hiking – Page 4 – Break shackles

Mardi Himal – the zenith

2nd April, 2024

Every trek in Nepal has one or two days, which could be called “the day” – the day which yields the best of what nature has to offer, but also the toughest in the itinerary and at times, risky too. A literal expression of the term “no risk, no gain“. The Everest Base camp trip had two, the day when we scaled Kalapathhar to get the closest view of Mt Everest and the crossing of Cho La to get to the Gokyo valley from the Khumbu valley. For Manaslu, it was the day when we crossed the Larkya La. In our last trip to the Annapurna Circuit, the first was our hike to the Tilicho Lake and then the crossing of the Thorong La to get to the Mustang region from Manang. On this occasion, it wasn’t that big, but nevertheless, it was to take us to the highest point that we could reach, the Mardi Himal base camp, almost at the toe of Mt Fishtail (aka Machapuchhare). Before that, the hike should take us to the Mardi viewpoint, which is no less beautiful.

Even before 2.30 AM, when the alarm declared the inevitable, my eyes opened and I could hear movements outside our room. People have already started to make their way up. A quick peek outside the room in the dark showed me a moving array of head torches lacing the upper slopes. My other two room mates were still in bed, though awake. Contrary to my expectations, the toilets were vacant. The cold was significantly higher than the earlier days. As we started getting ready, we contemplated about our warm wears. The cold outside prompted us to use as many of them, but we also knew they’d weigh down upon us as the sun would gain power. After some adjustments, it seemed to be a reasonable trade off and we started. The entire group started at about 3.45 AM, so did the entire support staff (guides as well as porters). It was a deliberate decision taken by our main guide Kumar, which was to have at least one person to support every two. There was a slight debate the day before about the hour of start. Some members of the group insisted starting much earlier (to give the slow movers enough time to reach the viewpoint before sunrise), but the guides didn’t agree (to be fair, it would have been tough on them, especially for the porters). Though me and Dhananjoy started at the rear, we gradually moved ahead of others, first through the dark alleys of the other tea houses, then to the actual trail, which had stair cases very early on and started moving up briskly. Having stair cases right at the start, throws you off a bit, but it was expected since we had to reach 4250 m for Mardi viewpoint and in just about two hours to give us a chance with the sunrise. Dhananjoy led the way but I kept close on his heels. I was actually following him, not in terms of deciphering the trail, which was clearly visible in the light cast from our head torches, but it was mainly to take the breaks at places where he did. The stairs increased their steepness. Whenever we stopped, invariably our eyes moved up where we could see trails of torches moving up the slopes like an army of glowing ants. We tried to see the last of the glows to get a sense of the hike and it seemed never ending. After a few switchbacks, we could see patches of snow lying by the side. It was pitch dark all around with only our torches showing the way. After hiking for an hour, we could see a hut at the highest visible top. Some lights already reached there. One of our porters said, it was the lower viewpoint. I was aware of only a single viewpoint, but if the porter was to be believed, the “higher” viewpoint was a hike of another hour from there. The base camp was a further two hours ahead. Whatever may be the case, we had to continue. The staircases now had guardrails on the side of the steep drops. They also reduced in width and increased in steepness as time went on, causing us to stop more frequently and on a couple of occasions, to sip water. Breaths became heavier, mouths drier, steps slower. A soft light started to spread through the eastern horizon exposing the dark silhouettes of the mountains. As we scaled the stairs, we made the junction points between the switchbacks as our milestones. Every such point seemed to be the last only to reveal another one, on reaching there. But everything ends, so did this hike and we finally reached a flat top with only a single hut dwelled by a few locals who were busy serving tea and noodles to the passers by. There were a few tables and chairs laid out in the open where we rested our bags and walking poles (for me, the camera as well). It was 5.45 AM. Me and Dhananjoy were the first in our group to reach the viewpoint. Others were still down below at different points on the trail. By this time, the sky was clear with initial rays of the sun penetrating through the rough edges of the mountains to spray crimson over the low hanging puffs of cloud that hovered over the mountain tops.

Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna and others were clearly visible and so was Mt Fishtail, but they were yet to strike gold. The biting cold prevented us to remove our gloves, but I couldn’t operate my camera with them on. My naked fingers pained in the cold air but that’s a small price to pay to capture the views at our disposal.

Nature acquired its brush and the canvas was painted first with crimson and then gold, which started gracing the crowns of Annapurna South and very soon, it spread like fire to its neighbors. Annapurna Main (one of the coveted 8000-er for the climbers) was behind the wall of Hiunchuli and could not be seen. The south base camp of Annapurna (where we were in 2018), was right behind the wall that spanned between Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.

People fortunate to be there, must be having a treat to their eyes. By this time, other members started making their appearances in batches of two or three. The next to arrive was Niladri, Mishti and Sagor. They now joined the party of photo shoots. Every passing moment unfolded new shades of color and we couldn’t take off our fingers from our cameras and phones. Mugs of tea were served to us from the hut, which helped reducing the shivers. As more members were awaited, I moved into the hut momentarily. The burning stove and the closed walls provided some shelter against the biting cold, but I couldn’t stay long inside due to the smoke. By this time, the display of snow was in full glory. Plumes of snow were forced into the sky above from the mountain peaks appearing like silk scarfs surrounding them. They looked innocent from distance, but were actually caused by strong gales of wind that dashed the summits.

Breakfast was served in the form of noodle soups. I never had breakfast at a better ambiance. We sat in an amphitheater surrounded by towering mountain peaks of the Annapurna Himalayas. All of them basking in their full glory in the morning sun. The trail towards the Mardi base camp was clearly visible along the top of the ridge. It was gradual, but exposed with steep drops on both sides. Groups of people plodded along it.

After sometime, we joined the trail. The initial part was almost level but it gradually moved up. The walking path was devoid of snow, till we reached a rocky area where we had to make our way through narrow alleys between boulders strewn with snow. I treaded on with care but the trail was still fairly easy. The snow that initially lay by the side, started to close in and after sometime, covered the trail.

We kept closing in towards the mountains which grew in stature and revealed their interiors. The glacial trails along their slopes were becoming clearer.

The mountain that got magnified the most was Mt Fishtail. A plume of cloud held its sway above its crown acting like an umbrella.

The trail by this time was fully covered with snow and at a point, I pulled out the micro spikes from my backpack and Kumar helped me to put them on. The layer thickened and there were patches of black hard ice in between. Even with micro spikes on, my steps were circumspect and at places where the trail moved along steep slopes covered with snow, I had to take support from our porters or Kumar.

*En-route Mardi base camp, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*

While treading on the trail, one of our porters pointed out a fade hint of a tinned shade along the slopes of the distant hill and shouted “MBC” (Machhapuchhare Base Camp), the famed place along the Annapurna base camp trail. We already knew that the ABC trail ran in parallel through the valley on the left of the ridge that we were walking along. With that statement, our minds went back six years when we treaded that trail. Focusing back on the trail at hand, we could now see chortens at a distance hanging off a pile of stones. A typical sign of a high mountain pass. That was our destination, the Mardi Himal base camp (4500 m). We dragged along and finally reached there.

*Mardi Himal basecamp, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*

To me, it gave a sense of satisfaction, but others were ecstatic. Some of them have never ventured into such close corridors of the inner Himalayas and their excitement was palpable. Photo shoots ensued at the base camp with different groups and subgroups with varying poses. While this was going on, a part of my mind kept saying that we had to depart as a look at the sky revealed hovering clouds. We had to descend the snowy slopes, a task more risky than plodding up. We had to trace our way back to Mardi viewpoint, move down the slopes to the lodges of high camp, pack our bags, have lunch and then head down to Badaldanda. That seemed a long way ahead. So we headed back down the same trail and by the time we reached viewpoint again, none of the mountains were visible anymore. Without wasting any time, I headed down the staircases. This time I was alone as Dhananjoy was ahead of me, while the rest followed behind. The stair cases seemed never ending and while climbing them down, it put a pressure on my knees. The switchbacks seemed infinite and after seemingly a very long time, I could see a bird’s eye view of the tea houses of the High camp.

*High camp, picture courtesy, Dhananjoy De*

I reunited with Dhananjoy at the dining room. We had to change our clothes, getting rid of the extra warm wears. Some re-adjustments had to be done to our luggage. We had to hurry up as it was already 2 PM and the lodge owners were hurrying us to vacate the rooms as the tourists on their way up, had to occupy them after a strenuous hike from Badaldanda. We obliged them, had our lunch and hit the trail once more towards Badaldanda, our destination for the day. I walked down the trail, that was familiar to me. Since I was on my way down, it took less time. Also, I was aware of the detours which shortened the distance and by 4 PM, I reached the dining room of the tea house. By that time, a strong gale of wind swept the place as was evident by the violent flapping of a Nepalese flag planted outside in the lawn of the tea house. Clouds hung all around the place and nothing was visible, lending credence to the name Badaldanda.

3rd April, 2024

We woke up to a bright sunny morning and the great mountains of the Annapurna Himalayas basked in the bright sun.

Blooming rhododendrons laughed all around the place. The sky was crystal clear and it was difficult to believe it was the same place that was blanketed by the clouds the day before. The scarlet displays of rhododendrons provided a wonderful frame through which one could view the splendid mountain peaks in their full glory.

After breakfast, we started on our long way down from Badal Danda through the rhododendron forests and retraced our trail through the places of Low Camp, Rest camp to reach at Forest camp. We were treated with ample display of rhododendrons once more as we headed down the slopes.

After lunch at the forest camp, we reached the junction from where the steep staircases commenced which led us all the way down to the village of Landruk.

We settled in the tea house at Landruk with tired legs. The evening was vibrant with cans of beer. The members of the support staff also joined the party.

4th April, 2024

The next morning, we left Landruk for the village of Jhinu Danda, a familiar place to us, which we visited on our way down from the Annapurna base camp, six years ago. The aim was to bathe at its famous hot spring. The trail was level and went along the banks of the river Modi Khola.

Local village life unfolded before our eyes as we moved through the villages. We came across an old woman who was cleaning sheep wool. We saw a flour mill driven by water power of a running torrent. A serene laid back life that one wishes to live amid these beautiful mountainous landscapes.

The trail moved down to a place where we crossed the river via a suspension bridge, our first encounter with one on this trail. On the other side, the trail moved up the dusty slopes steeply from the river bank and another half an hour took us to the second suspension bridge before Jhinudanda.

Along our way we went through lush green fields of barley which were on the cusp of harvesting. Green terraced fields laced the mountain slopes that went down towards the river. Quiet village hamlets were nestled amidst the green fields.

The village hamlets, the suspension bridge, terraced fields, all were so familiar to us from our earlier visit to the ABC trail, it felt almost like homecoming to me. I crossed the bridge to reach the other side and started moving up the slopes towards Jhinu Danda. After reaching the place, we kept our luggage, put on our shorts and headed down towards the hot spring. A full hour was spent there bathing in the comfort of the warm water. The tiredness was swept away. After lunch at the tea house, we proceeded to the jeep stand.

By that time, the sun had started its journey towards the western horizon. That added the evening glow to the fading solar rays which sprayed its colors on the terraced fields and the village hamlets nestled among them. The trekking trails of the Annapurna region bade us goodbye as we boarded the jeep towards Pokhara. As it traversed the slopes, I looked at the trails we left behind for the last time and kept thinking “Shall we come back again in the future?”. May be, who knows?

Earlier

Mardi Himal – the launching pad

Earlier

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.

Earlier

Mardi Himal – Rest camp

Earlier

31st March, 2024

Woken up by the alarm, as I ventured out of our room, the first thing I watched was the state of the sky. Darkness was gradually fading out with a soothing light spreading throughout the skyline. Dark silhouettes of the distant mountains appeared prominently. There wasn’t any trace of clouds near them. I could identify Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and Fishtail on the northern horizon, though all dark at the moment. The cold was intense, though not unbearable. Placing fingers on the camera shutters was proving a bit difficult. The dining place was active with the staffers getting on with preparing the kitchen to serve breakfasts. Sounds of cocks and hens in our lodge (saw a few of them the day before) and nearby localities formed the typical welcome for the upcoming sun, which was now spreading its golden tentacles though the rough edges of the distant hills. The bigwigs of the Annapurna Himalayas still stayed clear of the golden solar rays, but their tops started revealing the snow.

We were all at the lawn with our respective cameras and phones, eager to capture the display of colors on the Himalayan peaks. Our years of experience in such areas have told us to be vigilant as colors change in splits of seconds as the sun makes its journey upwards. On the other side of the theatre, the moon was about to leave, handing over the baton to the upcoming sun.

The peaks of the Annapurna Himalayas became increasingly prominent. From a faint white outline amidst a predominantly dark silhouette, they started to acquire silver crowns, whose dazzling beauty inspired awe from every onlooker in the sprawling lawn. People started asking the guides and porters about their identities. Some even tried to identify Mardi Himal summit amidst the range of snow peaks. While many of them claimed to have found it, I had my doubts.

We had a round of tea while marveling at the morning display of sunshine over the Himalayan peaks. After sometime, breakfast got served. Almost at the same time, we got a disturbing news from one of our members. The sole of Projnesh’s son’s shoes came off and was threatening to separate from the main body. Kunal had a similar experience, but thankfully at Pokhara. So he got a chance to replace it with a new pair there itself. But up here, on the trail, spare shoes weren’t available. I could feel for Projnesh as I’ve faced it before. He did a brave act by tying it with multiple ropes. It wasn’t perfect, but hopefully, should sustain today’s hike. The breakfast was filling and delicious with bread toasts, honey, omelets, tea/coffee and mashed potatoes (a common item in these areas). People stuffed in as much as they could, strapped their backpacks and hit the trail.

Today’s hike would take us to Rest camp, a destination which is half an hour beyond the Forest camp (which is a more common halt on the way up). We found the idea to be good as it’d advance us a bit more for the next day’s hike towards the High camp. The trail was similar as the day before, to start with. It wound up the slopes amidst dense rhododendron forests, the density of these trees increasing by the height.

However, as we moved up, phases of tracts with stairs increased. This was going to be the first day with full trekking and going by the estimates, it was supposed to be a normal day (not as easy as the day before) as far as hiking goes. It should take us to at least 2520 m (the Forest camp), but more than that. After exiting Australian camp, we continued gradually upwards till a village called Pothana. This place is a junction and one could change tracks to switch to the Annapurna base camp (ABC) route which ran in parallel to this trail. Rather most of the trekkers use this junction to hatch on to the Mardi Himal route from the ABC route. We passed through many local villages and lodges that dotted the trail amidst dense forests. The group, though started together initially, split into smaller sub groups, each walking with their own speed. I found myself alone after sometime (which I always do), inhaling the freshness of the forest dew and air. After passing through the premises of Pothana, we came across a point from where a trail moved steeply upwards. An arrow at that junction pointed to Pitam Deurali and Samjay Deurali – two villages that awaited us in the higher slopes. Nepal has many villages with same or similar names across different trails (at times, also on the same trail). Deurali is one of such names. There’s a Deurali on the ABC trail (just before Machhapuchare Base Camp) and here, there seem to be two more. Other such repeated names are Jagat and Tatopani. The latter indicating the presence of a hot spring nearby. The Annapurna Himalayas played hide and seek with the forest canopy, revealing or hiding themselves depending on the tree cover.

Other members of the group waited at the junction for the rear to come up, going by the instructions of Shishir, the guide who was with the group at front. Some of the members were carrying their own luggage (and were not using the services of porters). Dhananjoy was one of them. It’s obvious, they’d need to give their backs some much needed rest at regular intervals. As they waited for the rear group to catch up and gulped down water, I kept moving up the slopes towards the “elusive” Samjay Deurali. After plodding up for sometime, I came across a few tea houses with a board displaying the name “Pitam Deurali”. I seemed to have crossed the first part, the next awaited village should logically be “Samjay Deurali”. Rhododendrons kept company as I moved up towards that “elusive” village.

After leaving the tea houses of Pitam Deurali, I hiked for quite a long time to reach a second set of tea houses and another board displaying the name of the place. On reaching near it, to my dismay, I found it to be again as “Pitam Deurali”. How can it be? Places aren’t that far apart in these areas and I’ve walked for at least 20 minutes since my initial encounter with “Pitam Deurali”. Nevertheless, it is what it is. There was a shade and I entered under its shade for some rest. As I waited there, other members caught up and joined me. Some took the opportunities to freshen up themselves by visiting the washrooms of the nearby tea houses. On asking Shishir, I came to know that our destination for lunch was “Lovely viewpoint” – somewhat unique name, one has to say, though what’s unique about it, is something we can only decipher once we reach there.

After some rest, we resumed our hike. The trail once again moved inside the forest, but the hike was gradual and comfortable. The presence of canopy also helped with ample oxygen. The same hike through an exposed ridge would have been more tiring. The sequence continued with more patches of tea houses interspersed with canopy walks till I reached a village which finally displayed the label of “Samjay Deurali”. It was a milestone of sorts, given the numerous “Pitams” that I came through. The stairs started reappearing, giving an indication that we were gaining height quickly. The trail also started to have switchbacks. After traversing a few of them, I was able to see a few tin shades of some tea houses placed on the slopes high above. That must be the “lovely view” point. A slow hike, ultimately led me to that point and I made myself comfortable in its dining place. The small lawn bathed in sunshine, but the atmosphere was cool, thanks to the forests around the place. It was 11.30 AM. To save sometime and with the hope of leaving the place after an hour, I asked Shishir to order lunch for the entire group. I asked him to confer with Kumar for the preferences of the rear group over the walkie talkie. All of that initiative was to save time. However, it turned out that the tea house staff was busy preparing lunch for another group and only after that, they’d resume taking further orders. A quick view around the place, revealed Mt Dhaulagiri, while other members of the Himalayas were behind clouds. This was the first point (and may be the only one) which provided a view of Mt Dhaulagiri (which may be one of the factors for it’s name “Lovely”). Our guide Kumar showed us villages along the slopes of distant hills. He pointed out Chomrong as one of them. It’s an important junction on the ABC trail. We could also see the motorable roads leading down the slopes towards Pokhara. They are the ones which we’d ply on during our return. With the help of Wi-Fi, we called to our homes.

It took us almost two hours to resume the hike after lunch, most of the time going towards waiting for our lunch to arrive. Nevertheless, the lunch was fresh and filling and after it, I resumed the hike along the other slope of the ridge which we hiked to reach “Lovely view”. This time, I had the company of Niladri, Sagor and Mishti. The trail went deep inside the forest and walking was comfortable under the shade. Much to our pleasant surprise, we suddenly noticed that the shades of rhododendrons have changed. From dark red in the lower reaches, it now acquired a blend of light pink and white. May be altitudes have a factor to play in the shades of color.

The trail moved along taking us up the stairs, only to bring us down after sometime, but we enjoyed the canopy cover & the rhododendron blooms. The density of the forest increased (which was expected, as we were approaching the Forest camp). With that, the trail too diversified into multiple branches going through the gaps of the firmly rooted trunks. For a moment, it confused us, but Niladri was quick to spot a blue and white paint (which he termed “Messi” due to its resemblance to the Argentinian flag) on the trunks of the trees showing the way through the maze. After spotting that mark (which was consistent till up to Badaldanda), it was easy to spot the route. We kept talking with each other and kept plodding ahead.

On our way, we reached a junction, from where the straight route led to many tea houses at a distance, the Forest camp. The other route winded down the other side of the slope in a series of switchbacks, with each dropping down more steeply than the one above. That route led to Landruk. We’d have to take that trail on our way down from Mardi Himal. Forest camp is probably the first big halt on the way to Mardi Himal. It has many tea houses and we found it to be a bustling place. Actually, not many people halt at Australian camp as it’s not really a part of this hike.

The forests around the “Forest camp” were full of rhododendrons with many shades. This was unique. So far, we’ve been seeing a single variety in an area, but may be Forest camp was a blending point where one variety gives way to another.

From the premises of Forest camp, a set of stairs went up the slopes and we started climbing them. Our legs were tiring and it showed at the speed with which we moved up. Every set of ten steps (which was down to two/three for some other members) forced us to stop and breathe before taking on the next. But we knew, every ground gained today will be an advantage for the next day, which was supposed to be a steeper hike. The long winding and seemingly never-ending stair cases finally came to an end at the lawn of the Rest camp. By that time, the clouds held the sway over the mountains. After settling in our respective rooms, we relaxed at the lawn as remaining members of the group were yet to arrive. They finally showed up in groups of one or two as we sipped hot tea. Discussing the proceedings of the day with tiring legs, sipping smoking tea, took away most of the fatigue. We looked at the hike for the next day, but that was still an evening away. An evening, that we’d be spending in the dining hall, with snacks, tea & cards. We were to sleep at more than 2520 m.

Earlier