A walk in the bugyals - part 2

this is the part 2 of the trek report. for part one, pls click here for Part 1



this was an enormous mushroom growing over there.

the fog was coming and going, offering small glimpses of the bugyals above. we were joined by a person who stays in bedni bugyal (at the village council shelter - they have built a shelter in the bugyals also). fianlly, after 45 minutes of a well deserved rest, we decided to move ahead.










check out the size of this mushroom



trishul offered us a glimpse as we were climbing. then it again hid itself behind the clouds.







trishul covered in the fog again.



approaching the bugyals





finally, we reach the bugyals. now it is more of a horizontal walk till the bedni kund..where wecamped for the night.







way to bedni kund.









finally, we reached our campsite for the night - the beautiful lake at bedni kund. the porters erected the tent for us. they would sleep in the small stone hut. we guys just checked out the place for some time. there were many small flowers growing over there. but it was very foggy and we could not see trishul at all.





















it is a bit tough to shoot these flowers .. they r pretty small. need to set the camera to macro mode, no flash.

the fog kept coming and going. however, we were not lucky to sight trishul that evening again.











cozy little tent. but kamal and guttu could not sleep properly. of course, i slept like a log.

dinner was a mixture of rice, dal (lentils) and maggie. it was raining continuously and rained well into the next morning. after dinner, we snuggled into the tents while the porters slept in the huts.

the next morning, i was a bit lazy and got up after 7 am. the 2 ppl who stay there (the village council chaps) made same paranthas for us - in fact, a lot of paranthas. kamal and gittu were to leave for bagubassa while i would go down to wan via ali bugyal. we were hoping that we could catch a glimpse of trishul early in the morning.







The clouds were playing hide and seek. not much chance of seeing the peaks. we got ready and packed up all our stuff.

























just before elaving, kamal went out of the hut to check the views. he suddenly shouted that trishul has come into view. we all rushed outside to check it out. it was partially visible through a small clearing in the clouds and was looking magnificient. i tried to click as many pictures as i could while it was still visible.



















pretty soon, nanda ghunti, which is to the right of trishul also became slightly visible. now check out the next few pics of nanda ghunti. they were taken in a span of 2-3 minutes, in which the fog suddenly cleared around the peaks and we all made the most of the opportunity.



















this is a pic of kaml, me n guttu (l to r) with trishul in the background (very slightly visible).



the village council representative with the porters.



we were lucky to get some more glimpses of the epaks.











pretty soon, it was time to leave. the forest guard over there told kamal and guttu that they need a permit to travel further and the permit can be obtained from wan village (which we left yesterday) :-))))). so these guys had to give him 100 bucks and then they went on their way. i went to ali bugyal with my porter.









pretty soon ali bugyal came into view. it looks very beautiful, both from near and far.

there was a mountain eagle soaring near ali bugyal. i tried to capture it in the following shots. check the centre of the pics for the eagle:























it was time to move ahead now. we had taken enough snaps of the eagle (and ourselves also). i bid good bye to kamal and guttu. they took the path to roopkund and i went to ali bugyal.





ali bugyal loks really beautiful. truly worthy of being the abode of Gods.





the beauty of this place was stunning. so i let my camera click away happily.





















































we took a nice long break at ali bugyal. then from ali bugyal we had to proceed to wan (via ghairon patal, where we had taken a break to eat maggie the day before).

the shephard at ali bugyal warned us that the path will be full of mud (keechad). it was an understatement. there was no path at all...just mud which was more like a marsh from the previous few days' rains and due to a large amount of cattle walking on it.



























phew, i finally reached back to wan village (at around 4 pm). the pic above is of the wan supermarket.

there was no jeep at wan, so i had to wait for one. we tried to call lohajung by the wireless phone, but it was very difficult to get any reception. there was another thing that had excited the villagers. some nepali migrant labourers had stabbed the manager of a rural bank (in some village next to the pindar river). then they had run off with rs. 1.5 lakhs and were hiding in some caves in the hills. the villagers had surrounded the entrance to the caves and they were flinging stones at each other. they were waiting for the police to coem and take some action. as u can see in the pic above, they were all gathered around the phone in this shop and were ringing up other villages to get a latest view of the situation.

i waited till around 6:30 pm (i had some paranthas and omelette in that time). finally, a jeep came with some passengers, but the driver refused to take me back to lohajung. the porter then told me that another jeep from lohajung will be coming (by a guy named yashpal). he is a decent chap and will take me back. the plan was to catch the 4 am bus from lohajung (it will drop me to rishikesh by 3 pm in the afternoon).

so i decided to take a small nap in one of the waiting rooms.

finally, the jeep came (with yashpal and jaspal, the two brothers) at around 8:15 am. it was raining heavily. there was no electricity, and hardly a road (most of it had been washed away). still, the brothers agreed to take me back to lohajung (for 500 bucks - i had to book the entire jeep). we also phoned lohajung and told the ppl in the panwari lodge that i wopuld be coming, so prepare dinner for me. it would take approx 1 hr from wan to lohajung (the distance is 12 kms, but the route is very very tough - u cannot even see the river that flows in the gorge below during the night. u can just hear the water flowing).

now, the big incident happened. we were driving along with the help of our headlights. it was raining and was pitch dark all around. suddenly a big cat, A LEOPARD JUMPED OUT OF THE BUSHES INTO THE ROAD IN FRONT OF US. OH MY GOD!!!!! IT MUST HAVE BEEN HUNTING IN THE NIGHT WHEN OUR JEEP MUST HAVE appeared out of nowhere. i guess it was as shocked as we were. :-O

it ran for some time in front of the jeep and then jumped down from the road and disappeared in the darkness. it was my first encounter with a big cat in the open jungle (i have seen them in zoos only). also, this was not an elephant safari in a national park without nay protective guides. still, it was an amazing experience - soemthing which i will never forget. i guess u r very lucky (nowadays), if u can spot a big cat in the wild!!!!!


the next day was the last day of the trip. i had to reach haridwar in time to catch a bus to delhi.

there were roadblocks. so we lifted a broken tree (from the stem) and threw it below to clear the path. at another place, where the broken tree was too big, i crossed over to the other side and caught a jeep.

the remaining pics r taken from various places - towns n villages, as i travelled from lohajung to rishikesh. that is how i spent my independence day. phew, it was an exhausting trip.















































phew....completed this blog :-)