We two with lust to explore Garhwal more, decided to choose a route which should be more adventurous than our previous trek's and we decided to go for Mayali Pass a 18,000 feet high pass which leads to Kedarnath. Our first choice was the month of October for it's beautiful clear sky. Some experienced trekker warned us of snowfall but we decided to give it a try.
For this trek we did not contacted any guide in advance and took only little dry foods, masala etc with us so that we can travel light. But travelling light was an illusion because we carried utensils, stove a four men tent right from Kolkata, so that we face no problem acquiring those things.
Beats of drums (dhol) faded away as our train left the Howrah station on scheduled time on the day of Mahasashti. Reached Haridwar on October 3 at evening and came to know that their is no direct bus service from Haridwar to Ghuttu. Bus goes till Ghansali, and we have to change bus there.
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| Ghuttu |
On 4th October after changing bus at Ghansali reached Ghuttu at 3.30pm. Started from Haridwar at 6.00am. Ghuttu- a small village, with few eateries and less than few staying option. At-last a generous grocer gave his room to us for the night and to further astonishment without any demand. Village is on the both banks of Bhilangana river. Got a guide, and took ration for the next seven days trek also
mattitel (Kerosene). Guide
told
us to get ready within 8.00 am next day i.e 5th October.
5th October we started for Reeh at 1.00pm, surprised seeing the time. Our only porter appeared in front of us at 12.30pm. Way to Reeh is not steep may be people of Reeh will see vehicles coming to there village within a year. Road work is going on. We got light drizzle on the last few kilometre stretch. Stayed at GMVN dormitory for the night.
Clear morning welcomed us on the way of Gangi- 10kms from Reeh. First 5kms is a bit steep climb and we reached Gangi at 2.30pm. But our porter don't know why reached at 5.30pm.We had to wait this long hours for a cup of hot tea. It started raining again in evening.Like sky our mood also got overcast. It was quite cold outside the bunglow of GMVN and we went to sleep at 8.00pm.
Gangi to Kharsoli 16kms (7/10/2011).Started after having breakfast of roti and karela ki sabji (what a starter for the day). Oh! it was a long walk, not with much ups and downs but at some point it seemed unending. After reching the camping ground of Kharsoli we got little enough time before it started raining quite heavily.RAIN oh it's not leaving us.
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| Sunset at Thalaysagar |
Kharsoli to Chowki 12kms may be 10. But we gained reasonable altitude. 2kms before chowki we crossed bhilangana.After little while of reaching chowki snow started to fall. At late evening we experienced the magic of light on Thalaysagar.
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| Masar Tal |
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| Masar Top |
9/10/2011- Chowki to Masartal 6.5kms. Masartal camping ground is just half an hour walk before Masartal. Todays trek is less in kilometres but we have to get in high altitude. Patches of snows were there on the camping ground. It quickly get below zero degree as sun started to set. 10/10/2011 D-Day We started early for Mayali Pass. In the shivering cold our trek started.. at first we stopped at Masartal a beautiful lake on high mountains. Way to Masar top is on the left side of the lake and it is quite strenuous. After spending some time on the top we started to get down to the other side. There is no path all we have to do is traverse through a bolder zone to find a suitable place to cross the Mayali glacier.
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| Mayali Glacier |
It was a long winding way over fresh ankle deep snow to Mayali Top 18,000 ft. Reached on the top like a panting dog and spend half an hour on top. Started to get down to Basuki tal and it's knee breaking slope over boulders. Reached Basuki camping ground at 3pm dead tired.
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| Basuki Tal. |
11/10/2011 today is our last day of trek because we decided to go down directly to Gourikund and it is almost 24kms.
Trek for this year comes to end, and now only memories for the coming days.
Our schedule was a bit hectic, if anyone wants to do this trek then keep a days rest at masartal. And Kedarnath always is a nice place to stay.
