Trek to Valley of Flower

This blog was written by my friend, Jassi. I am posting the URL here.

http://jazi-jazi.blogspot.in/

Trek to Har Ki Doon

We had done our last Himalayan trekking in July 2011 to Valley Of Flowers. Since then, I was visiting all the honeymoon places (Kerala, Goa, Manali etc.) after my marriage in Dec 2011. Jassi, my best friend and co-trekker had also tied the knot in Jan 2012 and hence, we both were busy in our family lives. As our kids are grown and we had bit time, so we decided to visit the Himalaya again. Looking at many options, we finalized “Kedarkanth”, “Hark Ki Doon” and “Ruinsara” Lake for the trekking. Since, one of Jassi’s friends had done “Har ki doon” and reviews were good, so without thinking much, we finalized “Har Ki Doon” and kept “Kedarkanth” as the plan B in case of heavy snowfall or something like that.

                In Dec’ 2015, I took the responsibility of all the bookings. Jassi introduced Mr. Rahul as our third partner for this trek. I had never met him, but relying on Jassi, I said OK to him. So, I made the bookings for all (Only travel bookings) and started preparing check list for the trek. We had learnt a lot from our VOF trek and hence wanted to be prepared well this time. I am in Pune and Jassi and Rahul are in Indore so, we decided to meet in Delhi. After bookings, I prepared and emailed the checklist.

March 23 & 24, 2016: PUNE – Delhi, Indore-Delhi, Delhi-Dheradun.

On 23^rd March 2016, I took the train “Goa Express” from PUNE in the morning 4:00 AM. I knew that the journey is going to be boring so, I had already ordered two books for the Journey, “The Immortals of Meluha” and “The secret of Nagas”. I reached Delhi at 6:30AM and by that time, first book was completed.

On 24^th March 2016’ morning, we met at Cumsum on Nizamuddin Railway station Delhi. Our next train to “Dehradun” was at 11:30 AM so we decided to take our breakfast at Cumsum. Once the order is placed, we came to know that the rate list at cumsum is just to misguide the customers. We had to pay just double than what we calculated, the guy at counter said, rate list is not updated. With the frustration, we decided to utilize cumsum for our time pass as we had already paid much. At 11:30AM, we caught the train and reached Dehradun at around 8 PM. The route from “Haridwar” to “Dehradun” is scenic and we started smelling the great Himalaya.

                By reading so many blogs, I was aware about the “Rikshawalas” (Auto/Taxi Drivers) at Dehradun station so was careful. “Never ever believe on these guys for hotels or any information. They work only to get money from you and will give you any silly and wrong information.” We also welcomed by one such Rikshawala. He tried to convince us that he will manage cheapest but the best hotel for us (“Hotel BALAJI hi best hai sir”, he said), he will drop till hotel and in morning, he will again drop us to the best bus for the Sankri at absolutely no cost. As I was aware, so we said OK to him and headed to the “Masoori Bus Stop” which is just beside the railway station. Here we came to know about all the true options to reach Sankri. We said bye-bye to that “Rikshawala” who was still following us and decide to stay in nearby cheap hotel and to catch the 6:30 AM bus for Purola. Checked into a hotel (600 INR/Room for 3 of us), taken dinner at nearby restaurant and gone to bed.

Information: There is only one private bus which goes directly from Dehradun to Sankri. It leaves at 5:30AM from ISBT bus stand which is 5-6 km from Railway Station and reaches to Sankri at 4 PM. This bus takes a long route via. Vikas Nagar and hence takes long time. Other and best option is to take 6:30AM bus from Masoori Bus Stand (Beside Railway Station, come before 6.00AM on ticket window to get the front seats) which will take you to Purola at around 12.00 noon and catch the other bus from Purola at 12:30 PM which reaches Sankri at 4:00 PM. There are few other options like 8:15 AM bus from Masoori Bus Stand which takes you till Purola. You might not get any direct option from Purola to Sankri and you may have to break your journey from Purola to Mori to Natwar to Sankri by shared taxis. This will increase the traveling cost as well as travel time. There are few more options from Vikas Nagar which is 30 km from Dehradun.

March 25, 2016: Dehradun to Purola to Sankri.

We woke up early in the morning; Rahul went early to get the bus tickets. Till that time, I and Jassi got fresh and packed our bags and joined Rahul on bus stop. Luckily we got the first seat, just behind the driver. Later, we realized that he was not driver; he was “The Pilot”. Jassi was hungry and did a mistake, he took omelet’s breakfast. I and Rahul have good control on hunger and skipped the breakfast. Though, Jassi took the Anti-Vomiting tablet (Avomine), still he started feeling uneasy before “Masuri”. Rahul was in full confidence that he never had such problems in any travel. “The Pilot” was in full form and we were considering every turn as our last turn of life. As soon as we crossed “Masuri”, he was Rahul who first vomited. As soon as he did, I and Jassi asked him to leave window seat as we both were about to do the same. I took the window seat and Jassi sat on my legs and we started soon one by one. I was praying, God please keep it sequentially as we have only one window. Thank god, I did not eat anything and it was just water coming out. After few minutes, Rahul again came in line and looking at us, he managed to get other window. It was going on and one good thing happened. Driver, as expected, did not notice a taxi on a turn and there was a small accident. Yes, it was a good thing. Everyone came out of the bus to get bit relax. Taxi driver and bus driver was arguing, “You did this, you did that” and without bothering them, everyone was busy in getting fresh air, drinking water and getting ready for the remaining journey. We all were praying, please keep your argument for half an hour at least, it was the “must need” break. After 5 minutes, when we got bit normal, we observed the drivers arguments. How polite they were to each other. (Are bhai aapki hi galti thi, aap ko hi dekhna chahiye tha etc.). We compared if the same had happened in Indore than what would have been the situation, much different. After 15-20 minutes, both the drivers came at the conclusion (Don’t know what that was) and with no options left, we had to enter again to the bus. Now the driving was bit slow and rest of our journey till “Purola” was good along with the great “Yamuna” river.  We reached to “Purola” by 12.00 Noon.    

I and Rahul taking a nap after bus accident

                In “Purola”, we got the other bus to Sankri which was about to leave by 12:30PM. It was the same bus which left from ISBT “Dehradun” at 5:30AM. This is a Dabba/Khatara bus as compared to the previous. We had to keep our bags on top, as there was no space in bus even for our legs. I am very strict about my bag getting dirty and I asked Jassi to keep my bag safe from dust as he was loading the bags. Jassi and Rahul named my bag as “Bagwati”. There are also many taxis ready to go till “Mori”. We avoided the lunch and taken oranges only. Bus started at the right time and soon, we started feeling the cold. In our Journey, first time we were able to see what is around us and the scenic views of Himalaya. We did get the last seat in the bus, but as the route was good and driving was slow, we were enjoying the journey. After Mori, we came to the forest check post at “Natwar” and all the “Tourists” are asked to come out to pay the entry fee. We paid 1000 INR + 500 INR as refundable deposit for 3 of us for 6 days with one tent. Yes, tent does matter in their calculations. Don’t even try to know how they calculate the fees. Give them what they ask, it is usually nominal. By sharp 4:00 PM, we reached at Sankri. Total cost of travel was around 325 INR per head.

Sankri To Taluka by Taxi: Sankri is 1900 meter above sea level, but don’t believe in numbers here, I will explain it later. We got a taxi immediately for Taluka in just Rs 50 per head. It is only 11-12 KM distance but 50 rs worth it. We chose to sit on top of the taxi with few village kids. Oh My God!!!!, exactly this was the feeling when we moved to Taluka. A deep valley at left, mountains at right and a very narrow road with very sharp turns. We were feeling like traveling on Aladdin’s flying carpet (Aladdin ki udne wali chadar).

I am (In blue), Jassi (Green) and Rahul (White) on top of the taxi. Flying to Taluka

Buransh, the state tree of Uttrakhand State

Suddenly, we saw a big tree loaded with beautiful red flowers. We were seeing this after “Purola” but now it was very close that even we can get flowers while traveling. We asked about it to the kids and they said, “It is Uttrakhand’s State Tree, Buransh”.

 Jassi started getting some historical information about villages with a man sitting with him. Before 6 PM, we reached to Taluka. What a beautiful journey it was, Jassi said, “I am satisfied with the trip even if we could not go to the HKD valley”. In Taluka, only we were the tourist on that day and entire GMVN guest house was empty. So, we booked a room in guest house with 170/head. I shaved (Yes, regular shaving is kind of must for me)and took a bath in cold water as there is no electricity so hot water was not available, Jassi and Rahul relied on their deodorants.  One Nepali kaka cooked a dinner for us and his little daughter “Parvati” served us the dinner. They are very humble people, pay bit extra if you can. After lots of adventure, we were taking good rest at our starting point of the trek.

March 26, 2016: Taluka to Osla/Seema:

Ready to go

Whole night we were hearing the winds sound and when we woke up, it was raining. OMG!! Can the weather forecast be so true? Believe me; you must check the weather forecast on “weather.com” or other websites before leaving. In our case, it got 100% true for all 6 days. Anyways, we took “Aalu ke parathe” in breakfast and also packed same for our lunch. We paid total 1000 INR for stay and food including dinner, breakfast and packed paratha’s and 50 for “Parvati” for her excellent service. The smile on her face was worth more than 50, believe me. There are two boards; one in front of the GMVN guest house says “2400 meters above sea level”. Other near Forest guest house which says, “2100 meters above sea level”. That is why I said, don’t believe in numbers here, you’ll get few more examples. Anyways, we had already decided not to take guide or potter because an extra tent was not affordable just for the guide. As much as we enquired, route seems to be easy and straight forward. So, with raincoats and rain covers, we started our trek at 9:15AM. The board at forest guest house says, “Har Ki Doon 27KM”. “You should follow this path”, a lady said from behind, as soon as we left Taluka and took the upper path. Thank god, we got the right path at the starting, later we realized that we cannot afford going on wrong paths. It was the left path from taluka which goes down to the river “Tons”. Once we started, route was very easy, just needed to follow the arrows.

Soon, we got a board says, “Har Ki Doon 25KM” and we relaxed, “waaoo, we are going faster than expected” I thought. Soon we got adjusted to the things we were carrying and in about 2 hours, rain stopped. We took raincoats back into our bags and waaoo!!, what a beautiful route it was. The river “Tons” was at its best, long trees of “Deodar” were touching the sky, “Buransh” trees in between like the heart of the jungle and what a tranquil, only sounds of birds and tons river, other than our chatting. Few snow covered peaks were welcoming us. On the way when we were resting, we met with Mr. Prateek, who was a solo trekker from Delhi, came to celebrate his Birth Day. We did not know that he is going to be our fourth partner for rest of the trek. At around 1:30 PM, we got a board says, “Har Ki Doon” is 21KM”. OMG!!, we have covered just 4KM from last mile stone? (Again, don’t believe in numbers, they don’t seem correct). At around 2:00PM, we got to a maggi stall. We had packed parathas so we took our lunch here.

We continued our trek and just before the village “Gangad”, met with a couple returning from the trek. The girl suggested us, not to go “Osla” (our next stop), rather go to “Seema” just to avoid the steep uphill.  Osla is at the left side of the river whereas, Seema is at right side. Soon we reached to Gangad and till that time, Rahul was about to surrender. It was 4 PM and we were 3 KM behind our next stop. Gangad is the best village you will see in this trek, will explain much later. Our frequency of stoppage had increased. On one such stop, when we asked “how far Osla is?” to a lady, she said, “Abhi to door hai, 7 KM aur chalna hai” (It is far about 7 Kms). OMG!! Are we really going to get Osla today? Now, I was worried about Rahul and I took the lead. Soon we saw the village OSLA, phew… here we decided not to believe in numbers and local people. They are not aware about the actual facts and they don’t bother about it. When I asked about the temperature in Taluka, a man said, “Abhi kaha sir, zero to thand mai hota hai jab warf girti hai” (Temperature goes to zero in winter). We realized his mean by zero is the minimum temperature.

At one point, you will see a bridge which takes you to the other side of river and following that you will reach to Osla. For Seema, you don’t have to cross the river. Remember, there is steep uphill to Osla. Though, it looks easy but at the end of the day trek, it is really very difficult. Thanks to that girl, we decided to move to Seema. When we reached to Seema, we realized that “Seema is not at all a village”. There is only GMVN guest house, one temple and one shop. All were closed and we realized the information given by girl was not complete. Luckily, we had our own food arrangement and tent so staying in Seema was not an issue for us. Though, Prateek was criticizing the girl for incomplete information but I and especially Rahul was thankful to her. Rahul was not in a condition to climb to Osla. We opened our tent, cooked maggi and after lots of gossip, went to sleep.

Information: If you have your stay and food arrangements or if you have booking in GMVN, Seema route is the best. If you don’t have tent or food, you have to go to OSLA. You can stay there in any villager’s home with food at nominal charges. GMVN at Seema and HKD opens only when they have advance bookings. So make sure you book in advance. Online booking is available for all GMVN guest houses. I guess, from mid-April, they will be opened but then it is hard to get rooms without prior bookings. 

March 27, 2016: Seema to Somewhere before 5KM of HKD Valley:

Maggi Shop Stop.. a good place to rest and see the beauty

I woke up first and arranged hot water for the group. We decided to eat readymade food on the way, so we started trek soon at around 8:15AM. As soon as we crossed the bridge, there was a steep uphill. Today, it was all uphill trekking and our target was HKD valley. After 2 hours with many breaks in between, we reached to a maggi shop. Rahul, Jassi and Prateek took breakfast cum lunch there. I was OK with my mamma’s ready to eat food.

The Place where Rahul surrendered. This is taken by Rahul only in Return Journey 

Till this point, we had hardly covered 3Km and Rahul’s condition was not hidden. Anyways, I and Rahul started trek first followed by Jassi and Prateek. There was again a steep climb and suddenly weather also changed. There was a “Snow Fall”, my life’s first. Waaooo!!! Tiny particles of snow were flying all around. We again packed with raincoats and rain covers and continued our uphill trekking. At the next flat patch, we took a long break as Rahul was tired and there we could see a long.. actually very long steep climb.

Base Camp in the Evening, white tent is ours

Rahul collected his all the energy and started again and soon he surrendered fully. OMG!!! How we are going to make it now? Prateek went ahead to see the route, I took Jassi’s small bag and Jassi took Rahul’s bag pack. It was really difficult to trek with two big bag packs and Rahul was hardly moving ahead even without bags. Thank god that we did not get any injury or something like that. At 3:00PM, we got a good place where camping can be done. After looking here and there, we finalized one place to camp and meanwhile, the fighter Rahul also reached there.

Light snow fall was getting heavy, tiny snow particles now became sago (Sabudana ). HKD was 5 KM from here and the view was amazing from our camp. There was one other bangoli’s group staying there, they were on back trek. Prateek and Rahul are best in making friends. Soon, they started using their fire to cook maggi, boil water and cook MTR Dal makhani. We took our dinner in tent and started discussing next day’s plan. Finally we came to the decision, Rahul decided to stay here only for whole day (Or rather we forced him to make this decision because carrying two bags, trekking was not possible and we were not sure how far it is? Will it be possible to camp at HKD base?).

March 28, 2016: Base camp to HKD to Base camp:

View from the tent at HKD Base Camp

As a routine, I again woke up first at 7:00AM and when I opened the zip of our tent, outside view was amazing.

Jassi coming out of the Tent

The area which was brown when we slept was now bright white. Snow was all over, our water source was frozen and when I saw the thermometer, the temperature was 8° below zero (-8° Centigrade).

Before bridge, a Maggi Shop is there.

I arranged the hot water. We left Rahul and our heavy bags in tent, took small bags to carry ready to eat food, camera and medical kit only. Now I and Jassi were on the way to HKD and since we had left heavy bags in tent, so the speed was good. I knew that the new blood (Prateek) will catch us soon even if he will start late. We came on a small bridge covered with snow and a water fall beside that, wonderful scene.

Our fourth Partner, Prateek just before HKD.

We crossed the bridge and soon we missed the actual path. We were looking for the way and then Jassi seen it down but there was no connecting path. So, we did little “Off Road” trek and met with the actual path. Jassi was not feeling well, energy was too low and we both were feeling headache. Even after taking rest, Jassi was not able to move and I started looking into my bag for something. I got a small pack of “Masala Salt”, thanks to my wife who forcefully kept that in my bag. Jassi took some salt and now he was better, actually his blood presser was low. We were about to start again when we heard, “Rasta kidhar se hai?” He was Prateek and following our footsteps, he also missed the actual path. We called him to come down and then started again with him. After taking few more breaks, looking at the sign boards at every 25 meters, crossing snow patches, we finally reached the base of HKD. A small river was flowing at its best, snow was all over, blue sky in the background and we only three guys in the valley, what can be better than this?

I and Jassi on the Destination

Did some photography and gone to the GMVN guest house which was closed and then seen an awesome view again, THE HAR KI DOON VALLEY was in front of us.

The HKD Valley and Swarg Rohini Peak. Worth to trek.

The “Swarg Rohini” peak was at its best, golden eagles were flying in the valley.

 After few clicks, we separated out to spend some time alone and in this time, Jassi did an adventures trip from heavy snow to the river. Actually, he took wrong path to river and moving on snow is very risky. He had to enter into river and his shoes got wet from inside. After taking some rest again, we started our back trek. A family with GMVN staff came to stay there and Prateek decided to stay there. We came to our base camp before sunset. Now, we were alone at the base camp, so did campfire, cooked maggi, lots of gossip as Rahul was much better now.

The camp area was made all dirty by the bangoli group, wrappers and tissue papers were left all around. Why people don’t understand the importance of cleanliness? Someone will stay here after you, what they will call you? Please care the nature and make sure that you don’t leave plastic at least. I collected all the plastic and decided to clean the route whatever we can. As always, Jassi took to responsibility of collecting plastic wrappers from the route in our back trek till Taluka. We carried all collected plastic and dumped in DDN railway station’s dustbin. Kuddos to Jassi J

Note: The Shiva temple in HKD is about to build. People carried the Lord Shiva Idol in front of US. So, if someone tell you some mythical story about the temple, don't believe it. It is under construction, both story and temple :)

March 29, 2016: Base camp to Gangad Village:

Jassi Distributing Sweets to the Pirates of the OSLA :)

It was back trek so we were not worried about the batteries and food. We took rest at the place where Rahul surrendered two days back and Prateek again joined us. We took Osla’s route this time, just to see a village closely. Every child will ask you for “Mithai” (Sweets/chocolates) and every adult will ask you for medicine and this will happen only in OSLA. One child said to Prateek, “Oye tourist, mithai de”. We have given name to Osla’s people, “The pirates of the OSLA”.

 Village is not as good as expected, plastic is all over in village and cleanliness is not maintained. Do not expect any spirituality in these villages; they are as good as any other village in any part of India except, they have wooden homes. Jassi distributed some sweets to the children and we found one STD there, each of us dialed to home at 10 rs/m.  We heard that there is a temple of “Duryodhan” so enquired in village. The fact is, there is no duryodhan temple in any village on the route. “THIS IS A MYTH THAT THERE IS DURYODHAN TEMPLE ON HKD ROUTE”. The temple is dedicated to “SOMESHWAR” who is their kuldev. Prateek again decided to stay in OSLA. When we coming down, we realized how difficult it would have been to climb Osla on first day, especially for Rahul. So, we thanked again to that girl who suggested us to stay in Seema. This was an easy day and we reached easily to “Gangad” village before sunset. We were highly repelling to maggi now and food was must today. After some enquiry, we got one person who agreed to serve food for us with stay in our own tent. Rest of the evening, we visited village’s school, interacted with many children, distributed sweets to the kids. A kid, “Mulayam Singh” gave good info about Uttrakhand, local traditions and culture. Then we came to our host’s house where food was being prepared and we saw some musical instruments in room. I took Dholki, Jassi and Rahul were the singers and we started our musical evening. We have got few kids in our audience. A girl “Amruta Chouhan”, who was the volunteer cook for us also joined the audience and encouraged our worst singing to continue. After a lot of entertainment, we took our dinner went into our tent for the rest of the night.

The Gangad Village

As I said, here we realized that Gangad is the best village to stay and see the beauty. No kid will ask you for sweet, no one will ask you for medicine and all are good, humble hosts. You will notice that they will reply you with tag, “Koi Baat Nahi”. It is kind of a “No Problem”. We were noticing this since long and also adapted to the same. Even in our back journey, bus conductor said, “Koi baat nahi, I will return your money soon”. Rahul said, “Take your time, KOI BAAT NAHI”. J

March 30, 2016: Gangad Village to Taluka:

Present met the future

This was the last day of trek, nothing much left and we focused on to our trek. Taking continues breaks, we crossed the maggi stall and our fourth partner, Prateek again joined us. Next, we met with a group of three 60+ years’ young guys. They came from the south India. They were regular trekker and shared their experience of different treks. We did see our future in them, clicked one shot and said bye to them. 

When we came to Taluka, even the small steep of Taluka was looking like giant and what we need was, only food. Luckily we got the open hotel and ordered lunch. This was the best lunch of our life; we could not recall when we had so nice lunch. After lunch, we got a taxi and again on the top of the taxi, we came to Sankri. We stayed in GMVN guest house, had dinner in a hotel and went on sleep.

On 31^st March, we caught the second bus at 8:15AM (First bus to DDN is at 5:30AM) and reached to DDN at 6:00PM. This was quite comfortable journey without any sickness except Jassi who got cold diarrhea. Don’t forget to take the security deposit back at Natwar check post. The journey was kind of a boring after so nice trek. We got into the same hotel and saw India-West Indies world cup semifinal which unfortunately we lost.

1^st April was the rest day in DDN, we spent in hotel and shopping in a local Mela. We got our trains on 2^nd April and headed back to home. In Delhi, I changed the train, again Goa express for PUNE. Now this was the time for next book, “The Secrete of Nagas” which I completed before PUNE.