My First Himalayan Trek
Yesterday I completed the trek to Dayara Bugyal with India hikes. This was my first Himalayan trek, also the first time I traveled solo with an unknown group. I would say this was the first trek which took more mental effort than physical effort.
First of all, I had to gather the courage to do the Himalayan trek as a solo trekker. Then I started preparing for this trek by running around 5 km every day. This trek worked as a motivation for me to get up early from bed and run. Every morning while running whenever I used to feel exhausted I used to close my eyes for some time and imagine the pictures that I had seen in the photos of Dayra Bugyal. My excitement level was increasing day by day. It was like chasing a dream but as we all know dreams never come true so easily.
Just 3 days before when I had to start the trek I caught a cold. I had a runny nose, sore throat, and slight fever, and that's when the idea of going on trek started becoming hazy. With my prior experience whenever I had this type of symptoms a 3-day course of antibiotics and some common cold medicine used to make me fine. Hence by the evening, I decided of taking the treatment so that by the time of trek I would be fine. On the third day, I was almost feeling fine physically but not mentally. My mind was constantly thinking about whether I should go on a trek or should I not. Finally, I decided of going on a trek. I packed all my stuff and medicines and set off for the journey to Dehradun. There I met my fellow trekkers and we started for the base camp. As soon as we started our journey to the base camp Raithal from Dehradun, it started raining lightly and the views I was getting through the way made me 100% fine. I started to feel that I made the right decision to come here. But the hurdles don’t end here. Slowly the rains started to become aggressive and we got the news that IMD predicted heavy rainfall in Uttarakhand.
By the evening we reached our base camp and met our trek leader Sharddha. After a quick briefing and introduction, she told us that because of heavy rainfall prediction the forest department didn’t give us permission to trek. The next day It was raining the whole day and we had to stay back at the base camp. Now with me, everyone else was so disappointed because after coming so far we were not able to trek, but we all had the hope that tomorrow, hopefully, the weather might get clear and we get the permission. On the 3rd day, the weather looked clear which increased our hope but unfortunately, we didn’t get permission that day as well and the internet was flooded with the news of the disaster that happened the previous day in some parts of Uttarakhand. That time I lost the complete hope of making it and thought that maybe God doesn’t want me to experience those views and I started thinking about coming back.
But somehow, as a miracle happens, on the fourth day our trek leader told us that we got the permission and we can still complete the trek. My eyes sparkled with joy but now I was afraid of the fact that I would be able to complete the 6 days trek in 3 days. When I shared this feeling with my trek leader she said you just be prepared mentally, leave the physical part on me. My confidence got pumped up by her trust in me. Finally, we set off for the trek, while going up in the beginning I was mostly doing ok, but after some time I could hear my heartbeat after covering every 100 or 200 meters, but what kept me going was the fact that 2 of my fellow trekkers aged between 50 to 60 were doing a lot better than me. Looking at them I never got the feeling of giving up. I kept walking at my pace and reached the summit. Here are some views from the summit.
If you find these photos beautiful, then believe me none of these photos can portray the real beauty of the Himalayas which we get to see from our own eyes and feelings of gratitude towards nature. All the thoughts which I had in my mind at the base camp, before setting off for the trek, started popping again that what all it takes to be able to witness these magnificent views, what if something could have gone wrong. At that time I found the actual meaning of the sentence which our trek leader had told us before leaving our campsite, it is not us who are going into the mountains, it is the mountains who are accepting us.
I was really happy with the thought that finally mother nature and these mountains have accepted us.
A big thanks to all the members of the indiahikes team and my fellow trekkers for making this trek possible in all this adverse situation, and for the values you taught us about trekking in the right way. After spending almost 1 and half years just working from home, this trek again gave me the opportunity of spending 5 good days with like-minded people and have a lot of motivation not only to complete the trek but also to apply it in my life.
