It was the month of May. I was hastily searching for a bus to Haldwani (Uttarakhand) at Anand Vihar ISBT, NEW DELHI. It was already dark and then suddenly I heard “Haldwani ! Haldwani !” . I quickly ran in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the conductor of a Uttarakhand Roadways Bus which was about to leave for haldwani. Many seats were vacant in the bus and I slowly went to the 3rd last seat of the bus. I was going to visit and to live at some of the remotest part of Himalayan hills for the coming complete week. I didn’t ask any of my friends as I probably knew that nobody would have agreed for such a weeklong trekking expedition. Also I did not tell much about this expedition to my parents as they would have not allowed me to travel for almost a week at a completely unknown place. I just lied that it was a office trip for 3-4 days. I opened the window of the bus and some polluted air rushed towards my face.
From last few months I have been searching for some wonderful trekking & hiking trails around or in the heart of great Himalayas . Now I started getting busy and glued to my workdesk all the time its not because my manager burdened me with some extra workload. It was just because I was so much into reading travel blogs, watching trekking and Himalayan documentary videos and analyzing risks and hazards associated with Himalayan treks on my computer screen while doing the my official work simultaneously on another window. Yeah! I am a bit multitasker . :p
ROOPKUND LAKE or MYSTERY LAKE or SKELETON LAKE ---- I don’t know what made me to stumble upon this roopkund trek. Moreover for novices like me it’s a big no trek as it is believed to be strenuous and moderately difficult trek .Roopkund (locally known as Mystery Lake) is a high altitude glacial lake in the Uttarakhand state of India. It lies in the lap of Trishul massif and is famous for the hundreds of human skeletons found at the edge of the lake. The area is uninhabited, located in the Himalayas at an altitude of 4844 meters (16,499 feet).Surrounded by rock-strewn glaciers and snow-clad mountains, the lake is a popular trekking destination.
More about Roopkund lake you can refer to the link :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roopkund
As it said that :- “We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us”. It was journey which compelled me to love natures more, I started loving everything around me. For me suddenly everything became beautiful. Roopkund will always be something which I can’t forget, something that I can boast about, something that makes me feel some sense of achievement. It have given me some wonderful memories to cheer up my whole life, some thrilling stories to talk about. It was really an out of the world feeling to lived for 5 days into the wild completely in the lap of mother nature.
The journey to roopkund is also no less thrilling and spectacular than the magnificent roopkund itself . It costs me almost 24 hours of journey by road and that too via different modes of transportations i.e. Bus, Jeep, Car( hitch hiked), Mini Bus etc. to reach Lohajung ( Base camp for roopkund trek).
Also along the journey I met two wonderful strangers who eventually became my companions for the roopkund trek. I must say without them it wouldn’t be so easy.
“Traveling- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller"- Ibn Battuta”.
My Complete journey and encounters with the roopkund trails is presented for you in the series of five parts. It contains everything (but not everything) that you should must know about roopkund, I tried to made this narration beautiful (but not too beautiful) and thrilling (but not too thrilling) with some exotic( but not too exotic) photos of the journey so that it makes you to start dreaming to visit Roopkund asap.
How to reach ( how i reached lohajung) step by step :-
1. Delhi to Haldwani via Uttarakhand roadways ,time taken 6-7 hours
2. Haldwani to Garur by Mini bus via hill stations like Almora , kausani, Someshwar etc, time taken 7-8 hours
3. Garur to Gwaldam by jeep ,time taken 1- 1 ½ hours
4. Gwaldam to Tharali by jeep , time taken 1 hour
4. Tharaali to deval (Hitch hiked ,car) , time taken 1 hour
5. Deval to lohajung by bus , time taken 1 hour ( Here i met Prashant & Gaurav)
Click for next post :- DAY-1 <> LOHAJUNG TO DIDINA VILLAGE
How to reach ( how i reached lohajung) step by step :-
1. Delhi to Haldwani via Uttarakhand roadways ,time taken 6-7 hours
2. Haldwani to Garur by Mini bus via hill stations like Almora , kausani, Someshwar etc, time taken 7-8 hours
3. Garur to Gwaldam by jeep ,time taken 1- 1 ½ hours
4. Gwaldam to Tharali by jeep , time taken 1 hour
4. Tharaali to deval (Hitch hiked ,car) , time taken 1 hour
5. Deval to lohajung by bus , time taken 1 hour ( Here i met Prashant & Gaurav)
Click for next post :- DAY-1 <> LOHAJUNG TO DIDINA VILLAGE
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