Day 1 : Trekking is not a child's Play

22 May 2008:

We were joined by rest of our 4 friends that went home in the morning then after taking breakfast, we reserved a taxi (a Mahindra MaXX) to take us to the base camp from where we will start climbing.

According to our plan we we decided to camp at base for that night and start walking from next day. But our driver told me that if we walk for 3 KM than we can reach another camp that has a greater possibility of having accommodation. Since we didn't booked any place to stay in advance, we wanted to be on safe side for getting accommodation. Since 3 KM was not a big deal we decided to move further. When we got off the taxi at loharkhet, the weather was a bit rainy.We pulled out our raincoats that we bought at Haldwani, and started walking(rather we must call it climbing).



We enjoyed the initial 1 hour ,the view was nice all around, though the path was a bit rough with lots of pieces of stones. But we were fresh and energetic. We started our trekking at about 3:30 in afternoon, and after about an hour we started getting a bit tired as the the path was steep.
We took some short breaks stopped for a minute or two drank water ,ate our chocolates and moved further,this continued for about 2 hours. Since few of us walked a bit swiftly so it always happens that they are a bit ahead... or the slow ones are bit behind.

We were just enjoying climbing,taking shortcuts,taking snapshots at every step..
At a point we decided to take a shortcut and left the pathway and moved between the bushes and trees. After climbing a bit we were stuck at the point where we realized that we made a bad decision and hence we moved back.

By the time 2 of our team mates (Kritarth and Nikhil) who didn't took the shortcut got ahead. So we were only 8.

Now after making a resolution that we will never take a shortcut we moved further.And after an hour of walking we reached a temple,the place was beautifully.We took a halt of few minutes as we were exhausted by now and then we continued our journey ...

After walking a few meters we realized that the path which we were following came to a dead end.Confused and exhausted we interpreted that we took a wrong turn in our path. Worried for the 2 that were not with us (the biggest point for worry was that they had the lunch that we brought with us).

Everyone was hungry and retraced the path that we came from and finally came to the point where we made the mistake. After some time we met a group of local workers who were carrying a big Iron pole to some nearby village.They told that for next camp we have to walk at least 7 KM...............

This was the next big shock of the day. We were stuck in between forest with the nearest place to get shelter at distance of 4 KM(Loharkhet,from where we started our journey).

We decided to move further as we didn't knew that where the other two were(please note thatMobile networks left us way before in our journey).

Cursing the driver of our taxi we walked for an hour and reached a tea stall that brought a long smile on every one's face.We took a bit refreshment and then continued walking..The one great news that we got here was that Nikhil and Kritarth crossed this tea stall about an hour ago,this relieved us that they are on right path (actually more correct than we were...).

By this time I was completely exhausted and after climbing about 2 KM on steep mountains,I started to surrender my self. Thanks to glucose and fruit juice brought by Divakar, it gave us little energy and an excuse to stop for a while...

After walking some more distance I was so tired that I sat on pathway saying I cant walk more. At that time we were split into 2 groups,I was in a group of 4,and we lagged about half KM from other 4.Now the other three with me tried to boost me up,and to walk. We walked slowly, making quick halts. Then Abhisar suggested that they will carry my bag so that we can increase our speed. As the darkness was approaching we were frightened that whether we can reach the camp before its dark..In spite of my denial Shailendra and Abhisar carried my bag,this relieved me a lot,and truly increased our speed. but i was concerned about the 2 who carried my bag. At the moment when everyone is completely tired and unable to carry his own bag gages they were carrying the extra burden of my bag..

Till dusk we were about 3 Km from camp. At that time we saw an amazing event :

THE SPIRIT OF MOUNTAINS
In the loneliness of this himalayan forest where cant see a human for kilometers, we were folllowed by dog which seems to be pet. It remained with us for about 1 km till we met our other friends. He walked with us, showed the coreect path in darkness and best of all gave a feeling that we are not alone.We had heard a lots of stories of the spirits of mountains helping the lost ones and we thought that this was the one to help us. This blew an amazing energised feeling into us and we walked with more confidence. Abhisar,Shailendra and Divakar still carrying my bag.

the most amazing thing : Abhinav told he took a pic of that dog, but when we searched for it in camera at camp then we found taht all the images taken before that dog's no longer existed in camera... it was truly spirit of mountains..

After sometime we saw some torch lights toward us from some height. We realized them to be rest of our group. We covered the distance in a while and sat at the place.

It was an open space with a levelled ground of about 20 sq. feet. And there was a tombstone,which my friends told me is of a German traveller who came here and then remained here for tears. He meditated on that spot and later died here so he was buried at that place. Till now we were so frightened and tired that no one bothere to take a snapshot of such a beautiful scene. Chill wind was blowing,and hitting our bodies that had no wool on them like stones. I took out a Jaipuri that I carry with me always and wrapped myself in it. it gave a huge relief.Then we startted to move further,they told me that they met a shepard a few minutes ago and he told that we have to climb one more KM and than we have to descend for 1.

They also told that Saurabh's condition was similar to that of mine.Me and Saurabh completed rest of our journey without bags on our back,and a person holding each of us. THen at last at 8 PM we reached the camp met Kritarth an d Nkhil. We ate khichdi made by the KMVN employees that stay there. The food seemed so tasty, I ate the food thinking of the tasty food that we brought with us but didnt eat as it was spoiled. Then went to sleep ...... a peaceful and relieved sleep..