That was the third day of the trek. I was feeling contented. Yesterday's journey from Sari to Deoria was beautiful. Neither were my legs paining nor was I feeling tired.
Today was surely going to be a tough day. I had read the description on the Indiahikes website, which gave a rough idea about the day. Today the distance was more than nine kilometers. But there were many peaks which will be visible on the way. We were going to pass through a dense forest, so there was a chance to watch variety of birds. So I was curious and excited about the journey.
All of us, left from Deoriatal campsite and started our journey. Even though we had only been there for a day, we had already grown attached to the place.
Even if it has only been a day, surely there is always attachment with the place.There was a fork in the forest path on the left side of the road to Deoriatal. We went that way. After walking for a while, most likely we were going to see the Chandrashila peak again. This occasional and recurrent sight of the peak gave us a sense of destination, it gave us a new boost as well. But today the sky was so cloudy that the peak was not visible. On the right, once again the Sari village was seen.
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| 📷Cotrekker |
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| 📷Sumati Dhembre |
From this photo, you will get an idea of the road we were walking on, how steep it was. (Don't forget to find me in the red shirt in the far right corner!!) Although it looks so uphill, this was the easiest part of the day, or maybe it felt like so, because we had just started walking. As we were walking, we could see the vast terrain on both sides.
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| 📷Preeti Thakur |
The forest trail was occasionally paved with stones. The roots of the trees were coming out of it. Rhododendrons were blooming in profusion. There was no one else in sight except our team.
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| 📷Sumati Dhembre |
It was such a narrow path. But thankfully that day we did not realised it!! We were advised that when there was such a narrow space, the walking pole should be placed on the side of the hill, not the valley side. Because if there is a hollow space under the leaves, it will not be visible and the stick will slip.
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| 📷Preeti Thakur |
In fact, it was just about 45-50 minutes after leaving the camp. But after crossing so many ups and downs, all of us wanted to stop for two minutes. After we climb this uphill road, we were going to reach to the Zandi Top. That was our preset place for some rest.
Soon Zandi Top arrived. If the air had been clear, the snow capped peaks would have been visible from here. But today it was very cloudy.
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| 📷Sumati Dhembre |
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| 📷Samrat Darda |
Every day we were given an apple and some chickpeas, phutane and dry dates for snacking on the way!! The reason for eating apples first is that the bag becomes lighter and so less burden on the back!! The place where we stopped is called Zandi Top. It was later learned that the highest point on many of the hills in that area was called as Zandi Top or Zandi Dhar.
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| Jhandi Top 📷Supan Shah |
After leaving Zandi Top, the road became more picturesque . The forest became denser. While walking we felt that as if we were walking under the canopy of the trees. The colors of their leaves were amazing. Were they Indian maple trees?
The road was not visible. It was all covered with the dried leaves. Wild flowers were blooming somewhere in it. The petals of Rhododendron flowers were visible here and there.
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| 📷Kedar Tembe |
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| राह बन जाये जब मंजिल 📷Samrat Darda |
It had been almost three hours since we left the camp. the road was definitely tough with lots of ups and downs. But if the scene in front of you is like this, why one will feel tired?
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| 📷Supan Shah |
Now once again rhododendrons were blooming everywhere. While we were enjoying it, it started raining. Everyone rushed to put on their raincoats and cover their bags. The hands were also frozen by the rain. The road was arduous.
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| 📷Samrat Darda |
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| 📷Samrat Darda |
After passing such an uphill road in the rain, the road had a descend again!! Rarely we walked on a flat road today.
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| 📷Preeti Thakur |
The red, pink, purple flowers blooming all over the place, their petals falling on the way... before this beauty, walking uphill and downhill, rain and exhaustion were all insignificant! Again and again I remembered the lines 'Phul khilte rahe duniyame ..roj nikalegi baat fulonki'.
The rain subsided. A relatively flat terrain came and that was decided as our lunch spot. By this time, five hours had passed after leaving the camp. Two dogs were present at our lunch site, as our companion or security staff!!
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| 📷Cotrekker |
A few minutes lunch break and we started walking again. There was still a long way to go. Again the sequence of ups and downs continued. After some time a plateau came.. the famous Rohini Bugyal.
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| 📷Cotrekker |
Now, while looking at our photo, it feels like we are watching Discovery Channel. We were walking on such a vast plateau that we are only visible as dots. There is a renewed awareness of how insignificant human beings are, when compared to the magnificent nature.
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| 📷Gravit Jain |
We couldn't afford the luxury of enjoying leisurely at Rohini Bugyal. Syalmi campsite was still far away. Again we started walking and crossed a steep climb. We were still trying to control our fast breathing and soon came a very very steep descent. The slope was such that the feet started shaking while regaining the balance, even if I was coming down by stepping horizontally. The steps were firm but the legs were trembling!!! And they didn't stop shaking till the end of the slope. The only good thing was that even though they were trembling, they hadn't slowed down much. So I could match the pace with others and did not fall behind.
Of course if some help was needed while descending or climbing, Kedar, our trek leader Sahil, our trek guides Amitji and Pramodji were ready to help.
An important lesson learnt that day is to wear knee caps when there are such steep ups and downs. I started wearing kneecaps from the next day and ascending and descending the rough roads became much easier. You must have noticed walking poles in our hands in all the photos. It also benefits a lot. When we could see Syalmi campsite at some distance, rest of the descent ended in a flash or it seemed so!!!
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| 📷Sumati Dhembre |
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| 📷Supan Shah |
Today we had walked for about seven and a half hours. In fact, the distance was only 9.1 km, which on a flat terrain, all of us can easily finish in 1.5-2 hours. But the constant ups and downs and the mountain paths through the forest took so much time. After so much ascending and then descending, we were finally two hundred feet below yesterday's camp!!!
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| 📷Supan Shah |
When I think about that day, I ask myself, what lesson was learnt on that day?
The whole journey was really arduous. Even the ups and downs of the mountains that seem charming in pictures, photos or from a distance, in real life experience they are tough, very tough to cross.
Peaks that were supposed to be visible were not visible due to cloudy weather. Even the birds that could be seen usually were not visible due to the rain, except a woodpecker. Had we come for this trek in other seasons, we might have seen them all. But what about the fact that we could see the flowers now? How would the blooms be visible in other seasons? So, instead of regretting what you didn't get, once again learnt the lesson of appreciating what you have received.
That day the line 'Charaiveti charaiveti yehi to mantra hai apna' was playing on repeat mode in my mind.
Learnt a lot in one day. I was the oldest in our team. So for two days my enthusiasm, determination and fitness was much appreciated. But trembling feet showed me my true calibre!! And it taught me that if I really wanted to deserve that praise, I would have to do a lot of regular exercise.
After reaching the camp, I even said to Sneha, "Should I stop here or continue the trek?" Of course, even if the advance was stopped, it was not possible for any vehicle to reach that camp. We were in a very remote place. So from there one had to walk a lot and then go back to the base camp. So discontinuing the trek was not an easy option!! But Sneha said, "Let's go tomorrow .. then let's see!!!"
Tomorrow it was going to be a great day. The whole path would pass through dense forest. There is a river as well.
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