Bhrigu Lake Trek Experience

8/10/2019 Bhrigu Lake Trek Experience

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It was the second week of August in 2014. Independence Day was approaching and

I was all excited because of the accompanying weekend. 4 days of acation is a big

thing for an !"A college. #his looked like a clear sign of getting away from Delhi

and experiencing freedom from the hectic !"A life. I asked my roommate about his

plans$ but he denied any interest since he had recently come from a trek near %asol.

I ask other guys on my &oor and eeryone seemed to hae his own problems'ranging from constipation to monetary constraints. I was all determined for a trek

as isiting a hill station with an (all guys) gang didn)t make any sense to me.

*erybody had money for the latter$ although both these plans would cost the

same. I thought if I fail to conince a single guy for the trek$ then my purpose of

studying the marketing course stands defeated. I +nally manage the guy from my

neighbouring room who was e,ually bored. -ow the ,uestion was where we are

going to trek I ring my friend /ushker who had recently opened a trekking company

near !anali. e told me that they are going for an expedition to "hrigu ake. I

oogled the place and found it to be a high altitude lake located oer 14$000 ft.

3o +nally we are 2 guys in a olo owned by (5au6i traels) traelling from Delhi

towards !anali. #he 6ourney was neer ending with seeral road blockages in the

rainy season. 5or a moment all those worries from our parents) side seemed

reasonable$ but then we decided not to think much of it. 7e +nally coer the

supposedly 14 hour 6ourney in 24 hour to reach /atli %ul$ where /ushker has

arranged a cab for us to reach 8umsu.

Day 01:

#he car stops at the entrance of 8umsu illage$ where we walk in the dark for

around 900m and reach the cottage house:resort owned by the company. #he

cottage is fairly new and the fresh smell of wood was really pleasant. #he actualowner of this cottage goes by the name 3ubhash and he made eery e;ort to in&ate

our belly from his food. 00I-8. #he guides


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aailable with them are certi+ed and hae an experience of oer 19 years with the

?AI.

I saw a beautiful iew inside as well as outside the cottage. I roam around the area

and then decide to take out the borrowed camera from my borrowed bag and click

some pictures.


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At this point$ the comfort of cottage had proided the much needed refreshment

from that tiring 6ourney. 7e hae a light breakfast and then board the hired cab toreach !anali.

Starting point:#he trek for "hrigu ake can be approached either from the ulaba

illage or ashishtha. #he path from ashishtha is steeper$ less scenic and has

lesser spots for camping. ulaba is accessible from the highway between !anali

and 8ohtang /ass.

Trek length:

Trek duration: 4'9 hours

7e stretch a bit and then start our trek. I hae trekked oer 14$000 ft altitude beforeand along the steep trails$ but I had neer expected the starting portion of the trek

itself to be so steep. 7e kept walking and after an hour so we felt completely

drained out. 7e ask the uide to take a break and open the carton full of snacks

and protein bars for us. 8ight at this moment$ we saw some dark clouds passing

below us. #he guide said we need not worry as they are &owing along a di;erent

direction. 7e pack the carton again and ignore the clouds. 7e were all charged with


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the energy and trekked really well for next =0 minutes. #here was a lot of greenery

around us and the bright &owers were all around.


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7e paused a bit for clicking beautiful pictures and then saw the clouds taking a @0

degree turn to approach us.

8ains are the last thing one would like to encounter while trekking on a mountain. It

derails the speed$ demotiates +rst timers as well as the experienced ones$ lowers

the temperature by 2'= degrees in less than an hour and if it makes your bag wet$

that would spoil the entire trek for you. #here were 4 of us on this trekking

expedition$ accompanied by 1 guide and 2 porters cum cooks. -one of us knew how

the exact route looked like since it was a part of an expedition and not an organied

trek. 7hen the clouds approached we increased our speed$ and then the rains

happened. 7e were running now$ trying hard to locate a trail beneath those streams

of water. 7e were wearing rain 6ackets$ the bag was waterproof and we had eenkept our clothes inside plastic bags before putting them in the bag. /ushker and I

didn)t realie that we were much ahead than rest of the people. 7ithin few more

minutes we saw our camping spot. #he porters arried immediately and we set our

tent. 7e hae our dinner and eeryone fell asleep by 10.


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7e start afresh for our 6ourney. #he steep climb was exhausting$ but what tired us

more was the sight of another similar steep section. 7e climb that too$ meet some

other uide on the way and we were directed to a ery steep mountain that

re,uired us to step on seeral rocks for climbing it. Assuming it to be the last

portion of the trek$ we were all determined to coer it. 7e encountered a few

glaciers before climbing it. Bnce we reach the top$ we hae this this painfulrealiation that we hae come the wrong way. #he iew was neertheless

breathtakingly beautiful.

7e tried descending this mountain$ failed on this path and then descended it along

the same way we had climbed it. 7e kept moing and had realied by now that thelake was located behind a huge snow lacier. 7e needed to climb a di;erent

mountain for this. #he e;ects of high altitude had started showing on one of the

guys and he su;ered mild headache. 7e had to get behind this huge glacier.


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*ery one showed their grit and we climbed this portion. 7e were welcomed with

our +rst iew of the lake and now it re,uired only few minutes for us to reach there.


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7e later started descending towards ashistha. #he trail was ,uite muddy and I

slept almost 10 times during the descent$ more so because I was running downsince I had to catch a bus the same eening. I could see seeral &owers on both

sides of the trail. Bur guide said that we were lucky to be trekking in August and

these would not be isible during the latter half of Bctober. 7e made a ,uick

descent towards ashishtha and reached down within ='4 hours. #he place is

famous for its ashishtha temple and its natural hot water spring$ which is claimed

to hae healing properties.


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In retrospect$ we did realie there was a mistake from the guide who misguided us.

#hat made the entire 90 %m trek to be around C> %m for us$ but we got to see a few

unexplored sites along the misguided path and that made all the di;erence to our

experience. It)s always better to look at as many beautiful things as you can$ get

mesmeried more$ get to walk more and learn to appreciate nature)s magni+cence.

Bnce my feet touched the grounds of human settlement$ the painful realiation of

liing in Delhi struck me. If only I could change certain things$ but I will always

continue to +nd some time for myself and keep running to the imalayas.

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Bhrigu Lake Trek Experience