Who doesn't like rainbow ? Rainbow is the symbol of our life: (V) Give love without expectation (I) Service to Humanity (B) Deep in our feeling trust,loyalty and wisdom, (G) Love for nature , (Y) hope and happiness, (O) Creativity and Encouragement (R) love for family friendship and relationships.
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| Camera credit : Narendra |
Joshimath looked like a small city, nothing special. But it is of very much religious significance. During winter instead of Badrinath, prayers will be held here. The Badrinath idol will be moved to Joshimath. It has one of the institution setup by Sri Adi Shankaracharya Guru (There are totally 4 of those and one among them is in Shringeri, Karnataka). It is also known as gateway to chardham.
Even though our camp leader told Auli is best during winter and suggested not to visit that time , we seven people went to Auli. The greenery welcomed us. We climbed and then had a wonderful top view in cable car. We did a small trek to the top which is full of oak trees. Auli is famous for skiing in winter and many winter sports. I would like to come here once during winter.
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| PC : KK , Camera : Narendar |
That was the beginning of the wonderful journey and that is where we trekmates shared a good bonding between us. I had a beautiful experience with them and that is worth sharing. Venu Sir was the most experienced and fittest among us with lots of trekking experience. He always used to share his experiences and we used enjoy listening to his stories. Vinay is from Gujarat who also has come alone to join us. A wonderful human being who used to enjoy every bit of the journey.
After spending a night in Joshimath, next morning we were moved to Govindghat from where the trek starts. After crossing Alakananda river by a bridge our trek starts. We did a trek of 13-14 km via Poolna to reach Ghangria. That was a very easy trek. 4 km stretch was a road with 20- 60 elevation.
After spending a night in Joshimath, next morning we were moved to Govindghat from where the trek starts. After crossing Alakananda river by a bridge our trek starts. We did a trek of 13-14 km via Poolna to reach Ghangria. That was a very easy trek. 4 km stretch was a road with 20- 60 elevation.
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| Trek starting point |
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Let me talk about Krishnakanth urf KK. The taller among us has a lot of enthusiasm towards topics like history, politics and the nature. We had a lot of discussion about Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka, history and blogs. He is such a calm guy who likes to listen and talk. He was a great company during our journey.
Ghangria
When we reached Ghangria it was too late. I was walking slowly with the Prakshi. She was little slower than all of us but mentally the strongest. The way she walks it might create a doubt whether she could reach on time? But that is what travel teaches you. Don't judge a person's ability to reach a goal. She doesn't like to get help from others. She like to travel independently and try to explore as much as possible. One of the toughest lady I have met.
The weather was unpredictable. We were not sure of completing Valley of flowers trek. After a lot of miscommunication we got to know first we are going to Hemakund Saheb. This was my second trek with YHAI, but this was not organized properly. Lot of miscommunication was there.
This route is one of the most beautiful route you might find because of water falls on the way and the altitude of more than 15 K. As we started climbing I didn't find any problem with altitude but I was breathing little faster. It was becoming very cold.
Many of the people used horse to reach the peak. Prakshi decided to walk. Many of them when she reached got to know how strong she is. An inspiration to many trekkers.
Once we reached the Gurudwar we saw people having kichdi, sweet and tea. At a very cold temperature less than 10 degree celsius and heavy rain what would be blessing in disguise ? I had stomach full of kichdi and sweet.
Hemakund Sahib is sacred place for both Hindus and Sikhs. This is the place where Pandu Maharaj practiced Yoga and for Sikhs this is the important place of Guru Gobindhji. My personal experience is Gurudwar's are more peaceful and service oriented than any religious places. You can see the happiness in volunteers who are serving food. I would like to visit Gurudwara not just for eating but for the service with total dedication.
The lake adjacent to Gurudwar was covered with 7 mountains and is considered very sacred to take a dip in this lake. KK, Suri and Naren took a dip in extremely cold water. But I haven't taken the clothes while coming here so decided not to take a deep. That was the reason I badly wanted to experience the dip in Chadar trek.
Above pic is one of the memorable pic for us. That is when we already knew each other. We started pulling each others leg. Madhav was the center of attraction for most of the topics. This brainy with innocent looks was not a regular trekker but managed somehow. Narendra was more interested in photography and flowers other than cracking jokes. He had a very clam influence on our team. That completes this group along with some more people who became close when we went to Badrinath.
While climbing down, goddess of rain disappeared for some time. We started taking pics. Even the nature was smiling when we started clicking pics. I still remember the maggi we had later in the village.
Going solo is a completely different experience. You meet good people, bad people but in the end makes friendship with some of the nice people. When you get help from a stranger, you will realize the humanity still exists. Working in corporate world where you cannot trust people most of the time, you tend to develop negative attitude towards people. But when you travel , you meet really nice people that makes you realize world is full of nice people. They are happy with what they have. That is why I suggest people to travel solo.
Personally for me , Hemakund Saheb was a different experience. I never thought of visiting Gurudwar at the altitude of more than 15k feet. I was in love with everything I saw; water falls, the river , the mountains , the people and the food. Still today it remains one of the most beautiful memory.
Travel today so that you can tell stories to your grandchildren :-D
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