bhrigu lake trek experience
TRANSCRIPT
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It was the second week of August in 2014. Independence Day was approaching and
I was all excited because of the accompanying weekend. 4 days of acation is a big
thing for an !"A college. #his looked like a clear sign of getting away from Delhi
and experiencing freedom from the hectic !"A life. I asked my roommate about his
plans$ but he denied any interest since he had recently come from a trek near %asol.
I ask other guys on my &oor and eeryone seemed to hae his own problems'ranging from constipation to monetary constraints. I was all determined for a trek
as isiting a hill station with an (all guys) gang didn)t make any sense to me.
*erybody had money for the latter$ although both these plans would cost the
same. I thought if I fail to conince a single guy for the trek$ then my purpose of
studying the marketing course stands defeated. I +nally manage the guy from my
neighbouring room who was e,ually bored. -ow the ,uestion was where we are
going to trek I ring my friend /ushker who had recently opened a trekking company
near !anali. e told me that they are going for an expedition to "hrigu ake. I
oogled the place and found it to be a high altitude lake located oer 14$000 ft.
3o +nally we are 2 guys in a olo owned by (5au6i traels) traelling from Delhi
towards !anali. #he 6ourney was neer ending with seeral road blockages in the
rainy season. 5or a moment all those worries from our parents) side seemed
reasonable$ but then we decided not to think much of it. 7e +nally coer the
supposedly 14 hour 6ourney in 24 hour to reach /atli %ul$ where /ushker has
arranged a cab for us to reach 8umsu.
Day 01:
#he car stops at the entrance of 8umsu illage$ where we walk in the dark for
around 900m and reach the cottage house:resort owned by the company. #he
cottage is fairly new and the fresh smell of wood was really pleasant. #he actualowner of this cottage goes by the name 3ubhash and he made eery e;ort to in&ate
our belly from his food. 00I-8. #he guides
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aailable with them are certi+ed and hae an experience of oer 19 years with the
?AI.
I saw a beautiful iew inside as well as outside the cottage. I roam around the area
and then decide to take out the borrowed camera from my borrowed bag and click
some pictures.
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At this point$ the comfort of cottage had proided the much needed refreshment
from that tiring 6ourney. 7e hae a light breakfast and then board the hired cab toreach !anali.
Starting point:#he trek for "hrigu ake can be approached either from the ulaba
illage or ashishtha. #he path from ashishtha is steeper$ less scenic and has
lesser spots for camping. ulaba is accessible from the highway between !anali
and 8ohtang /ass.
Trek length:
Trek duration: 4'9 hours
7e stretch a bit and then start our trek. I hae trekked oer 14$000 ft altitude beforeand along the steep trails$ but I had neer expected the starting portion of the trek
itself to be so steep. 7e kept walking and after an hour so we felt completely
drained out. 7e ask the uide to take a break and open the carton full of snacks
and protein bars for us. 8ight at this moment$ we saw some dark clouds passing
below us. #he guide said we need not worry as they are &owing along a di;erent
direction. 7e pack the carton again and ignore the clouds. 7e were all charged with
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the energy and trekked really well for next =0 minutes. #here was a lot of greenery
around us and the bright &owers were all around.
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7e paused a bit for clicking beautiful pictures and then saw the clouds taking a @0
degree turn to approach us.
8ains are the last thing one would like to encounter while trekking on a mountain. It
derails the speed$ demotiates +rst timers as well as the experienced ones$ lowers
the temperature by 2'= degrees in less than an hour and if it makes your bag wet$
that would spoil the entire trek for you. #here were 4 of us on this trekking
expedition$ accompanied by 1 guide and 2 porters cum cooks. -one of us knew how
the exact route looked like since it was a part of an expedition and not an organied
trek. 7hen the clouds approached we increased our speed$ and then the rains
happened. 7e were running now$ trying hard to locate a trail beneath those streams
of water. 7e were wearing rain 6ackets$ the bag was waterproof and we had eenkept our clothes inside plastic bags before putting them in the bag. /ushker and I
didn)t realie that we were much ahead than rest of the people. 7ithin few more
minutes we saw our camping spot. #he porters arried immediately and we set our
tent. 7e hae our dinner and eeryone fell asleep by 10.
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7e start afresh for our 6ourney. #he steep climb was exhausting$ but what tired us
more was the sight of another similar steep section. 7e climb that too$ meet some
other uide on the way and we were directed to a ery steep mountain that
re,uired us to step on seeral rocks for climbing it. Assuming it to be the last
portion of the trek$ we were all determined to coer it. 7e encountered a few
glaciers before climbing it. Bnce we reach the top$ we hae this this painfulrealiation that we hae come the wrong way. #he iew was neertheless
breathtakingly beautiful.
7e tried descending this mountain$ failed on this path and then descended it along
the same way we had climbed it. 7e kept moing and had realied by now that thelake was located behind a huge snow lacier. 7e needed to climb a di;erent
mountain for this. #he e;ects of high altitude had started showing on one of the
guys and he su;ered mild headache. 7e had to get behind this huge glacier.
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*ery one showed their grit and we climbed this portion. 7e were welcomed with
our +rst iew of the lake and now it re,uired only few minutes for us to reach there.
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7e later started descending towards ashistha. #he trail was ,uite muddy and I
slept almost 10 times during the descent$ more so because I was running downsince I had to catch a bus the same eening. I could see seeral &owers on both
sides of the trail. Bur guide said that we were lucky to be trekking in August and
these would not be isible during the latter half of Bctober. 7e made a ,uick
descent towards ashishtha and reached down within ='4 hours. #he place is
famous for its ashishtha temple and its natural hot water spring$ which is claimed
to hae healing properties.
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In retrospect$ we did realie there was a mistake from the guide who misguided us.
#hat made the entire 90 %m trek to be around C> %m for us$ but we got to see a few
unexplored sites along the misguided path and that made all the di;erence to our
experience. It)s always better to look at as many beautiful things as you can$ get
mesmeried more$ get to walk more and learn to appreciate nature)s magni+cence.
Bnce my feet touched the grounds of human settlement$ the painful realiation of
liing in Delhi struck me. If only I could change certain things$ but I will always
continue to +nd some time for myself and keep running to the imalayas.