This year our trek target was Roopkund, a mystery glacial
lake at the altitude of 5029 mtr (16499 ft) nestled in the high
mountains of Uttarakhand Himalayas. This beautiful lake is surrounded
by peaks of Mt. Trishul, Mt. Nanda
Devi and Mt. Nanda Ghunti. Each year multiple trekking organization plan
for 2 session Roopkund trek. 1st in the summer (early
May till late June) and another on Sep till early Nov. In the Summer time one
can get snow where as in the autumn session trekkers can find beautiful
green bugyaland different Himalayan wild flower including
‘Bramha Kamal’.
There are many truths and myths exist in and
around Roopkund.
Till date people can find lot of human skeletons,
flesh, wooden artifacts and leather slippers near the lake. It is being said
that due to heavy rain mass death happened around the 9th century AD.
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| Arrived |
We started our journey on 20th May
2016 from Kolkata and reached Lal Kaun on the next day. Our
guide Mr. Man Sing arranged a Cab for us. It was a 10+ hours drive
through some magnificent roads of Kumaun Himalaya. We
crossed Kathgudam, Haldwani, Bhimtal, Bhawali, Almora and
reached Kashi in the noon for lunch. Bhawali has a nice
fruit market and we bought some local fruits. After lunch the roads were
even more beautiful via Kausani, Gwaldam, Tharali, Debal, Mundoli and Lohajung. We find some man maid forest fire just before
reaching Lohajung.
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| Man Maid Fire near Lohajung |
We didn’t get any room at Lohajung and
our guide arranged a homestay at Wan. So after completing the police check post
entry we proceed further towards Wan. By that time it was complete dark outside
and we were passing through some hill bends and jungle. After
passing Kulling village, our bolero took a turn a sharp bend and
suddenly we find a Himalayan Leopard in front of our car. It was the
1st time we saw live wild tiger and to add more surprise it
started running in front of our car for ~10 sec before jumping and disappearing
into the hill slop. Somehow I managed to click my cam once but it doesn’t have
any evidence.
Our itinerary:
May 20: Morning train
from Kolkata
May 21: Reached Lal Kaun
in the morning then 10 hours car journey to Wan
May 23: Moderate and long
trek for 6-7 hours from Wan (7662 ft) to Tol Pani (~ 9000 ft) via Didna village
(8045 ft). Initially decent then accent
May 24: Stiff accent till
Tol top and then gradual accent till Ali Bugyal (11320 ft) then gentle walk on meadow
till Bedni Bugyal (12818 ft) – 5-6 hours
May 25 – Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachani
(12818 ft)
May 26 - Pathar Nachani
to Baguabasa (14117 ft) via Kalu Vinayak. Initial 2-3 hours extreme accent till
Kalu vinayak and then gentle decent till Baguabasa for 45 minutes.
May 27: Baguabasa to
Roopkund and beyond and back to Ghaeroli Patal via Bedni Bugyal.
Baguabasa to Roopkund: 3
hours stiff Accent
Roopkund to Juragali: 40
minutes climbing
Roopkund to Bedni: Took 4
hours for us
Bedini to Ghaeroli patel –
1 hour decent
May 28: Ghaeroli patel to
Wan – 2-3 hours decent till Neel Ganga then 30 minutes Up and gentle walk
finally for 1 hours
May 29: Wan to Lal Kaun and return train at the evening
May 29: Wan to Lal Kaun and return train at the evening
Trek day Details:
Trek day 1: Wan (7662 ft)
to Tol Pani (~ 9000 ft) via Didna village
(8045 ft)
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| Lets start |
We have started our journey in the morning around
8 AM. 1st we go down to Neel Ganga and then start going up
till Didna village. It was a very hot day. We
reached Didna village in the noon around 12:30. We took a long lunch
break in Didna and then stared for Tol Pani (another 1hour
and 30 minutes accent). In the afternoon we reached a beautiful jungle village
called Tol Pani. We pitched our tent and went for some fire in the evening.
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| Tol Pani Tent ground |
Day 2: Tol Pani to Bedni bugyal (12818 ft) via
Ali bugyal (11320 ft)
We had a decent sleep last night as the weather
was not so chill and we were tired. Today we need to travel
from Tol Pani to Ali bugyal and then
to Bedni bugyal. Ali bugyal is one of the biggest and
beautiful meadows of India. There is one small shop at the end of
Ali bugyal. It took us around 2 hours to cross
the Ali bugyal from Tol top.
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| Ali Bugyal |
We
reached Bedni bugyal in the late afternoon and it started
raining. Fortunately we pitched our tent before the weather get worse. After
the rain it was a complete different weather at Bedni with fresh snow on
the top ridge and wild horse running behind our tent and a group of 300+ sheep
along with the shepherd crossing the valley.
As per myth, all 4 Vedas were written
in Bedni bugyal.
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| Sheep crossing our tent at Bedni |
Day 3: Bedni bugyal to Pathar nachani (12818 ft)
Today is a relatively easy day of the trek with
some gentle walk through green meadow with wide open snow peak. We
reachedPathar Nachani around 11 AM in the morning. Again we are
extremely lucky and just after entering under a shade the place was hit by a
snow blizzard and the area become full white within 30 minutes.
There is a myth in Pathar Nachani (‘Dancing
Stones’). One king was watching royal dances and forgot to pray Goddess Nanda
Devi and she cursed those dancers to transform into stones. There are 3 big
holes near the place and locals believe that those dancers who transformed into
stones are buried there.
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| Valley with Snow and other one in Green |
Day 4: Pathar Nachani to Baguabasa (14117 ft)
via Kalu Vinayak
This day is not so lengthy but initial few km
till Kalu Vinayak is stiff up and then from Kalu Vinayak to Baguabasa is
gentle decent. We reached Kalu Vinayak in ~3 hours and our guide
did some rituals there. There is a small stone temple and God Ganesha was
placed inside.
Legends said that while going
to Kailash (Trishul), Devi Parvati took a dip in Roopkund lake
and ask Lord Ganesha to stay at Kalu Vinyaka as guard.
From Kalu Vinayak you can see the
snow peaks all around and Baguabasa tent ground is also visible.
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| Our Tent ground at Pathar Nachani after snowfall |
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| Great Kalu Vinayaka Temple |
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| Our team at Baguabasa |
Day 5: Baguabasa to Roopkund and
beyond and back to Ghaeroli Patal via Bedni Bugyal
This is the toughest day of the trek and we
started for Roopkund and Jurhagali pass at 3:30 AM. The
entire area was under snow and we had to use crampons to proceed further. It
was a stiff accent and took almost 2 hours and 30 minutes for us to reach Roopkund lake
(we were bit quick).
We didn’t stop at Roopkund as our target was Juragali Pass.
So we keep climbing. But due to extreme hard ice it was quite difficult for us
to go up. In between our guide also had a free fall of 20 mts and we
decided to return from there. It was only 75-80 mtrs from the pass
top.
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| At Roopkund |
We returned at the lake around 7:30 AM and took
some photographs. Our support member (Balbir) digs some snow and shows us human
skeletons, flesh and leather slippers on 9th century. They were
still alive and intact.
I forgot my sunglass at tent and was not able to
see anything and hit by snow blindness. Balbir and Man sing
alternately provided their sun glass to keep my sight active. We start
descending and reached Baguabasa camp ground around 10 AM.
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| Abhijit with Man Sing and Balbir |
We thought to return till Bedni on that
day but somehow our energy was high and we decent further till Ghaeroli patal.
It was quite late by the time we reached Ghaeroli and should not be
advisable to target Ghaeroli on the same day.
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| Full team in Front of Ghaeroli Patal tent ground |
Day 6: Ghaeroli Patal (10200 ft)
to Wan
Final day of the trek and the easiest day. We
started late and spend lot of time in the Neel Ganga river bank. Then we went
to LatuDevta temple and reached Wan village in the afternoon. Wan is
one of the most picture perfect village I ever see.
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| Finally returning time @ Deewan Singh's Bolero |
Important Information:
Lal kaun/Kathgidam to
Lohajang car: 9/10 hours (wan is 40 minutes more)
Car fare from Kathgodam
to Lohajung: 5.5 K to 6 K depending on demand
Permit: Lohajung police
check post entry and Permit required (permit generally done by Guide)
Mobile network: Idea, Airtel and
Vodaphone network is available in few specific places like: till Didna village
and Ghaeroli Patel, near Bedni Bugyal, Pathar Natchani and behind the fibur hut
of Baguabasa
Our support team:
Guide: Man Sing from Wan (+919639804040)
Man Sing's web portal: http://roopkund-trekking-guide.in/
Supporting guide cum
cook: Balbir Sing Bist
Both way cab (Bolero) and Driver: Deewan Sing Bist from Wan (08937899939)
