The big trek...(part 1)

Back in HQ Rishikesh after a epic 9 day trek in the Indian Himalayas with friend Liran. It was sensational - mountain passes, alphine forests,remote villages it was all there! We actually combined two treks, the Kuali pass and part of Rup Kund. Ok so those names won't mean a lot to most....
So as I'm a right brained guy here is a day by day detail of the trip...

Day 0 - Rishkesh to Joshimath..
Up at 4am to catch a 5:30am bus...Slight problem when i got to the bus station - realised i left my camera at a internet cafe the previous night when the power had gone off...Bugger...so back to the internet cafe and of course its closed...Anyway waited around and eventually got the camera and then was back at the bus stand by 7:30 only to find there were no more buses for the day! Strange as there is usually a heaps of buses a day to most destinations.. So after some impromptu travel planning managed to figure out a way to get to our dest by serveral buses and share jeeps. Guess the good thing is we got to stretch our legs a lot changing transport modes! Oh and yes the dodgy stomach thing was back after a 6 week absense..great! Anyway after many stops we finally got to Joshimath with no accidents on my part.


LP (lonley planet) describes Joshimath as a 'ugly administrative centre'. Hmm we found it to be a really interesting place in the mountains with a great deli with a huge array of imported stuff including good old muesli bars from Aust.. Point taken - do the opposite of LP and go as won't be any backpackers there..*I take a sip of chai - prompty bought to me while i type... so love this country*..ok so the only 'ugly' thing about Josh was the really bad music from the nearby temple blasting us from out beds at 5am in the morning (that was after the 4am chai wake up call - nice gesture but just a little early.. Anyway thought i'd give my tum a chance to redeem itself so spent the next day resting and checking out the town.



Day 1 'The Leg killer' Joshimath to Tapovan - then Kuari Pass.
So finally we were on our way after a quick windy jeep ride to Tapovan (different one from last trek). Tapovan was a dusty and hot place with not a lot happening. After some last minute chocolate supplies we were on our way up and up and up...roughly a climb of almost 2000ms to the Kuari pass which is something like 4300m depending on which map you read. We passed through our first of many traditional and friendly Gwalaee villages. Not much has changed in these villages and the people still tend to their cows, buffaloos and crops as they have done for hundreds of years. Most of the houses were traditional mud brickwith thatched roofs made from straw. However, in later villages the houses were more modern and some had basic government subsidised solar lighting systems.

After about 7 hours of hiking we arrived at out campsite - a lush meadow just below the pass with a bubbling mountain stream and views of the Nandi Devi range of moutains. Stunning.







Day 2 'Where is that bloody pass' Dakani,
On the way up to this pass that just appeared to be over the next rise but never was, we meet a great group of Indians from the Gujrat Himalya Adventure club who were here on a 'family' trip! Having said that of course they had the full entourage of porters, ponies and cooks unlike us who were porter, cook and guide in 2 ...It turned out they were camped only a couple of hundred meteres from us. Really enjoyed hanging out with these guys and after 100 or so photos we bid them farewell and continuned on our merry way. We had lunch just below the pass with the 16 year old entreaprenur potato wholesaler Ashesh who also comes from a sheep herding hertiage. Really bright kid who spoke excellent english and had a great geopraphical knowledge.. Oh and by the way lunch that day was hot chocolate and tuna and cheese sangas..yum!

We camped just below the pass in once again a nice meadow with moutain views. Later that night it rained and slept like a baby with the sound of the rain on the tent..

Day 3 'Happy Birthday Liran' - Downhill run to Jinghi
Liran spent his 32nd birthday in the mountains - magic. We started the day with a Jelly birthday cake complete with Kit kats and candles. After breakky it was a down hill run to a very impressive waterfall where we had a 'quick' (read: freezing) swim before acending to more meadows and pine forests and then descending to a shepards camp near the village of Jenghi. It had been getting gloomier all day and the second after we setup the tent it started raining. Perfect timing...this happened more than once..think the mighty lord Shiva was on our side.

Had some cute little visitors later that afternoon and they even danced as sang for us as we sat in the tent sheltering from the rain. That evening we had dinner brought to us (for a small fee) by some a crew that were building a lodge nearby. It was great to have fresh chapatis, rice and a soybean curry! We even found a little cave under a couple of rocks neary by and were able to have dinner out of Liran's cosy but dry tent. I also made Liran a Snickers and jelly treat for his bday...

Day 4 to Jingi - 'The Enchanted forest'
A crisp and misty morning. Stomach still dodgy..Had a great meditation in the 'cave' nearby. Then after breaky, some more downhill followed by a walk through some stunning mist shrouded forests. Meet a few friendly cows along the way. Was great to meet country cows that ate grass as opposed to al the urban bovines that eat everything but grass. Some great valley views enroute too. Passed a couple of big groups going the over way including 12 germans and 3 swedish. Unfortunately this was not the Swedish Women's beachvolley ball team that Liran and been assuring me were in the moutains waiting for us. Boys will be boys i guess...

Moving right along we arrived at the super photogenic village of Jingi at lunch time and after ordering a great lunch of rice with dal and a spinach like plant that tasted incredible and grows in the mountains, it rained. The afternoon's hiking was promptly cancelled which was a wise descision as it really pissed down that night.



Day 5 Jingi to unamed pass? 'I'm only happy when it rains'
Woke up to rain and so good not to be camping..By 11 still raining so we set off on a light rain break..A big ascent up to the next pass in the soaking cold rain. Really got test out my wet weather gear - those rain pants i bought in uttakashi seemed to be wetter on the inside than the outside..My pack is also not as waterproof as i thought but luckily everything didn't get totally waterlogged. Anyway after lots of trudging up paths that had become raging torrents and a 30 second lunch break of dry bikkies we came to the pass. Once again what a great place to camp. Liran was not convinced of the idea as was still raining. Then this really strange thing happened. A couple of hundred meteres past the pass we found a old abandoned village and one of the huts was realtively waterproof so was decided to camp here then wait for it - it stopped raining and the sun came out in the space of 5 mins. I have never seen anything like it before - one minute really pouring, set in rain the next bright sunshine. The roof and the walls of the hut quickly became a washing line with all our soaking wet geat hung out to dry. I got my way in the end as we ended up going back to the pass and camping in yet another great locn with top views. The rain held off to and next day was hot and sunny...

Continued..