Wild Himalayan Treks #3 - Trekking up to Kareri Lake at 2934 metres - A story of overconfidence and learning -part.2

sanjay91422 (56)in #travelstory • 7 years ago (edited)

Hi Steemitian,

The amount of the response that I received on the part.1 of this story, thrilled me and filled me with energy to write the second part on this same day.
..continued from Wild Himalayan Treks #3 - Trekking up to Kareri Lake at 2934 metres - A story of overconfidence and learning -part.1

Our story has reached where everyone laid down for a good night sleep in a tent which we pitched on the left side of the mountain brook. We were not disturbed by any himalayan bear or a snow leopard. It was a good night sleep. The dog remained outside our tent until it had not started to rain in night.

We had not given him much to eat at the dinner time, because we couldn't afford, yet he was a comfort to be near our tent. When I woke up in the early morning, I couldn't spot him any where around the place.

Morning at the Camp-site

Finally, I could see the place in the morning light. This was a small high altitude mountain valley with steep slopes on both sides. The surfaces were covered by bigger rocks and thinner Deodar trees scattered in patches, but denser at some places towards upstream. The stream was very beautiful, much wider than I had thought of. The big rocks hindered the water at many places, so it flowed in quite artistic manner. This was the purest form of water.

Area towards downstream was covered by very big rocks, which could be classified as the moraines carried by the glacial erosion. We wanted to start early, as half of the trek was still to be climbed up. We picked our brushes, pooped out in between the rocks away from the stream water. This is the etiquette that one must follow in wild, because there might be someone using the same water in the downstream.

Ranu Ram joined us, and requested the same. He had been sleeping at nights in a stone cave shelter since last few months. His goats and sheep herd, which rested along the stream bank at night, had gone up on the grassy slopes for a new day feast.

He told us about his son, who was pursuing some technical education course. He hoped that maybe he will get some more clues about the advantages of getting that education. Somehow I could understand the shepherd's queries about spending his money for his son's technical education. We told him whatever we could pour out of our heads, and thanked him for all the help.

I hated him for one thing that he did while talking to us. The same dog was sitting next to us, and he hit him with the solid stick on his back. The dog howled in pain and went away. I thought, might be the dog is used to this treatment, also there was no one else who could provide him the food at such place. Later he told us that the owner was not him, but the dog would follow anyone for food. Still, I couldn't accept the behavior, but said nothing.

After a while the Sun visited our cold place, and this made our morning more beautiful. Everything was at its place, making the whole scene beautiful. We basked in the sun-rays for a while, had a little break-fast, and then we packed our tents and backpacks, and we were ready for a final click at the camping site. This is how the site looked in the golden rays in the early morning.

The Big Rocks on the Big Mountain and a Teenaged Brook.

Our legs were heavy, and the path initially appeared like a sine wave. It ran almost parallel to the stream. After about one kilometer, it became steep and climbed at almost 70 degrees. So did the stream. Sometimes it would go away from the trek, and sometimes it flowed almost on it. The water was faster and more energetic, just like a teen. At some places the unmelted chunks of glacier sticked in between the rocks in stream.

Big rocks became bigger. At places, two of them would be bridged by some random fallen oak tree. On such rocky faces we spotted some Gaddi shelters on the right bank and then along the left bank of the stream. The ones on the left bank were occupied by 2-3 Gaddis who were preparing their meal of the morning. Another big herd of the goats and sheep was scattered on the top, sides and corners of those big rocks. Here are two Gaddis, whom we zoomed from the right bank.

Here is a look at the rocky trek that would follow the same geology until we reach the top, where the lake is.

Tasty Rice , Temple and the Holy Lake

We reached the lake before 12:00 PM. The sun was still not clouded, but soon it would be. Here is the first look of the lake. The same photo I used as thumbnail in part.1

There was one person inside a shop hut. Thankfully, he could offer us the tea, omelette and rice brunch. We were so much hungry that even when we found a small insect in the brunch, it tasted like the most delightful meal. Our body demanded the food badly. We didn't complain about the rice shaped insect, because we were not at a normal restaurant, but at a small hut at an high altitude lake.

Carrying all the necessary things on the back of a mule and storing at such place is tougher. Still we paid less than a dollar for one person meal. There were 4-5 sarays(free room shelters) where one could sleep at night if the blankets were available.

The lake was quite a big depression that was feeded by the glacial water. Water overflowed from the periphery at the spot where it was less elevated. The spilling water made the initial part of the Niund stream that had followed us from the last village.

The half melted glacier was visible on the elevated mountain that made the periphery of lake on the other side. After drinking tea Deepak, Roushan and Avdesh decided to lay down for rest, and my body demanded the same. Instead I went around the moraine filled lake bank to test some my acrobatic skills. It took me about 30 minutes to complete a walk around the lake.

A click towards the temple from the higher mountain side. On the right of the far white temple were hidden some animal shelters that I would find when I reach there.

When I reached there, few animals were grazing the green grass. Here the ground was gentle, and I went towards the backside of shelters the ground suddenly disappeared and a deep gorge followed my eye sight. The slope was 90 degrees and I could not dare to stand near the edge to have a good look down below. The depths were covered by the clouds, which rose up towards me at a windy speed.

Gusts of wind from the higher side of the mountain slope was blowing towards this end, and that made the fog disappear before latter could reach the heights where I stood. It disappeared at mid depths of that vertical cliff at the edge of which which I stood. My back was towards the lake.

This was a memorable scene, I felt as if I stood above the world. I wish if somebody could have clicked me, but I was alone. Then I tried to click few shots, but I was late, the fog had won the battle against the opposing wind, and it smothered my view.
Yet, the lake was visible, I got some good locations to click the full view of the lake. The one I used as the thumbnail for this article was clicked from this corner.

Now was the time to descend back, because today we would reach back at Kareri village and then the town at Dharmshala. And then we would have some nice meals as a small celebration for the Roshan's birthday.
We said goodbye to the shopkeeper.
The back journey was fast, as the weather showed the sign of rain, we had to be fast. It started to drizzle when we crossed the place of our last night camping.

We reached at the village at around 4:00 PM in evening, returned the rented sleeping bags and mats to the owner. Our descent from Kareri to Ghera was not along the road, which we followed while the ascent. The man told us about a short but steep path. We were fast, but missed the last bus that went from Ghera to Dharamshala. Thankfully cabs were available, so we hired the cab and stayed at Dharamshala for the night.

Lesson Learned

Always listen to the local people of Himalaya, I know there are fraud people in the tourist places who will misinform you just to extort the money, but not here, at most of the places in the higher himalayas. These people live very simple life, and demand nothing much of life, but the purity in everything.
We didn't listen, and could have faced the dreadful results. As the old man at the village had said, we didn't reach the lake on that same day, instead we had to camp at the mid way. Have confidence in yourself but not to the point, where our was, else it becomes overconfidence.

Thanks for the kind visit!

#nature #himalaya #india #photography