The Mysterious Lake Roopkund
Thinking about High Altitude trekking Roopkund the mysterious skeleton lake in Gerhwal Himalaya region is exciting. Year 1995 I had just joined Institute and
was very excited with the thought of going for high altitude trekking but we
were confused not able to decide where suddenly someone popped the name of
Roopkund trekking the mysterious Lake in Gerhwal Himalaya region. Total number
of participant 5 Arindam Sarkar aged about 60+ elected as leader Deepak Roy
choudhury as team manager Diptesh Mondal as treasurer and Ramprasad Haldar
& myself as normal member without any portfolio. Time decided at the middle
of August
We boarded Amritsar Mail from Howrah
station and reached Lucknow next day evening after having our dinner at station
we boarded Lalkuan Express in the late night and reached Lalkuan Station next
day morning. From there we boarded in a state run bus for our next destination
Gwaldam. It was a cloudy weather and I was mesmerized with the beauty of
surrounding as this was my first high altitude trekking I was thrilled with the
experience. We reached Gwaldam in the evening. Gwaldam is a hill station
perched at an altitude of 1700 mts above sea level in Chamoli district of
Uttarakhand state. It lies on the route which connects Garhwal region with
Kumaon
Gwaldam
is a sleepy little town, on the border of Garhwal & Kumaon hills located
amidst green jungles and apple orchards. Gwaldam offers a fascinating view of
Himalayan peaks Nanda Devi (7817 MT), Trishul (7120 MT) and Nanda Ghuti (6309
MT
Next day we woke up earlier as we planned
to catch first available bus for Lohajung. Next day when we reached bus station
we came to know due to last night land slide bus is not going suddenly we
spotted a truck which was going lohajung we request driver to take us along he
agreed and we boarded his truck. It was amazing the view of valley and mountain
took my breath away. In late afternoon we reached Lohajung (8300Ft). Lohajunga
tiny pass, in the heart of the greater Himalayan range, 85 kms from Karanprayag
Day 1 of Trek: We spent our night in a
local hut. At this place we started feeling cold in the night next day we start
our trek to Wan Village which is a 6 km easy walk to Kulling village followed
by a steep descent to Raun Bagad. The road route is easier than the Curzon
trail, but you miss the enchantment of the mixed forest. After 6 to 7 hour of
trekking we reached the beautiful Village of Wan we stayed in a state run
Tourist Bunglaw. After reaching there I started preparing for our dinner as
responsibility falls on me to cook as no member of our team know how to cook!!
Forget cooking even they don’t know how to lit stove!! All members suggested me
to leave it to our guide and porter to prepare our food but I decided to make
our food myself as they were not clean. Evening was so beautiful we were
enjoying our view suddenly sky started pouring water our guide said jokingly “Bombay
ka fashion aur pahar ke mousam ka koi thik nahi kab badal jaye” rightly said.
Diptesh Mondal our team member who is expert in writing small Chada was busy
writing his experience and brought some post card with me I also wrote a letter
to my family & asked our care taker to post it. Surprisingly that letter
reached its destination after one month of our arrival!!!
Day 2: We woke up a little late next day
as last day was our first day and it was very tiresome after our breakfast of
noodles with soybean we started our trekking at 7. Before start of our trekking
our team manager Deepak Roy Choudhury asked me to take some “DOKTAPATA” along
with me he asked us to put some pieces of leaf in our shoes and socks as this
route is full of leeches!! I could understand the usefulness of”Dokhtapata”
when other team from Srinagar kept on yelling oh! Ouch!! And we could see
leeches on our shoes and trouser but they were not daring to suck our blood
because of DOKTAPATA!! After 3 hours of trekking we had our meal of some
Muribhaja with chanachur. At around 2.30 we reached Bedini Bugiyal.
Bedni Bugyal (High altitude grass,
meadow) is one of the finest meadows in India. This has got to be one of the
most romantic spots in the Himalayas - acres and acres of meadow scooped out of
lush mountain scape, a steep ridge
Arching up into the dusk, and above it,
the enormous western flank of Trishul. One of the larger Bugyal (meadow) in
Uttarakhand, Bedni is also a major way-station on the Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra, a
ritual procession held every 12 years.
Bedni Bugyal(11500Ft) is a charming green
meadow adorned with flowers in a spell binding varieties, in full bloom. There
is a small lake situated in the midst of the meadow, where Tarpans are offered
by the devotees. Situated nearby is a small temple where the devotees pay there
obeisance, during their halt at Bedni Bugyal.
Seeing the beauty of place we forget all
our pain! Firstly I prepared tea for our self and got refreshed then I put my
Sony Walkman in play mode and started running all around I felt like I am in
heaven there is no place in the world which can come and compete the beauty of
this place. We went to our bed early as tomorrow we have to go
Baghuwabasa via Pathar Nachuni.
Day 3 : Today we decided to
trek up to Baghuwabasa usually trekkers stayed at Pathar Nachuni to
acclimatize due to substantial height gain but we decided to go Baghuwa basa in
one day. After a trek of around 1 and half hour we reached “Pathar
Nauchuni” which translates to “Dancing Stones”. Legend has it that the king who
was taking the annual pilgrimage to please Goddess Nanda Devi had forgotten
paying proper prayers mesmerized by the royal dancers. Goddess Nanda was
infuriated but the King asked for forgiveness and in order to avoid further
distractions, the dancers were cursed to transform into stones. There are a
couple of big stones to be seen which can be connected to the folklore. We had
light snacks and moved towards Kalu Vinayak. A steep climb from
Pathar Nachuni to Kalu Vinayak Pass would lead us to another place with an
interesting folklore. This is where Lord Vinayak was standing guard while
Parvati was taking bath in Roopkund Lake. It is from here that one can see the
Roopkund crater for the first time. Further down the pass, we reach Bhaguabhasa
which translates to “Abode of the Tiger”. This was where Goddess Parvati left
the tiger and went ahead to take her bath in Roopkund. Our decision to go
Baghuwabasa directly from Bedini cost me heavily as I started feeling dizziness
and stomach pain due to high altitude. In Baghuwabasa we pitched our tent
Next morning when we woke up I was amused
to see so many flower around our tent our guide told us these are Brahmakamal.
Brahma kamal, named after hindu god of Creation, Brahma, is a very sacred flower
found only in high altitudes and seasonal as well. It is also the state flower
of Uttarakhand
Day 4” After having our breakfast we
started moving up towards mysterious lake it was raining slowly after 2
and half hours of walking finally we’ve reached Roopkund. (16500 Ft) While
Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva were on their way to Kailas (or maybe Trishul),
Goddess Parvati was feeling very dirty after killing the demons and wanted to
clean up. Lord Shiva created the Lake with his Trishul and Parvati dipped
herself in the blue waters and she could see her clear and beautiful reflection
in the waters which was why the lake was named Roopkund
In Roopkund human skeletons of 500 - 600
years old are found. There are several beliefs about the mystic presence of these
skeletons. Some say refugees fleeing from prosecution of Tuglak's army under
General Zorawar Singh died here on the way. Others believe traders from Tibet
might have died in a natural calamity. Yet another belief is that King Jasdal
of Kanauj was on his way with his wife undertaking a pilgrimage called, Nanda
Jat" to propitiate Goddess Nanda Devi 560 years ago. The Queen delivered a
child on the way. This made the Goddess Nanda Devi angry by spoiling Her Holy
Land. A snow storm was sent down by the Goddess killing hundreds on the trail
of pilgrimage. According to the artefacts recovered so far this explanation of
"Nanda Jat" seems more viable. Yet curiosity is unsatiated to find
reason for this mystery.
We spent few minutes there and started to
our next destination Shila Samundra (12002Ft) we climbed another steep section
up to Jurangalidhar (Death pass). Jurangalidhar is very good spot to see closer
view of Trisul and Nandaghunti peaks. A steep descent will lead us to
Sailsamudra. Camping in boulder strewn meadow. After reaching Shila Samundra we
pitched our tent beneath a large Rock face due to continuous rain our all
cloths and belonging got wet. Our next destination was Homkund but we decided
to stay one day at Shila Samundra so that we can dry our clothes and belonging.
Decision seems right when next day was
sunny and bright with clear sky. Around our campsite a herd of Deer made their
stay it was amazing feeling. I took my camera & crawled towards herd as my
camera had no zoom to take picture of herd.
Day 5: We got ready and started at
9.30AM. It was an easy 20-30 minutes descent to reach the actual glacier of
Trishul which gives its name to this area - Shila Samurai. We had to cross this
big boulder zone. This is the glacial moraine of Mt Trishul.
It took us more than an hour to cross over
to this ocean of stones and then we had to climb a ridge to go towards Dodang.
At this point, we had trek along the Nandakini river. We could see the way
which went towards Chandaniya Ghat which was supposed to be our campsite for
the next day
We were now walking along the Nandakini
river bed on the boulders. The progress was slow as there was no trail and
there was a lot of going up the ridge and then suddenly getting down to the
river bed. Everyone slipped at least once on the boulders but luckily no one
got hurt. On one such ridge, Diptesh slipped from the way and our guide
arrested his fall. Fortunately there were no injuries but these were really
some scary moments.
We reached the campsite at Dodang (13700
feet) at around 2.30 PM. The meaning of Dodang is “Two Stones”. The campsite
was a small clearing between two very big boulders
This campsite is at the base of Nanda
Ghunti. Nanda Ghunti towered above us as we sat near the creek at this
campsite.
The trail till Homkund is also very
famous for another reason. Every twelve years there is a procession to Homkund
called the “Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra”. It starts from a village called “Nauty”
with a 4 horned ram leading the procession. The image of Goddess Nanda Devi is
brought to Bedni Bugiyal and following this very trail brought to Homkund where
the marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati is celebrated. After all the ceremonies
are over, the four horned ram disappears in the mountains. Thousands of
pilgrims from all the parts of India take part in this yatra. Lots of people
walk without any footwear. Homkund is supposed to be very scared place
It was the coldest night of all the
nights on this treks. The small water creek next to our tent was also frozen in
the night. The place was again very windy and all our water had frozen. We had
another long day tomorrow and had decided to start early at 5 AM. We decided to
call it a day
Day 6 : We already knew that today was
going to be tiring day for us and had braced for it mentally. The plan was to
go till Homkund (15200 feet) which was about 4 km from Dodang, then climb Ronti
Saddle (17500 feet), come back to Dodang and after lunch to go down till the
next campsite at Chandaniya Ghat.We got up at 4.30AM
and got ready. It was extremely cold and we knew sunrise would take some more
time. Finally we started at 5.30M
From the campsite it was it steep climb
for about 30 mins and then it was all scary ridge walks. The widths of the
ridges were so small that one can put only one step at a time. We were walking
very cautiously. Looking around was a daring task. It was scary and caution was
required at each and every step. I was just shivering due to extreme cold I
also dropped my hand glove while coming from shila Samundra & could not
realize due to cold
We reached the sacred lake of Homkund at
around 7 AM. It was an amazing feeling. This was one of those places where one
can really feel the presence of the Almighty
We were very happy that we had made it
till this point. There was a small temple where our porters offered pooja. We
spent some time here. One of the porters explained the significance of the
Yatra and kind of showed us around the Kund. The lake was partially frozen, but
the water was very clear. My both hand turned blue due to cold at this time
rain also started with snow we have to go further towards Ronty Saddle. Seeing
my condition all asked me whether we should proceed or not as weather is also
not good our guide suggested not to take any risk but I said I can continue if
other members want to but finally with the consent of all member we gave up the
idea of going Ronty Saddle.
We returned the camp site as I was feeling
so cold and my hands were senseless I put my hand in warm water. It was so
relieving!! It was raining entire day we had our food and rested in our tent. I
could not sleep whole night as I was feeling very cold and the sound of rain
drop did not allowed me to sleep peacefully
Day 7: It was amazing day!! Sky was clear
and full of different colors. We reached our campsite Lata Khopari after a trek
of around 5 hour. We pitched our tent near River. After having dinner we went
to sleep earlier because tomorrow we have to start early for our next
destination Sutol (800 feet).
Day8: We got ready by 6.30AM. We decided
to start early because our guide told us there was a steep climb on the way to
Sitel and it was better to climb that part during early morning.
Today’s walk on proper well marked trail
which is used by the villagers. After a small climb we reached the village of
Sutol. After the village we had to descend down for some time and then the
climb started in hot sun. We took about 30 minutes to complete the climb. At
the end of the climb there was a small temple and by the time we reached the
temple, it was about 9:30 in the morning. From this point, we had to go for
another 3 Km. Sitel is the road head, but the plans are to bring the road till
Sutol and we were able to hit the road head 3 Km before Sitel itself.
Fortunately we got a jeep at around 11 AM near Sitel and we all got into that
jeep which would take us to Ghat. We reached Ghat at around noon and hired
forest rest house. It was nice and big. After having evening snack and dinner
in nearby local hotel we went to sleep
 |
| Karnprayag |
Next day we took a jeep and went to
karnprayag.
This was one of the treks which will
always remain close to my heart. The whole trek is really a good mix of
greenery, snow plodding, boulders and glacial moraines. One can feel the
closeness of the mountains without going to very high altitude. Most of the
times we were walking amidst huge mountains and got very close views of Nanda
Ghunti and Trishul ranges. The trek is also spiritually motivating – Homkund is
one of the most enchanting places that I have seen on my treks.Having said all
this, I would say that I have had the luck and pleasure of trekking with some
really fine people. Treks like these are never possible without the company of
great friends and one always has a lot to learn from your trekking companions.
If you ask me, is this trek suitable for beginners – I
would say yes, as this was also my first trek but with some level of physical
and mental toughness.
By Rajesh Shaw
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
