Kuari Pass Trek - Day 01 | Joshimath to Gulling

I Continue From Here: Kuari Pass Trek - Day 0

Kuari Pass Trek

Highest Altitude: 3815m (12516 ft)

Location: Nanda Devi National Park, Chamoli District. 

State/Country: Uttarakhand/ India

Base Village: Tugashi/Joshimath

Trek Open: Year Round

Total Distance: 20km

Number of Days: 3

Difficulty Level: Easy - Moderate

Day 01: Tugasi village (2450m/8000ft) to Gulling (2850m/9400ft) 

Distance/Time: 3km(1.5H)

Fading Away

I woke up at around 6AM and stepped out to find a tea stall. By the bus stand, I found a young boy making tea in front of his grocery store. This was the only shop open that early. It was very cold outside. There were two buses to Rishkesh-Haridwar. The bus drivers and some locals had gathered around the boy waiting for their cup of tea that he was freshly preparing. I had a khari along with my tea. At the grocery store I noticed that a fresh lot of pahadi rajma had arrived. When an acquaintance of the boy asked the price, he told him that it cost Rs 300. The man asked him why he was selling for the same price as in the village. By then, I had made up my mind to carry some back during my return. 

I headed back to the room and got ready. While waiting for the others, I met a young boy named Suraj at the common area. Suraj is from Sirsi and lives in Bangalore. Lovekush, Shrishail, Rudra and I went out to have breakfast. At 8AM, the restaurants were still closed. After some searching, a local directed us to follow a small alley where we found a small unnamed dhaba. We had plain paratha and it was extremely delicious. It was served with an equally delicious channa masala. The food was so good that we planned to return here after the trek. By the time we were done eating, it was 5 minutes past 9. Jinal had sent some messages on the WhatsApp group asking us why we were late. We headed back to the hotel. The 5 young boys were late by 20 minutes and she was very angry and lectured all to maintain the time through out the trek. She told us how this would delay our visit to the doctor and eventually delay the schedule for the day. I found her way of dealing with this a bit too rude. 

As per a new rule introduced by the state, people trekking near Joshimath area had to get a medical fitness check done from a local doctor. The public hospital at Joshimath was about a kilometre downhill and we headed there. We reached there to find out that the doctor would only arrive at 10AM. All of us giggled at the irony. Jinal remained a bit disconnected from the group so, to break the ice, I went up to her and tried to strike a conversation. I learnt that she is from Nashik. She too had quit her corporate job to pursue her new found passion for mountain climbing. She is a Sindhi. The others too pitched in. This conversation, while waiting for the doctor, helped us integrate as a team. Speaking to one another casually helps build rapport with the team by shedding our prejudices and inhibitions. 

During the wait, two nurses at the hospital took our blood pressure and pulse reading. I had slightly high blood pressure but it did not seem to bother them much. On the notice board, there was a poster with a picture of a good-looking young man of Indian origin from Malaysia (Or may be Thailand - I forget) who was missing since September. He had jumped into the Alaknanda river to save his father who had accidentally slipped . He hasn't been found ever since. I found this poster later in Rishikesh as well. 

The doctor arrived and checked the reports and signed the documents. We had to pay Rs100 fee for the process. The other two teams who were doing Pangarchulla trek had paid Rs250 and skipped the visit to the hospital. Suraj had informed me about this earlier that day. I appreciate the fact that Jinal was honest on this and did not find an easy way out by bribing the authorities, like her male colleagues. 

We learnt that it was Abhigyan’s 26th birthday. His friends bought him a cake and shared it with us. Abhigyan has been an assistant director in a feature film while he was in Mumbai. At around 10:50AM, we boarded the TT and headed to the village of Tugasi which is around 15km away from Joshimath. 

We reached Tugasi village and some of the team members had tea at the shop there. Here, we were joined by our second trek lead Anil - a middle-aged local man. We began our trek exactly at noon. Along the way, we stopped to watch a water mill. The flowing water rotates a wheel that grinds the grains falling slowly from a container above. 

The trail crossed the Tugasi village and climbed up to Gulling. Locals were playing football on a plateau. As we gained height, more mountains were visible. Without snowfall, most of the region remained dry. The views were spectacular nevertheless. 

We made a quick stop at a tea stall where I had some juice made of rhododendron flowers (Burnash). Others had Maggie. We continued our climb up the hill and reached Gulling top at around 1:30PM. 

Our campsite was already setup. From here, we could see Dunagiri or Dronagiri. The villagers believe that Hanuman collected the Sanjeevani medicinal herb from this mountain. We could also see the Nanda Devi peak. Nanda Devi (7817m) is the second tallest peak in India and is the first to be fully inside Indian territory. Kanchenjunga, the tallest peak of India shares the border with Nepal. Among other mountains, there were Hathi Parvat, Barmal, Trishuli and Hanuman. 

We had hot lunch - Rice and Dal. After that, we took a walk around the area. This was perhaps the only campsite that I have been to which had cellphone network. So, I made some video calls to family and friends to show them the view. 

As an acclimatisation activity, all 3 teams took a short walk to a viewpoint to watch the sunset; and what a spectacular sunset it was. The mountains turned orange. As the light began to fade slowly, the sky and the mountains turned pink, before darkness invaded. Language and camera can never do justice to what we witnessed that evening. Unfortunately, apart from these, I have no other way to share this moment with you. 

We spent the evening inside the dining tent, some of them shared ghost stories and some spoke on spirituality. I refrained, as much as I could, from voicing my opinion about such fancy words. There was some talk about respecting all beliefs - even if it was superstition practiced by certain community. I was not in agreement with it and mentioned that superstition is not to be ignored. People tend to impose their beliefs on others and hold them responsible based on some irrational explanation. This can be dangerous. According to me, people who strongly believe in any ideology are always dangerous. It is often they who tend to be ruthless towards those who do not follow the same belief or simply want to be left alone. 

I liked a thought that Lovekush shared during the conversation. He noted how our thoughts can never be fully communicated to someone else. And therefore, all of us are alone - We are  terribly alone with our thoughts.

Jinal had some riddles and games planned for us which acted as a good team bonding exercise. Post dinner, we headed back to our tents. Lovekush and I shared a tent. Shekar, with some reluctance, agreed to stay alone in one tent. I slept well till 2AM. Then, I felt the need to relieve myself. I lay inside the sleeping bag for almost 20 minutes contemplating whether I should step out in the cold or not. It is such a pain to wake up, put on the down jacket, get out of the sleeping bag, find the flashlight and then open the tent zip, wear the shoes or sandals and step out in the cold to find a spot at a safe distance from the tents and then come back to do the same activities in reverse. After some procrastination, I finally stepped out. There were plenty of stars in the sky. 

In the tent next to ours, somebody was snoring loudly, due to which, I had a disturbed sleep after 2AM. 

CONTINUED HERE: Kuari Pass - Day 02