My first exploratory trek in Himalayas #3: final part - The Summit Climb (LONG POST + PHOTOS)

Dear friends,

In my previous posts, I had narrated about first 4 days of journey passing through various beautiful landscapes to reach the campsite of Devbhasa en route our hike to alpine lake Bharadsar Tal that is located at an altitude of 4000m in Himalayan ranges.

If you have missed my first two episodes of Himalayan trek, please read
My first exploratory trek in Himalayas #1 and
My first exploratory trek in Himalayas #2

This episode will continue with the summit climb, be the last and final one. It will be a long post but will be adventurous. Give it a read 😊

Day 5: Trek from Devbhasa to Baradsar lake

This is the summit climb and is undoubtedly the toughest stretch along the entire trek. There are two ways we could hike the Bharaadsar ridge. A longer but easier route and a shorter but steeper route. We decided to take the shorter route as informed by local trek guide not knowing the challenges ahead. So, we set off early morning from Devbhasa towards the direction of Bharadsar meadow before the sun even rose over the snow-capped mountains.

Morning rays sweeping across the snow-capped mountains

As we kept gaining altitude, mountains seemed much closer and views were just getting better!

View down, villages seem tiny and houses small enough to be toys

Stop at cliff for a quick snap

Snowcapped mountains are so close now, yet so far!

Not for faint hearted people, not at all!

After continuing our hike through these stunning landscapes for nearly 4 hours, we reached to a cross over point or the ridge on top of a mountain. Here we encountered first feel of snow and from here the Bharadsar meadow was nearly 3 hours climb.

The path traversed until now

Like a painting on canvas!

First feel of snow on the other side of ridge

Little did we know the next stretch is going to be so challenging. Our way forward was through the stone boulders with snow and as we proceeded, the boulders were getting larger and more snow. This situation can be awfully dangerous, as we could end up placing our leg wrongly to slip and get in-between boulders resulting in twisting our leg!

Way ahead trough boulders with patches of snow

The final stretch was a climb to the top of the ridge and then we could see our destination from there, but we were not there yet.

Final stretch to the top of ridge

Once we reached the top of the ridge we could see Bharaadsar Lake at a distance and that was the WOW moment! An incredible creation at 4000 meters above the sea level left us all gobsmacked! It is a small lake located in between the mountains and was partly frozen. The temperature around was spine chilling cold and quick changes in the weather is a typical phenomenon at those high altitudes!

The picture below is not very sharp as there were thick clouds covering the area.

View of Bharadsar valley and lake at a distance (Sadly clouds decided to photobomb! 😃)

Untouched beauty- The Bharadsar Lake approx. 4000 m altitude

As it was already late afternoon, we had no chance of making it down back to the base camp Devbhasa Knowing that spending a night at Bharadsar Lake would be much harder due to extreme cold, situation left us with no option but to pitch a tent at Lakeside. In addition to the cold weather, there was a dearth of water, the only way was to melt the snow and drink it before it turns back to snow! We fortuitously had carried some firewood and fuel along. This was enough for us to melt ice and to cook some noodle soup for the supper 😊

Our tents at Bharadsar Valley

As we all were tired, an hour after dinner we decided to call it a day and take some rest (I say rest because we could forget about sleep. At these high altitudes, nights are mostly sleepless. We take some rest and wait for the dawn. The sub-freezing temperatures and the gushing of winds make it hard to get any good sleep!)

Day 6: Trek from Bharadsar lake back to Dev Bhasa to Upper Rehala

After waking up early had a cup of tea and explored the place around for a while enjoying the early morning sun before saying final good bye to the Bharaadsar lake. We started planning our return journey that would begin with climbing down to Devbhasa and then taking another way down to Upper Rehala that was quite steep down. This way is not recommended for climbing up as it would be much exhausting.

View of Bharadsar Valley from the ridge. You could see our camping tents camouflaged as you go down the valley

Mountain flowers on the way

Splendid view from one of the ridges!

With all the joy, we start our descent towards Devbhasa. It was a 3-hour long journey back, but that feeling of contentment was in me and was happy to walk back after being at the summit to witness this wonderful lake.

Way back home!

We reached back to Devbhasa early afternoon. Had some snacks and took rest before heading towards the second phase of descent from Devbhasa to the village of Upper Rehala. The first stretch of this descent was the same trial until we reached Dhal dhar which took around an hour and from Dhal dhar we took another way down through the stone and rocky trail for a couple of hours. This was hard as it took a toll on our legs while getting down. Only hard part while descent was the amount of load on our legs in comparison to climbing up, it was for the whole body. Nevertheless, we made it carefully till the end of the rough patch before we entered the pine forest (altitude approx.3000 m). The descent from here was relatively easier, it was with slow gradual descent through the dense pine forests for next couple of hours until we came to some sort of clearings, see some wild beautiful horses, the hurdle of sheep, some mountain huts before we finally arrive at terraced farmland on the mountain slopes. I could sense civilization, after nearly a week in Solitude!

Wild horses on the way

Shadowfox from Lord of the rings? In golden brown 😊

View from a mountain hut

We decided to camp just above the village amidst these green terraced farms. The villagers had everything they needed for survival, these tiny little mountain huts as a shelter with a beautiful backdrop, they grew their own fresh vegetables, wheat had livestock like cattle, sheeps and horses. They had handsome Shepard dogs to look after and protect this livestock from being slayed by tigers or leopards. Such a simple beautiful life it is! very close to nature away from worries and wants of city life. Such a small world. Believe me, they are happy there. They seem to be content with their life and that’s all matters! I am happy to be there and spend some part of my life in this beautiful place with these people. That’s why I love mountains, it is about every tiny little thing of a journey that moves me.

The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and feeling good by thinking about the whole journey until now. I was tired as it was a steep walk down all the way from summit and legs had taken a toll by then. The altitude here was noticeably less and was 2700m, a bit higher than first-day campsite along the Rupin River that I have mentioned in my earlier articles.

Day 7: Upper Rehala to Sankri via Jhakhol

After a good rest the previous night, we were up by 8:00 and started our final descent. As we had a tough day walking down previous day, we could afford to rest a bit more and not be up very early. Also, the final day target was not much. We bid adieu to the village and to the villagers to start our journey again.

En route to the village

Kids from the village on our way down

The way downhill at the beginning was an easy walk for an hour before we passed through water stream. Pure mountain water that flows down its way to join other streams to form a river.

Sun rays making its way through the droplets

Water streams on our way down

We continued our walk enjoying water streams and filling up as much as needed. After walking for another couple of hours we reached banks of Obra River, as I informed all these tiny streams combine to flow together as a river, stronger and powerful.

We refreshed ourselves in a lone tea shop on the banks of the river before continuing our journey along the river. Obra river flows further to join the Rupin River that I mentioned before and in the first article. After freshening, we walked approximately three hours to reach the village of Jhakol. Ah, finally I could hear the sound of a motor, I could see electricity lines, I could charge my mobile phone, small shops selling candies and newspapers and I could see the road for vehicles. Although it was mud road, few Jeeps could drive through. Finally, we had reached a small village with few hundred inhabitants and had a road that was connecting them to some bigger villages. Not all vehicles could drive, as the road to next bigger village was a real roller-coaster drive!

We hired a Jeep to drive to the town of Sankri where our accommodation for the final day was planned. It was approximately 16 kms drive but took a good 1 hour to reach there. We had a government hostel booked to stay overnight. After 7 days, it was good to be back to little comfort, thankfully there were dormitory beds and hot showers. We relaxed the night here talking, recollecting memories and hearing individual experiences from the whole trek. It was a different world for a week, the mind was so content with the feeling of accomplishment! 😊

Twilight from our Hostel at Sankri

The next morning, we drove our way back to Dehradun where we all met for the first time. Everyone was tired but I should say it was just wonderful and will stay forever in my heart as my first exploratory trek in the Himalayas. We made new friends and friends for life. The time flew like in the blink of an eye, it was time to leave everyone and go back to our mundane corporate life. We assured each other that we do treks together again and everyone dispersed with heavy hearts. Because, I was not ready to go back. The Himalayas had so much of an influence on me. I consoled myself by saying it is just a beginning and I will come here again and again in coming years.

No matter how hard it was, an experience for life time. Invariably one of my best treks in the Himalayas 😊 If we had all the comfort, I would never have experienced all these. Experience teaches us lessons for life. Never knew exploratory trek can be so much fun. At times, we were lost and later found, everyone has a responsibility in a team from GPS marking, documenting, carrying utensils, water, food etc. A saying that comes to my mind goes like ‘You have to get lost to find yourself in life’ I felt the same and this experience will be embraced all my life!

I hope you all liked my story and thanks for reading. Lastly, I have to admit that this was just a beginning and I have done more treks in the Himalayas as it is like an obsession. Will share other experiences sometime in my future posts. It never disappoints me! 😊

Thanks for reading my post. Hope you enjoyed the whole journey.
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Chaithra Bhat