Madhuri Gunti meets Nanda Ghunti - My first Himalayan trek

Me and my gang from Hyderabad

My First Himalayan Trek aka Bramhtal Trek. 

 Proud to accomplish one more trek and happy to say Madhuri Gunti went to meet Nanda Ghunti (Nanda Ghunti is a 6,309-metre-high (20,699 ft) mountain in Garhwal, India. It lies on the outer rim of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. The mountain was first surveyed by T. G. Longstaff in 1907). Ghunti is different in pronunciation and is nowhere related to my surname Gunti but I was happy that the name of mountain sounds like my surname.

Madhuri Gunti meets Nanda Ghunti

Bramhtal trek is in Uttarakhand where we witnessed awesome Mt Trishul, Mt Nanda Ghunti and Garhwal Himalayas decked with the blanket of snow. The most memorable part of the trek was visualising the mountains in Chilly wind where sun was playing hide and seek to make us feel warm.  Apart from that lying down in meadows and watching the clouds dancing with happiness to meet their favourite mountains was mesmerising view for one and all.

I successfully finished this trek with my old trek mate Sayantan (a passionate photographer & trekker), his wife Shalini (caring and lovely wife who is equally passionate about photography & travel) and their friends Dew Maria (a tiny bomb who can blast you with her enormous knowledge about World War II and star gazing. Her high spirits and communication has bagged her the most enthusiastic trekker award for this trek and Shivam, Finance background IT freak from Lucknow currently working in Bangalore who changes his job as we change clothes and keep his company on his toes and he is a foodie. Shivam joined us in Delhi airport from Bangalore whereas me, Shalini, Dew, and Sayantan reached from Hyderabad.

Me, Shalini, Dew, Sayantan and Shivam

We were later tagged along with another 21 enthusiastic trekkers from different parts of India with a diverse backgrounds, interests and skills. Mahesh Karve – an excellent cook, traveller and software developer at boeing and his wife Bhavani – who captures beautiful birds in her lenses and enjoys her husband’s dishes :P are from Banaglore, Bhavani’s brother Kiran software Engineer and his wife Bhargavi faculty at IIT ramaiah in Bangalore. A group of young boys from Jalgoan including -Mahesh Ozha, traveller, consultant and Marathoner, Rushabh Jain, CA, marathoner and who is recently engaged, Rushab Shah who is an International chess player and owns his own company. He changed my name to Manisha from Madhuri during our round of introductions. Abhishek Limaye, Harshal, Venugopal from Jalgoan. Another Tumkur gang including  Abhishek Rajashekahra – National Yoga awardee, Pratik Agarwal, Deepika, a photographer  & Pradeep VR, hard core sonu nigam fan who  got a beautiful voice & he sang lovely songs for us. We had another badass best friends like in 3 idiots from Bangalore – Mayur – Jovial person who made sure that everyone is alive by shouting- come on come keep walking and Breathe in and he always take an alternate route throughout the trek. Muthu Raj calm observer who owns his real estate business and is an excellent cricket player who dived into the edge of sleeping tent to catch a water bottle during a game  and Ravi Kumar – Photographer, HP tech employee who is getting married on this April 27. Lady from Bhopal,  Neelam – doctor at Indian air force and avid traveller with her BFF Shilpa from Delhi – silent brilliant lady with wonderful hidden talent. Aparna aka Aps and Vivek from Mumbai who both were into marketing and investing sector.

Gang of Bekaltal Trek we 26 with trek leaders

Lovely to meet each and every one and keep in touch.

I want to thank Indian hikes who had provided all the logistics, support and care from the beginning to the end of the trek. Job done by each and every member of India hikes at all the campsites, online and offline support is tremendous. Let me introduce the awesome people who virtually helped us during the trek.

Chachaji giving me finish certificate behind me Varun and Pratap

Our trek leader Varun who is not only an excellent trek leader but also a doctor, story teller and entertainer. He knew so many stories and games to keep us engaged all the time.  I will always remember him for his high energy levels throughout the trek and Oxymeter reading. He made me scratch my nail polish as it was not reading the accurate measurement of the oximeter.

Our Guide Bhagat chacha (who lead the route & trek) aka chachaji was eldest of all about 59 years but always was the first person to reach the basecamp & waiting for all of us with the same smile and patience which he showed at the beginning of the trek. He shared couple of stories of Bekaltal and Brmahtal Lake. Pratap Bhai our Sweeper (who makes sure no one is left behind on the trail) was a good story teller, player and singer too. These people are the ones who makes the entire trek lovely, lively and memorable. Each of them have different stories to share about the place and trek.

Bramhtal lake, in Uttarakhand, is said to be a sacred place where Lord Brahma once mediitated millions of years ago. This lake becomes spectacular in the time of winter when it reflects the himalayan ranges on its frozen cover of ice. But unfortunately we can just see few clusters of snow from far a distance and couldn’t experience the snow fall. Pine trees all over and paths lined with Rhododendren, made our trek more beautiful and fun.

Daily Routines at all camp sites

-          6:30 am Tea and hot water

-          7: 00 am breakfast

-          Oxymeter check before and after the trek (Oxymeter monitors your oxygen level)

-          Packed Snacks and Lunch

-          Filled water bottles (water was not available on all trials)

-          6: 00 pm Tea and hot water

-          7: 00 pm Dinner

-          Stretching exercises before and after trek

-          Games in the evening at every campsite.

-          Washing lunch box and glass with freezing cold water

Trek Begins ……

We flew to Delhi on 23^rd March and later went to railway station where we took rest at IRCTC lounge for couple of hours. We caught a train to Kathgodam on 24^th March at 6 am which reached to Kathgodam at 12 pm and took rest in our pre booked hotel Relax Inn. Next day morning on 25^th March we were picked by cabs from Kathgodam railway station parking point to Lohajung. We all started in 4 cabs to our destination with stops for Lunch and tea in between.

25^th March Day 1 – Lohajung (Base camp at 7,600 ft). It took 10 hours drive to reach there.

This route to Lohajung crosses Nainital and we can see beautiful views. But I had to take Avomin to stop vomiting during narrow and curvy roads. We reached around 6 pm to Lohajung. The base camp, Lohajung, is a small market area that started off with catering to basic shopping requirements of people from the nearby villages of Culing, Mundoli and Bank. This is also where the very popular Roopkund trek begins. There were quite a few shops stocked with gear required by trekkers. We all were introduced to fellow trekkers and trek leaders with some info on do’s and don’ts on treks. We shared rooms in the basecamp.

Start at Lohajung

26^th March Day 2: Lohajung (7,600 ft) to Bekaltal (9,885 ft); 5 hours, 6.3 km

After finishing our breakfast and offloading our bags (it’s optional) and storing the extra luggage we don’t need for trek we kept aside at the base camp. We had our lunch, water and snacks packed for the day. We all started the trek around 9 am with chacha ji through the trials, ups and downs climb was a daily routine. However fit you are, the trials will put on the edges to drag yourself to the base camp. By huffs and puffs I made it to the day 1 campsite with other trekkers. We all reached around 2 pm to Bekaltal. We sat near the lake and heard interesting stories of the lake has been named Bramhtal Lake. Freshly cooked dinner- Dal, roti, sabji and dessert was served at dinner. Black tea and hot water was provided at every base camp. India hikes volunteers made the tents ready for us before we reach the site. Tents were shared by 3 in a tent with Sleeping bags, liners and sleeping mat. It was cold during night around 4 degrees. I had my 3 layers on and pushed myself into my sleeping liner and bags. It need lot of patience to change inside the tiny tent and then sleeping inside the cold sleeping liners and bags. Toilets were arranged as small pit holes with commode fixed on it. This is the only day we had wet toilets rest of them are dry toilets aka no water. If we are using wet tissues, we have to carry them back to city as we cannot throw them on trails.

me in my tent

27^th March Day 3: Bekaltal (9,885 ft) to Brahmatal (10,440 ft); 5-6 hours, 7.2 km

Washing face and brushing with hot water in chilly mornings was like a punishment. It will be cold once you pour water on your body. Packing and unpacking backpacks was a difficult task too.  After having breakfast and offloading the bags, we started at 9 in the morning. The trail starts out of the campsite and climbs steeply into the Oak and Rhododendron forest. After an hour of ascent, we descended to a meadow. This was the summit day. The gently ascending meadow walk brings us to the highest point of the day at 11,500 ft. From there, it was a very gradual descent to Brahmatal. We reached Bramhtal around 4 pm and played some games outside our base camp. This campsite was livelier as we had dhaba where we spend time in having tea, Pakoda, Jalebi and singing songs and playing various notorious games altogether. We were welcomed by a sweet girl Babitha and his father who runs the dhabha. After dinner we continued to share some stories. The temperature was dipping and we slipped into our sleeping bags and liners. I was feeling so cold that I had to keep heating pads on my hands while sleeping.

Babitha and her father in dhaba

on way to next mark

me on my way

dense forest

28^th March Day 4: Brahmatal (10,440 ft) to Tilbudi (11,240 ft) 5 hours, 6 km

Next morning we started at 9 am to Tilbudi which was ascend and decent through scary narrow curves but beautiful valley surrounded with mountains and forests. If we slipped from the trail it will be fall from 11,240 ft. There were snow blocks in between which were melting and making the ground more slippery and muddy.  We could see a vulture on the top corner and all the photographers tried capturing her. Somehow we made to the summit at rested for an hour. Later we walked to Tilbudi campsite descending. We reached the campsite and played different games including interesting game Mafia introduced by Dew and Shalini. Best part of Dinner was we got to eat delicious hot gulab Jamun as dessert. The temperature was very low around 2 degrees that night.

found a chunk of snow in hidden rocks

scary route before summit

group pic at summit behind are all three mountains

29^th March Day 5: Tilbudi (11,240 ft) to Lohajung (7,600 ft) via Wan (8,000 ft); 2 hours trek + 1 hour drive

Next day morning we started at 9 to our final destination of trek Lohajung through a small village Wan. This entire trail was descending which was hard on my knees. We reached by 1 pm to Lohajung and had our lunch. Wan village was very beautiful so were the villagers and kids. Whenever they see us they will greet us Namaste it was very welcoming and heart touching gesture. We travelled by car from Wan to Lohajung before lunch time. Evening 5 pm we had our wrap up session by Varun and his team. Dinner was provided at the campsite but couple of us had chicken at the nearby hotel. Most of us showered and took rest and boys played cricket with locals and won the game. Later we packed our bags for next morning drive to Nainital. All the groups departed to different destinations. We 5 from Hyderabad and Mayur, Muttu, Ravu, Aps and Vivek decided to go to Nainital. Accordingly buses and cabs were arranged by India hikes and we paid to the driver at the destination.

30^th March & 31^st March Day 6 & 7: Drive from Lohajung to Nainital. We reached Nainital by 6.00 pm .

Morning we started with all our luggage to Nainital. My condition was horrible, instead of Avomin I took Vomistop which couldn’t stop my vomitings and I vomited thrice throughout the route. At lunch point I took Avomin and slept for 2 hours. We reached Nainital at around 6 pm and took rest in our hotel. Next day morning we met Mayur, Muttu, and Ravi and went around Nainital sightseeing. Nainital was a beautiful city with beautiful lakes, botanical garden, waterfalls and Caves. Later we met Vivek & Aps at Lunch. We 5 of us departed to Kathgodam to catch our train to Delhi at 8:40 pm.

caves in Nainital

1^st April - We all reached Delhi at 5 am and departed to different destinations. I went to see my family friends in Ghajiabad and later took my flight back to Hyderabad at 5 pm. Delhi airport was crowded because of 4 days long weekend.

My trip ended with lots of beautiful virtual memories and learnings

Learnings  

        

  We can survive without social media aka phone, whats app

-          People can survive in mountains with basic needs.

-          We just need food, air and water to lead a simple normal life.

-          Until you push hard you never knew your tolerance levels.

-          Do what you like rather than what other likes you to do.

-          Give time to yourself to fulfil your dreams, desires and passion.

-          Take a break from routine busy life and spend time with yourself in mountains :P

-          The more we travel and explore the more we can adapt new culture, tradition or situation.

Hope you like this !!