1st April, 2024
Reaching the rest camp was the first full day hike for us on this trip. This caused some muscular fatigue to some of the first timers. I had to dispense a few pain killers for them. Some of them raised doubts whether they could sustain the long hikes for subsequent days, but I assured them. Once the ball gets rolling, the rest happens automatically. The body gets in tune. It was really a very good morning, crisp & clear.
The outline of Machhapuchare was prominent & it was nearer to us than what was at the Australian camp, the day before.
Dhananjoy had his second hot shower last evening after the hike, but I couldn’t muster enough energy for it. Warm water wasn’t available in the morning, neither was Wi-Fi. Power wasn’t available, neither was fresh water for us to fill our bottles. These areas being driven mainly by solar power, this wasn’t unexpected. The rest camp is a stop gap halt between the more prominent forest camp below and low camp, lying above. Both these places had more tea houses and are more common places of halt in this route. We were told that we could fill our bottles at a place which lay about half an hour above the rest camp on our way up. The breakfast with bread toasts, egg & tea/coffee added the fuel, probably enough to carry us up till Badal Danda where we were supposed to have our lunch. It was followed by a group photo shoot along with our support staff and then the caravan hit the trail once again. An initial set of stairs went beneath the shades of rhododendrons.
The fresh morning dew added to the glaze of sunlight that slipped along the surface of the green leaves. Walking can be a charm with no pain or hurry whatsoever in such circumstances. As promised, we reached a tea house after a hike of about half an hour. That gave us an opportunity for an early rest as we filled our bottles from a tap nearby. The crown of Mt Fishtail was getting bigger & drew nearer as we gained height. Here too, it prodded it’s head above & amidst the blooming rhododendrons.
After the brief halt, we resumed our hike along the serpentine trail winding up through the entrenched roots of rhododendron trees. Many such hikes offered short detours which attempted to shorten the distance, branching from & joining to the main trail at different points. I took some of them but avoided the steeper ones. The sun was still prominent, the sky still clear and mountains revealing their full glory. Within our mortal reach, the green forest canopy was interspersed with blooming rhododendron flowers.
The shades of color ranged from dark red (lesser in numbers than the day before), dark pink & mix of light pink & white. Many of the trees, especially in the higher altitudes, displayed buds expecting to bloom in a few days. By this time, it was expected to be a full bloom, but it hasn’t yet arrived, thanks to the late winters & snowfalls.
A year earlier, in the Uttarakhand Himalayan region, I saw them bloom much earlier towards the end of February. It’s way erratic these years caused by rising global temperatures. But whatever was at our disposal, we lapped it up. Our hike was interrupted frequently by sounds of camera shutters. People posed in front or under the shades of blooming rhododendrons for their “perfect” shots which were to make their way to social media at the earliest available opportunity. These interspersed hikes through the bends, switchbacks & occasional stairs led us to a point from where we could see the tin shades of a few tea houses. A board beside declared it as Badaldanda. I got ecstatic about reaching it so early. While I reached there, which was an elevated flat area, I could see the slopes rising above, covered with forests, but beyond the canopy, at the top of a hill, lay a few more tea houses and I came to know, a bit to my disappointment, that too, was Badaldanda & was our destination for lunch. By this time, clouds started making their way through the sky & started to shield some of the mountains (going true by the name Badaldanda, which means “hill of the clouds” in Nepali language). Mt Fishtail was trying hard to stay afloat with most of it engulfed by the clouds, while Annapurna South still held its sway.
The hike looked daunting, but once we resumed, the forest subsumed our thoughts. The trail moved up gradually, once again aided by stairs. We first had to descend a few to reach a flat ground, then regained height once more though another set of stairs which finally gave way to a winding trail through the forest.
After sometime, the forests started depleting with trees getting scantier. That told us, we were about to leave the tree line, though there were still patches of forests, but their continuous cover was ceasing. After sometime, we were at the base of the final set of staircases which would take us to our destination for lunch, a tea house named “Hotel 360”. This would also be our resting place on our way down from Mardi High camp (the next day). Once we reached there, clouds covered the entire place with gale of winds blasting the place. Regardless of the tiredness, we quickly made our way to the dining space to avoid the onslaught of the chilly afternoon winds. A quick look at the rooms gave us satisfaction of comfort. Moreover, there was free Wi-Fi. That allowed us to announce our safe arrival to our respective homes. As we waited for our lunch to get served, I started feeling the cold and rued not having my jacket in my backpack. Nevertheless, I scouted for the upper half of the raincoat and kept it handy for the walk after lunch.
Once I resumed my walk after lunch, it proved to be a wise decision as the raincoat provided shield from the chilly winds and walking, more or less, proved comfortable. An initial hike through an exposed ridge took us to another tea house at the top of a nearby hill. As I was ascending it, another group took a side detour, which offered a more gradual rise. But by that time, I had ventured much ahead along the stairs and hence, I stayed on that path. While I was descending on the other side of the hill, I saw the side detour merging ahead. So, obviously, I took the path that actually led to the tea house rather than the normal trail. It was a lesson learnt well and I applied to subsequent sections, most of which had steep as well as gradual trails branching and merging at different points. I took the latter in most of the sections to avoid the unnecessary hikes. While rhododendron trees were still dotting the trail, their numbers reduced and we realized that we were now walking over the top of a ridge exposed on both sides. Steep declines into the gorges graced both of its sides, but the trail was wide enough and comfortable to tread on. It was all cloudy around and nothing was visible on the distant horizon except for sections of the trail we were on. After sometime, we arrived at a junction where our porters took sometime to rest their backs. We joined them too to gulp down some water through our throats. A word with the porters revealed that another half an hour should take us to the high camp, our place of stay for the day. With the depletion of forest cover, dust and stones increased on the trail, which was now gradual. After some steps, I tried taking another detour, but it seemed to circumvent around the tea houses I could see on the slopes above. So, I stopped and turned around to reach at the junction from where I started off to wait for Shishir to arrive. After he arrived, as I already guessed, he signaled to take the other direction where a set of stairs moved up towards a tea house called “Fishtal hotel”. We arrived at about 3 PM, while the rear of the group was still being brought up by Kumar.
Once again, I shared my room with Dhananjoy, but also with Kunal. Such rearrangements are often necessary in these trails where room sizes don’t often match the privacy needs. We should be thankful for presence of tea houses and dining rooms in such remote areas (which are not common in the Indian Himalayas). After settling in our rooms, we headed for the dining place to have tea. People assembled there for the normal evening routine of gossip and card play. While we were engrossed in those activities, I suddenly noticed that a section of the clouds gave way, revealing the afternoon sun’s glory on a section of Mt Fishtail. Fading rays of sun sprayed their colors over it’s crown as well as on the floating clouds over its head.
By the time I took out my camera to train my lenses, the scene was already gone. But moving clouds gave me hope that it would repeat again and I wasn’t disappointed. In the next half an hour, there were multiple opportunities where Mt Fishtail revealed itself amidst the clouds only to get covered again. As evening wore on, we continued our assembly at the dining place and finally, dinner got served. As we settled in our rooms, we segregated our warm wears for the morrow. At 3.30 AM, we’d have to venture out just to be in time to be at the Mardi View point when the sun was about the grace the skies. It would be a steep hike along stairs till viewpoint, beyond which an exposed trail on the top of a ridge should carry us to the Mardi base camp after approximately two hours. The latter sections of the trail are likely to have snow, though a local person allayed the fears that snow lay on the sides, not on the trail, which was apparently clear. For the moment, I swept those thoughts away to cross the bridge once we reach the river. We had to wake up early enough to have access to the shared toilets as almost all of the travelers would be venturing out early. I set the alarm at 2.30 AM to allow me enough time and went for sleep. As usual for the other places on this trail, sleep kept eluding me before finally drooping my eyes in. We were sleeping at 3550 m.
Break shackles 