Tungnath & Chandrashila Trekking Experience

As promised, here is the post.

While heading towards Chopta, we saw a gathering of Langurs (there were about 20 of them including one newly born) along the road. The moment our car stopped, they slowly moved farther away from us. When they saw our cameras out, they even ran away, which is a good thing actually because as much as possible humans have to appreciate their beauty and agility from a distance. And when we got out of the car, the only way to photograph them is to zoom our camera in to its limit. Anyway, this one seems curious enough not to fully hide himself...or was it a she?

~ Looks like flat but think again, this is just the beginning trek
of a continues ascent towards Tungnath and Chandrashila. There are plenty of streams, too, along the road.~

~ The gate through Tungnath & Chandrashila trek. This is the parking/waiting lot and also a place surrounded by small hotels and lodging houses . . . including scattered plastics, too, which is seriously offensive to someone who is a real and responsible trekker and nature lover. ~

~ Zigzag trail towards Tungnath as seen from the upper area of the same road. I think there were 3-4 small hotels/stores all the way to Tungnath. Tungnath, of course, caters lodging, eatery, and refreshment.~

~ Tungnath temple and other "business" buildings as seen from below ~

~Tungnath temple...we wanted to go inside but since we needed to remove our shoes
 right at that gate we decided not to. We are nature lovers who admire, respect, and protect nature itself. We also acknowledge the work of men,  and in this case, 
those who built this structure.

 It's really stupid to go worship a god and then all you can do is destroy the
 beautiful surroundings around you. 
If you've been into these kind of places, I hope you have noticed how dirty humans make these "holy" places are -
.......all sorts of garbage, particularly plastics, are all around (I have noticed Snickers chocolate wrappers all the way from the middle point to Chandrashila itself, whoever was eating it doesn't have the right to throw the wrappers irresponsibly, including of course those who threw their garbage without even a thought); 
.......fat/obese/overweight people (including priests -you would wonder how did they get fat) are in plenty; 
........and really these places are just business hubs aim at looting people, who, by the way, let themselves to be looted, too.~

~The beginning trail from the temple towards Chandrashila. It's quite narrow and precipitous. The place is a yawning fissure, a deep cleft in the earth's surface. When the mist was lifted for a while all you can see are chasms, broken walls of mountains, or split mountains -the sight would really make you feel like you'll be pulled down anytime. 

Standing on one of these made my legs tremble. Whew!~

~ The temple at Chandrashila peak. No one else was there, just the breeze trying to shoo away the evening mist.~

~Cairns: piles of rocks at Chandrashila peak, didn't make one though ~

~A mini-temple made of marble located at the edge of Chandrashila. Looking around was a spectacular and awe-dropping view despite the white background ~

~Well, it's me! That rock is where the above mini-temple is.~

~ Banu passing by swiftly the fallen half-side of the road.~

~A stairway to a temple? There were quite a few of them along the road~

~a charming pose amidst drizzling rain~

~a playful pose while going back, guess I was happier -no more climb!

 Descending is tough actually, you've got to have strong knees! ~

When we trekked Tungnath and Chandrashila, we took local apples to munch on the way.

 I also had Chomp chocolates -the wrappers, of course, came back with us to Gauchar. 

This video shows what to expect upon reaching the peak of Chandrashila. The peak gives an outstanding view of the Himalayas.
Take a look!

So basically, 

we came and left nothing but footprints; 

we took nothing but pictures; 

we kill nothing but time.

And I encourage everyone to do the same. It's best for our planet!

Devariyatal In Rainy Season

Okay, we knew what to expect when we climbed Devariyatal. It's rainy season and on that day itself there was a battle between the sun and the rain going on. Obviously, the rain and the mist reign all through the day so we knew there was no way we can get a glimpse of Chaukamba and the Himalayan ranges and yet we trekked with an umbrella and our cameras.

The picture above is all we could see of the tal -it's not covered with mist but it's surrounding areas were fully white.

The paved road towards Devariyatal -
a continues ascent. For someone who is not
a regular trekker, best advice is to walk
slowly but continuously. No stopping, the
frequent you stop, the more you lose
the boost to move up.

We started our trek at around 3 pm that day, July 16, 2014, and it took us, my husband and I, an hour to reach the tal. Devariyatal is about 3 kms from Sari Village and it's a continues ascent. Three o'clock was quite late to start a trek but due to tight schedule we needed to do it that day itself right after our transaction was done with the SP Office, Gopeshwar in the morning. (It's about stamping my passport with X-Visa). Anyway, for a two-day trip (Gauchar - Gopeshwar - Chopta -Sari Village for Devariyatal - back to Chopta for Tungnath and Chandrashila - Gauchar), we paid Rs. 4000 for the taxi and arranged lodging for the driver. His food was his own because we are not the usual "dal, chawal, roti, sabzi" eater. We are great with fruits and munching on cucumbers and nuts.

So,

these are a few of the images we took that day.

Road somewhere between Gauchar and Karanaprayag.
The mountains were covered in mist, the
Alakhanda river was covered in fog, too. Even the road was
half visible.

Since we planned to trek Tungnath and Chandrashila the following day, instead of pursuing the original plan of staying at Dugalbbita that night, we stayed at Sari village itself. We stayed at a lodging and hotel owned and managed by Rakesh Singh Negi (his hotel is just right in front of the gate to Devariyatal). Mr. Rakesh seems to know the place very well. He also rents tents for a night of stay at Devariyatal itself.

~The view of the surrounding mountains and villages at Devariyatal. The sky was white, the ground was white. It was like some "spirit" or "ghost" being lifted to join the rest up for some sinister performance before the day ends. 
It was a spectacular sight.~ 

~ Somehow while slowly walking up, sweat dropping from your nose, and your mind is full of statements such as "It's not that far anymore." or "We're near." or "A few more steps.", you'll stumble upon this. And just when you thought that you still need to go on farther this sight will just make you smile and maybe would even make you jump and say "Yey, we're here finally!"~

~The view up ahead from one of the view points set up by the Forest Department. In this picture you are facing the road back. In one of the videos I watched of Devariyatal, foxes were filmed late in the afternoon and early morning. Although I was looking forward of seeing them when we were there, it didn't seem to have been possible at that time.~

This LINK is a 0.43 seconds video that shows the views that are supposed to be visible during clear days. Click it to quench your curiosity.

~ Finally, a pose of the trekkers that day taken by Mr. Rakesh who we met right before we started our descent. He has taken us to one of the highest ground around the areas. He was also narrating to us his adventures, what he's up to, etc. He's a friendly guy! We found out that he is a trekker himself and has 
been to many tourist places as guide.~

Staying at Sari village that night with a plan of going back to Chopta to trek Tungnath and Chandrashila the following day was a very bad idea during rainy days. One particular area -2 to 3 kms. from Sari village towards Chopta is a landslide-prone and it just got cleared when we passed it towards Sari village. That night, it rained quite heavily again and another slide happened during the night so the following day, July 17, 2014, we were stucked for about 3 hours waiting for the stretch to get cleared. The GSB was clearing another slide near Ukimath when we arrived at the place so instead of reaching Chopta and heading towards Tungnath at 9 am, it was already 11:40 and drizzling when we moved up.

It was still a great adventure though!
Who knows in winter we might get a magnificent full view of the Himalayas somewhere else 'coz that's we're up to.

Travel, Explore, Discover, and Be awed with Nature's grandeur.

Tungnanth and Chandrashila trek will be the next post.

  

Crocheted Rag Rug: My First Ever Crochet Project

Having appreciated the works of knitting ang crocheting ever since I knew them I finally came to crochet my own first ever project -a rag rug made of old tees using a self-made numberless crochet hook out of a mango twig.

We have quite a number of old t-shirts that cannot be given away because, obviously, they're so old that we don't want to wear them ourselves so how can we give them away, right? So I decided to make yarns out of them (not all tees are good for yarns) and make rugs. The finished project is the above picture. It has taken me quite a while to finish it but I enjoyed doing it and yeah, old tees became more useful. Instead of burning them, most part of tees were used as yarns and made into something that can be used for a few more years as household items.

I did this project by downloading a youtube video and noted down the procedures of the pattern. Here's the link.

Spread The Seeds, Spread A Message

Spread The Seeds, Spread A Message is a personal attempt to help animals get back what they lost because of human interference and stupidity. Over the years I have witnessed and pondered how difficult the lives of these animals have become. I often wonder how and where do they get their food just to sustain a day's forage when only a few fruit-bearing trees are available around. They are the only ones who truly feel and endure the suffering of their existence, and I, looking at them, have to do something about it.

On the road, one can witness large groups of monkeys sitting and waiting for people to throw food at them. For the people's side, it is highly irresponsible of them to throw slices of bread or any other forms of food to these monkeys thinking they are doing the right thing for these animals. Hardly any help at all. What they are doing does more harm than good. Why? Because by doing so they are encouraging monkeys to stay on the road and become dependent on human "goodness" thus putting the lives of these animals in a high danger zone for most of the times they become victims of hit and run. This action makes them dependent on humans (and making anyone dependent on you is the greatest mistake you can ever do). Doing this is like making them eat one day and letting them starve for the rest of their lives.

Any sane person who is genuinely wanting to help animals get food must do something other than this.

One can start reforestation by planting or spreading fruit-bearing trees.  One can plant fruit-bearing trees in their own compound -some other animals will definitely be happy about it. Collect seeds including vegetable seeds, flower seeds and spread them in areas less frequented with people, in the forest. This action does not need an organization to start. Individuals can do it.

So this is what I am doing. I am collecting any kind of seeds (the above pictures are mango and ado or peach seeds) and spread them somewhere in the forest. Some may come up, some may not, or all may not come at all but it's an act worth trying. It's not a big one but I know some animals might benefit from it.

And to you, dear readers, if you have understood my cause, you already know what to do.

Living Healthy-ly

This is the image which you will find inside our kitchen cupboards - heaps of fruits and vegetables, if it's a day or two after we have gone to the market, which we do every 4 or 5 days walking. Sometimes we ask one of our regular sellers to drop some items like 5 kls. pomegrenate, papayas, watermelon, onion, banana, greens, cucumber, a tray of egg, etc. -stuffs that don't need much personal picking like mangoes, peach or ado.

When we go, we walk to the market which is about 1500 meters carrying 4 big clothing bags -polythene and other plastics are strictly a no-no for us, as much as possible.

So, we have been on this diet for over a year now - more on raw foods such as seasonal fruits and vegetables. I do the least cooking, I think. One tea in the morning and in the evening. Then one cooked meal like bun toasting with salad (salad is uncooked, of course) or aloo paratha with palak paneer or just plain and simply-made greens like boiled lungdu (fiddleheads fern)/mustard greens/spinach/beetroot leaves, etc. with tomatoes and sauteed garlic.

So almost every day, there will be only one major cooking. Sometimes, depending on how many varieties of fruits and vegetables we have we ditch cooking altogether, except for two small cups of teas. Living minus the cooking is doable, very doable but I guess I would like to cook some stuffs sometimes.