I can say growing up I had some unforgettable walking experiences in the Himalayan region. I have had many long walking experiences in my life, but some of them were tough and forced on me, and some were dangerous or even scary.

  
But the one I am going to write about was forced on me. I still remember I walked more than 40 kilometers that night from Joshimath to Gopeshwar via Chamoli in the Himalayas, as I had missed my last bus, and I had no option left, but to walk.

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This incident happened decades ago when most of the hill roads in the upper Himalayas were single motor roads, with no streetlight, and at an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level, there was no fencing or railing on the roads. That was the time when no motor traffic was allowed after 5.30 PM.

I had gone to meet one of my friends in Gopeshwar town of Chamoli district, which is located at a height of about 5000 feet above sea level, but during winters you can see snowfall in nearby hills during winter season.

The next day I decided to go to Joshimath located at an altitude of about 6000 above sea level. During those days there was nothing in that place but army cantonment, and tourists were not allowed to stop or walk because that's a sensitive bordering area.

I reached there at about 1 in the afternoon and asked the army officer if I could walk up to the hilltop that was about 1500 feet further up and with a steep climb of about 2 kilometers. He looked at me and against all my hopes. He said yes but warned me to come back before 5 because the last bus was at 5.30 pm.

But the trip to the hilltop was so difficult and tiring that I could not reach back in time and missed the last bus. As I said earlier, there was no place to stay in that area, so I had no choice but to walk.

I started walking on my way back to Gopeshwar, I walked past one after the other villages situated every 6-7 kilometers, but they were of no help to me as the villages I saw were either two km up the hill or three km down the valley.

The only consolation for me was that almost 30 kilometers of this distance up to Chamoli I walked was down the hill, barring a few stretches of upward walking.

However, the last stretch of 7-8 km from Chamoli to Gopeshwar was a tiring and steep-rising distance that I covered in almost 3 hours. I only had a thin stick in my right hand to combat in case a leopard or wolf found me that night. I wanted to throw my backpack in the valley because it was feeling like a burden on that climbing road.

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Thankfully, I walked safely back on a full moon night, so I could see everything from a distance. That area in the Himalayas is full of big cats, but fortunately, I met none of them that night. When I remember that walk and how I walked singing aloud to keep my fear away, I still laugh aloud. Thanks to God, I did not find a single cat, but that was very much possible, as that area is full of them.

Today, I am still kicking and enjoying my life but that walk was something I would never forget in my life. I have had different walking expeditions in my life, but that walk of about 40 km that took me almost nine and a half hours walking nonstop will always remain in my memory.

Note: I have no photo of this trip because I had no camera of my own at that time and my father never allowed us to touch his precious Agfa-Gevaert camera.

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