Part 1: Preparation and Journey
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa (You are currently reading this.)
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
Trekker from the other camp lost in the grandeur of Himalayan mountains:
We had requested eggs for breakfast previous night as regular breakfast items appeared more and more insipid as we were developing nausea for the food - partly because of high altitude, partly because of method of preparation. After breakfast, we packed for today's hike and posed for the photograph.
Nasik- Pune Trek Group ready for today's challenge:
Once everyone got ready, we started our hike in a crisp early morning. We hiked for 10 minutes and stopped at a location with few snacks' joint and campsite for other trekking group. We were out of communication for 2 days and we were ecstatic to find out that we had moderate mobile range to be able to call our family members. It felt comforting to talk to family members always worried about our safety. Reassuring them about our safety, current location and next plan, we proceeded further.
Finally we started walking on the winding trail which we were seeing our campsite since yesterday. As we were gaining altitude, campsite started looking tinier and tinier.
Trek-mates enjoying the trail and happy to pose for the photo as per instructions from the photographer:
We couldn't have asked for better weather for photography.
Real beauty of trekking is that you get to spend a lot of time with yourself in nature away from the madding crowd.
Few white clouds were hovering in the sky and their shadows on the landscape had resulted in fantastic combination of light and shadow.
Last stretch of this climb was really steep and exhausting. Small photography breaks really helped me to pace my climbing and I did not experience any fatigue despite the dual burden of heavy backpack and camera bag.
It seemed to be the never ending winding route. After more than 2 hrs of hiking, we reached to Kalu Vinayak Temple - the highest point on the trail for today.
Kalu Vinayak temple
Nana trying his skill of blowing the shankha:
As we were able to locate our Baghwabasa camp from this location, we decided to spend a lot of time here photographing and soaking in the great sights of snow-clad peaks. Trekkers from other groups were arriving. This lady from the other group was stranded behind her trekking group and she seemed utterly exhausted. Still her smile was intact.
One of the most scenic tea stalls I have ever seen:
Kiran Bhai dreaming big:
Rugged terrain:
A beautiful trekker who happily flashed her smile:
Nana's energy is so infectious.
Few of our never tiring trek-mates climbed a small hill and posed for the photo:
After spending more than an hour on the small plateau of Kalu Vinayak temple, we started our descent towards our final campsite at Baghwabasa.
Amol sitting at the entrance of the cave:
Our campsite was on the rocky ground with uneven surface. But considering the number of trekking groups around, this was the best that our trekking group could have arranged and we settled for it happily. With the boulders around, the campsite looked like a deserted, forbidden and unforgiving place to stay. Only exciting factor that Trishul and other mountains loomed in front of us exhibiting their full glory and prospect of the next day where we would be in the lap of these mountains provided enough fuel for us to remain positive and excited.
Amol trying to touch the heaven:
Great skies:
Soup, Maggi, Samosa and tea followed one after another in the space of 1-2 hours to keep us well fed and awake. In between, when the weather cleared, we came outside and clicked ourselves on the backdrop of glorious mountains. Rest of the time, most of the trek-mates preferred to remain inside playing Rummy and UNO.I had a long stroll around the area, even climbed a small hill to acclimatise better for tomorrow's summit.
Panorama around our campsite:
Nana happy to pose for the photo:
Vipin, a very jovial and caring trek-mate:
Chandan Negi, our trek leader visited our tents in the evening and provided instructions for the next day. We had been instructed to get ready by 2.45 am and leave the camp site around 3.15 am. We knew leaving at such an unearthly hour would be daunting and challenging considering freezing temperature in the morning. As we had come so far and didn't want to miss any opportunity to topple our plan of seeing Roopkund in its full glory, we all agreed to adhere to these instructions.
Part 1: Preparation and Journey
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa (You are currently reading this.)
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa (You are currently reading this.)
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
Pathar Nachani Camp (12,818 Ft): Body had coped up well so far with the high altitude. High altitude had not altered anything except the loss of appetite. Without any headache and all symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Syndrome) away, trekking in Himalaya seemed blissful. But there was still more altitude to gain and there was still some uneasiness whether body condition would remain the same in the higher camp and on Roopkund summit. Our today's plan was to camp at Baghwabasa (14,117 ft.) before attempting the Roopkund summit the next day.
Morning dawned with ominous looking clouds. Trek leaders declared that weather didn't look favourable and there was possibility of thunderstorm. With anxiety, I just prayed weather to get clear. Already we had taken so much efforts to reach to this point and it would have been disappointing had the weather remained bad. Suddenly speculations of bad weather were put to rest as clouds receded giving way to golden morning sunshine.
Trekker from the other camp lost in the grandeur of Himalayan mountains:
We had requested eggs for breakfast previous night as regular breakfast items appeared more and more insipid as we were developing nausea for the food - partly because of high altitude, partly because of method of preparation. After breakfast, we packed for today's hike and posed for the photograph.
Nasik- Pune Trek Group ready for today's challenge:
Once everyone got ready, we started our hike in a crisp early morning. We hiked for 10 minutes and stopped at a location with few snacks' joint and campsite for other trekking group. We were out of communication for 2 days and we were ecstatic to find out that we had moderate mobile range to be able to call our family members. It felt comforting to talk to family members always worried about our safety. Reassuring them about our safety, current location and next plan, we proceeded further.
Finally we started walking on the winding trail which we were seeing our campsite since yesterday. As we were gaining altitude, campsite started looking tinier and tinier.
It is always comforting to have your elder brother as your trek-mate.
Tushar Dada on the trail:
Trek-mates enjoying the trail and happy to pose for the photo as per instructions from the photographer:
We couldn't have asked for better weather for photography.
Real beauty of trekking is that you get to spend a lot of time with yourself in nature away from the madding crowd.
Few white clouds were hovering in the sky and their shadows on the landscape had resulted in fantastic combination of light and shadow.
Last stretch of this climb was really steep and exhausting. Small photography breaks really helped me to pace my climbing and I did not experience any fatigue despite the dual burden of heavy backpack and camera bag.
It seemed to be the never ending winding route. After more than 2 hrs of hiking, we reached to Kalu Vinayak Temple - the highest point on the trail for today.
Kalu Vinayak temple
Nana trying his skill of blowing the shankha:
As we were able to locate our Baghwabasa camp from this location, we decided to spend a lot of time here photographing and soaking in the great sights of snow-clad peaks. Trekkers from other groups were arriving. This lady from the other group was stranded behind her trekking group and she seemed utterly exhausted. Still her smile was intact.
One of the most scenic tea stalls I have ever seen:
Kiran Bhai dreaming big:
Rugged terrain:
A beautiful trekker who happily flashed her smile:
Nana's energy is so infectious.
Few of our never tiring trek-mates climbed a small hill and posed for the photo:
After spending more than an hour on the small plateau of Kalu Vinayak temple, we started our descent towards our final campsite at Baghwabasa.
Before our campsite, we came across few more tents of a trekking group. We kept on walking further and came across a small cave flanked by stacks of rocks.
Our campsite was on the rocky ground with uneven surface. But considering the number of trekking groups around, this was the best that our trekking group could have arranged and we settled for it happily. With the boulders around, the campsite looked like a deserted, forbidden and unforgiving place to stay. Only exciting factor that Trishul and other mountains loomed in front of us exhibiting their full glory and prospect of the next day where we would be in the lap of these mountains provided enough fuel for us to remain positive and excited.
Amol trying to touch the heaven:
Great skies:
Soup, Maggi, Samosa and tea followed one after another in the space of 1-2 hours to keep us well fed and awake. In between, when the weather cleared, we came outside and clicked ourselves on the backdrop of glorious mountains. Rest of the time, most of the trek-mates preferred to remain inside playing Rummy and UNO.I had a long stroll around the area, even climbed a small hill to acclimatise better for tomorrow's summit.
Panorama around our campsite:
Nana happy to pose for the photo:
Vipin, a very jovial and caring trek-mate:
Chandan Negi, our trek leader visited our tents in the evening and provided instructions for the next day. We had been instructed to get ready by 2.45 am and leave the camp site around 3.15 am. We knew leaving at such an unearthly hour would be daunting and challenging considering freezing temperature in the morning. As we had come so far and didn't want to miss any opportunity to topple our plan of seeing Roopkund in its full glory, we all agreed to adhere to these instructions.
We were soon given the call for dinner. Our food tent was slightly away from our tents and reaching to it was an ordeal considering many protruding and uneven rocks on the way. With light dinner of Dal and Rice and some sweet, we decided to call it a day and retired to our respective tents. High altitude and prospect of just few hours' sleep made sleeping peacefully even more difficult. We chatted for a while in the tent and decided to have few hours rest if not sleep. Roopkund summit was ruling my mind as I tucked into my sleeping bag.
Part 1: Preparation and Journey
Part 2: Lohajung to Didna Village
Part 3: Didna to Bedni Bugiyal
Part 4: Bedni Bugiyal to Pathar Nachani
Part 5: Pathar Nachani to Baghwabasa (You are currently reading this.)
Part 6: Baghwabasa-Roopkund-Bedni Bugiyal-Wan
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