Journey to the Himalayas

Wow - where to even begin? My trip east to the Indo-Tibetan border Himalayas was about as epic as I'd want it to be.

I'll start with the bus ride to Joshimath, the site where my travel team is picking me up. The distance from Dehradun to Joshimath is 289 km (180 miles), roughly the same distance from Milwaukee to Green Bay - a trip that takes two hours at home. In India and in the foothills of the Himalayas, however, this distance takes an estimated 10.5 hours to traverse. The bus left Dehradun at 7pm and slowly crept through the foothills for the first few hours. Once we were past Rishikesh, the ride got REAL. The road went from being hugged comfortably between hills to being perched hazardously alongside a canyon, following the Ganges River north to it's life source glaciers. The scenery was outstanding but commonly overshadowed by the harrowing traffic and the adventurous lead foot of our friendly bus driver. During the drive there were a number of people with their heads completely out the window and I naively thought that this was passengers taking in scenes. Until I heard the lady across the aisle from me wrenching with her head out the window did I realize that folks were in fact vomiting off the side of the bus. The bus even had to completely stop several times for passengers who were standing and did not have the luxury of window access.

Here's a little taste of the bus ride :-) 

The trip was truly gorgeous. The road along the canyon slowly increased in altitude and the cliff's (ranges between 500 and 3000 ft.) as we passed numerous small villages built into the sides of the mountains and the Ganges River became increasingly turquoise.

The Ganges just north of Rishikesh.

One of the many villages we passed during the bus route.

The canyon grows.

And grows...

Lunch along the way :-) Can't believe I made it this long without posting a food picture.

Pack took a nasty beating riding on top of the bus.

Joshimath

I arrived in Joshimath at around dusk and had to wait a bit for my guides to arrive from Auli. By the time they arrived and ran a few errands it was dark during the drive to Auli where our lodge/camp was. I was completely exhausted after the day's travel so went to bed pretty early after dinner. Slept soundly in cool, 30 degree mountain air and awoke to birds chirping. When I walked out of my windowless room and into the entirely glass-cased dining/living room of the lodge the view was breath taking!

Pretty awesome view huh? The lodge was very comfortable and the air was still spring cool.

Auli is on the northwest side of the Nanda Devi National Park and Bio-Reserve. The group I planned my trip with is an upstart organization called Mountain Shepherds and their aim is to promote eco-tourism. They employ local villagers as guides and attempt to give back to the local villages and promote green initiatives within the Bio-Reserve. I learned while I was there that Nanda Devi National Park is actually very difficult to get into because the government patrols entrance very strictly since the 80's when groups of trekkers and climbers would basically pillage the area and leave waste throughout. In fact, the inner sanctuary of Nanda Devi NP - and access to Nanda Devi summit via the 8,000 foot canyon glaciers surrounding the Rishiganga River - has inaccessible since 1982. Numerous attempts at the summit have been attempted via different routes to no avail, making this Nanda Devi a notoriously elusive mountain. The only groups who have been granted access to the inner sanctuary in the last 30 years have been to a few government scientific groups who monitor the progression of the conservation initiatives. We were able to hike the outer sanctuary of the park but had to stop at a government check-point building and obtain a permit before every hike we did and the guides said there were strict punishments if we did not adhere to the regulations.

When I was planning the trip to the Himalayas I knew that going up to 10,000 ft was a risk because it is still early in the trekking season and snow at this altitude. I had hoped to do an overnight backpacking trip but figured if there was too much snow it would still be great just to be in the high mountain sand I could do day-hikes from the lodge as an alternative to backpacking. Well, there was in fact too much snow (again, the park is strictly regulated by the government) and day-hikes were the only possibility. In the end this option was a great one. It was nice to sit around with the guides who were local villagers but knew great English. There was also a German student at the lodge who was studying management and eco-tourism. We basically explored the area, hiking 4-6 hours per day, and spent the rest of the time reading, eating, and listening to music.

Here's a few shots from our hikes:

Mountain Shepherd Lodge - Nanda Devi Bio-reserve and National Park; Auli, India

Sweet look-out tower. My guide wouldn't let me go up.

Nandu, my excellent guide.

Prayer flag

View through the forest.

There were a number of mountain streams flowing through the woods.

Failed summit attempt ;-)

Another shot of the lodge. Probably the best photo I have that captures the true massiveness of the Himalayas and how steeply they come to a peak. It's breathtaking!

Tea at 10,000 ft.

Home

Mountain Flora

Hindu Temple en route to Garson Top.

A little bit of forest hiking before reaching the tree line.

Sky for miles!

Myself and Nandu

Trudging along.

Classic rock figurine

Picnic lunch. Nandu ate an entire sleeve of butter biscuits.

The epic Nanda Devi herself!
At 25,643 ft. she is >5,000 ft taller than any peak in North America but only the 23rd tallest peak in the Himalayas/Karakoram! Whoa!

Nanda Devi

The bus ride home took 14 hours - roughly 13 miles per hour - and involved numerous stops for construction, traffic, and mechanical/engine repairs. Suffice it to say I learned a lot about patience, personal space, hygiene, and hunger during this hellatiously* long day.

Oh and speaking of hellatiously* long days, in a few hours I begin my 38 hour journey home. Wish me luck.



* = probably not a word.