his socks over his shoes for better grip. After wearing his extra pair of socks over his shoes he got some better grip and the falling stopped. We reached the camp and it was all white with the snow but the added delight was pakoras and hot tea, yummy enough to make us forget the cold and shivering.

We slept at 6 in the evening and started out trek towards summit at 2 o clock almost. Everyone was equipped with a torch and a stick. It was also snowing so it was enjoyable. There was a big layer of fresh snow on the path so it was easy to walk. Later when we reached it became more difficult to walk as the snow was not fresh any longer and it had become slippery by the footsteps of the trekkers ahead of me. Anyways all started to fall and rise and more ahead. It looks funny till we don’t fall, that’s human nature.

The Summit of Kedarkantha

Finally we reached the summit of the Kedarkantha peak, the scene around was stunning but there was no sunrise as the Sun opted to hide behind the clouds to make its absence felt by us. I mention Parth here for he managed to summit the peak with his broken shoes, kudos for that daring feet bro. We started the descent after a group photo. The descent was more slippery and we all fell sometimes all together and sometimes turn by turn. Our guide also fell once so after that we were no longer shy to fall and some of us did sliding to enjoy the snow. When my brother and his friend were passing under a tree its big branch fell on them due to the weight of the snow. They were saved just by inches as if fell on the rucksacks they were carrying, it was so close that the water bottle of my brother’s friend broke so the guide told that water is life and it did take life. It was very good luck that they were saved. The guide then urged us to move faster to avoid any such accidents and the clear the jungle as fast as we could. I had the habit of putting my walking stick in the time of the fall, I did so once and my stick was bent at ninety degrees but I didn’t fall much that was the benefit. When we exchanged the falling records, I came to know that my brother had fallen around 72 times and I had fallen around 15 times.

The snow fall continued and we actually enjoyed the snow fall, everywhere the thick sheet of white was spread. We all reached almost drenched in water and mud as at the lower levels there was much mud. We didn’t get time to change as a bus was waiting for us. The bus was almost full so some of the friends were thinking of hiring some alternate vehicle but we assured them that it was fine that the bus was full and we can take turns to sit as this was the last journey of all the trekkers which would be for 8-9 hours so why anybody should be left alone.

We reached at night to Dehradoon and rented a hotel and woke up next morning and in evening we visited the forest University of Dehradoon. It is very huge and has lots of museums (around 6-7). We also took a private bus to visit famous places of Dehradoon. Well it was not as interesting as the trek. Our next day was for shopping so we did that. Almost all left and our small group of four people stayed.

Then we went to Rishikesh and rented a hotel and putting our luggage there we went to Haridwar. Our goal was to attend the famous “Ganga Arti”. We returned to Rishikesh. Nest day was for Rishikesh where we saw Ram-Julha and Laxman-Julha. 

We took lunch in a good restaurant as we had some time, at least we thought so. On seeing our flight ticket we found that just one hour was left in the flight time. We rushed but there was no taxi available so we asked for lift and a guy was kind enough to give us the lift. He was going to receive his mom from the airport. He informed us that the gates close before 45 minutes and he set our stomachs churning in worry. We thanked that guy and rushed at the table and after lots of requests and swearing about our connecting flight; we were allowed but were told to check in all luggage and to carry nothing. I checked in my now not closing walking stick and my friend checked in the bottle of ganga jal.

All set and we relaxed in the flight at last. It was an awesome feeling on recollecting the memories in my flight and I slept with a smile on my face.