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If you are an avid trekker of the northern India circuit, the name Roopkund is sure to give you mixed feelings. A lot of trekkers aspire to do it, but haven’t planned on it because they want more “practice” before it. Because for sure , Roopkund is steep. You may want to do roopkund for a variety of reasons: A) the folk lore associated with it is grand. It is said that Shiva and Parvati were on their way to Kailas –more scientifically Trishul I assume because google earth tells me it would be a waste of time, fuel and powers vested with Gods to take this aerial approach to Kailash-Mansarovar,–when Parvati wanted to cool it a bit and Shiva struck his trident to make a small pond for her to sip some water and the narcissist in her found the reflection in the water beautiful, so Roop-kund. B) The religious want to do it for the much famed (in these parts only) 12 yearly, highly ritualistic (you got it, T-Series sells CDs on it) Nanda Jaat, whereby thousands of barefooted devotees make this strenous trek braving bad weather and high altitude sickness, to see-off a ram with 4 horns, symbolically sending their daughter Goddess Nanda off to Trishul. C) I personally know some creeps going to this mystical lake full of skeletons to get a skull home and put a bulb inside it to sit on their office desk.

My reason was that it is a water body sitting at a height of more than 5000 meters (16,470feet) and it takes you right to the base of Trishul. Also the meter reading comes handy to boast ( what’s the highest have you gone, Rohtang? *smirk*) (more…)

When I decided for Dodital, I had very little expectations from it. I just went there for the rains and some nature walk etc. Dodital has set my expectations very high from any trek I shall undertake in the future. I now have a list of things a place should provide: atleast 81 waterfalls, (assi ganga which originates at dodital supposedly has 80, which was sometimes a minor nuisance since you can’t be lucky so many times finding the right stones and escape wetting your shoes). Also the place should have its own private lake, private trouts, private trout fishing permit, like a private heaven thingy. I think it was all that because it was monsoon and the firangees ( not being racist, this is for general info, because they are the only regular visitors there, also writing british americans israelis germans austrlians is only going to fill space like this) the people of other parts of the world had taken off to other destinations.

Route instruction follows. Start at 12 midnite, join the highway jam(jaam) after meerut, rishikesh at 5, 7:30 alloo paratha at chamba, tehri has been bypassed for submerging purposes, dharasu, uttarkashi at 1, have lunch, locate cockroach disguised as fried onion, keep eating or keep quiet if others are still eating,turn at gangori for kalyani, reach a broken bridge at 3:30pm.

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Ok this one time, when keeda kata toh hum chal diye joshimath. Translation : my trip to joshimath.

Friday night, Bercos gardens, RahulV, fosters and a map. Where and how is being decided at the beer table. Some homework has been done, but we still have to choose a place, based on pros and cons or some quirk of whoever can sway the group. Himachal was ruled out because Rohtang pass was still under snow.Dodital, hemkund sahib, yamunotri, kuari pass…all in uttrachal. Election time in UP, we don’t want to get held up by police patrols in the night who would be making sure the goons’ movement before the election day is minimal or only favorites are given a pass. Packing AFTER the eleventh hour(theka band), and collecting everybody from their places makes sure we leave around 1am. This has been our standard-operating-procedure for last 34500(approx) trips. Now you should be getting the feeling of reading a very veteran traveller’s blog. Good. Stay in the feeling. Don’t let it go even when I tell you the number might be feet above sea level counted over cumulative trips.

So the plan was to go to hemkund and valley of flowers. Somehow we forgot Dodital and while we were coming back from joshimat, (more…)