I finally pulled the trigger on a trek. Just booked a train ticket to Haridwar followed by a slot with Trek The Himalaya for a Valley of Flowers trek. The journey from Calcutta starts on 18th July by Upasana Express (AC 2 tier) at 1 pm. I reach Haridwar on 19th July after a 26-hour journey. I stay for that day in Haridwar - a city I went with my parents back in 1976 and have fond memories of. Next day I go to Rishikesh and spend the day seeing the town around. Next morning, that is, on 21st July our journey starts at 6 am.
Day one is spent entirely on the road going from Rishikesh to Pipalkoti. I am told it's a 9-hour drive. Next day is a mix of drive and trek to Ghangria. The actual trek happens the day after. It's a day trip to the Valley of Flowers and back. Next day is again a day trip to Hemkund Sahib - a famous Sikh Gurudwara. The next day one comes back to Pipalkot (trek and drive) followed by the return to Rishikesh. I am yet to book the return ticket.
My next priority will be to book the hotels in Haridwar and Rishikesh. For Rishikesh I will ask the trek cooridnator Ajay 7351523841. For Haridwar I am keen to stay at Jaipuria Dharmasala. That is where we had stayed in 1976. I remember it as being very neat and clean with excellent simple vegetarian food. It is right on the river bank with a railing around the private ghat of the hotel to take bath in the river. Haridwar incidentally is a vegetarian city. I am looking forward to its malai. Have to find out some traditional shop for them, like Pagla of Benares.
I think I first heard about Valley of Flowers trek while going to Langtang Lirung in mid 80s. Back then Pindari, VoF and Har ki Doon were popular treks for newbies. In 1998 Monisha and I went to Pindari but the other two remained elusive.
In February this year I had gone to North Bengal bird festival and happened to hike to Rovers Point from Lepchakha. It's a short but steep hike that took us about an hour or so to cover. While coming down I had excruciating pain on the outside of my right knee. It took me double the time, if not more, to just walk down to Lepchakha. This is the same pain that had affected me during my cycling trip to Darjeeling.
Of course I was out of practice for a long time and was dehydrated, which perhaps exacerbated the problem. After coming back I have been working on my legs on and off but also wanted to go for a short trek to check out my knees. But this is high monsoon and walking in eastern Himalaya is fraught with the dangers of heavy rain. So VoF seemed like a good choice. Rain here is also a threat but monsoon is the only time for VoF in any case. So I chose it. I am not going to take my long lens. Just the short lenses and the GoPro.
The fact that VoF is now in the UN World Heritage sites list (under the natural category) also helped me pull the trigger. I am very interested to tick off all the sites from that list. Among the natural sites I have only Great Himalayan National Park and this left. The others in the list that I have been to are Sunderbans, Kaziranga, Manas, Keoladeo and Western Ghats. The GHNP can be covered in a trek to Pin Vaba trek. Let me see how the knees behave.
I will now make a list of items to take for the trek.
Upper
UA t-shirt - 1
Lee full sleeve - 1
Columbia Silver Ridge - 1
Bobby's black full sleeve - 1
Max spare t-shirt - 1
Lower
Blue Kappa - 1
Marmot - 1
Levi's brown corduroy - 1
Grey Slazenger - 1
Warm Garments
Blue Columbia upper inner
Columbia lower
Babusona jacket
Marmot jacket
Columbia rainpants black
Rain jacket (either Chenka's or buy from Columbia)
Accessories
Army cap
Rab buff
Gloves - outer and inner
Sandals Benetton
Inner Garments
Technical wool socks
Teco woolen
Normal sports socks - 5 pair
Briefs - 5
Vest - 3
Toileteries
Soap
Tooth paste and brush
Electric razor
Toilet paper - 1 roll
Vaseline/Nivea - 1
Medicines
Medical kit
Electral - 10 packets
Electronics
Mobile phone
Charger with both cable types
Power bank
Torch
Watch
Ear phones
GoPro
Canon R7 with macro and normal lens
Equipment
Sleeping bag
Sleeping bag liner
Walking stick
North Face bag
Deuter red bag
Salewa Boots
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| My final packing list |
Sunday, 9th July, 2023
I had almost given up the idea of going to the VoF trek. First there is this constant threat of monsoon and road blocks. Then there is Raja's daughter's birthday celebrations. I wasn't too enthusiastic about joining the trek. I had not even booked the return ticket. I think somewhere on the back of my mind that cloud burst accident is also playing its part. So many people died in that catastrophe.
Finally yesterday I called up the trek coordinator about cancellation. He said if you want you can always cancel after paying the charges as per our policy (they'd give an 80 per cent voucher for some other trek), but road blocks are not there. All groups are going fine. He also asked me to join the whatsapp group.
After this talk I felt good and joined the wa group. I somehow felt connected and the urge to go got revived. Soon I booked the return ticket. I got confirmed booking only on 29th July. This means I will be reaching Calcutta on 31st July. Will be quite an ordeal to travel for 32 hours by train. Let's see.
There are a few Bengalis in the group. One of them is a lady Shilpi Chowdhury. It was funny that initially she thought I was way junior to her. I don't know what made her think so. Because I don't have any profile picture of my own in my wa id. It's my mother's face there now. I did it after she expired on 9th May.
There is another Bengali boy from Andaman. Two more guys are there but they are possibly from Tripura. Not that I always look out for Bengalis in such groups. I much prefer the Bangaloreans or Bombayites.
Meanwhile, I bought the Columbia raincoat off Amazon, using vouchers. I have no idea how effective it is. Mampu's Marmot I found fits me quite fine. I am in two minds which one to take along. However, I have to check how well it will fit me once I wear the hiking layers.
I am working on my leg strength and hoping that things will be fine. I am particularly working on the glutes and they have indeed responded positively so far. I have even started doing pistol squats. Not that I can do them perfectly but I am trying. I am sure if I keep at it I should be able to do it perfectly in a month or so. Of course it requires strength but it is more about balance than strength.
I so wanted to buy the Eric Shipton book on Nanda Devi but it is prohibitively expensive. More than a thousand bucks. Absence of a good, easily accessible public library in our country makes it so difficult and expensive for us. Even the trade of second hand books is in the hands of the unorganised sector.. Very sad.
July 30, 2023
I am back from a successful completion of the trek. We came down to Rishikesh on 27th morning. On 28th I took a flight to Calcutta from Dehradun and reached the city in the wee hours of 29th. I had cancelled the train ticket. Because otherwise it would involve staying there for two more days and then two more nights in train. In fact I would've reached tomorrow morning.
I shall be writing a seperate blog about the trek and give the link here.
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| At Hemkund Sahib. 25th July, 2023 |
