Was it before or after midnight? Don’t know. All I remember now is the pitch darkness and a relentless sound of torrential rain and thunder. The pricking sound of rain on the tent went on for the whole night without a break. And as luck would have it, I had this huge urgency to go to the toilet in this weather. Thunderous rain outside and a turmoil in my bladder ensured I did not get any sleep that night.
As I lay awake, my mind drifted to similar tent nights I have spent earlier... Like, that time in the dark Kedarkantha basecamp when the wind howled like a mad wolf and the ice cracked beneath the tent floor… Then, the dimly lit campsite of Blois beside river Loire in France when we tried to cook some dinner out of nothing and listen to songs as the rain shut us inside. But never had I ever felt a need to pee so strong as this moment! Well, you could be experienced but it’s no less challenging when the urgency strikes! Anyway!
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| Dang Thyal Peak..after a rainy night! |
The good thing about rain is when it clears up, the Sun shines the brightest and the sky beams with its best blue.
When Novice Trekkers Became Guides :
It was a DIY day. Mohit, Piyush and Ruzbeh volunteered to be the leader and the guides for the day. They positioned themselves strategically with one being at the front, one at the extreme back and one loitering somewhere in the middle. Equipped with walkie talkies, they looked exactly the part. They kept talking to each other throughout the entire route, intermittently taking head counts too. It had its own challenges of course, especially, when the head count was one less and then in the next minute it was one more than expected. “As long as it’s more, we are good, eh?”
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| On the trail... |
Manish took up the duty of supervising a green sweep of the campsite (i.e. cleaning the campsite of any garbage we might have left) and appointed himself as the hydration officer. This meant he was often heard shouting, ‘doston…’ reminding the group to keep sipping water on the trail.
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| One more towards the Valley... |
MD, Sneha and Sumit, on the other hand, took up the responsibilities of the kitchen. Sneha worked with the Indiahikes kitchen team to make us parathas. MD distributed breakfast. Sumit overlooked the whole execution, ensuring everyone was fed and had packed lunch, apples etc. I just walked lazily and enjoyed all the pampering. Guilty.
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| Well laid out trail to Thala Bugyal... |
To Thala Bugyal :
The trail on this day was well marked. From the Bajimanian campsite to a valley called Thala Bugyal was a low gradient easy hike. Most of this part of the hike was through dense rhododendron forest. The trees here were shorter in height as compared to the ones at lower altitude. We still didn’t see any flowers but we did see a lot of flower-like blooming structures; they could be buds or the post-bloom stage - we weren’t sure.
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| Will these turn to Rhodos? Or are these turned from Rhodos? |
Once we reached Thala Bugyal, the scenery started changing abruptly. The wide valley offered a view of infinite rolling greenery intercepted by grazing mules and sheep and friendly bushy dogs. We saw a carcass of a cow as well though.
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| Thala Bugyal |
Thala Bugyal to Thal Tok :
From here onwards, the soft trail transitioned into a more rocky terrain with big boulders and edgy rocks. It got steeper and also a bit tricky in places with loose rocks and narrow paths. Yet, there was a man in sleepers climbing down with unimaginable agility and a perky woman in sports shoes showing equally indomitable spirit (A bengali, If I may take a little pride here!)
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| Us on the Climb... |
As we gained further altitude, clouds and mist started wrapping us up. The atmosphere was magical. I know I love a sunny walk anyday but how can I ever deny the mystic magic of such a dreamy ambience! The soft hug of the clouds and the thrilling landscape kept pushing us as we reached our campsite in Thal Tok.
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| Changing Scenery... |
At Thal Tok :
We were camping on a ridge that day. There were two cemented rooms there - a kitchen and an adjacent big room that served as the dining / sleeping / gathering area. Few of us opted to stay the night in that room in a big huddle whilst the rest of us chose tents.
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| At Thal Tok..Ridge Stay! |
We had our tea and snacks and walked up to the top of the ridge. We found a cozy spot from where we could see our tents below as well as the trail zigzagging its way up to the summit. The afternoon was still a hazy dream of cloud and mist. We saw two griffons circling above our heads, their dark, subtle feathers spread long and firm giving an appearance of serrated wings; at one point, they were so close I could even see the dark marks on their whitish breasts.
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| At the Top of the Ridge |
Our creative artists group had their sketchbooks out. Sharnav did a simple sketch of wildflowers in grass that were pretty rampant throughout the bugyal-s and the kharak-s. Akshay made a sketch of a sweet dog lying idly beside us. Sumit had borrowed some coffee from Sukrut and Piyush had carried hot water. Indrani wanted a strong coffee. They made coffee which wasn’t enough for all of us but we shared nonetheless. As we sat there talking not sure about what, doing not sure exactly what - it was a few best moments of the trek.
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| The Afternoon ! |
We wanted to resume our story telling sessions post dinner but our trek leaders and guides urged that we go to bed early. We were supposed to get up at 2am in the morning and start for the summit.
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| Hanging in Balance ! |
It was my solo night in the tent and just when I was dozing off to sleep, Manish shook the poles of my tent so hard, I gasped. He then made some funny noise to scare me as he walked past the tent. Humph! I checked my alarm and shut my eyes again.
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