Bangalore to Sankri - Kedarkantha

No wonder Himalayas is always my top choice when it comes to spending a long holiday. It’s more than just trek or travel or holiday when I am in Himalayas. Sarpass opened a plethora of peaks in Himalayan range to my to-do list. This time I was in Himalayas not for answers to my questions but for a quieter mind. On a lighter part, this trip was not just greeting a new peak in Himalayan range but also to meet and make new friends.

With Aravind’s suggestion to go with Indiahikes and a little browsing for other information I was convinced to do a winter trek in kedarkantha, near Dehradun with IH. It was initially me alone, Suma joined at the last minute. This time there was bear minimum things to shop and everything except one thing fell in place. The winter cold brought second thoughts about my survival in the trek. I had never before experienced negative temperatures. I was worried and at the same time thrilled. Fitness was'nt a big concern as the daily trek distances was short.

Few things I greatly appreciate about IH, they initiated mails to share our contacts and our cities. This was a great relief for me as I was traveling alone. Bharti, our bubli beautiful trek lead had kept us well informed of the DO’s & Don’t’s for the trek with a series of mails. I remember receiving a mail few days before our trek telling the snowfall in Base camp and the discussions regarding the higher camps getting tougher to reach. With all these correspondence, we knew well in advance how to prepare for the situations far there. They responded quickly for all our queries, small, big, serious or stupid.

We flew to Delhi on Sunday afternoon. The capital was burning hot with the protest against the Gang rape happened just a week back while the temperature soared low and the city was dark by 6PM. With a pre-paid taxi we both safely landed with our luggages at the NDLS railway station. I had skipped my noon lunch for some stupid reason which made it more difficult to bear the cold. We walked around the station and found a small shop and had hot parota with dal curry. For the next one week I knew we would be having pretty much the same menu. I was preparing myself for it.

Back in the railway station we waited in the entrance for close to 3hrs till JP(read as JayPrakash) joined us. Those 3 hours probably will always remind me of what is Delhi’s cold. We restlessly watched the display board for our train till it finally showed up to reach the station on platform 14. We moved to platform 14 and parked our luggage near S3 coach where JP joined us. In no time Charming Chaitanya & Vasuki from Bangalore exchanged greetings. Followed by Prakash and his brothers Ananth & Srikanth. It was a sense a safety and at home feeling to meet them before we boarded the train 11:55PM to dehradun.

I must mention about this city – Dehradun. When we were kids, we played a game called Business which had a list of cities to which we moved our players. And one of the places on this Business was Dehradun with a RestHouse. While playing this game I still remember wondering that one day I would truly visit these places. So As soon as I got the train at this city I recollected those memories with a child-like smile on my face. It was just that I am playing the game of life this time. Or may be some one else playing a game with me as a player.

As soon as we reached outside the railway station we realized almost all trekkers heading towards KK trek were traveling in the same train. There were 5 Cabs waiting for us in front of Grand hotel just outside the station. 6 of us in each cab started our day journey towards Sankri, our base camp. We passed via one of most famous hill station Mussoorie. Once we crossed Mussoorie there were endless number of mountains we crossed. The drive was extremely scenic with mountains growing on after the other as we drove along the mountains. There were valleys running between the mountains. These snow-fed rivers were almost dry at this part of the year as it was winter. We could hardly see thin line of water flowing between the rocks on the far mountains. At certain places, the roads connecting two mountains were under construction. The curvy roads made our stomach experience a rollercoaster. At few points the driver stopped letting us click pictures. Unless your stomach is not angry about the drive, it is one of the best roads to enjoy a long drive listening to some soft music. I enjoyed watching those mountain ranges till lunch time and post lunch I dozed off. The scene was the same endless mountains even after I was awake. At few places the contrast of sky and the mountains were magical. The sky was clear blue at times and little later small patches of cloud scattered in the sky. Blissful scene to watch. Our cabs was the last one to reach Sankri.

Our accommodations were arranged in SwargaRohini hotel. The room was cozy little kingdom for the night. After quick fresh-up we went around the place. This place was again surrounded by mountains. Sipping a cup of hot tea, we stood watching the sunset behind the mountain far on west. We met Rahul & Bharti who informed us to gather for briefing. The room was filled with 30 excited trekkers along with the organizers Rahul & Bharti.

A short round of introduction about IndiaHikes organization and about each of us. It was dinner time and I missed the count of hot chapathis I galloped. The night sleep was sure to come in that soft bed.