A trek to Ruinsara Tal
I yearn for mountains, every day, every minute and every second I suppose. I’m still confused whether it’s this yearning or my empty pockets that I wear hiking boots even in Delhi summer. I was in the mountains only when I called Girish to plan an exploratory trek, I was craving for higher altitudes. It was April, Harsha had taken 2 weeks off from his job and I’m the one my friends reach out to when they want to go to the mountains. Last winter received relatively less snowfall, we knew we could do an altitude of 3000m in April which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible until May or sometimes even June. After a few phone calls with Girish and a little help from the internet, we finally settled upon the Ruinsara Tal (~3500m). This is going to be challenging and exciting, the snowfall was definitely less this winter, but in April it is still going to be a challenge with at least knee deep snow in the last few kms. We were supposed to document the trek, map the trail using the GPS device, plan out an itinerary for Bikat Adventures, take lots of pictures and shoot some videos. Simple! And this job makes me the happiest man on the earth!
Trek starts from the village Taluka in Govind National Park. We left for Dehradun from Delhi on the night of April 20, followed by a 10-hour long journey on a private bus to Sankri. These buses and the bus rides, the only thing you do on the bus is to try to fit in whatever space you have. It’s never enough! We reached Sankri on the 21st evening, brought some food and other necessary items for the trek, and settled for the night with a big fat meal of pahaadi chicken. The night sky was mostly cloudy, almost full moon barely managing to peek through the clouds.
We started the next morning with a short drive to Taluka. Man! This was my third time on that road and it gets worse every time. To my surprise we didn’t see much rhododendrons on the way, must be the changing climate. This year, barely had any winter and summer came early, and the rhododendrons blossomed in February/March instead of April. Drive to Taluka is beautiful except for the road, lush green Oak, Pine and rhododendron forests with Supin river shimmering down the valley. We reached Taluka in around 1.5 hours, checked all our stuff (you won’t get much after this, just the basic food till Osla. Nothing after that!) and started walking the trail.
Oh, wait! I forgot to introduce the two most important members of the team, the Jeeja-Saala duo. Forty-year-old Vikram Singh Chauhan, the guide, and 19-year-old Ram Singh Chauhan, the porter, were two tough mountain children who joined us in Sankri for the support. I’m sure both of them were carrying at least 20-25 Kgs. each on their shoulders. We weren’t too behind either with roughly 15 Kgs with me and Harsha both.
Taluka(~1900m) to Chilud Dhar (~2400m), 12 Kms
This was the third time I was walking this trail, there’s something about coming back to such places. It felt as if the valley remembered me, I could hear the Supin flowing past the gorges in the distance, dogs, and people giving a familiar look and the soothing winds.
The trail starts right next to the Forest guest house in Taluka, takes you down to the river ground with the river on your left and a few houses on your right. This entire trail is an easy one, gradual climb with a few steep sections with mesmerizing views of the crystal clear Supin flowing through the narrow green valley. First 20-30 minutes of the trail is mostly downhill or level walk. You also have an option of not carrying any water on this trail, the river is always on your left. Though fetching water from the river can be a bit tricky in a few sections. There are plenty of small streams. Within an hour you’ll come across 4 such streams.
After around 30 minutes of the walk, you’ll come across a big cemented bridge over a small stream. Right after this bridge is a green patch of land which can be used as a camping spot, a little too early for that though, and on the right of the bridge is village Dhatmir, looks really tiny from here. Dhatmir is barely visible from here, make sure you look hard. It looks like a perfect Himalayan village.
After the green patch, there are two trails – one going to our destination and the second one to Dhatmir. Take the one taking you down! Trails are the best teacher. You can’t move ahead in life with ego, and on the trails too. You got to come down to climb up!
Another 10 minutes of walk and you come across a perfect setting in the dense forest. A tiny, shaky wooden bridge over Supin, often used by the shepherds. This is my favorite spot on this trail, the density of the forests and the music of Supin here are simply mesmerizing, it engulfs you into its charm.
Stay on the left of the trail and start climbing. Yes! The trail starts to gain some altitude from here in a zig-zag formation, but not for long. If you’re good 10 minutes of quick climb will again take you on almost level trail. After a few minutes of level walk, you’ll come across another stream on your right. Cross the stream and drink some tea, the first tea shop on the trail if you’re there in the best weather (April-June and October- December). Keep walking otherwise! :P
The trail picks up a little altitude from here and again takes you to the forest cover with a series of ascents and level walks. After 30-40 minutes of the walk, you’ll notice a typical Himalayan village on your left. This village is Gangahad, wooden houses, happy people and lots of children!
Another 20 minutes of the walk and you’re on the river bed again. Get some rest here and of course the tea as well, and Maggi if you want. On your left is the village and straight ahead is where you’re supposed to go. Seema is roughly 3.5 km from here, but we camped in between as Seema doesn’t have a good camping site. We camped at Chilud-dhar, the proposed site for a mini powerhouse. Construction started some 10 years back. It was never finished and has been abandoned since then.
Another couple of hours of walking, mostly steep with few level sections where you can catch your breath. The surroundings change a lot by now, you’re no longer in the middle of a dense forest. The trail is mostly rocky, making it a little difficult to walk for the newbies. Look for the abandoned, partially completed cemented structure on your right, ground in front of it is your camping spot.
Both Harsha and I managed to cover it very easily and quickly. We were at Chilud Dhar in around 3 hours with plenty of tea and rest in between. We had plenty of time still left to spend for the day. Dang! It started raining soon after, we collected all the fallen wood we could grab before the rain spoiled it. Then the best thing happened, instead of cooking we partnered with a group of two boys from Delhi for dinner. They were on a guided trek, had plenty of food and were kind enough to share that food with us.
