Walking in a dark cocoon has its own advantages and disadvantages. Of course you don’t see much scenery around. Now, it can be a good thing to be unaware of what steep and precarious lay of the land awaits in front. And it can be a bad thing too, just for the exact same reason! One definite good thing about walking in the dark is that using the loo becomes way easier. And especially, during that time of the morning, it’s a huge help!
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Garhwal Peaks on the Western Horizon...
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Reaching Chopu Top...
We followed the line of headlights in a meditative rhythm. The first light of the dawn hit us when we reached Chopu top. The dark night lazily came out of its cover, spreading a soft blue light around us. From the Chopu top, all the peaks became visible. To the West, the Garhwal peaks popped up in line - Maiktoli, Mrigthuni, Nanda Devi (the second highest peak of India), Dang Thyal and to the Eastern horizon, the surreal and revered Panchachuli range of the Kumaons appeared.
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| Kumaoni Panchachuli spreading on the Eastern Horizon... |
From Chopu top, the trail became more interesting. The beautiful valleys and peaks started unfolding themselves in the soft light of the dawn. The path became rocky and twisty in certain places adding to the thrill. The gradient cranked up slightly, testing our lungs. Suddenly, the tips of the Nanda devi and Maiktoli peaks turned reddish pink.
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| Alpine glow on Nanda Devi |
The Sunrise !
A squill of excitement followed. As I set foot on the final push to the summit, a warm golden glow washed the peaks over to my left. The perfectly smooth white snow on Maiktoli shined the brightest. The roundish mound of Nanda devi blushed crimson.
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| The Morning Blush ! |
I turned my head to the right to face the rising Sun. And this is when I got my moment of this trek! The Sun crawled very slowly from behind the Panchachuli peak. The perfect equilateral triangle of this peak formed a slatey grey silhouette as the burning yellow of the Sun outlined its curves.
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| Can't get enough of this ! |
On the right slope of the Panchachuli I peak, the Sun peeked a little with its yellow head and its rays refracted in all directions along the entire range. Ah! This moment. That silhouette. This Sunrise is forever etched in the collage of my memories.
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| When words fall short ! |
At the Summit - Ranthan Kharak Top !
It’s frustrating how none of the pictures come out as beautiful as the actual scene, no matter how technically fit your camera is! Nonetheless, we clicked enough pictures - with the peaks, without the peaks, with the sun on the face, with the Sun behind us, with the Indian flag, with the Indiahikes banner and so on and on.
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| Indian Flag flying high at the Summit. |
I perched myself at the top of a boulder at a height and sat there peacefully, watching the peaks and the people alike. The yellow glow of the morning had now faded as the grey cloud started shutting down the curtains on the mountains. The sunrays forced themselves through a few tattered clouds here and there, creating a magical halo with the hint of a rainbow.
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| A few mins longer please... |
Narendar Bhaiyya had carried a big flask of tea for the team. I filled my cup and revered a moment of bliss in silence. The bushy dog (was it Tyson?) probably did the same as it stood patiently by the edge. It had also made it to the summit with us, with much greater ease I assumed.
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| Tyson watching Dang Thyal :) |
About half an hour at the summit, clouds started settling in for good. A few big fat drops of rain announced a time out. So did Rohan. We started the descent. It started raining a bit more now. All the ponchos and rain jackets were out. We started pacing down the trail with as much focus and agility as we could master.
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| The trail from the top... |
The Rainy Descent...
My poncho has a natural tendency to assume itself to be a superman’s cape. With the slightest hint of any wind, it starts flapping and dancing its way to freedom. The trail being right on the ridge, we were exposed completely to the elements of rain and wind. I held on to my troublesome cape with one hand whilst holding on to the trekking pole with the other. A few trekkers jumped and ran past me as I managed my carefully curated steps. These fit guys, I tell you - they inspire me so much but I am just a scared soul and I am comfortably so!
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| Grey Watery Cloud Meeting the Yellow Sun ! |
On this descent, we spotted a tree with big pink rhododendron flowers! After our four days of trek, this was the first (and the last!) rhodo bloom we witnessed. By the time we were back at our base, the sleeves of my tee from elbow onwards were soaking wet. Why does my poncho have short sleeves? I don’t know. Superman capes must have their design considerations that escape my logic.
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| The Extra Green Zing You Get After A Good Rain ! |
Back to the Base...
The base campsite had one cemented room and an adjoining kitchen. This became our saviour in the rain. As soon as we reached the base, we huddled inside the kitchen, trying to warm ourselves up. The kitchen ninjas from the Indiahikes team were making food like machines in there. I was very hungry by now. I started grabbing anything I could find - matar snacks, hot drinks (was it Horlicks? Still not sure!), rice, veggies, rolls, etc.
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| Further Journey Awaited the Day... |
Our day was not over yet. We were meant to walk all the way down to the Namik campsite today. There was a visible restlessness in the group. The wet clothes and lack of sleep and the fear of more rain drove us out of the basecamp as soon as the sky got a tad clearer. I got a change of dry socks from Manish and felt much warmer once my tummy had enough food.
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| The 2nd Leg of the Journey... |
Further Descent to Namik !
The further descent of the day followed the same trail that we had climbed up the day earlier. This part of the trail was one of the most beautiful parts of the entire trek. The rocky boulders descend down to a soft rolling green valley or kharak that gradually draws you into a forest of big pines and maples and rhododendrons. The Sun was out too by now making everything even more greener. We took our own sweet time crossing these various terrains, chit chatting and laughing and laying on the grass.
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| A lazy valley of sheep and Us! |
We came across a section where a big flock of sheep were crossing a clearing under the strict instruction of their shepherd. One particular sheep made me chuckle. It had a perfectly measured straight line going across its centre from back to the belly dividing it into a neat half of two - the back side with its tail and the rear two legs being black and the front side with its head and the ears and the front two legs being white; almost like two sheep - a black and a white collapsed into two! Pardon my imagination!
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| Ba Ba Black Sheep and Whites too! :D |
Suddenly while following my own meditative rhythm, I found myself walking alone across a big clearing with a few shepherd huts around. It was just past noon now. The valley had its perfect green zing under the sun. A few cattle grazed around. It was a joyous solitude. I found a blue bird with a long beak focussed on its sitting branch, a big brown and white cow getting a bit too friendly for my liking, a black and white polka dotted butterfly flying in a circle around the butt of my shoes.
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| Watching the blue bird at length... |
I could almost see the trademarked yellow tents down at the Namik village now. I was feeling a bit tired. It had been a long day. And it was getting very hot too. More than anything, I simply wanted to change my clothes. I paced myself down to the beautiful campsite of Namik where a refreshing green mango drink awaited along with lots of cheers from Manish and Akshay. I kicked my shoes off, got myself a big drink and laid down on the grass as we laughed about god-knows-what!
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| Back in Namik... |
At Namik Again !
This was our second time in this campsite and we all loved it. MD and I got our sleeping bags out and laid flat on the grass chatting about..I can’t remember what but it was pleasant. Very soon, yummy pasta snacks arrived followed by rounds of frisbee games. I sucked at frisbee. But I played. I am sure if I can just get my throw right and my jumps agile, I can be better!
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| Games & Gossips at Namik Campsite ! |
During dinner, we had a fun quiz. Rohan asked us various questions around this trek. The prize was gulab jamuns. Well, I am a typical Bengali. I like my sweets. So, yes I fought. I probably had the most number of gulab jamuns, very closely followed by Manish who always had to be greedy irrespective of whatever the food was! It was a good game though. Manish, Sumit, Piyush and I were creating a bit too much ruckus which was later levelled down by Manpreet and Prasanna, I think. Another good story telling game had followed but Rohan was threatened by his kitchen team that if there was more delay, he would not get any dinner. So we had to let it go.
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| Tonight, I sleep with this... |
The feeling of walking bare feet on green grass and the burning yellow behind the Panchachuli silhouette at Sunrise - I dozed off with these, that night.
