Dine with the Himalayas - Amarnath Trek

It was just another day at office, myself, pattu, sunil, ravi, vishwa were chatting at our usual adda post lunch at cafeteria. Well, the topic of dicussion was to decide and plan for rafting...where, when? abruptly we decided to go to dhandeli for kali river rafting and action item for me was to check the feasibility. After googling and discussions with friends I got the contacts of the jungle resorts in dhandeli, but upon contacting them we realised that waters in kali is capable of rafting only after september since the waters in the dam has to come up. So now that the dhandeli plan was put on hold until few months hehe....there was some other mission idea revolving around pattu's mind (...kashmir?) which only required a small ignition , was finally done by Suresh (sales suresh.,have to specify to diffrenciate between IT suresh..hehe). Pattu asked me to drop by his desk next day, then I did, he was all with his smiles there...he told me that we have diverted the trip from dhandeli to Himalayas and probably srinagar/amarnath? Are you crazy or what, I replied. But that's no surpise in the team as we have done this couple of times..remember the kodaicanal trip? After this idea was floated we all decided to go to srinagar-amarnath since pattu had already visited once so he can be our tour guide cum host :-) few of guys (Pattu, sunil, suresh, ravi ) were already ready for the ad-venture., I think some of them had dual idea in mind - "swamy karya hagu swakarya" by visiting amarnath. But yeah I was bit skeptical initially whether to go or not...what was that blocking me? well, I dont have an answer but what drove me to join was the passion towards adventures.

Pattu and Sunil took the initiative to search for the best possible cheap flight tickets for us to travel to sringar. Finally pattu could find some on the yatra.com and tickets were booked for 31st July 09 8:30am departure and 4th Aug 2:30 pm return. After 2-3 days Shyam also wanted to join, so pattu booked tickets for him but he dropped out after 12 hrs of booking :-), again some work for pattu to get the tickets cancelled, yes this time around he had tough time getting refunds from yatra.com, finally he had to escalate it to CEO of yatra.com. sounds weird? but its not unusual for IT infra folks like us isn't it? Well before 29 july we regrouped to discussed the plan or the modalities for the trip and decided the things to carry and do. We (myself, pattu, Sunil, Ravi and Suresh) were all set to go, but last moment Ravi dropped out from the trip due to his eye infection :-(, it was four of us left for trip.

On 31st july 2009 we started for the trip, flight was around 8:30am from bangalore - delhi (stopover) and then to srinagar. So we are pooled the cab and reached the airport having idly wada on the way :-). We reached Srinagar in the afternoon that day by around 1:30 pm, I was told that its a military airport so expecting it to be a baremetal one, but to my surprise it was a full fledged airport architectured for the way it should be to handle the heavy winter snowing. We found a travel counter at the airport so we decided to enquire there about the cab to baltaal base camp, the person there was very courteous and he told us the pricing and route etc. Our suresh with very excitement asked - 'shiv lingu kitna height hai abhi' the answer came back ' Woh ling hai lingu nahi...,apko hindi kisne sikaya' by then we were all bursting in laughs...

We hired tavera cab from sringar airport for 2100/- to baltal base camp which is 130km from srinagar. The drive was through sonmarg & kangan along the valley of rezan, throuhgout the drive, we enjoyed the pictureque scenery, apple plantations with stoppings at the some of the beautiful spots. The driver was not willing to stop frequently since after 3 pm the military convoy passes thru and if we get stuck has to wait for an hr or so, but, we insisted and made some pitstops for photo sessions & lunch (parota, lassi with chana...hmmm mouthwatering is it?) . It was the National Highway (NH1D) and zeal of Kashmir started taking on us. Here on we started admiring beauty of Kashmir and why all call it as heaven on the earth. The road which leads to kargil and then to Ley-Ladakh twin cities as so we could see sign boards mentioned ley 370Km. After 3 hrs of drive we came at a deviation for baltal base camp where in the road for another 2-3 km was completely muddy and pose challenges for even 4x4 SUV's. We reached the base camp at around 5pm and we had to pass thru couple of security checks and there was even a computerised baggage scan. It was valley between high mountains and we were clicking photos, while a army jawan standing there called us in kannada, not sure how he realised we're from karnataka, we left that place after a quick chat with him - 'nimma uuru, estu varsha aithu kashmir ge bandu etc'. Then we hired a tent after negotiation for 50 bugs per day/head and logged our bags in to it and left in search of food, pattu knew langars (these are hindu cummunity kitchens serves free food to all the yatris), to our surprises menus there goes from roti, chawal, daal...to masala dosas's & sweets etc :-). We had good daal rice and a roti and came back to our tent, had good sleep that night since we knew the next morning gonna be tough for us...at 11pm in the night we heard the announcement from the authorities that nobody should venture into the trek next morning till 5am, unless they declare the weather conditions favorable one.

Fact file: The trek to the Amarnath caves during the months of June - August every year is one of the most holy pilgrimages for Hindus. It is located at a height of 13000 ft above sea level. Best time to visit: July to August.

Climate: Average Max temp 16°C, Min Temperature -4°C.

How to reach: Trek or hire a pony from Baltal base camp is 17km and from pahalgam base camp its around 48km. Helicopter services are also availiable at the base camp.

Day 2: We got up at 4:45am in the morning after snoozing my nokia phone alarm for about 4-5 times :-), everyone wanted to have bath since we're going to have darshan, so we quickly bought hot water for 20 bugs per bucket and had shower in the freezing cold atmosphere. At 5:30am we're all ready to trek and we started climbing, on the way there were pony wallas asking us if we need them, but we rejected saying we are very confident of climbing on our own. As height was increasing sunil and suresh were stopping frequently for relaxing. I saw few Sadhu's and old women were walking continuously chanting "Bam bhole". I was amazed by their will power...we continued our journey. Scenic beauty nearby was wonderful Devdar trees, waterfalls, snow color rivers and mountains, flowers of different kinds, environment of Amarnath climb. No matter how fit you are, this one is demanding hike. The religious faith and zeal are what I feel will keep most of the people going. It was around 2.25km we had a pitstop and relaxed, but sunil and suresh were not ready to get up, they needed some more rest, there we decided we will hire a pony to load their luggage and they can only walk along. Meanwhile I told them that I will keep walking and will meet them at next pitstop, that time I dint realise that there will be multiple routes and we may disconnect from each other, but I went ahead for another 3 km admiring nature god and beautiful mountains. I decided to take a break and ate an apple from my backpack and relaxed for 20 min, from there the route was getting really tough and it was getting difficult to carry myself, but was determined to keep pace to complete the journey, nothing could have prohibited us to take amarnath dharshan except Army :-). Now that I was alone and don't have a clue of my group reached a place where there was two routes in front of me.,I enquired few people which one to take but dint get clear reply, then I approached an Army jawan and asked - 'sir koun sa route teek rahega' he replied 'yeh wala route naya hai our dho kilimeter bachega aapko.,magar bahut difficult hai, rasta teek nahi hai, our doosa assan hai' that put me on thoughts for a while but took the difficult one thinking it will reduce the time and lenght, by now it was 9:30am - 4 hrs past and covered 5km...still 12km more to go. I stretched further and started walking along with the military team who were also trekking along..,spoke to few of them but yeah very obviously I couldn't match their pace :(

Now I realised if I walk further I will over extent myself without food so took quick break and ate an apple and some buscuits, by then it was 11:00 am, I had covered around 12km. Another 5 km seemed to be impossible for me but, did I had any choice? I can't even take pony since I was on a trek route only. It was time to do a final swing, so started the trek again will a full determination to reach the cave by 12pm, sometimes even I ran like a marathon :-) yes I did it, by 1 Pm reached and Pattu, sunil and suresh were waiting for me, we hugged with praise for eachother and left for dharshan. The cave is huge, almost few hundred meters wide and tall, we entered it finally with facing all hurdles. Luckily there was no rush, shiva lingam was around 3 ft height and parvatimayya's lingam was beautiful and 6-8 feet high. With holy mind I prayed lord shiv. Also saw two pigeons in the cave. People say they are invincible., as they drank water falling from shivji's jata. I drank the melted water from the lingam and left the cave.

After that we slept in a tent for an hour or so and at 3 pm we hired a pony for 500 bugs per person to come back to baltal camp. In this travelling we all invented that even horse riding is more tougher than walking. As it takes toll of your back and thighs. You also need good balance over it as few women fallen off the ponies in front of us. Finally we reached baltal at 7 pm, we were feeling relaxed as we completed Shivji's darshan successfully. A great accomplishment for a follower. So that in mind I was very much satisfied.

Day 3 (Sonmarg-Srinagar-dal lake): We got up at 6 pm and packed our backpacks with collecting the clothes that was scattered all inside the tent. Paid the reamaning amt and said bye to Aktar (our tent care taker) We hired a cab (tata sumo) at the base camp for 3200/- to take us back to srinagar and also to have siteseeing of whole srinagar till that day evening 5pm and was supposed to drop us at dal lake. The driver was quite knowledgeable about the places around, we asked him to get us to rafting place @ sonmarg Sindh river, he did that. Myself and pattu had strong mind to do rafting in ice waters, but others were not that inclined. Reached rafting place at around 8 am, they told us 4 people are compulsary for rafting and it costs 300 bugs per head, so sunil and suresh were targets for us to convince which we did after some ragging :-). All set for rafting with life jackets, helmets etc, we realised the water was too freezing and any mistake of ours on the route will render us in to ice freeze waters. As the boat started off from the banks, we all shouted 'bam bam bole'. Our boat immediately took momentum as the waters was gushing in high speed, there was amazing rapids and freezing water spilling over us...gave us an amazing experience of life time, within 30 minutes we had covered our 4km along rafting and reached the destination where our cab was waiting for us. We said gud bye to raft choach and left from there towards sringar. That day went fast with visit to world famous moghul gardens, Shankarachaya peeta on the hill top, ksheer bhavani temple and a mosque. By evening 5 pm we reached Dal lake, sunil and suresh found a beautiful house boat for 2400 bugs for 2 days for all four guys, thanks to negotiation skills of suresh :-)

Welcome to floating sojourn...kasmir, Apples and apple-cheeked children, beautiful pahari women and the pink lotus flowers, paisleys and carpets, jewellery and wood carvings, the shikaras and houseboards.,its complete holidy atmoshere in srinagar. It still is...if it were not for the Army personnel littered all over. As one drives into sringar, it seems that the area has been taken over by the Army. At every ten steps an armed man will stop you to ensure that you are just a tourist. Hence, it is advisable to carry valid identify proof. In fact, soon enough you will start enjoying their company, since they not only make you feel safe, but also are always eager to chat and share a cup of tea, with a sermon or two flowing in if you accidentally touch upon the subject of national security.

It was time to log into the houseboat, the only way to reach houseboat is to take the shikaras. These shikaras are smaller boats that are decorated with flowers and brightly colored shiny fabrics and are specifically meant to tkae people to and fro between the houseboards and shore.

Unlike the houseboats of backwaters in kerala, these houseboats are fixed. Each houseboat is complete in itself with a few large rooms, a living room and a kitched. The remiscense of Mughal regal sensbilities can be seen in the fine furniture, delicate rugs and fabrics. After relaxing for 2-3 hrs in houseboat we thought of going out on shikara around Dal lake, we stuck a deal for 500 bugs for hrs of ride. The water is so clear that one can clearly see the underwater weeds and small fishes swimming. We sat in the shikara and watch life go by on the water, entertained sellers of all sorts of delightful things who arrived in shikaras to show their wares. Also our shikara passed by meena bazaar where we did some shopping (handicrafts, shawls etc) and finally came back to houseboat tired and everyone quickly slipped in to deep sleep.

Fact file: The valley of Gulmarg: a large meadow about 3-sq-kms in area, stands at 2,730 metres, 56-km south west of Srinagar . The name means ‘Meadow Of Flowers’ and in the spring it’s just that, a rolling meadow dotted with countless colourful Bluebells, Daisies, Forget Me Not’s and Buttercups. The valley itself is about 3-km long and up to a km wide.

Main attractions: Snow capped mountains, Gondola (rope way) , its world's highest rope way or cable car which extends to the mountains upto 13,000ft.

Day 4 (Gulmarg): Gulmarg .. that’s what the plan for the day. As usual we had to get up early by 7am, this time was to save money on travel and to go by govt bus instead of our sumo's or tavera's. We reached TRC by 7am exact and upon checking with the bus station we realised that the bus to gulmarg was cancelled due to very less passenger turnout (good or bad?) well, we re back on track and hired a qualis for 1300 bugs. Our main attraction in gulmarg was Gondola (rope way), never realising that there was another adventure awaited there. Immediately after reaching there we're approached by ponywalas and they promised a spectacular rite to the hill top where the snow mountains with another 7-8 siteseeing locations, well, with halfmindedness everyone climbed the ponies and it started climbing the hilly regions, very scenic mountains with pine trees. Then in the further journey to Gulmarg road was surrounded by flowers and chinar trees. It was yet another tiring ride on the pony of about 6km to reach the hill top, but, yeah all the tiredness vanished when we reached the place, it was so beautiful and only in the movies and probably calenders we had seen that amazingly beautifull place, we're mesmerised. After playing with snow for 2-3 hrs, it was time for us to get down, we decided to get on to our foots, it was a very exciting trek back, photo sessions happened by default. Ad-venture din't end after comming down, as everyone felt we should go for the gondola ride as we have come all the way to gulmarg, so we spent another 300 bugs per head and got on to gondola ride, it was amazing, breathtaking scenaries, withinn minutes the cable car reached the height of 13000 ft, where we could see the snow capped mountains. Oxygen and termperature decreased as it gradually went up, but on top it was ferfect fun. We spent some time there and came back, had lunch at a hotel near gondola base tower and walked back to the parking lot at gulmarg where the qualis was waiting for us. It was around 5:30, while the driver was not that humble this time, he was murmering that we're late by 30 min, suresh used to call the driver as 'frustrated soul' :-) that was fun too. After reaching srinagar we decide that night we will enjoy the houseboat and will not go out for dinner, so we packed some food from Nathus (famous veg restaurant and sweet stall in srinagar) and went to houseboat. That evening we sat on the brige of the houseboat with out feet in the neat waters of dal lake, chitchatting till late night with some drinks (soft ofcourse..hehe).

Day 5: (Srinagar airport): Finally it was a day when we all got up late in the morning, yes it was 9:30am :-) quickly packed our bagpacks with all the scattered clothes in the rooms of the houseboat. Had lunch at krishna dhaba (as discovered...our fav dhaba in srinagar) and left for airport in ......an auto...yes thats correct..cost saving.,but it costed us 2Km of trek with lugguage as the autos were not allowed beyong the security checkpost before airport :-(...ufff that was word everyone uttered. Got on to the aircraft by 2:20pm and reached bangalore by 9pm. It was home sweet home for me, but with sweet memories!!!! that's how we completed our journey with ad_ventures....