Going on a solo adventure is a passion many of us secretly cherish and dream in our all too dreary work life that we tend to call Reality. Well, this blog is about my adventure into the untouched beauty of Brahmatal which lies in Uttarakhand, though not as famous as its closest neighbor Roopkund its beauty emulates closely to that of Roopkund. Let me tell you about my first adventure to this magical place before I drift away into dreamy ramblings.
Wrapping up my 2 years rigorous course of MBA and suddenly finding myself with idle time I decided to chuck the usual vacation plans and instead decided to opt for something riskier and scarier and with this I hit upon the marvelous plan of going for a trek to North India alone and for the life of me I could not understand how I am going to achieve it. They say help comes when you are least expecting it and for me, it came in the guise of my friend who told me they too were going for a trek in the north and took the help of expedition company "Bikat Adventures" to arrange it for them. Immediately I checked it out and based on my time and considering this was going to be my first ever trek anywhere I chose the 5-day trek package to Brahmatal Summit. After considerable research online I realized this company had a great reputation when it comes to Himalayan treks so without much delay I booked it. Within a few days, the trek coordinators got in touch with me regarding the equipment I needed and other formalities.
Finally, the day of leaving for the trek came upon me and with a half excitement and half fear in my heart, I boarded the flight to Delhi and somehow managed to find the bus stand where I had to board another bus to Haldwani. After a 6 hour journey, I managed to reach Haldwani bus stop where I had to wait for an hour to meet the driver who would take the trek group to the base camp Lohajung which was another 9 hours of journey in a Tata Sumo. Soon our little group which was a total of 3 members including me due to the Holi week most people had opted for the later expedition batches set upon the journey to Lohajung. The driver was a really nice guy who kept answering our never-ending questions about the people, the various cultures, even the landmarks in each of the regions we kept passing by. The drive itself was beautiful as it kept winding down on roads with sunflower fields which shone like gold on one side accompanied with fairytale houses of the locals and on the other side the mighty Himalayas as vast and unbroken as the eye can see and just when I could barely contain my joy to see such beauty, the mood was set by the beautiful Garhwali music which was playing in the car and suddenly I felt like a true traveler sinking into the beauty and history of a place I could very easily mistake for Heaven and just like that we reached our base camp Lohajung.
The first day of the trek was all about reaching Lohajung where we were given room to freshen up and rest before the main trek would begin. While we were enjoying the beautiful view of the mighty mountains from our room sipping tea in temperatures of 8 degree Celsius we met our guide and the trek leader and it was there we were given the bad news. Due to the approaching Holi festival which was a very important festival for North India especially for the people residing in the mountains we were given the option to extend our trek by one more day. As the day we had booked tickets back home was hold and hence there would be no transport back to the city or we could shave off a day from the trek but they would ensure we would get to trek to all the locations that was promised on the trip only we would have to walk extra miles per day to ensure we get to stick to the planned itinerary. So basically we had to complete the 5 day trek in 3 days which was a massive task for a beginner like me but we viewed this as a challenge and agreed to it and with this we retired for the night eagerly awaiting the journey that lies ahead.
