June 2: Got picked up at Dehradun and went by road to Sankri. Being a week end there was heavy traffic at mussoori. The long drive and the breaks for lunch and snacks helped us to get to know the other team members. Reached Sankri late in the evening and after getting refreshed, had dinner at Rinki Bhojanalay. The dogs were very friendly to tourists.
June 3: After a briefing from Mr. Rajmohan, we had a quick breakfast and got into two vehicles along with other equipments like tents, sleeping bags and cooking utensils. After travelling barely more than a kilometer in high sprits, we got a shock when we discovered that the road ahead had been washed away in a thunderstorm the previous night. Fortunately, a few vehicles were trapped on the Taluka side and there was no flowing water across the landslide. We were asked to haul our bags across while the organizers from Renok Adventures consisting of a guide, a cook and his assiatant hauled their equipment across and loaded it on one of the Taluka side vehicles. Since two vehicles had to be combined into one, people had to sit on top and that is what we did !!
After covering the 10 km kutcha (unpaved) road trip, we reached Taluka by 11 AM. Loading the mules and carrying our backpacks, the trek formally started. We soon saw the Tons river. The path was well laid out but kept climbing high and dropping back to the river. We passed the beautiful village of Gangaad. The sun was strong and soon it became difficult to walk. We managed to walk up to 2 PM and had our packed lunch and drank water from the streams. We continued walking till 5 PM until we reached our camp site. It was a small plot of land next to the river and our tents had already been erected. We got tea at 5, soup at 6 and dinner at 7 PM. Since it became dark by 7:30 PM and everyone was tired after the long day and we went to sleep by 9 PM.
4 Jun Mon: Got up early by 5 AM as daylight came through the tent. It was slightly cold but went out for morning ablutions. Got tea at 6 AM and were asked to vacate the tent by 7. Had a quick breakfast of pasta and kheer with dry fruits and black tea. The trek started at 7:30 and two dogs named by me as choco and brownie came with us. Was expecting them to drop off after some distance but they came with us all the way to our destination covering a distance of about 14 km. After some distance we crossed the river over a bridge and continued on the left side. The climb became steeper as we had to gain the altitude. We crossed several streams some with precarious wooden bridges, other over slippery stones and continued till a small hut was reached. Here we had lunch. We continued on and on until we got tired of putting foot before foot. Dinesh was also getting breathless. Our guide Sagar kept urging us by saying ‘Chalo Chalo’ since he wanted us to reach the destination before rain came. Finally, we reached the camp site of Har ki Dun which was next to a river with grass plains studded with flowers and breathtaking views of Bandarpunch range including Kalanag and Swargarohini peaks 1,2 and 3 all of which were over 6000 m above MSL.
5 Jun Tue: Got up at 6 as we did not have to leave the tent and were going exploring the area. The peaks of Bunderpunch 1 and 2 and Kalanag were visible from inside the tent. The river water was laden with silt from the sedimentary rocks and had upset our stomachs. So I decided to skip breakfast and lunch and managed on a few nuts. We then left for a walk towards the Sankri range of mountains. After a steep climb, we descended into another valley with steep slopes on both sides and the river strewn with boulders. It was actually the terminal moraine of a glacier which had retreated considerably due to summer and global warming. Here we found a huge boulder blocking the stream and creating a partial lake with a long sand bank at its centre. We took several pictures here. Some people wanted to reach the snow which was visible closer on the opposite bank but there was no way to cross the stream as it was turbulent. So they decided to go further up the valley. There was a beautiful mountain of the Sankri Range which resembled in outline to Mount Kailas except for the horizontal striations. We reached a patch of snow further up and then returned to our camp by 3 PM.
A man tried to cross the river riding a mule but midway the mule stopped moving and he had to jump into the ice cold water and pull the mule along. In the evening we had tea, soup and dinner of which I skipped the last but had the Gulab jamoons. We went to bed early as a cold wind started to blow outside.
6 Jun Wed: The next day morning was chilly and huge clouds had engulfed the valley and the mountains. As the sun came up the clouds moved up rapidly. Two dogs were playing with each other for almost 20 minutes. A man came carrying a young calf and we soon found the cow searching for it on the opposite bank. He put down the calf so she could see it across. She took the plunge and crossed the river and they were reunited. They waited until a woman came and drove them towards Osla. They passed us several times on the way.
We packed up and started out descent by 7 AM. Fortunately the weather cleared up and sun was in all its fury again. We passed wheat and rice fields but the mules used a route higher up. This time we took the detour to enter Osla as as we neared there were several children. An old woman was carrying a basket full of leaves for their cattle. We saw the old Someshwar (Shiva) temple but it was closed.
The houses had slates stacked up as roof and had walls of wooded columns and runners with the gaps filled with rubble stones. There was a plywood lining on the inside. In one place we found people washing clothes in wooden tubs into which they got into and stamped the clothes with their feet. After the village, there was a steep descent to the river which we crossed over a concrete bridge to reach our camp site. In the evening we played cards.
7 Jun Thu: We continued our descent and sometimes climbed high above the Sabini river only to descend again to its level. I tried to take some pictures with my Nikon but Sagar made me pack up and hurry with his usual ‘Chalo Chalo’ as he was eager to get us to Taluka in time for the limited vehicles available there. At a wooden bridge, he made us stop a while and Phone Ma and others tried to copy the dances in Tamil Films. Later, picked up several stones as momentoes. There was a last steep climb and we had reached Taluka. There was a small tea shop into which we went and some people ate Maggie Noodles. We drank Mountain Dew to quench our thirst as we waited for the vehicle to come back. Eventually, we reached our guest house at Sankri and took ice cold bath after 4 days.
8 Jun Fri: We left Sankri and travelled back to Dehradun but used a different route to avoid the traffic at Musoori.
The Har ki Dun (Valley of God) is beautiful with variety of Himalayan Flowers which remain in memory even to this day. Here are some of the photoes.
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