MY VACATION TO THE VALLEY OF GODS

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MY VACATION TO THE VALLEY OF GODS:
Gangotri - Gaumukh: SEPTEMBER 2009.

After doing the Kedar Badri trip last year I decided to wander to the valley of Gods to offer my tarpan at the Gamukh on the auspicious Mahalaya day.
My settling down base at Rishikesh had the purpose to wander around the Himalayas when ever time permits. Last year I had the privilege of enjoying the door closing ceremony of the Kedarnath temple and the ceremonial surrounding the carrying down of the idol to Ukhimath on 30th October.

On 16th September 2009 early morning I set out from my Rishikesh home. Just few days back only came back from the high seas and after spending few memorable days with wife and the two sons decided to venture out alone as all were busy with their respective schools. I had already decided to venture out on public transport only. So took a Mahindra Maxx share taxi from the stands at Natraj chowk in Rishikesh for Uttarkashi. The weather was magnificent, bright sunshine and a tinge of chill in the air. The trekker as usual delayed in picking up people for the road till it was bursting out. However I managed to get a front seat and as the journey started meandering through the hills the beauty of the hills took away all the initial resentments.

Day-1 : Rishikesh-Uttarkashi (148 kms)
The journey from Rishikesh took me through the towns of Narendranagar, Ampata, Nagni onto Chamba, the dominion of clouds. Though the town is just a gateway to the beauty behind the hills Chamba itself is a great place to unwind for few days. The breathtaking view of the Himalayas just gives an indication of what lies ahead. After hours of uphill road suddenly you find yourself descending into a huge reservoir of water, created by the tehri dam. The road after chamba meanders around the mountains and descends onto a circular, stadium like valley, dropping as low as 900 mtrs above sea level.

The trekker dropped me at the town taxi stand. On my request he was kind enough to drop me at the Monal Guest house. Here i would like to make a special mention of Mr. Deepinder Panwar, owner of the guest house. He is a local guy and has transformed the residence they used to live into a wonderful guest house. I had decided to stay at his place and enjoy the town for the day. Of course he was kind enough to keep my permit ready for the Gamukh visit. As Gamukh falls in the Gangotri National park a permit is required from the DFO to visit the place. After keeping my bagpack at my room i decided to trek to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering about 5 km from Monal. The NIM was a pleasant destination with the Himalayan Museum giving out lot of knowledgeable stuff.

Day-2 : Uttarkashi-Gangotri (100 kms) & At Gangotri (3046m).
NH-108 begins at Dharasu and passing through Uttarkashi goes to Gangotri. Mr Panwar was kind enough to drop me at the taxi stand. However this time i was not so lucky and had to settle for a back seat. The taxi was not so packed. The road was not so good and at many places was really dreadful. Without a four wheel drive SUV its better to rent out a car, not to spoil ones own car. Also the beauty of the road and surrounding is so awe-inspiring its better to give the driving job to someone else. On the way we crossed Maneri, Bhatwari, Gangnani, Harshil, Dharali and Bhaironghati. At Harshil expected to get some good apple but the crop has been too bad this year. As the trekker kept passing the towns the view became really majestic. However with a huge army camp at Harshil besides the river one wondered if all were ok at the northern front.

Maneri was a scenic place mainly for its lake formed from the water discharged by the dam constructed over Bhagirathi River. I also liked the Harsil area with Bhagirathi flowing peacefully; The road journey from Lanka to Gangotri was very scenic. Here onwards, Bhagirathi river was in full force finding its way through rocks and gorges. One of the deep Bhagirathi gorges was in the vicinity of Bhaironghati. The foot bridge could be seen from the road and sends a great feeling of adventure. Reached gangotri at around noon time and checked into the GMVN guest house. I visited the Gourikund falls of Bhagirathi river. It was interesting to see Bhagirathi river suddenly taking a plunge like a waterfall, flows through a narrow gorge and settle in a pond before moving further. The entire area around Gaurikund fall was very cold and windy. The evening was spent in offering puja after a bath at the ghats. The Aarti was also nice, however not the solemnity and grandeur associated with the ones in Haridwar or Rishikesh.

Day-3 : Gangotri-Chirbasa-Bhojbasa (3792m, 14kms trek).
I decided to keep my luggage at the GMVN hotel. Just taking a small bag with some dry fruit and some essential items started my journey at 06:30 hours. I met this Garhwali guy who was also on his way to Bhojbasha for his job at the weather research centre. They are monitoring the weather as well as studying the behaviour of the glacier due the effect of global warming. It was a bright sunny day. As popular custom decrees we made a visit to Ganga Mandir before taking to the pilgrim trail that runs above the temple and begins in the stands of forests at the edge of the road. It is a well maintained road hugging the river on its path, then the forest thins rapidly and one is soon in a landscape of brown and grey, relieved by the stream below and the symmetrical framed view of the mountains in the front. There was hardly any pilgrim on this trek which was well marked with pine trees on the slopes ending at the shores of Bhagirathi river on the right side. Some of the pine trees were lying uprooted on the slopes. In a couple of places on the trekking route, temporary wooden bridges were built over the streams joining Bhagarathi river. As we crossed Chirbasa, the tree lines started depleting and after a couple of kms, the slopes to right were almost barren except for some isolated patches of trees and shrubs. Apart from rampant cutting down the trees for fuel purposes, one of the reasons for depleting tree lines could be the uprooting of trees due to mud slides and rockfalls. The whole valley looked more like a desert. The hills on the cliff side were a mix of mud and pebbles which were fragile. Every year on the start of summer, the trekking path to Bhojbasa gets damaged due to melting of glaciers and accumulated snow which results in mud slide and rockfalls. The name Bhojwasa would suggest that at one point of time, the area was full
of bhoj (birch) trees. In Wandering in the Himalayas - a travelogue of Swami Tapovanam of his travel in the Himalayas during 1920-30s, he had mentioned that "ten or twelve miles up (from Gangotri) there is a forest called Bhoorjavanam (birch trees forest). It is the favorite resort of saints and sages". Surely, once upon a time, Bhojwasa was a forest full of birch trees.

I reached Bhojwasa at around 11.30 hours and after a hot coffee break decided to proceed to Gamukh.
Bhojbasa-Gaumukh (3969m) Trek.
Myself and my Garhwali friend commenced our trek to Gaumukh (4 kms) at around 12.30 hours. The ascend to Gaumukh was gradual which we could complete in about 1.5 hours.
The complete path was laden with rocks, no sign of any snow. At places the Govt. Of India has marked the position of Gamukh at various times of the decade. It was again a bit of disappointment for us to see the muddy water flowing below the glacier. The glacier snout did not resemble that of a cow's mouth. The mud and moraines sliding from glacier getting deposited in around the snout had made the Bhagirathi water muddy.
There was always a speculation about the source of Bhagirathi. There was a view that Gaumukh was not the source of Bhagirathi but it originated somewhere along the sub-glacial path - may be leading to Gangotri glacier itself. Many years before I visited Gaumukh, an European expedition team visited Gaumukh to study the source of Bhagirathi. The team entered the mouth of Gaumukh and walked hundred of metres inside
the sub-glacial grotto with water flowing below the sub-glacier ceiling until the ceiling became so low that they could not walk further.
Here i am standing at the mouth of Shiva’s locks and watching in awesome splendour whether i will be able to witness these again in my next visit or then the glacier will recede further into the Mount Bhagirathi at the back. The temperature was sub zero and in that condition i witnessed the most spectacular marvel of a rishi bathing at Gamukh. I completed my Tarpan and after offering some puja just enjoyed the sheer splendour of the place. The guy with me collected some water for me.

At around 16:30 hours we decided to return back to our camp in Bhojbasha. The view from the GMVN was also breathtaking. There was one Lal Baba ashram around the place and some government establishment like weather department, police chowky and the Army base. Some of the jawans were camping at the GMVN premises. All these tension with China has forced them to come up to gamukh from harshil and set up base. Anyway the evening passed away chitchatting with the locals. Being settled in Rishikesh i knew some of their language and had a good time getting all the details. The GMVN rest house was damaged by an avalanche in 2003 and the rear part of the house was totally damaged. However the sloopy government are yet to get the place repaired. There was no power and the only place you can rest is the dormitory which was having 10 beds and each bed costing 300/-. There was no running water, some stored water kept in drums. As such most people prefer the Lal baba ashram. However in the evening the small generator is switched on for two hours. The food however was too good, comprised some dal, aalu-methi saak and hot chapatti. It was a very cold night at Bhojbasa. The woollen blanket and a thick razai were really insufficient to cope up. However my sleeping bag sufficed. A gentleman was experiencing some breathing problem due to sleeping at a high altitude (3800+ m) with low oxygen.

Day-4 : -Gamukh-Gangotri Trek and Uttarkashi drive.
After morning tea at Bhojbasa, i commenced my return trek to Gangotri alone which took me about 4 hours to complete. Thereafter taking a trekker i commenced my return journey with a night halt at Monal guest house in Uttarkashi reached Rishikesh next day to a warm bath and some home food.........
Planning started for the next visit to Kedarnath Badrinath in October with my family....

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