Mandini Trek
Day 1 : How does one begin especially as i write after the day has passed , but
still will try to organise my thoughts
and begin in a coherent manner. The trip to Mandini Valley was conceptualised
on a cold winter night around 5200 mts above sea level with the mercury falling
rapidly as me and my guide Umeid sat inside the tent sipping on hot coffii on
the shores of “Nandi kund Lake”. That
tale has been told and will not be dwelt upon out here. So here we were sitting
and discussing where next to venture in the coming year and his words were “sir agar flowering dekhni hai to mandini
chalo monsoon mein; Valley of Flower takkar bhi nahin de payega {sir if u desire
to see flowering of plants on a huge scale lets go to Mandini Valley , the
famous Valley of Flowers is nothing compared to it } ). Now i had neither seen VOF
nor Mandini Valley but yes was very interested to see the Himalayan flowers
flowering in their natural element and the thought appealed to me. Quickly i
asked him the probable month and the approximate time and his reply was it had
to be monsoons and that meant August.
2. Anyways back home
after the Nandi kund trek and after few weeks started researching about Mandini
valley. Google did not throw much light but yes i came across three blogs which
mentioned about this trek but they were all in September and not monsoons so i
had no way of gauging as to how it would be like but the blogs helped me to prepare
the key places on the route and i decided to cross Mandini Valley and then
three ice fields to reach Kedarnath ji. Umeid also recommended the same and after
we worked the day itinerary i realized that another destination could be
squeezed in too and thus was born the trek to Satopanth; The Lake of Truth and Swargarohini ; The stairs to Heavens.
3. As months passed
by my itinerary got refined and eventually had a 17-day trek itinerary
excluding the journey time to and fro my place. The leave was sanctioned after looking
for a fortunate moment to propose but till the end moment i was not sure if i would
be actually going hence kept my departure a low key affair. The days leading to
the trek saw the weather worsening in Uttarakhand and gave me much cause to
worry but i stuck to my itinerary and decided to take things as they come.
4. The tickets were booked
and finally the day arrived when i was in the vehicle heading to airport. I did
refine my luggage this time to make it lighter especially the camera gear but
guess it still needs to be worked upon more for the future. With a combined
weight of 26 kgs inclusive of my backpack and camera gear the thought definitely
projected a problem.
5. Anyways with the
day finally arriving i was on my way and the route was a tiring one in itself
fir the travel comprised of travelling through the day and the night followed
by the following full day. The mode of conveyance included flight, train, bus,
mini bus and then trekker max. The end point saw me arriving at the small
villages that have nestled in the foothills of the Garhwal mountains. Raasi was
one such village and the home of my guide Umeid. I was welcomed very warmly by
his family and lot of village folk too dropped in or i was invited to their
homes and so began endless cups of tea and discussions.
6. After a simple
dinner I bade my good nights and promptly dropped off to sleep. Thus ended the
journey from my place on Western Ghats to Umeid’s place in the foothills of the
Garhwal mountains which act as outposts for the great Himalayan range that lay ahead.
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Raasi |
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