A Trip to the Valley of Gods
How it all started
As March was nearing it’s end, Koushik, my closest friend for 16 years pinged to ask, “Shall we go for a trek to the Himalayan foothills?”. Two days and some amount of thinking later, I decided to go.
Having delegated all the scheduling, booking and clarifications to Koushik, I dived in to get my share of preliminary information just two weeks before the trek. We were headed to Har ki Dhun (or Valley of Gods, as it translates to). I bought some and borrowed some accessories; stuffed a single backpack with clothes, jacket, water bottle and a horde of lotions among other things as advised on a checklist.
Getting to Sankri
Sankri, a village 180 kilometers away from Dehradun, is a small hamlet located on the foothills of the Himalayas on the Uttarkhand side. It is the base camp for treks like Kedarkantha. This is where we started our trek as well. To get to Sankri from Bangalore, I took a flight out to Delhi, then the Nanda Devi express to Dehradun. Our trek group was picked up from the railway station at Dehradun. It was a 10 hour journey to Sankri with stops for breakfast and lunch at Kempty and Purola respectively. We passed through Mussourie, but didn’t stop there.
Though Sankri was the base camp, it does not have continuous power supply. One loses cell tower somewhere between Purola and Sankri, which is to say that once you’re at Sankri, you’re effectively cut off from the rest of the world. We bid our ‘A bientot’ to our families and friends on the way.
Once at Sankri, we had an introductions and a briefing session. Both of these were important- the former because these were the people we were gonna be spending the next whole week with, and the latter because once the trek was started, going back was a difficult option. Protocol had to be followed strictly to ensure safety. We were asked to repack out bags to leave the unnecessary stuff at the base camp, so the evening was occupied. The next set of mornings came to be defined as a set of 3-number tuples. {6,7,8} — meaning tea at 6, breakfast at 7 and trek start at 8.
Ascent
A short cab ride to Taluka, and our trek started. We were walking along the banks of the River Supin, which become our companion and reference. Sometimes seeing the river was refreshing, sometimes it was frustrating. Because the Har ki Dhun trail isn’t a straight ascent. It has a many stretches of long walks where one gains and drops height from the river. We’d take up a taxing ascent, see the river and feel joy, some sense of accomplishment. Sometime later, a descent would end, and the river would be right by our side. Descents are enjoyable, but the feeling of having lost all the height you painfully climbed isn’t. I digress. As we walked through the foothills, we passed a meadow on a ledge and a wooden bridge, taking short breaks at each. Having stopped at a small Dhaba to have our lunches, we started after a 15 minute break. The weariness had already began to set in.
By the way, have you met my legs? If you have, you’d probably know that they’re lazy. Extremely lazy. And do you know what happens when something that’s lazy becomes tired? It refuses to move. I could almost hear them screaming at me, “Let me see how you move. How dare you bring me on this trek without my permission?” And, I trudged on and on. In an absolute sense, the day’s walk wasn’t difficult but a 12-km walk with an 8-kg backpack was considerable effort for me.
Just about an hour left for dusk, we played Lagori (or Pittoo or seven stones however it’s called), to acclimatize ourselves to the air and weather at 8,700 feet. It was already outside my bearable range for cold. Just like the mornings, the evenings came to be defined by 3-number tuples too. {4:30, 6:30, 7:30} — meaning snacks at 4:30, soup at 6:30 and dinner at 7:30.
You know what happens when you’re out of your comfort zone? You’re vulnerable. You can neither put up a facade nor seek consolation in the familiar. And that’s exactly what happened on the first night. I woke up suddenly with a feeling of shortness of breath, sweating, a racing heartbeat and a feeling to throw up. Didn’t know what time it was, and it was dark all around which compounded my fears. I was thankful that Koushik was sleeping beside because it was he who helped me calm down, get comfortable and get some sleep. I honestly don’t know if I’m exaggerating this or not, but it was scary.
The second day as it began, had a more cheerful vibe to it. The sun was shining and though we were still cold, we were neither miserable nor tired like the previous night. The morning unfolded, and we started forth. Contrasting yesterday’s trails which were woody and flat, today’s was one of many steep ascents interspersed with short walks over meadows. The exclamations at how beautiful nature was, which were beckoned at the woods now started to be beckoned at the sky, since the snow capped peaks had started coming into view. From where we had lunch, we could see Swargarohini.
You know what they say about dogs making lives better? I thought it only applied to dog lovers(which I’m not, don’t ask me why). But here’s the thing- when a fellow human being is cheerful, you become cheerful automatically. We were joined by one, who we called ‘Bro' even after the revelation that it was a female dog. Bro walked with us for sometime taking alternate trails to reach ascent-tops faster than us, scouting the trail for us. The trek leaders weren’t very fond of Bro because they had a history. Bro didn’t like people sleeping inside tents and she sleeping outside it. Tents got torn and an enmity was established. So, we tied up Bro at today’s lunch Dhaba. (We’ll meet again, Laboon!)
Today was also the day that we crossed Osla, a village with barely 40–50 residents. Osla could only be reached by foot, and supplies were brought by mules. There was minimal power supply thanks to the wonder that is solar power. People had a tough time getting access to medicine, education or welfare. They led simplistic lives in wooden homes. The streets of Osla were oddly set that a funny gag set in our group that Osla had 2 different directions- up and down, instead of left and right.
Camping on the second day was fun, and very different from the previous day. We had to pitch our tents(it was pitched for us the previous day). After a fun exercise, we played Dog and the Bone to acclimatize ourselves at the 10,500 feet we were at. We were expecting rains that night, so our camp site was on a ledge that had a slope. And yes, Swargarohini was right opposite to our tents, looking magnificently beautiful.
You know what happens when people sleep on a sloping surface? They slide. And I realized this the hard way when I found a chilling wind blowing against my face in the middle of the night. We(the three of us who occupied a tent) had slid and pressed against the tent membrane, breaking the zip liner. The outer liner was thankfully undamaged but the inner membrane was left open. I woke up, frantically slung the torch over a hook to create the light as we usually did to start mending the zip. 10 minutes. Damn cold but fun!
By the third day, no one was complaining about how cold it was, nor the frequent ejaculations about how Bangalore’s summer itself was better compared to this(more than half the trek party was from Bangalore). Today’s hike was short and of mild slope too, so exhaustion was less. Morning became {8,8,9}, and yaay, one extra hour of sleep!
You know what they say about marathons? You start running and you keep milestones. 5k, check. 10k check. So on. Similarly on a hike, milestones give you immense motivation boost. On the first and second day, milestones were rare. “Har Ki Dhun — 21 km” was seen followed by an exclamation that 3 km had been crossed. “Har ki Dhun — 9 km” followed by an exclamation that only 4 more remained for the day. But on the 3rd day, they were more frequent, one perhaps every half a kilometer. And we walked to reach our final camp site. Our missing of Bro was amply compensated by Ganesh(no kidding, that was this new dog’s name). Though their names were different, their fates weren’t. Ganesh had to be left tied near a Dhaba too.
You know how people talk about doing an arduous task, complete it and then talk of an inexplicable feeling? I’m pretty sure satisfaction is a part of it. I’m pretty sure reassurance is a part of it. I’m sure pride is also a part of it. And then there’s a humility that you couldn’t have done it alone that’s a part of it. That much I’m sure. ☺
It was colder than ever with a strong wind blowing. Staying out was being difficult, and people hurried between tents to avoid the brain freeze they were facing because of the wind (yes, the wind was so cold that it caused brain freeze). In spite of this, we made an effort to clean up the campsite littered by the previous folks(assholes!) who had camped there. It’s criminal how much plastic waste is left behind by each trekking party that’s not eco-friendly.
By this time, my under-preparedness for the trek was starting to bite me. Woolen socks, balaclava, thermals- these were the things that I didn’t have. I borrowed them from 3 different people, thanking them profusely for packing spares to compensate for my foolishness. And as I slept under multiple layers to overcome the cold, the ascent had come to an end on the 3rd day.
Snow!
The night snowed considerably. I won’t go into details, but the 2 liters of water I was asked to drink in the evening avenged itself in the night by forcing me to step out. The night was otherwise peaceful. We spent the 4th day at Har ki Dhun, exploring places nearby. Manindha Taal(Taal means lake) was where we decided to head to. It was a 3 km walk from our campsite. The ground padded with snow felt weird under my feet, and I had to be careful to not slip. Absence of wind and it being a sunny day helped in keeping the spirits up. And hey, there was snow! Sliding down the slopes with ponchos as makeshift sliding mats was a lot of fun, as was throwing snowballs at one another. Probably this was the only day where our trek group ran around without being forced to, by the trek leaders (haha!). The white expanse really did take away all your worries and leave you with a clean slate; at least until you were there.
The Descent
Motivation is self-made. No, seriously. Every day that began, brought with it, an artificial goal made to cross that day. On the first day, it was excitement to explore Nature. On the second, the sight of Swargarohini. On the third, the sweet taste of accomplishment. On the fourth, the experience of snow. And this being the fifth, was probably the most material of them all. It was a chance to call home through a satellite phone. Remember the little hamlet called Osla, I told you about? Turns out it has a satellite phone. The news of this probably did more to boost everyone’s morales than any number of pats on the back or “Come on buddy, you can do it.”
But a tantalizing reward does not come without its own gauntlet. The sun decided to take a break, and the winds were strong. While in the city that might have been a pleasant thing to happen, in the valley, it was miserable. It was at points like then, that one realized how much a sunny day staves off depression. We slogged, I with a bad headache compounded by the brain freeze of the wind. This time however, my legs decided to be my allies. 4 days of walking had turned them over to obey my command. Shortly before lunch, we crossed our camp site on the second day, Kalkati Dhar. And shortly after, we reached Osla. I waited. The moms in our group took the first turns. Mine came towards the last. I called Amma, it went unpicked. I called landline, it didn’t connect. I called a friend, it was unreachable. A real experience of tantalization. One final attempt to Amma’s cell and it connected. How happy I was to hear her voice! I came out of the booth beaming, as everyone was. We probably compensated for lack of sun that day.
Camping on the 5th day was a piece of cake, since the fall in altitude made it easier for us to breathe and run around. Amidst all the rejoicing, was the exasperation that this was going to be the last day of camping. The next day, we would get to the cozy comfort of Sankri. The dinner tent was a happening place that day, accumulating all that had been done there previously. Truth or dare, Antakshari, Dumb Charades, Chinese Whispers, Confusion, and would you believe it if we said we danced? We did! And the best day of camping came to an end with an amazing surprise from our cook. He baked us a cake. At 8500 feet altitude. Turns out, I was youngest among the trek group, so I got the privilege of cutting the cake. It was the best cake I had had so far.
I couldn’t sleep that day. I was excited, brimming with energy. The next day’s hike would be a cake walk, and I’d get back to Sankri. Another day and to Dehradun. I’d promised Amma that I’d get back in touch in another one and half days. Half had passed, one was left to go.
The final day of the descent was marked by recollection of familiar objects that we had crossed on the way up. Our missing of Ganesh was this time compensated by Amitabh. Just like Bro, Amitabh was a female dog as well. (We’re pathetic at checking gender before naming, right?). As the brisk walking continued, we turned the last corner and Taluka came into the view. We took a jeep and the same route, opting to sit at the back and enjoy the view from Taluka to Sankri. An hour later, we were in front of Orchid Inn, our base camp. The best feeling of crashing on a bed was only topped by our trek leader knocking on our door to let us know that the taps carried hot water. I almost cried hearing that. It had been a week.
We assembled at the common room, and collected our t-shirts and trek certificates. Then everyone spoke. The joy, life and earnestness in their tone was so evident, that it was radiant. Everyone had different motives and it seemed like the mountains had something for everyone. One of our trek group persons was a lawyer who was in between jobs, and had come to the mountain for solace. Her tenacity was visible to everyone throughout the trek and without a surprise, when our beloved trek leader, Oshank, announced her as an exceptional trekker, all of us applauded. Her words were inspiring — “I’m a very clumsy person. Chalte chalte hee gir jaoongi. Lekin idhar 60 km me, ek baar bhee nahi giraa.” (I’m a very clumsy person. I used to trip over myself frequently. But here, over 60 km I hadn’t tripped even once). Do check out her account, written here.
Perhaps the most unexpected part was when Oshank announced my name as an exceptional trekker. I asked, “I was underprepared, almost always my oximeter reading was low, I struggled and I was miserable, why am I being mentioned here?”. He said, “Because you didn’t complain.” I will take that compliment with me for a long time. A tempo traveller, a train and a flight, a bus and an auto later, I was at home in Bangalore, fully concluding an amazing trip.
If you have read so far, I must thank you profusely. And urge you to take a trip to the magnificent mountains. It’s a trip that is worth your time. Har ki Dhun has been an amazing trip for me. Not only thanks to Nature, but also thanks to the amazing people of our trek group. Aditya, Abhishek, Apurba, Arati, Adithya, Dhinesh, Jyothi, Shalini, Shruthi, Oshank, Mohit and Yashpal(our trek leaders), Jithu-bhaiya and Guddu-bhaiya(our cooks) and my best friend Koushik, you are all awesome! Thanks for making this trip memorable. Lastly, I’m also thankful to Indiahikes who sent us out to the woods with such amazing trek leaders and cooks, that we never felt unsafe or hungry throughout the trek. If you were looking to undertake a trek in the future, I’d definitely recommend Indiahikes as a reliable trekking association.
