Nandikund lake trek

Prologue:

It's September-end, 2020 and the world has been brought to its knees by covid-19 and that too for some time now.
The world is shrouded in gloom, plans have flopped and careers have been jeopardized. To be honest, it shook everyone out of their bubble, their "5 year plans".

Covid is a relatively low risk disease and yet, it created a panic that has not been seen in the last 100 years (The world wars must have sucked more though I guess).

A grim reminder that everything you have, can just simply vanish if it's the will of "nature".
Covid took a lot from a lot of people. By comparison, I was relatively unscathed but not "completely" unscathed. It did make me drop my shoulders and embrace the new normal, Whatever the hell that means.

I would dream every day about spending some time away from the god-awful media created news, the career fiasco, the chaos.
So, I bided my time.
As soon as the government indicated that the restrictions will be lifted soon, I started planning for a trek.
Eventually, found two other people who were also having the same mindset. Ashutosh and Prashant Jha. 

We initially thought about going to Pindari glacier since we were skeptical about our fitness levels but us being us, we decided on going to "Nandikund lake" near Ukhimath.
Spent a few weeks on deciding the logistics, the guide, the ration requirements, fuel and stove. Gauged the difficulty level as being acceptable for us.
Decided on going with Heera Singh from Chamoli as our guide since I have had good experiences trekking with various members of his family. 
I got my car readied for the trip and et voila, everything fell in place like clockwork.

Day 0 - Delhi to Ransi

The plan was to start really early, reach Rudraprayag by afternoon, pick our guide Heera from there and then reach the base camp, Ransi before it gets dark.

An hour into the drive, the brakes had a malfunction. This was around Muradnagar. It took us a while to find a mechanic but we did, eventually. He told us that the brake pads need to be replaced. This whole experience was a little bittersweet. Brakes are crucial in the mountains, especially if you're descending. The thought of having this problem earlier rather than later gave me some relief. 

Car brake-down

All this took away 2 important hours from us. We got back on the road and restarted our charge towards Kotdwar. We took the canal road and reached Kotwdar around 1 pm.
Kotdwar is from where the hills start.
After an hour of driving from Kotdwar, we reached Satpuli, where we halted for lunch.
From Satpuli, you can either take the route to Rudraprayag via Devprayag which is a narrow road but has very less turns or elevation OR via Pauri which is more scenic but is longer, takes longer and has a lot of twists.

We took the route via Devprayag in the interest of time. It took us a good 4 hours to reach Rudraprayag where we met our guide.
Another 3-4 hours drive from Rudraprayag via Ukhimath and Uniyana takes you to a very remote village and the last road head, Ransi.

The road to Ransi isn't well paved. We had left from Rudraprayag around 8 pm and reached Ransi around midnight. The drive was an adventure on its own, bad road conditions, no barriers, driving in the dark.
Ransi wore a deserted look when we reached the hotel, the very first one on entering Ransi. We parked the car at a safe place and immediately went to sleep in our room.

Day 1 Ransi to Madhmaheshwar

We managed to wake up at 6 am feeling somewhat rested. After packing our bags and stocking up on supplies, we had a nice large breakfast.
We also divided our rations equally so that none of us is the group's mule. Our backpacks weighed an average of 15-16 kg depending on how much water we decide to carry.
Today our aim was to reach Madhmaheshwar (3200m), which is 17 km from Ransi (1600m).
The route from Ransi to Madhmaheshwar is a tale of two halves.

The first half is an easy walk, in which you descend a few hundred metres and reach various villages like Goundhar and Bantoli.

Yours truly at Ransi

Ransi, the last road head

Step 1 - Reach Gaundhar

 

En route to Gaundhar

From Bantoli, the trail only goes one way. Up.
Relentless ascent for 9 km. You effectively climb around 1800m in those 9 kms.
We had a horrible time dealing with the sun and the gradient. Our quads were pleading for mercy.
I felt dehydrated and had ORS. Maybe it was the exhaustion from all the road travel the previous day, maybe we were deconditioned or maybe a bad combination of both these reasons.

Gaundhar village

 

The trail was well laid throughout. After crossing the river in Bantoli, the trail is paved with concrete all the way till Madhmaheshwar. It didn't make it easy though, the continuous ascent reminded me of the trail in Kareri lake.
With the sun beating down, the heavy backpacks and the merciless gradient, we had to take a lot of stops en route.

There are a lot of checkpoints in between :
Ransi -> Gaundar -> Bantoli -> Khaddara -> Nanu -> Mainkhamba -> Kun chatti -> Madhmaheshwar.

These are also water source points. Stay options are available in Nanu but is very limited. Its best to bring your own tents and camp at either of these places, close to water source.

Helpful markings along the way

Zoom in to see the lizard

We started from Ransi at 9 am and reached Madhmaheshwar at 7 pm. 10 hours of hiking with around 2 hours of breaks (yes, we were tired).

As soon as we reached Madhmaheshwar, we also instantly felt a chill in the air. We pitched our tents in a vacant area next to a house, setup kitchen, ate dinner and called it a day.

The locals in Madhmaheshwar weren't too happy to see us, for them, people from Delhi ARE the virus (or so it seemed). I don't entirely blame them, with infrastructure like in Uttarakhand, their apprehensions are justified.
We did have covid negative reports with us but we kept distance from them anyway.

Quite a start with a very long journey ahead of us!

Day 2 Madhmaheshwar to Kachani dhar

Camspite at Madhmaheshwar

I woke up at 6:15 am in the middle of the mountains in the middle of the pandemic, it took a few minutes to let that feeling sink in.
The sleep refreshed me, the leg pain was gone.
By 9 am we got done with packing the camp and breakfast. The trail from Madhmaheshwar to Kachani dhar is again a continuous ascent interrupted by brief descents.
All of us were quiet tired from yesterday's onslaught and took our own sweet time. The views were much better once we crossed the tree line right after exiting Madhmaheshwar. The sun was harsh again today.
I dozed off twice while we rested. I was fatigued beyond what I was willing to admit. 

Madhmaheshwar from afar. Budha MM is right above MM.

Raw and rugged trail on the way to Kachani

We still haven't figured out what caused this level of tiredness.
We managed to reach Kachani dhar around 3:30 pm. A half hour of descent later, we were at our campsite. It's not as cold as I anticipated. We setup our camp, cooked dinner and then called it a day.

View from Kachani Dhar top; campsite is below this

 
The next campsite, i.e. Pandavsera is visible right in front of us. Seems like a straightforward trail with a little bit of descent from where we stand. Our guide tells us there's more than meets the eye. We were a bit dismissive of his opinion. 

Sun shining on Pandavsera

As the sun set, the winds picked up and it got really cold. We had our camp setup by 5 pm, cooked food, had a lot of hot water and soup. Eating food feels good for two reasons now. Nourishment and the fact that our load gets lesser the more we eat :)

It's also beginning to dawn on us that this isn't an easy trek by any chance. Did we bite more than we can chew?
Time will tell.

I'm going to stop writing now since my hand are really cold.

Day 3 Kachani dhar to Pandav sera

The mountains have different ways of teaching you humility.

Kachani dhar is 4100m
Pandavsera is 3900m
6 kms between them.

Easy and simple, right?
Wrong!

As we realized later, going to pandavsera involves crossing at least 3 valleys. All the way down, then all the way up. 3 times.
And in this too, the climb was intensely steep and so was the descent. Steep, continuous, very hard on the knees. Even more harder on our patience. 

Much anticipated sun rays @ Kachani Dhar!

We setup camp near this shepherd encampment

The trail did give us permission to sit and relax at certain places. I pondered if I'm putting myself through all this just to forget the pandemic? How could you think about anything else in the world when you have to watch every step of yours. Choose each big rock carefully, gauging its stability in the back of your head.

It is the ultimate thought cleanser.

We couldn't see pandavsera for the most part of the trail but when we did, we realized how far it is. It looked almost as big as it looked from Kachani Dhar.
The final leg of the trail goes through thick bushes and very steep decline. It's obvious very few people visit this place. The trails are unmarked shortly after Kachani, then they faintly reappear at some places.
It is evident that very few people, mostly locals from Uttarakhand and the nearby villages are the main tourists in this place. Nandikund is still untouched by the greed of the big trekking companies.
We also had had news from "Nanu" that the DFO is out on a round, if he finds us, he'll challan us for not having a permit. But we didn't find him anywhere so far. So all is good. We did keep an eye out though, in case we spot someone and have to hide in the bushes (just kidding)
(.... or am I?)
All of us were at our wits end. Super tired and fatigued.
Finally after some spirited hiking, which involved crossing :
1. Thick bushes
2. Spider wall,
3. 3 Rivers, in two of which I slipped and wet my shoe
4. Extended walks on boulders
.. We reached Pandavsera, a vast meadow with a gentle sound of flowing water and a clay bed filled with small boulders. 

 

View enroute to Pandavsera

Rivers, boulders and tired shoulders!

Waterfall # 3

Right before the final descent and climb to Pandavsera

It reminded me of all the meditation videos I watch on youtube. The sound of flowing water and wind. Didn't need youtube there to relax.
There is also a temple there where Ashutosh spent some time clicking pictures. Me and Prashant were really hungry and just wanted to setup camp and eat.
Pandavsera is a huge meadow with a rivulet running across it. It is flanked by mountains on all sides. From there you can see the path to be taken ahead i.e. towards Nandikund. 

Pandavsera, the land where the pandavas stayed

We found the caves where trekkers usually camp and pitched our tents near it. We used the cave shelter for cooking and called it a day. It was a bit weird to notice people having written their names on the cave walls. Why? Why would you think you're so important?

You can take the man out of lodhi garden but you can't take the lodhi garden out of the man.
(For the uninitiated : People scribble their names on Trees in Lodhi Garden, a public garden in Delhi)

Day 4 Pandavsera to Nandikund to Pandavsera

The day before was really hard on everyone. I slept for 10 hours, without having dinner.
Our plan was to leave our camp stuff at the campsite, zoom to Ghiya Vinayak whilst only carrying clothes, water and a few snacks.
We managed to leave at around 8:20 am after getting done with our morning chores.
Ghiya Vinayak was already a difficult proposition due to our lethargy. But then, we also needed to rest properly and get adequate sleep to recover our tired muscles.
The trail to Nandikund starts from the campsite and disappears soon. From thereon, one has to figure out their way from between the boulders. It's hard on the knees, a slight lapse in judgement can do some serious damage to your ankles.
It's frustrating too.

The river at Pandavsera

More boulders..

Animal footprints near the river

After the boulders, there is a steep incline on more boulders interspersed with Grassy patches which somewhat help you get a grip.
I didn't pace myself well and faced breathlessness due to the rising altitude.
You also start noticing brahm kamal and phen kamal flowers here.

Brahmkamal

Phen kamal

After crossing the water stream and boulder patch, there's a waterfall visible which as per our guide has to be our immediate next target.
There's some more ascent until you reach another boulder patch with bigger rocks and lesser grass.
Following the river stream will eventually lead you to Nandikund.

Steep climb towards Nandikund

There are a few water sources, the water from the river is not drinkable due to the clay.
We reached Nandikund after 4 hours of relentless climbing up boulders.
A clear bluish-green (is there a name for it?) coloured Lake flanked by mountains on all sides. The waters were calm and there were little ripples due to the wind. It felt like the world has stood still, time has stopped moving, such is the beauty of this lake.

I sat next to the lake and stared at it, noticing my heartbeat recede. It makes a lot of sense that our mythology points to places like these as the venue of monks attaining nirvana or at least places where they go to meditate. 

Magnificent Nandikund; Ghiya Vinayak pass visible in background

There's a temple at the lake too, where the weapons of the Pandavas are kept as per folklore. A lot of idols are there too.

Temple with Ancient (?) swords at Nandikund

 

We spent a lot of time at the lake, admired it's beauty and left back for pandavsera.
Sadly, we decided against going to Ghiya Vinayak since we would be late for the trip back to pandavsera. You do not want to descend on boulders without day light by your side.
The descent was quite tricky too, mainly because of the boulders. Some of them making you dance without any good decent background music (but you can just imagine songs in your head).
We reached the campsite back at 4:30 pm and called it a day.

Moonlit campsite

Pandavsera deserves a special description, such beauty makes you "think". We are so insignificantly small in the grand scheme of things. It's terribly sad that there's so much beauty in this world that your eyes don't even believe it at first.
Instead of exploring this world, what do we do? Fight for jobs with employers that don't respect us, hunt for money like it's all that matters. Tell ourselves that we "don't have time" to travel.
All these thoughts occupied my mind as I strolled towards my campsite at a leisurely pace. Occasionally tripping on small rocks.
The lush green plains, the high mountains, the clouds hanging above, the sun setting in the horizon, the water peacefully flowing next to me.
Nature is an artist, the best there has ever been.
Why did it create us though?

Day 5 Pandavsera to Kachni Dhar

After having successfully completed Nandikund, my mind was at peace and there was only thing left to do. Return.
Whether you go from Kachni to Pandavsera or the other way around, the effort is invariably the same. You face the same hurdles. It isn't like going from a high altitude to a low altitude is going to be easy, not in this case atleast.
What worked for us today was the fact that we were cognizant about the roller-coaster of a day we were looking forward to.
Perhaps that's why research is very important before going on any trek. When we have knowledge on what to expect, we can pace ourselves accordingly, save our breath for steep climbs, target campsite timelines.
We started very leisurely today at 10 am. Perhaps, we weren't looking forward to returning.
Our guide told us that he hasn't taken any clients back the same way on this trek before. For us, no other way was possible since the car was parked at Ransi. 

Temple at Pandavsera

Crossing over from Ghiya Vinayak pass would've been much better, in terms of variety and difficulty.
After re-living the ordeal of those 3 valley-peak combinations, we reached Kachani close to sunset. The weather played mischief in the afternoon, which prompted us to pull out our ponchos.
However, a poncho turned out to be a deterrent in climbing steep ascending trails.
As I reached Kachani camp site, I looked back at Pandavsera. Looks beautiful from a distance, looks even better when you're there.
Feels like it's right there, close to you, but in reality makes you work to get there. 

Like all good things in life, right?

Day 6 Kachani to Gaundhar

Most trekkers hate the return trip, it gets even worse when you have to return the same way.
Worse still, if that "same way" is extremely tiring.
Leisurely leaving the camp at 10:30 am, me and Ashutosh started walking back to Gaundhar. Prashant had left earlier than us because he wanted to do a side trek to Budha Madhmaheshwar.
Today was all about descending. From 4100m to 1600m, over a distance of 19 km.
On our way back, around the 2nd climb from where we can start spotting Madhmaheshwar, there's a temple above the regular trail. I thought it would be a good idea to climb the ridge above that temple and get a view which would be comparable to the one from Budha Madhmaheshwar.
So I went on that side trek and managed to spot Mandani Peak (20318 ft) and a brief glimpse of Kedarnath dome peak.
This was however, after an hour of sitting on that narrow ridge waiting for the clouds to pass.
I also saw the temple from the inside and noticed that it seems to have been abandoned, perhaps temporarily.

On the descent from the ridge, I saw wreckage of a helicopter. There was a helicopter crash in this area in the 90s and the entire trail is littered with various helicopter parts. 

View from Ridge top

Side trek shenanigans

Helicopter Wreckage

Temple enroute to Kachani

Main trail below

Inside the temple

After rejoining the main trail, we started descending towards Madhmaheshwar.
Due to an injury to Ashutosh, we were not able to descend quickly but at a very leisurely pace, taking frequent rests and stoppages.

Soon, it got dark and we were limited to the light of our torches which slowed us down further. As per the villagers, animal attacks are very rare on the trail and it's relatively safe to walk even in the dark. 

The pink clouds..

...and the evening sky

Spider in the dark! (Flashlight pic)

We ran into a lot of incoming tourists/pilgrims headed towards Madhmaheshwar. The fatigue on their faces wasn't something we were unfamiliar with. They would ask us "how far?" and I would say "Abhi toh hai kaafi" (still a long way to go).
Something our guide had kept telling us. Oh, how the turntables!

Strolling due to our constraints, we reached Gaundhar at 9 pm and called it a day. A very long day. 

Day 7 Gaundhar to Ransi

Determined to take a shower and eat a hearty breakfast in Ransi, we sped towards Ransi quite early in the morning, around 6:30 am. By 7:30 am, we were at the road head adjacent to Ransi and in the next 20 minutes we had reached the location of the car.

I took a shower and ate to my heart's desire. Eating dal rice for 5 days back to back can have it's toll on you. Quite often, you walk fast while returning because you're walking towards food that isn't dal rice.

We ran into a lot of people going towards Madhmaheshwar today as well.
I ran into a trekker and told him this was my first trek and I'm happy it's done. He gave me some tips on how to be a good trekker. Prashant and Ashutosh smiled in the background.
The trek was over while I was still in denial that amidst all the craziness in the world today, we were able to make it happen in the first place. 

Reminiscing about the whole experience, the visuals of Nandikund, the formidable boulders, the waterfalls and the rare but beautiful level trails gave this whole trek quite a variety.
Every day was a different challenge. Some days we felt like we couldn't reach our planned campsite but we pushed anyway and made it happen. 

In hindsight, we could've planned a little better and added another day of camping at Nandikund and reach Ghiya Vinayak pass.

Driving all this while and then hiking is an experience I didn't have before. Neither did the guys. It has its perks but also can be mentally tiring.
I looked back at Ransi one final time, wishing there was more time. Content about ending a long overdue adventure, I got into the driver's seat and pulled out my sunglasses.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss.