KedarKanth Trek : Part 1: Seek Out

Pic courtesy : Shameek

When Shila texted me the Indiahikes link (https://indiahikes.com/kedarkantha/) to Kedarkanth Trek, my heart leaped. I glanced at my new pair of trekking shoes which had been sitting unused in the corner of my room for the past month. I decided it’s about time I came out of my shell and use them for my first Himalayan Trek. Having recently spent the best few years of my life in the ‘wild’ free west, I was now experiencing withdrawal symptoms, mostly psychological more than physical, I suppose. I was going through a lot of rough transitions in terms of my personal life and career and I needed to challenge myself, to find my ‘reboot button’ as my friend calls it.

My fitness level wasn’t the worst to start with. I have done a lot of hikes and also have had a teeny weeny experience at camping. But, my challenge were my knees which I had damaged along with the sciatica nerve about a year ago whilst running down a rocky climb. Also, high altitude trekking is a different beast altogether. Thus started my morning runs and strengthening exercises. To be honest, I was obsessing about my fitness, diet, getting all the trekking gear ready and watching all sorts of trekking related videos. It was a good distraction, anyway.

Pic courtesy : Shameek

On the morning of my flight to Dehradun, I felt shite. I had a weird headache, bloated tummy, funny knees, bad cold, low BP – altogether I was in a poor state just before the trek. My confidence level dropped to negative.

Pic courtesy : Shameek

I met my friend and one of the girls in the trekking group at the airport. After a brief chat, we went to our respective hotels and met the following day at Library Chowk, Mussourie for our ride to Sankri village. We gelled very quickly and I started feeling less worried. We got in the bus and met half of the group there while the rest were in the other bus. The ride to Sankri was beautiful with winding roads through dense pine forests occasionally lit with bright red rhododendrons. We stopped at Kempty falls for breakfast after which my friend threw up. A few others took Avomine to avoid puking and they then went to sleep. Once at Sankri, we were taken to this lodge where we met the whole gang along with Vijeet – our enthusiastic trek leader, Prahlad Bhaiya – very sensible and caring trek guide and Guddu Bhaiyya – who had an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Dhoni, one of the nation’s favorite cricket captains.

Pic courtesy : Aditya

Sankri is a small village in the mountains at about 6000ft. Our lodge looked out over several mountain peaks and valleys. A tiny waterfall stared at us from the distance (A friend in the group teased us to make us believe that it was the Jogni falls and in the process earned himself the title of 'fake news bearer'). The lodge was constructed in the typical style that you find in the mountains. It had to be accessed in a top to bottom manner where you first got on the rooftop from the road and then climb down the stairs to get into the rooms.

Pic courtesy : Shameek

We sat in the long corridor where Vijeet briefed us on what to expect for the next few days. He told us about the weather the next day and how to layer our clothes to cope with the changing climate, how timing and punctuality was crucial and above all, to respect nature and have fun. The evening in Sankri saw a lot of packing and re-packing. We were given additional liners for our sleeping bags at night but my backpack didn’t have any space left for it. I offloaded my bag to be carried by the mules, borrowed a day pack from Guddu Bhaiyya and somehow managed to pack my stuff. The following five days saw a lot of such re-packing and use of organizational skills. This was one of the very essential things that I learnt – how to efficiently pack and manage your backpack. I did watch Swati’s video (HowToPackABackpack) and still ended up being messy!

Pic courtesy : Shameek

Having packed our bags, we went to the rooftop for dinner and did a bit of socializing. There were people of different interests, from different places, involved in different career paths. There was one guy who had a very good build, didn’t speak much, carried a military bag and I thought he was from the army but he turned out to be a graphic designer; there was one girl who introduced herself in a funny way as someone who builds phones; there were friends fresh out of college, people coming from the beautiful place of Dharamsala; there was this young man setting up his own independent business accompanied by the youngest in our group who surprised everyone by her ability to do a dead lift of 80Kilo; there were couples enjoying their first treks together; people who gave themselves a fitness challenge; people going solo on the adventure and there were people like me and my friend as well seeking motivation from the mountains. The common thread among all these different people was their love for trekking.

With a light heart and fading worries, I hit the bed. Wake up call at 5:45am the next day followed by a check on blood pressure and oxygen capacity. Till then, I had to sleep well.