My First Himalayan Trek

Presenting below: my daughter's first blog...

I, Smriti, 13, would like to share some of the experiences about my first Himalayan Trek to Vijaya Top (in Uttarakhand). This was a very much awaited trip for me which was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Trekking for me seemed easier than my school subjects as I have done most of the peaks in the Southern states of India. So the only challenge I guess must be the Altitude & Temperature in the Himalayas.

 

The trek was arranged by a group called KARNATAKA HIKES and we came to know about them through my mother’s friend. Finally the day came when my tickets were booked and I received my COVID-Negative certificate.
My parents dropped me at the airport to join the other 8 members of the team along with a trek leader. Two advantages as I see from here: one is that I have one familiar face in the group; Stuti (my mother’s friend’s daughter) and second, I have the experience of staying away from my parents.

 

The flight journey went peaceful and nice with all the COVID protocols in place. Once we landed in Dehradun, we met the other two trek leaders.
The journey towards Sankri was a cool and breezy one. I loved the scenery of the first base camp, Himri, as it was situated next to a river. That evening, I learnt a new thing known as TENT PITCHING. It was pretty fun and also would be helpful in the future.

 

Meanwhile, I saw a person little far by, tying a rope to a tree branch. I wondered what he must be doing and didn’t pay much attention to him. But then, I heard that we were going to do an activity called JUMARING, for which that person was tying a rope. This activity was basically to lift our own body weight through the rope tied up on the tree. I successfully completed the activity. It was fun.

 

The second day, after a tasty breakfast, we headed towards the second base camp, Sarutal. This path was kind of steep and not much greenery was seen as we trekked closer. “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect”. Trees were bent in weird ways, and they still look beautiful. Even though I am a nature lover, I can’t expect greenery to be everywhere. So I waited calmly, and as we reached the Sarutal Base camp, I was so excited to see lovely scenery in front of me. 

 

 

At first, I did not believe that this would be our base camp. I was so happy when we were told that we have completed the first day of the trek. We saw some local kids and clicked a few pictures with them. In the evening, we went for an activity called RAPLING. This was very easy and fun at the same time for me. Later, we had some Maggi and soup for dinner.

 

The third day started with some meditation and green tea. The day’s target was to reach our third base camp, Badang. This time during the trek, we played some music. As we were walking, there was a big area which had all rocks and mud fallen down. This was actually the place where the landslide had occurred in Uttarakhand in 2013. We had to cross the area from one side to the other. My mind was totally blank while crossing. Somehow, we crossed the area. As we were about to reach the top, we found some snow scattered in places. All of us played for a while and continued trekking. Finally we reached the third base camp, also known as the base camp for Vijaya Top.

 

 
The view from the top was amazing. I personally loved the day’s trek because it had a lot of water spots, beautiful views and wasn’t much tiring, may be because of the music. We had a great time and in the evening we were ready for an activity called ZIPLINE. I had done this activity in a lot of places before, but this was my favorite among all. After all the activities, we had dinner with a campfire set in front of us.

 

The next and final day of the trek, all of us woke up early, had breakfast and started the trek. At first, I felt it very difficult to climb as I was not able to tolerate the cold, and also I had a runny nose. For a while I thought I wouldn’t make it to the summit but I got a lot of motivation from the trek leaders. As the sun came out, I felt little better. I was a bit late to reach the summit. To be honest, I did not realize that this was such a big achievement until we clicked pictures with the banner saying VIJAYA TOP ACCOMPLISHED, 12467 ft. I felt so happy and proud of myself at that time and so were the others. We played with snow and headed back to the base camp. 

 

As the saying goes “There is no WIFI in the mountains, but you will find a better connection”, I made new friends as well as lovely memories and each moment spent with the team is a memorable one. Even though I am an introvert, the people in the team made me comfortable and I cannot forget all the laughter and time spent over there. Usually I am very careless about things and don’t maintain my stuff properly. But in this journey of 10 days, I found a new me. I kept my things organised and learned the value of time sense. I am grateful to my parents who allowed me to experience this wonderful journey.

 

The main highlights of this trek were the beautiful sceneries, snow peaked mountains which were seen from far, and the nights spent with my friends in the tent. I would like to thank all the trek leaders, local guides and not to forget the cooking staff for some delicious food they cooked for us. Last but not the least; thanks to the whole team of KARNATAKA HIKES for organising and flawless execution of the trek. This journey is and will be one of the best memories in my life. Hope to add many more like these.
 

“IT IS NOT THE MOUNTAIN WE CONQUER BUT OURSELVES.” – Edmund Hillary

Photo Credits: KARNATAKA HIKES

 

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Summer Trip 2021

As the COVID was playing spoilsport on our travel to other states this summer, we planned a repeat of our 2011 trip, just to show our daughter some of the finest places in Karnataka.

Day 1: Bangalore to Dandeli – 480 Kms
With night curfew in place from 10pm to 5 am, we delayed our start from home & managed to leave by 4:30 am. As we took the Outer Ring Road to reach NH48, we could see a lot of vehicles plying on the road. We reached the Peenya flyover at the right time when the cops removed the barricades and allowed traffic on the flyover. Around 7 am, we stopped for breakfast at Chitradurga and then drove on the highway for another 175 Kms. We followed Google Maps that took us through some beautiful villages & some bad roads. Finally we were into the forest area where we could breathe some COVID-free air. The drive was awesome & we followed the map to reach our homestay by 11:30 am.

 

 

The place was isolated from the Dandeli town & had the rooms on the edge of a stream, amidst a betel farm. To our surprise there was water in the stream & the surrounding was filled with greenery. Adding to that, we were told that it rained for the last 2 days.

 

Relaxing a bit in the room post-lunch, we left to the Moulangi eco-park that is 7 Kms away. The eco-park had some huge trees with nice arrangements to sit & relax in groups. We saw many groups, some enjoying their meal in large numbers & some playing in the river. We walked through the length of the park that ran parallel to the Kali River. As it began to drizzle, we left the place and drove around the Dandeli town before reaching our homestay. We then strolled through the stream at our backyard, crossed it at the shallow place & reached a small bridge there. After spending some time there, we reached back the dining area for tea just before it started raining heavily.

 

On chatting with the estate manager, he told that a lot of birds would visit the place just after the monsoon and he has seen some wild animals including a black panther that come to quench their thirst in the stream. I too got to shoot some birds.

Day 2: Dandeli – 40 Kms
Going on a safari is one of the activity people can do in Dandeli. As we had been to many safaris, we skipped that. After breakfast, we were ready for some water activities. We took some reference from the estate manager & reached the Adventure Zone. We did some Kayaking & Rafting in the Kali River and had a great time playing in the water under that hot sun. 

 

 

On enquiry we also came to know that there are other places to do long range rafting that runs up to 1.5/5.5/12.5 Kms. My wife & I were sharing our rafting experience with our kid done in Teesta River, Sikkim some 9 years back.
We returned back for lunch to the home stay, took rest & then went to play in the stream in the evening.

Day 3: Dandeli to Kudle – 150 Kms
This morning we could sight some peacocks near (& flying across) the stream. As it was Ugadi day, the workers in the kitchen turned up late after finishing pooja in their houses.
After a late breakfast, we checked-out and headed to our next destination. We followed back the same forest path & then some ghat roads, followed by some villages alongside a river and finally reached our resort near Kudle beach. We finished our lunch in the resort & relaxed a bit as it was getting very hot.

 

 

In the evening, we visited the famous Gokarna Mahabaleshwara Swami Temple that opened at 5pm. Our daughter patiently listened to the history of the temple: the Atma Linga-Ravana-Ganesha story. So a temple visit on Ugadi day was also satisfied.
After having some tea & snacks in that Gokarna beach, we came back to our resort for some fun time in the beach. The beach was just adjacent to the resort and we played there till dark. Later we enjoyed a nice dinner at one of the sea-view restaurants along the Kudle beach.

Day 4: Kudle
We got up late this morning & after a leisure breakfast headed to the famous Om beach. Until I showed the shape of the beach, my daughter didn’t understand why it was called Om beach.
There was a boat service available that took us to the adjacent beaches. We took the boat along with some 15 other people there. We were shown the Half-moon beach, Paradise beach, Tadri light house and finally a glimpse of Nirvana beach from a distance. We even got to see some dolphins near the Om beach.

 

Flashback: This Om beach was so special for us because we watched the 2011 World Cup (IND vs SL) Final match LIVE on TV in a small shop cum house. That time there were no ONLINE apps, I guess.

Flashback over…
We walked along the beach for quite a long time, did some photo-shoot, had lunch at a restaurant there & then came back to our rooms. As is was too hot, we relaxed till it was cool in the evening & then again went to play in the beach till dark.

Day 5: Kudle to Murudeshwar via Yana – 130 Kms
The day started with an early check-out from the resort. Before reaching the highway, we finished our breakfast in a small town just after Gokarna in order to get ready for some physical activity. Around 8:30 am, we reached the parking of Yana Rocks/Caves. It was getting hot & we were already sweating after walking for some 10 mins. As it was her first time, my daughter was puzzled as where the rocks/caves are?  After walking into the vegetation, coming across some streams and a temple finally there comes a place where you see a set of huge black rocks in a blue background. The sight was awesome.

 

 

Furthermore climbing will lead you to the Yana rocks; where there is a temple at the base & a cave behind. We visited the temple & went around the cave to get more exhausted, luckily there was a small shop where we had some fresh lime soda. The sun was shining bright before noon that we all were wet with sweat.

 

 

Slowly we walked to the parking & then recreated a pose as in a 10 year old photo. My daughter clicked it so well to match it perfectly.

 

2011 vs 2021

We left Yana, reached the highway & headed to see one of the largest Shiva statues. I have shown the pictures of the statue & the gopuram of Murudeshwar to my daughter many times. As we drove past the temple to our hotel, she was surprised to see the actual size of both of them in real.

 

We checked into the hotel, freshened up, ordered lunch & then relaxed a bit as the temple was closed at noon time.  In the evening when the sun was a bit cooler, we went to the temple. Firstly, we went on top of the gopuram to have a majestic view of the statue & the surroundings.

 

After darshan, we went to the Shiva statue, underneath which there were statues/pictures depicting the stories between Gokarna & Murudeshwar.  We spent some time in the beach before retiring back to our hotel.

 

Day 6: Murudeshwar to Udupi – 120 Kms
It was nice to wake up to the sound of the waves of Arabian Sea with a huge Shiva statue sitting tall in the middle of it. We checked out leisurely & after having breakfast on the way, we headed to Udupi through the NH66. In no time we reached the beautiful place called Maravanthe, where you can see the Sauparnika River, road & sea adjacent to each other.

 

 

We spent some time there to take pictures & then headed to Aanegudda Vinayaka temple that was on the way.

 

 
We then headed to check-in to our pre booked hotel in Udupi & finished our lunch in the restaurant there. After relaxing a bit in the room, we started to the Malpe shipping yard for a ferry ride. As soon as we parked the car, the ticket counter guys told us to hurry up as the ferry was ready to leave. We boarded the ferry that already had 30-40 people in it. Our daughter was excited when we said that we are going to an Island. As the ferry left the narrow water way into the sea, I showed her the famous St. Mary’s Island that was 4.5 Kms away. She was excited to visit an Island for the first time. We reached the Island after sailing into the ocean for about 30 mins. 

 

 

The boatman gave us an hour to spend in the Island & informed us that it was the last ride back. We walked down to the other side of the island to see crystal clear water with no sand, but only pebbles on the beach. Many of the co-passengers collected the pebbles may be for their aquarium. The unique rocks added more beauty to the beach. A lot of pictures were taken in & around the beach to spend the allotted 1 hour.

 

Finally we all got in to the boat & sailed back to the Malpe harbour.  The remaining evening was spent on the nearby Malpe beach till sunset.

 

Later we reached our hotel & went out to a nearby restaurant for an early dinner as night curfew was in place from 9 pm.

Day 7: Udupi to Bangalore – 430 Kms
How can one miss the Krishna temple being in Udupi? So before leaving, we planned to visit the famous Krishna Temple that was nearby our hotel. We were confused about the temple open timing for darshan. But somehow we waited & managed to get into the temple by 7:30 am. We returned back to our room, had our breakfast, changed into our travel attire & headed back home to Bangalore.

 

 

When my daughter asked what time we’ll reach home, I said that our trip is not yet over as I planned to take them to a unique place which I have seen in a couple of Kannada movies. We took a detour to Varanga, where a temple is in the middle of a lake & the only way to reach the temple is by boat. We followed Google Maps & reached Varanga Lake around 10 am. After taking a ticket, the boatman took us in a small boat to the temple where we spent some time & returned back. The lake & temple would be more colourful in/after monsoons.

 

 

Later we drove through the greenery around Agumbe & headed back to Bangalore following Google Maps with a lunch break in Hassan.

At the end of the trip, my girl visited some new places & enjoyed the various/different activities done in the trip: jungle stay, kayaking, rafting, beaches, Island visit, boat ride to some beautiful beaches, trekking, temple visit & its stories and finally the boat ride to the Lake temple. For us seniors, it was almost a revisit to most of the places, but still we never complain to travel together. 

However, we took care to visit the places where COVID rate is least/NIL with safety protocols. Hoping that the situation will get better to explore more places this year.

 

Big Achievement:

By the time I finished this blog, my daughter went many steps ahead to achieve an adventurous feat by climbing the Vijaya Top (12,467 ft) in the Mighty Himalayas with a group of kids under the guidance of "Karnataka Hikes". Definitely, a proud moment for any parent.

 

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