The experience of Life: The Return

Prolog:

The experience of Life: Up North till Mana

Date: 24th August 2017

The day started with a good darshan at Badrinath temple. It was a cloudy morning. The group had breakfast by 8am and started our journey to Rishikesh by 9AM.

The road was very Misty for about 30 minutes. The visibility was very low. It was cleared up soon but we got stuck in few places where road clearing was going on. While crossing in one of the landslide prone area we did see few sand and pebbles sliding thru, it seemed risky for us but driver waited for a minute and then drive thru.
We took a break at 10:30 at Govind Ghat. Proceeding again our journey was very slow when compared to the earlier drive. We got stuck in traffic in few places where road clearing/road work was happening.
It was hot and sunny day. We stopped for lunch at 12:45pm at pipalkoti.

This route was exactly the route where we traces Alakananda upstream. The only spot of interest was the Rudra Prayag which the driver had told we would see during return journey. We just took a glance of the prayag from vehicle itself and then proceeded further. It was 4:35 in the evening when we crossed Rudra prayag.

Finally after couple of more breaks, we reached the resort by 8:30pm. I had booked with few friends in the resort at Shivpuri which is 10kms before Rishikesh.

Date: 25th August 2017

This day was planned as rest day ater the long trek. Also just to be used as a buffer incase if Badrinath return travel had some delays due to road conditions. Morning time was spend in the resort just relaxing in the raining weather. We visited Vashishta gufa and then went to Ganga beach for taking bath in flowing water.It was a refreshing feeling. 

Date: 26th August 2017

It was time to return back to Bangalore. With lots of memories, i left Rishikesh by 8:30AM. I reached home at 6:30PM after a long day of travel and transit at Delhi airport. 

This being my first trip to the Himalayan area, this was definitely "The Experience Of Life"

The experience of Life: Up North till Mana

Prolog:

The experience of Life: The valley with delightful flowers

Date: 23rd August 2017

The group was ready for the last trek by 5:15AM. For a change we were waiting for the leads to come, and we had tea in that time. We started the trek down by 5:30AM. The plan was to trek down as fast as possible so that we have the  day ahead to visit Mana and then return to Badrinath.
 No camera - this was the thumb rule to increase the speed and we did strictly follow that!!

At 7:45AM we reached the break point. We had breakfast at the same place where we took food during the 1st day of trek. The group continued the trek by 8:35AM. Finally at 9:20AM we reached the point where our luggage was dropped off by mules. This was the easiest trek in the trip, i am sure its the same for the entire group. The Leads were surprised by our pace and that we reached the destination by 9:30.

The Leads had arranged the same tempo traveller to take us back till Rishikesh the next day after visiting Mana Village and Badrinath. We came to know that due to heavy rain, the road towards Badrinath was closed for last 3 days and its had reopened just the previous night.

Thus by we started the Journey to the last village in India - "Mana Village".

We continue to drive along the Alakananda upstream. This is a continuation after the journey from Rishikesh to Govind Ghat on 19th. The router is very scenic. Its also landslide prone. There are 2-3 places in the entire distance from Govind Ghat to Mana village where its landslide prone. There are guards controlling the traffic and inspecting the place to ensure safety.

The above video is one such place!!!The road overall is very good apart from these few spots. There are many waterfalls on the way.

We reached Mana Village at 11:50AM. This village has lots of significance.

This is the last village in India beyond which its area controlled by Army till Tibet Border.

The Village entrance.

The Village has very different architecture and building constructions.

Houses under repair at the village.

The garden in the village is really beautiful, both floral and vegetables.

This is the only place where we can visibly see the River Saraswati. It originates from the Himalayas and merges with Alakananda at Mana. This river has great significance both by India Mythology as well as scientifically.After the confluence, its said that river saraswati can be differentiated which flows as under-current. This river finally merged into the Ganga.
The Triveni Sangam at Allahabad which is a confluence of 3 rivers - the Ganga, The Yamuna and the Invisible Saraswati which is seen only at Mana.

Apart from this, Mana village has 3 sports which is of great importance in Indian mytholgy.

The Bheem Pul  - Its a single Rock made like a bridge. Its supposed too be a rock put by Bheem as mentioned in scriptures.

Bheem Pul

There is Vyas Gufa and Ganesh Gufa in the same place. These are 2 caves about a kilometer apart. As per Indian scriptures, these are the caves where Veda Vyasa and Lord Ganesh lived. Vyasa is supposed to have lived this entire life in this place and hence this becomes the place where he has done all his vedic compilations. This makes the place very sacred.

Part of the group had split here to see the saraswati waterfall whereas few of us spend time in the village itself. We had lunch - Maggi and a special herbal juice called "Bburaz". The remaining group came back fast as the waterfall was really far off and it was getting late.

The group exited Mana village at 2:45PM and checked-in at Badrinath by 3:15PM.
We went to TapKund - the hot spring just adjacent to Badrinath temple.  There is a man made Kund where people are not entering , probably the water was too hot for anyone to venture directly. There is a separate Gents and ladies section. We took bath in the steaming hot water - and we had to mix some cold water which was available there. It was a very refreshing. The group reached hotel to keep the wet cloths by 4:30PM and just before we were about to go to temple, we got a clear site of Nilkanth Mountain. Its a snow cap mountain behind Badrinath and the other side of it is Kedarnath. The clear view lasted only for 15 mins and after which the clouds covered it off..

Nilkanth

We went to Badrinath temple by 5PM. We were at the temple till 6:30PM. The crowd was less and we got good darshan.

Panoramic shot of bridge leading to temple. Alakananda flowing below and hot spring is visible on the right side

Badrinath temple

We did some shopping in the streets and bargained a lot. The prices were high but we got good deals to satisfaction after bargaining. After dinner at hotel we dispursed to start early next day morning.

The experience of Life: The valley with delightful flowers

Prolog:

The experience of Life: The Hemkund Shaib ascend

Date: 22nd August 2017

After two days of tiring trek, I woke up by 6AM for the valley of flowers visit. After the breakfast, we started the trek by 7:45AM. The first 1KM is the same view as the previous day where we start our trek with the view of Lakshman Ganga flowing through Ganghria. We reach the 1st checkpoint at 8AM. The Valley was open in time since the weather was clear overnight and no rain. The trek forked towards the valley direction leaving behind all the Hemkund pilgrims.

At 8:05AM we reached the check-point where the registration needs to be done. The Leads had collected the Name, Age and Address of all the group to be submitted at the registration office. This registration needs to be checked while existing to ensure all the guests have exited the valley by evening.

The Valley of flowers is a UNESCO world heritage site. The valley is completely guarded and mules are not allowed. There are no commercial shops allowed as well. We had carried our packed lunch due to this reason.

The trek started with slight drizzle but it cleared when we reached the registration point. The scenic view of the path and the river flowing continues to be a delight to watch. This was much like a trek route and very different compared to the Hemkund ascend. No Mules, No Pilgrims and narrow path!! For people who cant walk, there are people waiting with carriers where they carry people on the back. I was fascinated with these people and had a casual enquiry - I was surprised to hear that they can carry people up-to 90kgs in their back.

We crossed 2 bridges , 1st one immediately after the checkpost, and the 2nd one at 8:50AM

Temporary bridge

Weak Bridge

There are couple of points which turns dangerous if the valley had rained overnight. The water level rises and bridges might be washed away. Apart from couple of landslide prone ares in the path as well.Due to this reason the valley wont be opened unless the security inspects these key points before the start of the day!!

We continues out slow walk along the trek route. The entire route was full of flowers.

Flowers on the way

Apart from these flowers, there were few wild fruits also growing there.

Looks like wild verity of pomegranate

Pine fruit - Local name Raga

The entire route was full of these balsam like flowers which the local people call it dog flower - the reason being the design in the leafs resembles dog shit!!!!

Dog flower

After the long walk with one break at 9:30, the group reached the 3rd bridge where the valley starts. Time was 10:55AM and we waited there for the complete group to reach the spot.
The white water of  River Pushpawati was flowing with full energy.

By 11:15AM, the group entered The Valley Of Flowers.
It was a treat for the eyes, all the elements of natures beauty seems to be present in that place. It was green, the weather was perfect with sun shine, the misty clouds, the river flowing and the waterfalls on the way, the beautiful flower dancing in the wind.

This beautiful scenery at the valley is for the eyes to watch, no camera can explain the beauty as seen by human eyes.

The water flowing inside the valley was adding a different texture to the beauty. The white water was there in every place where we see - behind the flowers or in front of the mountains or be it the landscape.

Water flowing with Misty mountains behind

Waterfall surrounded by flowers

 There was a clear view of a glacier from the valley, The leads told that its the Tipra Glacier in Bhiyundar valley.

Tipra glacier - Shot from the 300mm lens.

By 12:00PM, the group found some place to have lunch. We had the packet lunch and took rest for a while. Another key highlight is the water - Its so pure that in the last 3 days we have not bought water from store. Just keep filling the water bottles from these water streams and everyone in the group relished that.

Few people in the group started to explore more into the valley while few in the group wanted to sit and experiments with the camera.

The below video is one such compilation of times lapses by Satish.

Thanks to Satish for sharing this excellent video for the blog.

I went on to explore more and taking picture of flowers and the landscape.

I took 2 complete sphere shots of the valley in the below link.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/OJi3TjGXGEeHaPIJ3
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5lCzwvctOEqpP9q13

I reached a point where I could see the Joan Margaret Legge's memorial grave. This is one of the destination where people reach due to historical importance of the valley.
The valley is very big and we realized that we will not be able to cover the complete length of it, Rather we were enjoying in the areas which we visited.
By 2:15PM we started to walk back.

Path inside the valley

The group started to walk down towards Ganghria and mostly the group was together for this trek.

Path on way back

We reached the checkpoint by 4:30PM very much satisfied and relaxed but tired after the 3 long days.
After the regular snacks, dinner and then chatting for sometime the group decided to close the day planning to start the next day at 5AM.

The experience of Life: The Hemkund Shaib ascend

Prolog:

The experience of Life: The Trek Begins

Date: 21st August 2017

The overnight rain and cold weather accompanied with excitement made me wakeup many time during the night. Each time I think its already 5AM just to see the watch and realize that there are few more hours to go!
Finally I woke up at 5:30 AM to see that it was still raining. It was not heavy downpour but these continuous rains which keep the environment damp throughout. I was lucky to get the hot water first as my friends already arranged and I was ready for shower. So I got ready very early.

The plan was to trek to Valley of flowers but the Leads had warned that the valley might be closed if there were overnight rain. So the group had prepared either for the Valley or Hemkund based on the situation.

The group assembled at the restaurant at 7:30AM.After the breakfast, and a packet lunch in bag, the group started the trek by 7:50AM.

First sight of River Lakshman Ganga when trek started

At 8:10AM we reached the checkpoint where the roads diverge for Valley of Flowers and Hemkund. The Valley of Flowers was closed after the overnight rain and Forest department guards has gone to inspect the situation. The Leads had anticipated this and the group were dressed with the inner fleece for Hemkund Shaib ascend.

The misty clouds and the Lakshman Ganga waterfall came closer as we climbed the slope adjacent to the falls.

The Lakshman Ganga River flowing down

 In half an hour, we had gained quite good elevation due to the steep climb. The initial 15 mins of the trek was quite tiring due to acclimatization. Then the body got adjusted!!!
The Ghangaria town already a tiny block in the beautiful landscape.

Ganghria view

The rain started lightly and I was walking slowly witnessing the beautiful landscape, the wet flowers and chirping birds.

The Pika seen in the collage is one of the common sighting during the trek to Hemkund and also the Valley Of Flowers.
Due to the rain, the entire path had small streams of water flowing and the surroundings were quite misty.

 

The trek was gaining altitude quite fast and the temperature was low. The slight rain is making it feel more colder.  There was a water stream where solidified snow seen on the sides.

Solidified Snow

The climb was slow and we took a long break on the way. By 11:00AM we could hear the bajan from the Gurudwara. So it seems that we are reaching the peak!!! The weather cleared for a brief moment to make us realize the steep winding path in ahead of us. It seems as if we reached but yet we have not reached 3/4th of the distance.

Weak Bridge on the path

Finally after a long and tiring climb up the slope, the 1st group of the group reached Hamkund Sahib at 12:15PM. There is a small place where all the mules stop before reaching the Gurudwara.

The group went to the Gurudwara first. Spend about 10 minutes inside the Gurudwara where prayers are continuously happening. After that we came out to see the Hamkund lake.
Just the sight off the water and the waterfall freaked us out!!!! The sight was soooo beautiful.
Initially when we reached there, it was drizzling and misty. Then later the weather started clearing.  The temperature was really cold and probably below 5 degree Celsius.

Gurudwara and Lakshman temple adjacent to the hemkund lake

Misty Lake

Panoramic view of the misty mountain

Hemkund lake clear water

Reflection of waterfall on the lake

The below video of the lake when it was misty.

During the time we were present at the Hemkund Sahib, we have seen different kinds of weather. It was raining when we reached, then it turned misty, it cleared for a while and again rain started. The weather was just swinging quite fast.

By around 1:30PM the entire group had reached the Hemkund Sahib and we took some photo at the lake for a while.

We went to the Sri Lakshman temple after which we went to have food from the Gurudwara.
The group was hungry - the khichdi and tea was just awesome. The tea which we had at the Gurudwara was probably the best tea in the entire trip.

I took a 360 view of the Gurudwara and the kitchen in the below link.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ZnTEt5iMGrOh3642

The Brahma Kalam is also the highlight of this place. The flower grows only about 14000 feet altitude.

Brahma Kamal

 The time was 2:30PM and we need to start the descend soon. We used the restrooms facility there which was really maintained very clean.

We started the walk down by 3:10PM. This time is quite late than usual for Hemkund trek.As per the Leads, the group has to start by 5:30AM for the Hemkund trek. Our case was different since our original plan was to go to the Valley. This turned out to be blessing for us. The entire morning was raining , but the weather started clearing quite well when we started to descend down the path.This help me to shoot lots of good pictures of flowers, sceneries and few birds on the way.

I met an Sikh Uncle who was explaining about the history of Sri Guru Gobind Singh and the importance of Hemkund Sahib for the Sikh Community. It was interesting and informative. I slowed down my walk to shoot pictures and later noticed that the uncle has been explaining the same to many people on the way.

Continuing the walk, there was a clear view of a glacier mountain from far away. Time was 5:45PM by then.

Glacier Mountain

I reached the Ghangaria by 6:45 PM. It was late, still I had a cup of tea before reaching to my hotel room.
It was a long and tiring trek for the day but still very very refreshing. The weather had cleared very well by then and no sign of rain. This gave us even more excitement about the dreams of the Valley of flowers trek for the next day. The hope of Valley being open was very high if the weather remained the same throughout the night.
The group had dinner by 8PM. The night sky was very clear and the view of stars in the sky was amazing. Few of us ventured into the street to see the beautiful stars.

Gangria streets at night

The Night sky

The night sky view on that day was something which no camera could capture. Our eyes are the best camera and it was one of the best night sky with stars I have seen for a long time.
We settled in our room after the watching the sky and awaiting the Valley of flowers trek on the next day!!!

The experience of Life: The Trek Begins

Prolog:

The experience of Life: Drive Along The River

Date: 20th August 2017

It was very nice weather at Pandukeshwar with slight drizzle and misty clouds.
I woke-up early morning and took bath with hot water provided at the hotel.

The view was refreshing from the hotel, with wet roads and misty mountains in the background.

The group had breakfast at 8AM

Breakfast before the trek

The Group started for the 4 day trek by 8:15AM.
We reached at the initial checkpost on the tempo traveler where a registration needs to be done for all the members. The Leads had some arrangement which avoided us standing in the queue.

Check-post to cross the bridge

From that point, there is no private vehicles allowed.  The authorities take in their vehicle for 4 kilometers from where the trek to Gangria starts. There are Mules' available in-case if someone is not able to trek for 10KMs.
We reached the spot to start the trek at 9AM. The luggage were offloaded to be carried in mules. The group carried on day-pack for essentials and then we started the trek.

The weather was bright and rain had stopped. Ideal weather to enjoy the scenic view during the trek. Soon the group was divided into subgroups based on the speed of different members of the group. This was the tone for almost the complete trek during the next 4 days where the group used to meetup only at some break points.
The Leads used to coordinate : one of them were on the front and the other behind for most of the trek.

I was mostly involved in shooting pictures and taking few videos during the walk.

The refreshing sound of flowing water from the Lakshman Ganga was heard throughout the trek.

 

 There were lots of waterfall on the way.

Waterfall

I reached the break point at 10:45AM.  It was planned to have a early lunch, but still we got a cup of tea from the stall as soon as we reached. There was a long break at that point and had lunch ~11:15AM.After the lunch we resumed the trek by 11:45AM. 

I was walking slowly and alone for long time after lunch. 

It was refreshing to see and experience the flowing water , the greenery around, the blue sky, the flowers, the bees around the flowers, the butterflies and birds chirping. 

The collage captures the theme of the trek

 There were many mules on the way in both directions. One of the initial challenge during the trek was the navigate between the mules when there were too many in some places.

Mule walking with its helper down the path

At 1:20PM we reached the Sangam of Lakshman Ganga and the Bhyundar river. Weather was bright and then scenery was really beautiful.

Rivers leading to the Sangam. Bottom is the Lakshman Ganga and top is the Bhyundar river

The group re-grouped again at this point after a short break. Another 3.5kms to go and its expected to be a steep climb. The Leads also requested to walk bit faster as the weather could go bad later in the day. It started to drizzle a bit just to pull my poncho and then it stopped. 

We could see the helicopter multiples times which is catering to people who wants to avoid this path complete and reach Gangria faster.

After a long walk, we reached a small area called "Kajila" by 3:20PM. Gangria is just 600mts away from there!!!.
We regrouped at this point before proceeding further towards Gangria. There were lots of flowers in that area.

The group reached Gangria by 4:15PM. The weather was cold and rain had started.
The entry of the town was full of Mules. The town is one long stretch with building on both sides. These Building are made of concrete bricks but all are just made to be used for the 4 month long season after which the entire town will be deserted.

We reached Hotel Guru Kripa where we got Hot Maggi Noodles and tea. That was the best maggi which i had for a long time now :)

After a brief discussion (rather argument :) ) about the rooms allocation with the leads, we checked-in to the rooms. Just basic rooms with few cots. The rooms were attached bathrooms but with only cold water on the taps. Seems they charge per bed for these rooms but all charged were inclusive in our trek. So that was the our settlement for 3 night during the trek.
After a while, the group ventured out into Gangria street and found a government office where they shows a small 10 minutes video about Valley of flowers capturing its bio-diversity, flowers, medicinal values of plants and the history of the place. It was informative for us.

The group had dinner together and after a short briefing from the leads we called-off the day for much needed rest.

The experience of Life: Drive Along The River

Prolog:

The experience of Life: Exploring Rishikesh

Date: 19th August 2017

With full of energy and excitement, I am always bound to get less sleep. I got ready early morning and went out for a cup of tea crossing the Lakshman Jhula Bridge. The Site of the misty Ganga was refreshing.

The group reached Lakshman Chowk, next to Lakshman Jhula bridge by 7Am in the morning.
A very good way to start the journey  with the darshan of Sri Lakshman.

It was a tempo traveler vehicle. The driver picked us from the Lakshman Chowk. Thus the group started the Journey towards Govind Ghat.

After an hour, we stopped for breakfast. We started again driving through one side of the Ganga.
There was a place where water was flowing through the road.

This was the first such sight on the road during this trip without knowing that there were many more to come!!!

It was great learning experience for me with this ride along the rivers. I have heard and studied in the past about many famous rivers of India.This journey witnessed the confluences of rivers which finally forming the River Ganga.

The first of these Confluence is "Deva Prayag". This is one of the most important and the last confluence before the formation of the Ganges.
The rivers Alakananda which is originating from the glacier mountain beyond the Badrinath and the river Bhagirathi which originates from  Gangothri merges to form the River Ganga.

The group reached this point at 10:00AM in the morning and took the short break to witness the prayag from a distance.

Deva Prayag

Both the rivers have distinctly different colors and we were told that its evidently seen during the summer seasons. Alakananda is flowing from the top right side , Bhagirathi  flowing on the left side and together the Ganga flows towards the right of the above picture.

Till this time, the drive was along the sides of Ganga flowing on the right side of the vehicle. For a brief period, we followed Bhagirathi and then we crossed a bridge after which we lost the river out of sight. Few minutes later we joined the course of Alakananda again to the right side of the vehicle.

We took a short Tea break at 11:15 and started again to cross a bridge after which we continued following the river upstream to the left of our vehicle.
At 11:45AM we crossed Srinagar which is one of the major towns in this route. We witnessed the dam  at Srinagar and then passed through "Dhari Devi Mandir" by 12:10PM. This mandir was one of the spots which got completely submerged under water during the floods of 2013. The temple was lifted again constructing new pillars and height was raised as well.

The next main Confluence was "Rudra Prayag". This merging of rivers Mandakini originating from Kedarnath and the Alakananda. We did not stop here as the driver requested that the confluence is clearly visible on the return journey. We crossed this point at 12:45PM.

We had our lunch break of about 45 minutes and started the drive again at 2:15PM.

We reached Karna Prayag at 2:45PM. Karna Prayag is the confluence of river Alakananda and the Pindar Ganga which originated from the Pindar glacier. We just stopped by for 2 minutes to click couple of photos of the prayag and then stated the drive again.

Karna Prayag

The river at the bottom of the picture is the Pindar Ganga, the opposite to that is Alakananda and the combined river Alakananda flowing towards the left of the picture.

At 3:15PM we have a brief stoppage due to road clearning work. We were lucky that we did not have to wait too long in the queue before which they allowed the vehicles to start moving.

At 3:45Pm we passed Vishnu Prayag which is the confluence of river Alakananda and river Nandakini. There was evident difference in color of the two streams, The Nandakini water was white in color whereas the main stream Alakananda had slight muddy texture throughout.
We did not stop  at the Prayag.

We crossed few major towns like - Chamoli at 4:15PM and Pipalkoti at 4:45PM.
 We stopped by on the way to view a beautiful village.

Beautiful village with scenic waterfall in the background

Continuing the drive, we crossed Joshimath by 6PM.

We Crossed the last of the Panch Prayag - The Vishnu Prayag at 6:20PM.
The Vishnu Prayag is the confluence of river Alakananda and the Dahuli Ganga river.
After this we crossed a weak bridge where the sign board of Givind Ghat - 5KMs was seen. This brought the realization that we are almost reaching the destination.

At 7:00PM we reached the destination to conclude -
  

THE DRIVE ALONG THE RIVER - ALAKANANDA

We met the Trek Leads at this place who provided food and accommodation for the day along with the dreams of the much awaited and exciting trek!!!