25th August, 2010: 7:30 AM
Shubhodip was the first to wake up, not only today, but every day of the trip. He made an failed attempt to wake us up and headed straight out, with an eager enthusiasm, thinking that Sun God would be shining on him. I was up, I had a feeling that it won’t be a clear day. When Shubhodip went out; forget Sun God shining on him, the Rain God was laughing on him, well and later on us too….We met another group last night who went through the same tragedy that we went through. Arshad and Co. Three gents were supposed to go to Tapovan, if not then to Kedartal, but with both being inaccessible they headed straight to Dodital. Just like us.
Bread butter, chai and coffee for breakfast, we were all set to do the long 16km hike to Dodital. Before that we had to unload some of our not so important stuff; the unwanted luggage. After our change in plan we realized that we would be arriving back to Haridwar a day earlier. Shubhodip made a call to his friend to cancel our tickets on Sunday night and book it on Saturday night. Well he had some BSNL satellite phone or something and he charged us 10 bucks.
That done, we began our journey to Dodital at around 9:30AM. Soon we reached Bebra village. It was a very gentle 2km walk. After walking a few 100m’s Bebra we stopped. Jai Bhai asked us to take off our floaters and check for leeches. I had at least 5-10 leaches sucking my blood. All of us had a little blood sucked out of our bodies. I literally had a tug-of-war with some of these leeches. Today when I am back in the comfort of my home and I write this blog, I have those leech bite marks all over my feet. They remind me of all the wonderful time I had in on this trek to Dodital!! Soon we continued on our trail to Dodital.
The Rain Gods just dint wanted to have mercy on us. They kept on pouring and pouring heavy. The trail wasn’t difficult but bluddy tiring. Our next pit stop was at Kachru; 4 km from Bebra and 6 km from Agoda. It was a small flat place with a roof and cemented parapets to seat. Chomped on chocolates we were carrying. In the mean time the rains got even more heavier. We decided to move on. Soon after a 5km walk we found ourselves at Manjhi, drenched with sweat and rains, sitting next to fire place, ordering Maggie to eat, chomping on salted peanuts and drinking garma garam chai!!
Apparently the other group, who started an hour before us from Agoda left few minutes before we arrived at that place. It certainly meant we weren’t doing bad!! After resting for about 30-45mins we continued our final stretch of 5km to Dodital. It certainly was a leisurely, 5km walk from Manjhi to Dodital. At around 4.00PM we reached Dodital and it was still bluddy raining!! Soon we had some mercy from Rain Gods and skies started opening up.
Shubhodip was the first to wake up, not only today, but every day of the trip. He made an failed attempt to wake us up and headed straight out, with an eager enthusiasm, thinking that Sun God would be shining on him. I was up, I had a feeling that it won’t be a clear day. When Shubhodip went out; forget Sun God shining on him, the Rain God was laughing on him, well and later on us too….We met another group last night who went through the same tragedy that we went through. Arshad and Co. Three gents were supposed to go to Tapovan, if not then to Kedartal, but with both being inaccessible they headed straight to Dodital. Just like us.
Bread butter, chai and coffee for breakfast, we were all set to do the long 16km hike to Dodital. Before that we had to unload some of our not so important stuff; the unwanted luggage. After our change in plan we realized that we would be arriving back to Haridwar a day earlier. Shubhodip made a call to his friend to cancel our tickets on Sunday night and book it on Saturday night. Well he had some BSNL satellite phone or something and he charged us 10 bucks.
That done, we began our journey to Dodital at around 9:30AM. Soon we reached Bebra village. It was a very gentle 2km walk. After walking a few 100m’s Bebra we stopped. Jai Bhai asked us to take off our floaters and check for leeches. I had at least 5-10 leaches sucking my blood. All of us had a little blood sucked out of our bodies. I literally had a tug-of-war with some of these leeches. Today when I am back in the comfort of my home and I write this blog, I have those leech bite marks all over my feet. They remind me of all the wonderful time I had in on this trek to Dodital!! Soon we continued on our trail to Dodital.
The Rain Gods just dint wanted to have mercy on us. They kept on pouring and pouring heavy. The trail wasn’t difficult but bluddy tiring. Our next pit stop was at Kachru; 4 km from Bebra and 6 km from Agoda. It was a small flat place with a roof and cemented parapets to seat. Chomped on chocolates we were carrying. In the mean time the rains got even more heavier. We decided to move on. Soon after a 5km walk we found ourselves at Manjhi, drenched with sweat and rains, sitting next to fire place, ordering Maggie to eat, chomping on salted peanuts and drinking garma garam chai!!
Apparently the other group, who started an hour before us from Agoda left few minutes before we arrived at that place. It certainly meant we weren’t doing bad!! After resting for about 30-45mins we continued our final stretch of 5km to Dodital. It certainly was a leisurely, 5km walk from Manjhi to Dodital. At around 4.00PM we reached Dodital and it was still bluddy raining!! Soon we had some mercy from Rain Gods and skies started opening up.
click below for pictures
DODITAL
Dodital is a beautiful lake, surrounded by thick forest of oak, fir and rhodendron. The lake is approximately hexagonal in shape, and is inhabited by golden trouts, which gives its name. ( Dodi means trout in the local language ). Reference to the Dodital are there in the Puranas, where it has been described as one of the holy lakes. It is the source to about 80 rivulets which merge to form the Assi Ganga, due to which the valley is also called Assi Ganga valley (Assi means 80 in the local language). The Assi Ganga meets the Bhagirathi at Gangotri. (Source of Information: Internet)
As soon as the skies cleared we were out again with our cameras; trying to click Dodital, the surrounding forest and high ridges from different angle along with the reflection of Dharwa Bugyal (meadow) in the clear and calm waters of the lake. Soon it got darker and we were back in our Dhaba. Had nice Hot and Sour soup followed it up with yummy pahadi dinner and then soaked ourselves into our sleeping bags. We had a major competition going on. Who would snore louder!! Vivek stayed unaffected but Pankaj had a terrible night. I had sleep in installments. Skies had cleared in night again; the white and bright moon was out smiling on us all night.
Dodital is a beautiful lake, surrounded by thick forest of oak, fir and rhodendron. The lake is approximately hexagonal in shape, and is inhabited by golden trouts, which gives its name. ( Dodi means trout in the local language ). Reference to the Dodital are there in the Puranas, where it has been described as one of the holy lakes. It is the source to about 80 rivulets which merge to form the Assi Ganga, due to which the valley is also called Assi Ganga valley (Assi means 80 in the local language). The Assi Ganga meets the Bhagirathi at Gangotri. (Source of Information: Internet)
As soon as the skies cleared we were out again with our cameras; trying to click Dodital, the surrounding forest and high ridges from different angle along with the reflection of Dharwa Bugyal (meadow) in the clear and calm waters of the lake. Soon it got darker and we were back in our Dhaba. Had nice Hot and Sour soup followed it up with yummy pahadi dinner and then soaked ourselves into our sleeping bags. We had a major competition going on. Who would snore louder!! Vivek stayed unaffected but Pankaj had a terrible night. I had sleep in installments. Skies had cleared in night again; the white and bright moon was out smiling on us all night.
FOR MORE DODITAL PICTURES: Click on the link below
oye u missed.......... i lost my lucky cap in this strech :(.......
ReplyDeleteabee haan.. tat completely went off... but that portion was dominated by Leeches...so missed it!!!!
ReplyDelete