India is a land of people who love to know what is going on
in others life more than their own. Wedding is a hot topic and post my wedding
I realized that so was Honeymoon. Immediately after we were married we were
asked this question not only by our friends but also by the elders in the
family. To everyone’s disappointment we skipped the honeymoon part and directly
jumped into the new life that awaited us and got caught up totally. Not because
we were really a boring couple but we just wanted to make our first vacation
(we treated it like a nice long vacation) well planned and also a little
different.
So two months later after we had settled into the new way of
life, in the month of February we began searching the internet for options and
also to figure out our budgets. We thought of the luxury European trip and then
we thought of backpacking to some exotic place. Nothing was matching up to what
we thought should be a “landmark” holiday! After many fights and many more
budget excels we decided to stick to India.
To our surprise, when we started the research on India and
places to visit we had a five year plan ahead of us! Then we started to fight
on if we should go to the hills or the sea. Yes we had too many fights and too
many discussions before we concluded that both of us loved the North of India.
We both wanted to visit the Mountains and live in the tranquility of the place.
We both wanted to go for a trek. We had never done a trek in
our lives before so we decided to give it a shot. We chose a moderate /
difficult trek as our first trek. We were confident that we would be able to
pull this off since we had been hitting the gym since a while. However, there
was a surprise in store. A few things to keep in mind for the first timers:
a)
Start making a list of the things that the
websites say and the things that you gather from talking to friends
b)
Start preparing for the trek at least 3 months
in advance and that includes both physical and mental preparations.
c)
For physical fitness the website for our trek
said 4 kms run in 30 mins approx. However, what one needs to keep in mind is
that this is ( these points will help you for the walk) :
a.
Not on a treadmill
b.
Should be at an elevation which is close to 60
degs
c.
Mentally one should be prepared for the fact
that the roads will not be roads that you see in the cities (we had rocks,
dried leaves and pebbles).
d.
It will be sunny and really sunny as the sun on
the mountains will be strong and direct.
e.
Start training your mind to drink less water
while walking as there will be no restrooms on your way. Also your body tends
to become heavy as you drink water and that makes it lethargic
f.
Try to have a day pack with you with basic
things like energy bars, towels, some juice or glucose mix, cap, sunglasses
etc. This is so because in case you are not able to carry your backpack which
will be at least 7 – 8 kgs you can give it to the mules and just carry the day
pack
After all the preparation, we set off for our 10 day
vacation. We reached Kathgodam on the 31st of May and stayed at a
Government guest house near the station. Next day early morning we started our
cab ride of 12 hours approximately to Lohajung. This was the base camp. We
reached and realized the temperature difference and also how we were so away
from all the luxuries of life that included electricity. Even then it was
divine. Peaceful and totally cut off from city life.
On 2nd June at around 7 am we started the trek.
Soon after we had started I realized the biggest mistake of my life that would
cost a lot of trouble. My shoes had started to bite so badly I could hardly
walk. So first timers please wear your shoes for at least a week before the
trek and get used to them. Wear two socks to make them open up and also to make
you feel comfortable. Trekking shoes are heavy, bulky and can be really
uncomfortable. They are meant to be so as you will be walking on really bad
roads and pebbles that need proper grip as you cannot afford to skid on the
mountains. So please try and get as used to in them as possible as I had a
tough time.
The first day was a mix of assents and descents. You will
come to know how much you can push your body on this day as this is when you
realize what have you go into. I found this day a tough one as I had no clue of
what was ahead. I usually get very jittery if I do not know the end. I am
impatient so naturally it added to the anxiety as well. Secondly with the bad
shoe issue I had started to lag behind and go slow. Which started working on my
mind. Although please note that a trek is a very personal thing so your pace
should not be dependent on others. Try to keep a positive mind if you lag
behind. Tell yourself that what you are doing is totally worth the effort and
more than half the people back home won’t even want to try this – so you are
setting an example. Keep yourself motivated and most importantly keep calm.
Take the occasional breaks and look around. See where you are and what are
doing and how beautiful the world is. You will meet fellow trekkers, talk to
them. Basically after a point I realized it was all in my mind more than in my
legs. I could hardly feel my legs after a point and trust me its all natural.
Your body is not used to that kind of stress. You will have breathlessness and
you will feel tired. Everyone feels tired. Don’t stress yourself about your
fitness levels once you are at the mountains. Everybody is different and
behaves differently at that condition. Even the fittest of the people face
issues. So chill. I was about 1 hour delayed from the rest of the group. I had
given up on my shoes and my bags and started walking in slippers which were
more comfortable. But please do not do that. Once I reached Didina I was
exhausted. When my husband saw me he
thought I would die any moment. But I did not. After a good afternoon meal at
around 3 pm I slept and rested the rest of the day. Everyone in the group was a
little concerned with my pace but I was fine.
We decided to start a little early from the rest of the
group the next day. This day was a better trek day. There was a very
complicated and long climb which took my energy away totally. With blisters on
my feet things were not looking good. Though I enjoyed the trek as this day
included walking through a mountain full of forests so the sun was not directly
hitting me. I picked up my pace and started walking in that pace with a
positive mind. The climb was about 5 hours long. And trust me it was very
difficult for a first timer. This was the point when I thought that we should
have done a simpler trek than this one. After all that 5 hour long climb,
finally I reached Ali Bugyal. It was pretty. I would not have believed the
place had I not seen it with my eyes. So green. By now we had covered an altitude
of approx 3000 ft. Wow that was an achievement. The walk from Ali Bugyal to
Bedni is simpler and nicer. I loved this walk the best. Also there was an
assurance that the camp site will be soon near. I also could see my husband
walk at a distance. He has been the best on this trek. He did far better than I
did. I was hoping I could keep up with him throughout the trek but he was quite
fast. J
Once I reached Bedni, I relaxed in our tents. This was the
first time in my life I was living inside a tent. So far we had been doing
home-stay on this trek, from here on we were to stay in tents. The weather
started to get bad. There were very bad rains and oh my god the wind felt like
we would be blown away with our tents. For a first timer this will be an
experience that either you love or you do not. I loved. The restrooms were a
make shift thing and it was so so difficult to even pee! The water was so cold
that I felt my fingers will come off! We just stayed inside the tents and tried
to stay warm. Me and my husband were just too amazed with the conditions. This
was a day of achievement of sorts for me as at one point during the trek I had
not thought of reaching Bedni. But please try and reach Bedni somehow. Its so
totally worth it and its so beautiful. I was so thankful that I had the mental
will and guts to carry on and reach this. We were barely a few kilometers away
from Trishul. We were at a height of 12000 ft approx. This is where you realize
the potential of your body and how you can push it. I respected my body and
made a promise to myself to take care of it. It was just a brilliant moment for
me.
Because of all my blisters and injuries, we decided to not
continue further. This is because from here the trek gets really difficult with
walking on snow etc at a higher altitude. Maybe if I had more guts or was a
little bit stronger I would have pushed myself to complete the trek. This last
leg somehow did not give me the guts. The only thing I regret is that my
husband was also not able to do it as he refused to let go off me and carry on.
He said we will come back and do it together. And for his sake maybe I will
complete the whole thing one day. So we let the rest of the group carry on the
next day while we started to descent. We took a call and climbed down the whole
thing in one day which people take 2 days to climb down. We wanted to reach the
city / town sooner and figure out if we could go and see some more places. So
we climbed down the whole 4000 ft at one go and yes that
too was difficult as it had no roads. But I am so glad we did it.
Once we reached the base camp we ate at a local restaurant.
Has some awesome chicken curry and roti and felt so good to sleep on beds! Even
though we did not complete the trek, there was a lot that we learnt and started
to appreciate a lot of common things which we otherwise took for granted. It’s
a moment for yourself which will be only for you… so try it out.
