Monday, June 2, 2008

Move to the mountains: Tela camp to gujjar hut

After a night's rest at Tela Camp, we were ready early next morning to start onwards for Gujjar Hut. The previous day's trip was about 5-6 kms but we were to go about 14 kms and hence we folded out tents, had an early breakfast and were ready to go by 7 AM. The forest was dense and virgin and sun had difficulty in breaking through the dense foliage. However, we were again herded and goaded on by our minders which was the sole spoiler for most of us. However, as the terrain became difficult, it was difficult for some of us to keep pace and slowly the group spread into a long file, with big gaps. The group got together at the rest stops but as we went up from about 8000 ft to 10000 and then some more, breathlessness was the most common complaint. However, we did not slow down much and covered good ground to reach our lunch point in the forest (after a back breaking continuous climb in which we gained 1000 ft in 30 minutes) by 1300 hours.

We started again after lunch and soon came to a meadow from where we could see the tents at Gujjar hut from afar. The view of the snow clad peaks was breathtaking from this spot which was our last rest point. Snow was close by and within touching distance, in the shady parts of the slopes. We reached Gujjar hut and pitched our tents in the face of an approaching storm. Soon it started raining but we went to Khera Taal, about a km away. We had thin polythene sheets to protect us from the rain which became more persistent as we came back and soon turned into a torrent by the time we were back. We scurried to our tents and mercifully were treated to some late evening sunshine which played on the mountain peaks to give us some beautiful pictures which everyone was busy clicking.

It was time to check out the area for the morning routine and soon the sun set, leaving us little time to organize our stuff in the tents and after a hurried dinner we went to sleep.

No comments: