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Published: November 14th 2006
Ten Days in the Indian Himalaya
As many of you know, I took a mountaineering course from NOLS (national outdoor leadership school) just after graduating from college in 1998. The course dramatically impacted my life and set me on my current career path working in outdoor education. So last summer, when I discovered that NOLS was offering an alumni trip to go trekking in the Indian Himalaya, I bumped up my departure schedule from the US and signed up. This would be my second visit to the Himalaya, having trekked around Nepal's Annapurna range for nearly a month in the spring of 2003. While spring time annually blankets the Himalayan hillsides in wildflowers, the autumn trekking season is known for spectacularly clear views of the high peaks after the monsoon rains have cleansed the landscape. And while Nepal has grown into a trekking mecca, I had heard that India treks were less frequented by Western walkers.
Thanks to my busy schedule in Seattle in the weeks leading up to my travels, I did little to no planning for my journeying through India. Fortunately, the NOLS trip would begin upon arrival in Delhi, and include transportation to the Kumaoun region of Uttaranchal, followed by a ten-day trek in the mountains, and a return trip to Delhi with a half-day tour of the city. Planning schmanning, it was all set. (thanks NOLS alumni department!)
Before we get started, here are some logistics to take care of. First,
The Photos because I know many of you will want to look at pictures before delving in to the full blog entry. I don't blame you. You'll find the Pindari Trek photos as well as some upcoming pics (Golden Triangle) for the next blog entry. For every picture posted, I've got three more on my camera's memory card. But I've posted my favorites.
Second, regarding the map. Much of the area we trekked is too close to the Tibetan border, and China doesn't allow publication of accurate maps in the area. So be it. Also, I'm not so sure that that the google earth software has the greatest maps of India. But I found
another map from encarta. It's a Nanda Devi map, but you'll see the villages mentioned in my blog.
Third, merely for documentation, the days and nights on the trek:
- October 25, hike from Song over Dhakre col to Dahkri
- October 26, hike to Khati
- October 27, hike to Dwali
- October 28, hike to Zero Point (spending two nights)
- October 30, hike to Dwali
- October 31, hike to Khati (Halloween and David had a fever)
- November 1, hike over Khati col to Soupi
- November 2, hike out to pickup near Song
Fourth and final, just to be clear ... I'm actually posting this blog from Pushkar in Rajasthan. However, I've set the journal entry info for Bageshwar in the state of Uttaranchal where I trekked because the entry will get tagged with the appropriate map that way. On with the show ...
Pre-Trek Prepping Our group first met in Delhi, for dinner on the 22nd of October at the YWCA International Guesthouse. The group consisted of three instructors: Jaime and Elaine, both from the US who had each recently led mountaineering and backpacking trips here in India. Madhu, our third instructor, is from Bangalore in the south of India, and he had also recently come out of the field from a long summer season of NOLS courses. The five of us paying customers are all NOLS grads, with a variety of backgrounds of mountaineering and semester-long courses in the Rockies, Washington and Alaska (many years ago!). The group consisted of Erica, an attornety from NYC, fresh from a few days in Varanasi; Joanna, a PhD candidate/environmental educator currently residing in the D.C. area. Holli, a GIS whiz who works at a D.C. nonprofit to map the tree canopy and reforest the city (and a good friend of my friend Tisha, who I've known since we were neighbors in college); Trish, a NASA engineer living and working in the Bay Area, currently on an extended year-long sabbatical and visiting many of the same countries I am.
After our dinner I was lucky enough to catch "Return of the King," on HBO (refer to blog #1, for that story) before a short night's sleep preceeding a 6:00 a.m. departure the following morning. We had an all-day mini-bus ride to the city of Ranikhet, in the state of Uttaranchal. We arrived just after dusk and ate dinner at the rooftop restaurant at Hotel Mountain View, where we would stay for two nights. Aptly titled, the hotel roof provided our first views of the mountainous Kumaoun region where we'd be trekking. The views, even from miles away, were absolutely spectacular.
During our initial day in Ranikhet we went through our gear, separated porter loads from backpack loads (more on that in a moment) practiced setting up our tents, and took part in our first lesson: introductory Hindi, led by Madhu. Shortly after the lesson, we took to the streets of the Ranikhet market to test our skills. Truthfully, the language class has been invaluable throughout my duration in the country.
In Ranikhet, we also met with Kutty, the Director of the NOLS India branch, who invited us over to join his family for a home-cooked dinner. As fate would have it, Holli and Kutty actually took their first NOLS course together, a semester in the Rockies back in 1989 (I think, or maybe it was '87). Kutty then became a NOLS instructor and it was his idea and initiative that led to the opening of the NOLS India branch in 1991. Though in his words, Kutty says that NOLS India is just a "twig" that falls under the Pacific Northwest "branch," which is based in Washington State. Having been open now for more than a decade, the India twig will run its first semester course this year, offering backpacking, high-altitude mountaineering as well as sections on yoga and rafting.
On the 24th, we departed for the village of Song, which would be our jumping off point for the trek. This is also the spot where we met our porters, Lalu and Raju. Now Lalu and Raju are not your ordinary porters, no siree. In fact, they are ponkeys. Never heard of a ponkey? It's actually a mule, but we decided that ponkey (pony + donkey) was a much more appropriate and slightly more regal term. And since the ponkeys were carrying our tents, much of our food, and many of our sleeping bags, we were very fond of the two proud ponkeys.
Trekking! - OR - Finally, this long-winded bastard gets to the point
Our actual trek would last for nine days, from Song leading through a handful of small Himalayan villages up to a spot known as Zero Point near the Pindari Glacier; elev, something high, but not too high. We stopped for chai often in small teahouses along the route, ate most of our meals in teahouses near our campsites where we dined on purri, parantha, dal, rice, porridge, sabji, and occasionally aloo or palak. (If you're not sure what these dishes are, I strongly encourage you to engage in some experiential education by going to dine at your local Indian restaurant.) In addition, we carried our own whisperlite stoves and fuel - okay, so it was the ponkeys who did the bulk of the carrying, but I had a fuel bottle in my pack - which enabled us to cook important things like birthday cakes or spicy pasta. For a tasty treat, purified water was added to brownie mix, sans the stove, for a delectable dessert known as brownie slurry.
We ran into very few westerners throughout the trek and learned a great deal about the Himalayan villages and overall Indian culture as we visited each area. In general, our travel days were short, hiking only four to five hours, which left time to explore the villages where we settled each night and drank more chai.
As we started out, the forests were relatively sparse with widespread deforestation resulting from the clearing of land for steppe farming. But as we went deeper into the mountains and higher up the valleys, we walked through rich oak and rhododendron forests and an increasingly dense under story. We spotted lots of animals along the way - both wild and domesticated - including cows, water buffalo, dogs, cows, monkeys, ponkeys, goats, cows, and more cows. And lots of dung. There were many birds, with the large vultures being the most recognizable from a distance, as well as a variety of songbirds. My favorites were the magpies, with their long tail feathers.
The weather was fantastic. As expected, we had very clear nights and mornings, with some cloud cover only building up in the early to mid afternoons. Of course, the clouds did bring with them some rain, a little snow, and once, a brief hailstorm. Sometimes we hiked in the weather, some times we ducked into a chai shop to escape the precipitation and for important rehydratingcaffinesugaration session.
Speaking of chai, one of the finer points of trekking was “bed tea.” After dinner each night, we would order and set a time for the following morning’s breakfast. But in addition, we set a time for morning bed tea. Each day one of the fantastic people working in the tea shops would come directly to our tents, and deliver a piping hot cup of chai right to our beds. Coupled with crystal clear mountain views, there is no better way to welcome each brand new day. Okay, maybe hot chocolate had a slight advantage to chai, but I had to make that myself.
The scenery climaxed at Zero Point* and the Pindari Glacier, where we day hiked up from our highest campsite to get a relatively close view of some very large alpine glaciers from a neighboring ridge top. From here, we had stunning 360 degree panoramas of high peaks, day and night, as the nearly full moon illuminated the snowcaps quite well! At times the size of the mountains was truly unfathomable. We had hiked up for days and days, increasing our elevation to somewhere around 12 or 13,000 feet, and we were absolutely nowhere near the tops of the nearby mountains.
*Q: What/where is Zero Point?
A: Zero Point is a relatively arbitrary spot where either the Indian or British surveyors began measuring distance in the Pindari river valley back towards the more populated villages from which we had come; i.e. the trail markers start at 0km or Zero Point, and increase as one walks out of the valley.
In addition to hiking and drinking chai all day long, we also enjoyed a creative writing seminar and a glacier talk, both led by Jaime, as well as an Ayurvedic medicine 101 class led by Elaine. However, I'm not sure what Madhu did other than make funny faces in our cameras, tell little white lies and listen to his radio. Actually, Madhu was our only Hindi speaker and as a native Indian, he provided tremendous insight into the villages and Hindu culture. His was more of an ongoing lesson that had no beginning nor end, it just went on throughout the trek. Madhu also ordered our meals and our chais. We love Madhu.
Zero Point and Baba Ji Without question, the highlight of our trip was the combination of both spectacular nature and intensive cultural interaction when we stayed with Baba Ji, our host for three nights at Zero Point. Baba Ji, the name literally translates to "Holy Man," is a devout Hindu from southern India who moved to Zero Point by himself for meditation and prayer in solitude, which he has done in this extremely harsh, mountainous environment for the last 17 years or approximately half of his lifetime.
The Pindari valley is close to the sacred peak, Nanda Devi (7816m), the tallest mountain that stands entirely in India (Kanchenjunga in India is higher and is the third highest in the world, but it straddles the India/Nepal border just as Everest straddles the Nepal/Tibet,China border). In any case, Nanda Devi is a sacred peak representing the goddess Durga, and Baba Ji began meditating in a small cave formed by a rock outcropping in the area and he has since built a small temple around the cave which he invited us into nightly to witness his evening puja or prayers and to discuss some of his thoughts on meditation, Hinduism, and yoga. Of course, we also had fun just gossiping about prior NOLS students who had come through the area.
You see, one of the first NOLS groups that came through the Zero Point area in the early 1990's was led by Kutty (you remember him ... the branch/twig director living in Ranikhet). When the weather turned sour, Baba Ji wandered out from his temple and invited the NOLS class to take shelter (and of course to have chai) in his kitchen. Now every single NOLS India group that travels through the Pindari valley meets and stays with Baba Ji.
Over the years Baba Ji has also built gardens, a small residence, a kitchen, and a guestroom adjacent to his temple. From what I can tell, he's also built up a cadre of disciples who help maintain the place and help him with correspondence to nearby villages and cities. However, as winter sets in at the higher elevations, Baba Ji is the only person staying up at Zero Point. Though a few Indians made pilgrimages to his temple during our stay, just to walk up and make puja at the temple, to see Zero Point, and to turn back around.
Despite all these descriptions, I'm definitely not capturing the bright smile and rich character that is Baba Ji. So let me cut to the chase here. Baba Ji, in my unprofessional opinion, is a living, human version of yoda. He stands just about my same height, but with a smaller frame. After all, the man almost never eats - he mostly cooks for others - and spends much of his time either meditating or stays busy maintaining his gardens and temple. By day, Baba Ji is a true comic, laughing and playing games with his visitors. He literally overstuffed us on a regular basis, offering "more purri?" repeatedly, beyond our heart's or stomach's, content. In fact, whenever one of us would cave in to eat one more of his wonderfully fried dough purris, he would invariably slip two onto our plates. This is after we've already eaten a full bowl of rice and vegetables. I once acquiesced, "okay Baba Ji. I'll take TWO purris, please." He gave me three. One trekker, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, didn't want to hurt Baba Ji's feelings by refusing an offering so she ate purri after purri only to vomit ten minutes after breakfast. She wasn't sick, just stuffed.
Okay, you've got a glimpse of Baba Ji's humor. But come evening time, he would transform into the wise Hindu Holy Man, first by blowing his conch shell loudly to the hills in order to eliminate bad energy from the area. Thus began his evening puja, followed by a night of meditation. His devotion is unwavering, and he takes on a much more serious tone in his quiet temple under the light of candles and the smell of incense.
Now when I say Baba Ji is like yoda, I'm not talking about the yoda from these recent crappier star wars movies. I refer only to yoda when we first met him back in 1980 in the Empire Strikes back. Frank Oz at his best, when he was regularly bouncing back and forth between muppet characters for a profession and made the occasional cameo (Spies Like Us). Yoda was a funny old pestering green goblin before you found out, a few scenes later, that he was an aged and wise jedi master. That's a lot like Baba Ji, except that he's in his mid-thirties and as far as I can tell, can't necessarily raise an X-Wing fighter out of a swamp. But maybe he's never tried. In any case, he does not divulge the full truth of his meditation practices, which includes staring directly into the sun for some time, to his doctor or to Kutty. Dear reader, please join in concert and keep this knowledge a private secret. As many of you know, I'm not so good at keeping secrets. For god's sake, I just put one on my blog!
Heading Home As great as our stay was at Zero Point, I think many of us would admit that we were looking forward to the warmer weather promised by a return to lower elevation. The nights at zero point were actually dipping below the zero point on celsius thermometers, while we slept. So we headed back down the Pindari valley through the villages of Dwahli and Kahte, the same villages from which we had emerged a few days prior. Only something had changed. Somehow, in just a matter of hours really, autumn had advanced dramatically. The sloping foothills of the Himalaya were covered in yellows, oranges, and browns. The leaves fell. It was truly majestic. Were it not for the serious head cold I had just contracted, requiring me to vacate my sinuses on a regular basis, it might have been the most peaceful time of the journey. I enjoyed it, despite the sniffles. All the while, we drank more chai while the ponkeys carried our belongings. Even I had given up my sleeping bag and fuel bottle at this point, thanks to my head/chest cold and the addition of a slight fever. Welcome to India.
Two days removed from Zero Point, in the village of Kahte, we headed out a different valley from our entry route and enjoyed our final up-close Himalayan views from the village of Soupi, where we camped outside of a small temple with an amazing vista of the villages below. The next morning, now the 2nd of November, we were met by two jeep drivers that would return us to Ranikhet (via the town of Bageshwar for lunch at King Cong Cafe, where I had my first taste of Mattar Paneer in India, which is my favorite Indian dish). We had one more night at Hotel Mountain View before a combo jeep/train trip back to Delhi, where the trip would officially end.
Parting Ways Though our trip was short, the eight of us enjoyed a great experience together (I think even for NOLS Instructors, these alumni trips are a welcome respite from the otherwise physically demanding aspects of full courses; Madhu tells me his usual Himalayan Mountaineering pack weighs in excess of 90lbs. Again, god bless the ponkeys). We stuck together for a few more meals in Delhi, some shopping commenced, and we enjoyed a half-day tour of the city before the course was finally over. I am very thankful to have met such a great group of people for my introduction to India and for a memorable trek through the Himalaya mountains and villages.
Thanks for reading this far, and now you can understand why my initial blog postings were delayed, as I was quite removed from internet access during my initial weeks in India. So
Coming Soon ... In our next adventures, join David, Holli, and Trish as they embark on a tour of India's "Golden Triangle," including 1.
New Delhi as mentioned this was the final day of the NOLS course, 2.
Agra home of the Taj Mahal and 3.
Jaipur, the Capital of the state of Rajasthan ... along with a side trip to Keoladeo Ghana National Park and bird sanctuary.
CLASSIC INDIA - the power just went out, so I have to log off because we're on a generator with only 5 minutes back up ... I'll be back to add photos and a map ...
I’m back now, many hours later, and just came from my second meal of Mattar Paneer in India (fantastic, once again) and a sweet lassi with tandoori rotis and garlic naan. Anyhoo, our internet connection is painfully slow in this town, so I've only added the one photo to this blog entry, but all my photos are on that yahoo page. I may add some photos to this entry later, supposedly the next town I'm headed for has broadband. Hope you enjoy!
PS - go Colts ... 9-0 for the second straight year, of course we were 13-0 last year. Also, I found
another site about the Pindari Trek with earlier pictures from the area and more Baba Ji!
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gretchen seifert
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way to go, david! facinating. stay well, gretchen