NATURE CALLS

MOTOTREK DEHRA DUN – SANKARI – KEDARKANTH & BACK

“There is no known cure for those afflicted by the Himalayas virus and I do see glaring symptoms of this exotic bug in you all. You are destined to roam the wilds of Himalayas again and again!” – Gajendra (Gajji) Singh, trek guide during his interaction with the Whimsical Veterans

Return of the Whimsicals

For those readers not acquainted with the Whimsical Veterans, it was August of the year 2020 CE when they, as novice motorcycle bikers, blazed the Himalayan roads on their motorcycles from Dehra Dun to the snout of the Siachen Glacier negotiating seven of the highest motorable mountain passes in India viz: Baralacha La (15912 ft), Nakee La (15547 ft), Lachung La (16616 ft), Tanglang La (17480 ft), Khardung La (17982 ft), Chang La (17688 ft), and Zoji La (11649 ft) which is technically one of the most difficult motorable passes to negotiate. The picture book ‘LADAKH THROUGH THE EYES OF WHIMSICALS’ recounts this story.

While the veterans may revel in being the designated ‘Head of the Family’, it’s a mere titular title akin to that of the President of India, with the real power vesting with the ‘Lady of the House’. The veterans soon realise that obtaining approval for prolonged absence from discharging assigned domestic chores and responsibilities is for them equally, if not more, challenging despite being liberated from the shackles of rules, customs, traditions, and norms of the military. This single factor inhibited the Whimsicals in continuing to live their dreams.

In the beginning of January this year Ravi gave a ‘call to arms’ to the other Whimsicals, Nandan, Anoop and Rakesh, who all answered it with alacrity. He proposed an innovative three-day motorcycle ride cum trek (mototrek) into the Himalayas, as that was the optimum leave of absence he could wangle. With this term of reference, the best the Whimsicals could think of was a two-day ride to and fro to the chosen destination. That left just one day to trek, which was not satisfying enough to their challenging thought process.  With the seeds of mototrek sown by Ravi, the idea soon crystalised to ride on motorcycles to Sankari on the first day, thereafter, trek to Kedarkanth and back on the second day, and return to Dehra Dun on the third day. 

                                                 (Ravi, Rakesh, Anoop on Kedarkanth trek)

The Charm and Dilemma of Kedarkanth

The distance from Dehra Dun to Sankari is roughly 200 kms, an easy seven to eight hours ride on motorcycles. From Dehra Dun one can ride via Mussoorie to ‘Yamuna Pul’ on the Yamunotri highway or ride to Vikasnagar to get onto this highway.  Naugaon, on the Yamunotri road, is the gateway to Purola and thence onwards to Mori and Sankari. The journey through the scenic two to three kms wide Purola valley is soothing to the eyes. Green fertile fields and homesteads dot the road. After Purola the road runs through tall fir trees before reaching Mori.

At Mori the road enters the Tons River valley. Interestingly, at Dehra Dun the water channel which flows to the west of Rajpur road, descending down to the ancient Tapkeshwar temple, crossing the Chakrata road South-West of Premnagar, and joining the Yamuna River at Asan barrage, is also mistakenly referred to as Tons. Its actual nomenclature is, however, Asan River. As an interesting aside, the Rajpur road running from Clock Tower to Rajpur locality is the watershed between the Ganga and Yamuna River basins in Uttarakhand. All water channels to the east of Rajpur ridge flow down to join the Ganga River, while the water channels to the west of this ridge form part of the Yamuna River basin.

The road from Mori goes upstream along the picturesque Tons River to Sankari, a small hamlet and the start point for the Kedarkanth trek. During the winter months the treks in the upper reaches of the Himalayas are closed due to heavy snowfall. Thus, the easy treks which remain open, such as Kedarkanth, are attractive to trekkers during the peak winters. The Kedarkanth trek passes through evergreen forest, which in winters is white with deep snow and has lush green ground cover during summers. The black and brown bears, wild boars, Royal Stag, Musk and Barking deer, Bharal, and rare to find snow leopard, are some of the wildlife that inhabit this forest.

The Sankari - Kedarkanth trek is roughly 26 kms to and fro. In this distance the trekkers gain an altitude of 6500’ from Sankari (6000’) to Kedarkantha (12500’). The trek is graded as easy and is generally of three to four days duration, depending on the fitness or lack of it, of the trekkers. This is where the first dilemma arose. The three days duration of the trek went beyond our available timeline and, more important, we were not psychologically attuned to undertake an easy trek. The dilemma at our end was unanimously resolved by undertaking the challenge to accomplish it in one day, and to undertake it during the forecasted Western Disturbance (WD) hovering over the Himalayas around Republic Day! What better challenge than to ascend Kedarkanth under a WD induced snowfall.

The WDs are a weather phenomenon which originate from the large water bodies in Central Asia and travel eastwards to the Pamirs bringing heavy precipitation activity to the Tibetan plateau and North-West India. Accuracy in predicting the movement of WD is often low, as on striking the Pamirs it may divert to the North-East direction along the Kunlun and Tien Shan mountains towards Tibet, or to the South-East along the Karakorams and Himalayas to North-West India, or its velocity subsides, and it may just dissipate. Over a period, the Snow and Avalanche study Establishment (SASE) has accumulated expertise in monitoring and predicting the WDs with a high rate of accuracy.

Our second dilemma arose when the trek organisers were approached to accept four Ole Vets to attempt the three days Kedarkanth trek in one day. They were polite enough not to laugh, but their vague response said it all. It took some convincing and a caveat that uphill progress will be permissible only upto 1400 hrs to cater for adequate time window to fall back to the base, to be taken on for the trek!

Then we hit another minor hurdle. Nandan is averse to getting wet in the rain. Give him a choice to confront a maneater or ride or walk in a rain, he will definitely choose the first option! So, when all weather forecasts were unanimous in predicting a prolonged WD in the region, he determinedly retired himself from this action!

Mototrek – The Ride

Anoop, Ravi, and Rakesh, the three remaining Whimsicals left Dehra Dun at 0800 hrs. The sky was partially overcast with a mild sun marginally reducing the windchill on the motorcycles. We took the Vikasnagar route to avoid the expected heavy tourist traffic converging onto Mussoorie for the predicted snowfall. The road state was good and at ‘Yamuna Pul’ we took a short breakfast break. We left the Yamunotri highway at Naugaon and turned left onto the road to Purola. This road is single lane but enables vehicles to pass each other easily. Enroute, we crossed the turning to Lakhamandal, another town with deep links to India’s ‘Bharat’ era where history and mythology are inextricably intertwined.

By 1430 hrs we reached Mori which is located on the Tons River. Downstream the road goes to Tiuni, where a northern fork branches towards Hatkoti in Himachal, while the other road turns south to Chakrata and Vikasnagar. Upstream from Mori the road leads to Govind National Park and Sankari. While exploring for a reasonably hygienic eating establishment we were surprised to learn that they overwhelmingly served only nonvegetarian food. It took some effort to locate a kiosk, two kms from Mori towards Sankari, which served vegetarian fare.

The road from Mori to Sankari is narrow and broken. It was 1600 hrs by the time we reached Sankari. It has several homestays and lodges to accommodate trekkers. There are also a few shops which sell/rent essential trekking equipment. We settled down at Meeraki homestay for our night halt. E-Uttaranchal maintains it to accommodate its clients undertaking the Kedarkanth trek. It is a double storeyed structure that provides decent rooms with basic living amenities, beds, bedding, electricity backup inverter, common washrooms with hot and cold running water. The food is simple with fixed menu.

Here we met the caretaker Gajendra (Gajji) Singh who also doubled up as the cook and was to be our guide for the trek. The multi-skilled Gajji assessed us with experienced eyes and through nonverbal communication conveyed his lack of faith in our capability to successfully summit Kedarkanth in one day. We did little to convince him otherwise, as from his know all attitude it would not have mattered.

We spent the evening in undertaking an hour and half stroll to limber ourselves up for the morning trek. Dinner was ready by the time we were back at the homestay. Then followed a discussion with Gajji, which deteriorated to active haggling, to plan the nitty gritty for the next day’s trek. He made a final attempt to convince us about the futility of attempting to summit Kedarkanth in one day, by laying down 0600 hrs as the start time. He was disgusted when we accepted this patently idiotic time, as the first light breaks at 0630 hrs. He was aghast and surprised, in equal measure, when we responded by demanding breakfast before commencing the trek despite the early hour. In his wisdom no one eats breakfast this early. This stumped him, as he had to get up even earlier to prepare it. So, the final start time was resolved as 0630 hrs. Apparently we were the first veterans he had come across in his illustrious career as a Himalayas guide!

                                                          (The Whimsicals at Juda ka Talab)

Moto trek – The Kedarkanth Trek

The trek to Kedarkanth summit goes through three stages. The first is 5 kms from Sankari (6000’) to Juda ka Talab (7500’). (Only for the Para Mahar family – The Talab precedes Sir Judas by centuries; hence he cannot lay claim to it being named after him!!!).

In the second stage the route from Juda ka Talab to Kedarkanth Base Camp (9900’) is 3 kms.

The third stage of the summit route is the 5 kms from Base Camp to Kedarkanth (12500’). These distances and altitudes of the trek vary in various trek organisers online sites, as their camp sites are located at varying distances and altitude, owing to restricted availability of camping space.

The trek back to the start point takes a slightly modified route.

We were up and about by 0600 hrs, and it was a mellowed Gajji who served us breakfast at 0630 hrs. Before commencing the trek, we expressed our fervent wish to the Guardians, Spirits and Gods of Studio Ghibli displayed at Meeraki for snowfall during the trek and clear weather at the summit. Gajji gave us ice traction cleats to be worn over the shoes for walking on snow covered surface. The trek team of the three Whimsicals and our guide Gajji commenced the trek at 0645 hrs, a right time to leave, as visibility was now adequate to see the trail. Within an hour we reached ice covered ground and took a ten-minute halt to put on the cleats.

The trek route is dotted with tea stalls every two to three kms. We did not halt and continued at our set pace, taking standing 5 minutes halt every 500 mtrs or so. As the elevation increased, the interval between halts also reduced to 300 mtrs or so. We reached Juda ka Talab by 0915 hrs and had our first tea break at a kiosk.

From Juda ka Talab onwards the difficulty of the trek increased owing to steep inclines and increased snow cover of about one foot. The soft snow on the beaten track had hardened due to the passage of trekkers ahead of us, but it also made it more slippery. Soon our first wish came true as it started snowing heavily for an hour. Just before the Base Camp, while attempting a detour we got stuck in a snow drift. The snow was more than 3 feet at places. We were exhausted by the time we extricated ourselves from the drift and reached the Base Camp by 1100 hrs.

We halted at the Base Camp for a quick lunch of rice and lentil. There was a minor setback with Anoop unable to progress further due to opening up of a recent serious hip injury suffered in a hit and run incident when he was walking on a road. We were highly disappointed for Anoop. Gajji quickly decided for an escort for Anoop to accompany him back to Meeraki. We left the Base Camp by 1145 hrs for the last and most difficult leg of the summit.        

Kedarkanth is a conical feature with inclines around 60 degrees closer to its apex. The last 2 kms are devoid of any vegetation and are covered with loose snow 2 to 3 feet deep. High velocity winds gusting to more than 40 kmph whip the loose snow onto the face of the trekkers stinging the skin and increasing the difficulty of the ascent.

We trudged uphill, concentrating on every step on the treacherous slopes, and halting every twenty to thirty steps to recover the breath. Very frequently the gusting winds would force us to a halt to maintain our balance on the steep slopes. Panting for breath and exhausted we summitted at 1545 hrs, taking 4 hrs to traverse the last 5 kms. But the satisfaction was enough.

Here our second wish also came true as the sun, though a little weak, was out and we had a 360 degrees panoramic view. To the north we could see Chitkul in Himachal, and Nelang range to the North-East. The Har ki Dun range too was visible with Swarg Rohini cluster, Bandarpoonch, and Kalanag being clearly identified. We looked far into the horizon to the east where lay the peaks of Bhrigupanth, Thalaisagar, Patangini Dhar, Auden’s Col, and Gangotri peak cluster, though not visible. Having earlier trekked to Kedar Tal – Patangini Dhar – Rudragaira it appeared natural to peek into that direction.  

Kedarkanth literally translates as the throat of Lord Shiv, the blue throated one. A small shrine dedicated to Lord Shiv lies 50 mtrs below the summit on the return trek. We paid our homage and commenced our return journey by 1600 hrs. The descent was equally tough as the slopes were even more steep, the snow cover deeper and looser. To maintain speed and take weight off our knees and ankles, we even attempted slithering on our bums. But the loose snow made it even more difficult. So, we reverted to descending in the vertical plane only.

Our group of three was the only one moving down to Sankari at this late hour. By 1800 hrs the visibility reduced, and we had to switch on our mobile phone lights to move ahead. There is no mobile connectivity on this trek, but our mobile phones came in very handy for photography and lighting our path in the two hours of darkness that we walked. It was 2000 hrs when we reached Meeraki. A light drizzle started as we entered the homestay. The Guardians, Spirits and Gods of Studio Ghibli had been generous and kind to us and we thanked them with all our heart.

                                               (Rakesh and Ravi at Kedarkanth summit)
                                                

Mototrek – The Ride Back to Dehra Dun  

On return to the homestay, we found Gajji in a most magnanimous mood. He had guided three Ole Veterans to ascend 6500’ to an elevation of 12500’ covering a round distance of 26 kms in near 13 hrs, a commendable achievement by any standards. As our Guide credit was due to him as well. It would give Gajji a new talking point for future, and also add to his standing in his peer group. While serving us dinner, which in his benevolence included an added dessert to the menu, he remarked to us, “There is no known cure for those afflicted by the Himalayas virus and I do see glaring symptoms of this exotic bug in you all. You are destined to roam the wilds of Himalayas again and again!” We could not have received a better commendation!!!

It rained most of the night. In the morning when we looked out we could see fresh snow on the hill range around us. After a late breakfast we commenced our ride back at 1100 hrs. The ride from Sankari to Mori was a big challenge as the broken road was slushy and waterlogged. After crossing Naugaon we had a short lunch break. Thereafter we rode under a light drizzle for nearly half an hour before it cleared again. After an uneventful ride back, we entered Dehra Dun at 1800 hrs and after a quick shake of hands dispersed to our respective homes.

Epilogue

The region is awash with ancient lore. Kedarkanth is deemed to be the first meditating abode of Lord Shiv before he moved onto Kedarnath. The Swarg Rohini cluster is supposedly the gateway to Swarg (heaven) in human form, and from where Yudhistra of the Pandav family of Mahabharat times ascended to heaven. Even Lakhamandal is associated with the lore of Mahabharat wherein it was designed as an inflammable structure to assassinate the in exile Pandav brothers by setting it aflame.

We came in touch with multitude of people attracted by our white head tops, during our mototrek. We are sanguine to have touched the lives of some of them with new hopes and possibilities, as we were touched with the quiet determination of some of the not so lucky trekkers who were determined to summit Kedarkanth despite evident physical infirmities.

It was indeed a satisfying outing for us. But the dreams never end… after all we are pronounced to be afflicted with the untreatable Himalayan virus!

                                                        (Ravi and Gajji on return trek)