Sojourn to the Lake of Truth : Satopanth

This is the concluding part of a two trek combined sojourn, wherein the first segment dealt with the trek to Mandini Valley and beyond in order to see the flowering of the alpine flowering plants which are rare and not seen outside the Himalayan Region in the Garhwal segment during peak monsoon. The concluding segment deals with a trek to the Lake of Truth: Satopanth, deep in the Trans Himalayan Region of Uttarakhand.

2.            I pick up from the last post where my team had arrived safely post completing the Mandini Sojourn at Rudraprayag; confluence town of two of India’s holy rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini   and were now focused on the next part of the trek which would begin ahead of Badrinath Ji .

3.            The next day was spent in travelling as we boarded the state transport bus and finally reached Joshimath at 1400 hrs crossing significant towns like  Karnaprayag , Nandaprayag , Pipal koti . At Joshimath we boarded a local max trekker for the holy town of Badrinath which we would be reaching by 1630 hrs. The route of Joshimath to Badrinath is all unstable with heavy landslide activity at Lambagad followed by few more locations and two very significant water crossings. The max trekker, an old horse on this route managed all these quite dexterously with the driver knowing fully the tricks of the trade. He had been waiting for his turn to take on passengers since three days now as per the roster that is maintained at Joshimath, however with poor influx of tourists it had been a long wait and in this particular case it was of three days. The capacity of passengers was 14 and he charged 160/- from each for the trip.

4.            So my second visit to Badridhaam and what a change from the previous occasion, no rush of people or vehicles. Hotels were empty, shopkeepers idle. I checked in to the same place where had stayed last time and after an hour or so spent sitting on the hotel parapet wall watching grown up guys playing cricket i decided to walk down to the temple. There was no rush at Badrinathji, I  moved inside the main temple and sat for some time right out there. After paying my respects to badrinath ji wandered outside and sat down at an enclosure where there was a discourse on Gita happening. The entire atmosphere was serene and unhurried unlike last time where you just had moments in front of the main shrine before being told to move out. I realised that peak monsoon time is one of the best time to visit these places if one wishes to see the main shrine and feel the occasion in a correct manner.

5.            At around 6 in evening Umeid and me went for a walk till Mana village which was 4 kms away and it was a good exercise to loosen the stiff muscles. By the time we returned it was night and i bade good night to my team as i walked back to my hotel. 

Lake of Truth