Trek to Nandikund in October'15

Having an entire valley to yourself, at the cost of scarce views of himalayan peaks. Not a single tent except ours all along the trail. And ending it with a spell bounding emerald green lake with crisp, cold and pure water. What a feeling !!

Oct 2, Fri- Departed Delhi via Uttarakhand Parivahan Volvo from ISBT Anand Vihar. This dropped us in Dehradun the next morning.

Oct 3, Sat- Had breakfast at a friends house in Dehradun who was the third and final addition of the trekking party. Departed Dehradun by 9am via private taxi. Arrived in Ukhimath by 5pm. Met our guide and spent the night at Ukhimath.

The mall at Ukhimath. Guptakashi visible twinkling across the Valley.

The Kedar Dome from Ukhimath at Sunrise.

Oct 4, Sun- We set out by around 7am in a shared jeep from Ukhimath towards Ransi. After a jeep ride for about an hour or so, we arrived in Ransi. Highlight of the ride was a stellar view of Chaukhamba for a few minutes until we swayed into a u-bend turn to enter into another valley that took the view away from us.

Upon arrival in Ransi, we worked towards the last task of fetching two tents for the trek. Our guide rented the tents while we had a cup of chai like elitist clients (haha!). It was now time to start the trek as Ransi was the end of the road, in the sense that this is where the trail for the trek starts and the tarmac ends.

We begun our trek towards Madhyameshwar from Ransi through the Madhyameshwar valley, after crossing a few bridges and walking for a few hours we reached Goundhar village. We sorted out two able porters for the trek and then proceeded further. 

Continuous walking for around 08 hours, and at last we arrived at Madhyameshwar by late evening. We departed Ransi at around noon and reached Madhyameshwar by 7pm. Night stay in Madhyameshwar temple committee lodge. Overall the trail is wide and easy to walk on. It is even cemented for most parts. Just the distance is really long. Water and food is not a problem as there are many little isolated home stays on the way. Madhyameshwar has 24/7 access to water.

One of the many homestays between Ransi and Madhyameshwar.

Sunset views looking back at the Madhyameshwar valley towards Ransi.

Oct 5, Mon- Today we start out for our destination for the day, Kachni Dhar. It is a steep ascend from Madhyameshwar till you cross over a sort of mini-pass towards the other side of the mountian. The mini-pass is Kachni Dhar. We set out in the morning from Madhyameshwar and reached Kachni by late afternoon, say 4pm. The distance is not too much, the delay was due to rain and hail, that halted our progress for an hour or so at least. 

Hail spoiling the party en rout to Kachni Dhar.

The trail gets progressively rugged from Madhyameshwar, not easy as you are gaining altitude fast the entire way. You will cross the tree line at mid way en route to Kachni today. Kachni is at approx. 4000m above so the tough terrain together with the altitude can get challenging. The last quarter of the trail to Kachni-Dhar is full of big boulders. There is no trail and in some instances you have to climb up boulders twice your size. Once you cross the boulder zone, there is one stretch where you have to be careful as there is a direct drop with a narrow path. Although this stretch is only for about a few meters, 8 meters at max. You heart does race while crossing it. I became a lizard on all 4s while crossing this section.

Kachni-Dhar is also the point from where you will get your a glimpse of some snow capped vistas and the Nandikund pinnacle below which is Nandikund itself. Once you cross Kachni-Dhar you have to decent a little on the other side of the mountain. That is where the camp sight is. Rest here for the night. Water is scarce along the way, please fill up well from Madhyameshwar. Water at Kachni-Dhar is a little far from the camp sight (say 100m).

View of the Nandikund pinnacle (in the center with the glacier) from Kachni campsite. The lake is at the base of the Pinnacle. Long way to go !

Campsite just below Kachni-Dhar

Vistas from Kachni-Dhar. Pandavsera Valley is the leftmost Valley right ahead.

Oct 6, Tue- Today we proceed towards the legendary Pandavsera valley. Pandavsera will serve as the base from where we will make our push towards Nandkund. Pandavsera valley is clearly visible from Kachni-Dhar (as it is situated at a higher altitude than Pandavsera and right opposite it). It gives you the typical illusion of it being at arms length from Kachni, but it will easily take you the entire day to arrive there. We left Kachni at 9am after packing up our camp and having breakfast, and arrived at Pandavsera by 4pm. 

The trail is tough from here with a few spider walls at regular intervals initially. These walls are tough but only a few meters long so nothing very daring. However, there are sections in the middle of the trail where the trail is absolutely raw, and the incline is challenging. You will need to be on all 4s for these sections. Since you are climbing up these sections, you also descend down eventually, and there are a few sections where the downward slope is challenging as well, you will slip a little and fall on your ass while descending (as the trail is raw and full of pebbles and small screes), but as my Ustad in Kashmir used to say- "yeh slip toh trekking ke medal hote hai" Translation- "These slips are the medals of trekking").

The gradient getting a little beyond our liking. But wheres the fun without it?

Finally, you will arrive in Pandavsera by evening. The valley is breathtaking and there is a small cave like setting which is the ideal area to set up camp. Rest here for the night. Water is available at regular intervals via streams and waterfalls. However always stock up well, we went post Monsoon so the streams were flourishing. Water here is provided by a rivulet that cuts through the valley meadow. It is a little far from the camp sight.

Mythical, Magical, Mystical Pandavsera.

After the long tough climb, my friend and I just lay here on the soft sand, boots and jackets off, soaking up the sun while it was still out.

Oct 7, Wed- Today we shall push towards Nandikund and back to Pandavsera. Surfacing early morning we wrapped up a heavy breakfast (you'll need it) and set out by about 8am. Traversing across the Pandavsera valley we crossed the streams and fields, that according to Myth, were used by the Pandavas to irrigate and cultivate rice respectively. It is believed that it was the Pandavas who setlled in this valley and engineered the land to make is suitable for cultivation. We also found a small beach like setting, next to the main stream, but due to lack of time and the ascent still ahead of us, we decided to explore this on our way back from Nandikund. The traversing ended when the incline from where the trail ascends to Nandikund.

Planning the acsent to Nandikund at Pandavsera.

The magnificent Pandavsera viewed from the ascent to Nandikund.

The trail up till this point is well marked and easily maneuverable, from here on out we encountered Boulders and patches of grass sporadically.The incline is continuous from this point on up till the lake. The trail as well starts to disappear along with signs of any trekking here in the past. You are forced to recee  the best way possible to move forward. You are also gaining altitude dramatically along this route, so it is normal to feel the affects a little. After doing some trekking and some bouldering you start to notice the incline plateauing and that is a relief. At the end of this incline, which is completely boulder filled as well, you notice the large emerald water body- Nandikund, with this plateau on one side and a small arete wall on at the other. We reached the lake between noon and 1pm. The lake is at an altitude of approx. 4800m. Water at the lake is crystal and holy. Make sure to fill your bottles. We spent just over an hour at the lake and then began to descend back to Pandavsera. There is a stream that originates from the lake down the trail to Pandavsera so water is accessible throughout today's route. The descent back to Pandavsera campsight took us about two and a half hours. We did hurry this bit as the weather was worsening. Arrived in Pandavsera by 4pm.

The last stretch right before the lake.

The ascent plateauing just before approaching Nandikund.

Filling up our bottles with water from Nandikund.

Oct 8, Thur- Plan for today was to cover Pandavsera to Madhyameshwar. We left Pandavsera at around 8am and retraced our route back to Madhyameshwar by 5pm in the evening. This is the longest and most tiring day of the entire trek. It will be tough on the legs today. Only saving grace is the awaiting matress beds at the end of the day in Madhyameshwar and finally some good food (Dal, Bhaat, Ghee, Papad and Sabzi). Night stay in Madhyameshwar.

Soft beds at Madhyameshwar at last. My friend Shiva having a laugh, while I am flat out in the back.

Oct 9, Fri- Madhyamaheshwar to Ransi back to Ukhimath. Night stay in Ukhimath.

Oct 10, Sat- Ukhimath to Dehradun via private taxi. 

Oct 11, Sun- Uttarakhand Parivahan Volvo back to Delhi from Dehradun. Arrive in Delhi early morning on the 11th, Monday. Back to the grind ahhh !!