The Roopkund Story – Silence, Observance & Perserverance

It was one of those lazy afternoons of May (2009) when I found myself struggling for breath. I occasionally after lunch, try to read some blog. Inside office the AC worked fine, but it was my mind which was dwelling.

Roopkund (shot from Bhagubasa)

I was reading the ‘Almora Boy Pensive’ however not for the first time, I generally do it to browse through pics the blog has. Wonderful! I said when I reached the few last pages of Pindari trip that the Almora Boy mentioned (http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/). Snow all over; it looked so beautiful even to think. And I begin to plan.

Road from Lohajung to Wan

Then just same day after returning from office, I tried to think hard what job and roles might have made me happier. The one, which they show on Discovery or NatGeo with a complicated mix of fun and adventure stuffed together to create excitement. And I said to myself, can I be there? And, I started to search for my Outlook Guide on Uttarakhand. Other morning I started devising plans sampling websites, blogs, looking for ‘rock and a hard place’. Saurabh helped in zeroing and final selection. And we decided it has to be ‘Roopkund’.

The itinerary was soon made but for preparations we had no time. And we – three of us - me, Saurabh & Sanjeev left for the ‘hard place’ with 'rock in our mind'. Sanjeev and I left from my house and Saurabh met us at ISBT, Delhi. Soon we boarded the bus to Rishikesh around 9 p.m. Our hopes to reach Rishikesh by 4 a.m shattered when we found bus driver was not very much keen to drive and frequent the ‘brakes’.

Sauarabh (L) & Sanjeev (R) Gearing Up for Trek

We reached finally around 5:30 a.m and started to walk towards Tehri bus stand.

My eyes were desperately searching for the bus with the fine chalk print neatly written on windshield ‘Lohajung’. But it was not there. Next we looked for the word ‘Karanprayag’. The bus to Karanprayag was full and next bus would go around 8 a.m. And we started to look for shared jeep, cursing the Roadways bus driver who was to be blamed reasonably. 7 a.m and we were still looking. We took auto and went to Dehradun Chowk which had the sort of jeep stand. We paid Rs. 10 each with arguments with the auto driver for some 2kms.

A House At Wan

Atlast we got one taxi that would go but after he has ample passengers to carry, so we wasted time sipping on tea and gossiping. Around 8 we started for Karanprayag finally. Around 2 pm we reached there, and immediately boarded the bus going to Tharali. Then, a jeep that took us some 15 kms from there and we changed bus again for Deval. On reaching Deval, I started to look for the bus.

Sanjeev Enjoying with kids at Wan

One with the board we were looking for – ‘Lohajung’ with fine chalk print on its windshield. It was 4 pm and the bus started for Lohajung. By 6 pm we were there, at GMVN, asking for accommodation and for our guide ‘Mohan Bisht’.

Saurabh @ Forest Rest House, Lohajung

We got the message that our guide could not come and we need to take the equipments on rent and meet him at Bedni Bugyal. We were upset quite much now and tired too. And we decided to look out for a place to rest. We were given the Forest Rest House at Lohajung which was next to GMVN and was not finished yet. The caretaker didn’t give anything but a kerosene lamp in the name of accommodation and charged us Rs. 100. And we came back looking for sleeping bags, tent and mattress at Pujari Hardware Store. Then approached us a lean, tall man who was a guide too. He said he has a group for Roopkund and that we could follow him. He also offered a porter to us whom we found ‘high on attitude’, and ‘low on enthusiasm’ to take us. After deciding on the arrangements, we went to eat and came back around 8:30 pm to our hut, rolled out our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

Scene at Wan

Next morning, we were up by 5:30 all set to go but our guide cum porter came at 7. This angered us. Then he started to behave in an awful manner and got choosey about what he’ll lift and what he won’t despite we agreed to lift out own things. It agitated us and we kicked him out. We took our stuff on our shoulders and began to walk towards ‘Wan’ along the road. It was a bright sunny day. We could already feel the coolness in the breeze and tips of the mountains looked more than green, more closer than they appear. We were quite much enjoying without focusing on what is next?

Kunwar Singh Bisht (L)

Sanjeev was leading, it was strange see him sitting and chating with a villager, and that’s when he said to me ‘someone asking for us’, here after we had walked some 6kms? As I came forward, I was told by the stranger that he has been sent by Mohan, to take us to Bedni Bugyal where he will be waiting for us. We at once rejected him and made him realize the damage caused to us by Mohan. This guy in his mid thirties, looked sober and simple, typical villager, smoking beedi and with his horse on his left, grazing upon whatever stuff it could eat in haste. The guy’s name was Kunwar Singh Bisht and he was Mohan’s Uncle, though looked almost of Mohan’s age, i realised when we met Mohan in Bedni Bugyal.

Valley View of Wan

With small interaction, soon we included him in our pool, decided to have him as our porter-cum-guide and on condition that we pay him Rs. 1200 for this trip including his food who he only will cook. We had everything with us now. But best part was we three were off the load and the tension now. We had ‘Ramu’ the horse carrying our stuff from Kuling onwards now. And we took out the cameras that we were in bags. We reached Wan around 12 pm, we were fast.

We ate our meal here and waited for the showers to stop. At 1 we resumed our quest to reach out for grand Trishul views that I had seen in many pics at flickr.com back in Delhi. Roopkund started to fascinate more and more as we get closer. Bedni Bugyal is some 18kms from Wan village which is land’s end and locked from 3 sides, while Bedni was big grass meadows (alpine meadows) stretched on acres of land (hence called bugyal).

Trishul

We saw the first view of Nanda Ghunti as we started to climb the last ridge and appear out of jungle on a big patch of grass. The sun was settling down fast, and clock showed 6 pm. We hurried to search for a place to camp among the quite few visible. We were too tired for dinner and soon dozed off and after lights went dim from all sides – we started to talk. This was Sanjeev’s and Saurabh’s first time experience in tent. The wind was blowing hard and last I remember was it started to downpour. We were not sleeping, just resting. Saurabh was scared just when Sanjeev said – "looks like wind might blow our tent". To both suddenly Delhi started to look better. After few hours, the sun streamed in and morning was a different day and different story – Delhi again became vulgar and criminal.

Our Campsite

We observed that during our this tour we had less time to talk about self and our attached issues but has much more to observe and walk. I remember Saurabh commenting, “On hills, we actually are constantly fighting with our mind”. The context came from our tiredness and hunger that was proving obstacle in our physical ability to meet our limits. But later we analyzed that we did nothing but the walking and our abilities have actually improved. And now we think of its perseverance, as we mentally prepared ourselves for the next day to Roopkund.

Sanjeev lazily remarked, “I think I would stay back”! I looked at him to confirm from him again. He was not in the mood to walk and therefore we started to walk towards the path to Kali Dak. Kunwar Singh is now leading us. We walked slowly with D80 to capture the best moments of our lives. And after walking for some one and half hour we reached Kali Dak standing upfront before us. It was cloudy and sun was playing hide and seek, though hiding mostly.

View At Bedni Bugyal

We sat to click few pics and then stated to move again towards Kalu Vinayak pointed as a spot by Kunwar using his finger. Tough walk on steep slope and narrow sideways didn’t bother us. It was the food that we didn’t had. We just brought some ‘gud ki sev’ and ‘namkeen’. Though we had eaten ‘kichri’ before starting in the morning.

We reached Kalu Vinayak soon and offered our prayers to lord Ganesha. It was refreshing. I could feel the wind blowing onto my face. Chill it was, but chilling was the view of snow filled valley on the other side. It was all white, the mighty mountains all over.

Nandaghunti Visible in the Back (moving from Bedni to Kali Dak)

And we resumed towards Bhagubasa. From here we just walk along the path in the shadow of mountain. Along the way, we saw three young boys with their guide who had plans to stay at Bhagubasa. To my mind, it was rather not a good idea with temperature subzero and wind blowing us apart. I was feeling sorry for not bringing my other jacket and I already have lost one of my gloves, getting busy with photography. After walking some 2kms more I realized it makes no sense to continue.

Kali Dak Shining High

It could start raining anytime. And I after given it thought again, stopped to sit and see the scenery around.

Kalu Vinayak

The purpose was to not to miss the beauty in walking and reaching nowhere because I knew we would never be able to make it to Roopkund. The reason is not the distance. Infact it is not even 2 km for here. The reason rather is big snow patches that we might not be able to cross. But Saurabh was adamant to go. He continued like a Private in war who is told to march forward, come hell or fire. He crossed one with less effort but then another patch was too big for him and I shouted “Come back”!

It was 2:30 p.m, clouds all over, quite chilling when we trio stopped to take one last view of Roopkund as pointed by Kunwar Bisht. In another 10 minutes, it started to snow and we resumed our journey back towards Bedni, quite satisfied with what we saw.

Scene At Kalu Vinayak

We didn’t stopped anywhere in between until we reached Kalu Vinayak with snow flakes still floating in the air. One last view, a heavy breath and with folded hands to bid goodbye to Ganesha, we started again to comeback to reach Bedni Bugyal by dawn.

Some Views from Bhagubasa

Roopkund (down under gorge)

At Bhagubasa (we met 3 trekkers) Last Shot from Bhagubasa

Valley View from Kalu Vinayak

It was sun shining high at Patal Nachunia, near Kali Dak. We took the short cut following Bisht. Here we took out whatever we had to eat and basked ourselves in the sun though it was not pleasant.

Coming Back to Bedni

The wind was still piercing us. It was around 6 pm when we returned back to Bedni. With us came the dark clouds chasing us, and soon after it started to rain. We quickly went into our 2 men tent that has 3 of us inside in our sleeping bags. Kunwar made us some tea which we sipped delightfully but I had almost lost all my appetite by now. All night it rained, it kept us up though with eyes closed. This is when I tried to recall the scenes that have left impression on my mind. Kali Dak, Kalu Vinayak, the Clouds, the Wind, the Mountains and the Snow, they all are beautiful.

Fog came all along with us to Bedni

But why this ‘night’, and we ‘three’ started to wish for this night to end without speaking to each other. The next morning was bright, sun warming us up but wind continued to blow. We started early around 7 to reach Lohajung. We chose the Ali Bugyal route to come back (not from Wan). Ali Bugyal reminded me of Rudranath trek, vast grasslands, herds and flocks of goat and sheep, open valley view, and complete silence. If you have been there, you would have known how the sweet breeze soothes the brain, leaving you with no thoughts.

My eyes absorbed all that it could do – the parrot green colour of the grass without patches and in perfect symmetry, the path that looked craved out with a chisel, and all I could think of is that

it takes a price to be here surrounded by these mountains and land.

Beautiful Ali Bugyal

We came down crossing the long Ali ridge stretched over some 9-10kms and found ourselves into a thick jungle that is referred to as Tolpani. Coming down was hard and tough. The body was aching, it was slippery all over due to dry leaves and moist soil, and Saurabh slipped again for 3rd time. We again crossed Neel Ganga. It would have been good to rest along the shores. But unfortunately, the rain started soonafter we got to Tolpani. We hurried our way to climb up again towards Kuling, which required some 6kms to be covered.

Last Slope At Ali that we crossed before decending into jungle of Tolpani

Rain was at its best, clouds all over, not willing to let us go. When rain slows down we start to walk with our sheets of plastic covering our body. We touched Kuling at around 2p.m. The scene was different by now. From Ali’s pleasant weather to cloudy and windy, we took it as it came. At Kuling we sipped tea, call our homes and stared again to hit Lohajung. It was almost near so we had nothing to worry except the place to stay and pity for other people who had plans to do Roopkund today. I remember it was snowing at Bhagubasa, forcing us to come back to Bedni.

It was 3 p.m and rain stopped but wind still blowing hard but we three were carefree. We were glad that we are almost near to Lohajung. We finally reached the place around 5 p.m in our perfect leisure. We went straightaway to Pujari Hardware to return his tents and sleeping bags. The old man himself checked up each and every thing that he had rented and after some 25 minutes of examination, he gave us our cautious money back. This time he was polite in behaviour.

Towards Tolpani

We checked in Garhwal Mandal Rest House, and hit the beds in the dormitory. The caretaker was good man from Wan; he gave us the room that has 5 beds for Rs. 100 each. And it started to rain again with voices in the sky. Sanjeev and Suarbah went out in rain around 6:30 or so to get some hot paranthas and tea. We enjoyed till the last piece of it, though our taste buds were not allowing us to say wow! We again got into our beds and started to browse pics in our 3 cameras. Sanjeev missed out the adventure and beauty since he didn’t go to Roopkund (or Bhagubasa), stayed at Bedni. We dozed off before 10 p.m.

A Distance Board At Lohajung

Somebody knocked our window, I got up. The voice said bus leaves at 4A.M. By now Saurabh and Sanjeev were up too. We washed up and packed our stuff. At the sound of the bus horn, we came out and settled in the bus to Rishikesh.

It was one of those wonderful experiences and trips that I have savored and cherished except the nights that are sleepless, and reminds you of home sweet home. And I thought, looking out of the bus window at the river Pindar flowing with us, my footprints of this journey will last for ever, even when I am not around.

Itinerary we followed:

Day 1: Left Delhi at 9 PM for Rishikesh, reached around 5:30-6 A.M (Some 250 kms).

Day 2: From Rishikesh at 8 A.M around took Jeep to Karanprayag, reached at 2 P.M (some 180 kms), boarded bus to Tharali (another 35 kms), jeep to Deval (some 12kms), Deval to Lohajung (50-60kms) reached around 6 P.M.

Day 3: Started from Lohajung (forest rest house) to Wan (some 12kms) via Kuling (centre between both), Jeep road but really a mess; contrary a pleasant walk, Had lunch at 1 P.M at Wan, which is last village enroute. Reached Bedni Bugyal by 6 P.M covering some 28 kms. Pitched our tents.

Day 4: Had breakfast at 7 A.M, started towards Roopkund. Passed Kali Dak, Patal Nachna, Kalu Vinayak and Bhagubasa. (some 13kms one-side). Came back to Bedni Bugyal.

Day 5: Started around 7 A.M towards Ali Bugyal, Tolpani, Crossed Neel Ganga and reached Kuling at around 3 P.M (it started to rain after we cross the Neel Ganga barrage). Reached Lohajung around 5 P.M.

Day 6: At 4 A.M took bus to Rishikesh. Reached by 4 P.M. Had Poori-Choley at Geeta Bhawan followed by sweetmeat at Ram Jhoola, took bus to Delhi around 10 P.M. Reached early morning.

© Himanshu
For pics please see www.flickr.com/myth_drinker