Re-Union with Jan

India; October 4th; Day 13; Gauri Kund; 2138m

Trek: 4hrs 41mins starting at 9.09
Low: 1862m at 12.40
High: 2934m at 9.09
Descent: 1104m
Ascent: 334m

Amazingly I wake up to a sunny morning. Incredibly we are surrounded by a ring of snow clad mountains. This wasn’t visible yesterday. I dress quickly and stagger through the swamp to take photographs before the tea arrives.



We have a breakfast of porridge and pancakes and wait for the sun to dry the tents and as much of our other stuff as possible. I lay mine out on some rocks. After an hour of so we pack up and stumble across the quagmire to find our trail.



Today is mostly a descent. At first it’s down through a forest on a wet and slippery rocky trail. Again you have to watch every step. At least the sun is shining today. After about an hour we come to a meadow where we thought we could come to last night. It;s not as boggy or as covered in cow pats as the place we did stay but their are a few water-buffaloes about and they start to puff and stomp so we move off. The view of the mountains is also good here but some clouds are now rolling in to obscure them.



We wait awhile as we think the trail may fork here and we might have a shortcut but when Ajay arrives we just continue down the trail to Trijuginrayan. We were going to stay here for the night but we decide to press on to Gauri Kund where we hope to meet Jan. As we descend through the village we are beholden by the locals to visit the Temple. Jim and James do. After this we continue down to a char shop on the edge of the village at the road head. Everyone has a cup of tea here and sits in the sun for a while.



The trail then continues down through Azalea and Chestnut woods. One of the porters decides that he knows a shortcut but it merely diverts us through some smallholdings before delivering us back to the main trail. Meanwhile the mules and muleteers have passed us!

Still we go down until we hit a road where we stop for a bite of lunch and wait for Adriana and Jim. We follow the road for a short distance before noticing a trail leading off. We ask a woman passing by if this is the way but then notice that our porters have scratched some arrows in the dirt. This is the way then!

The descent continues until we hit another road at a fierce river where there is a bridge, a waterfall and a Temple. From here it’s a 5km walk up the steep road to Gauri Kund. Jim and Adriana accept a lift that is offered and pick up James along the way, but when they pass me I decline the offer as I know Keith is still walking. I’d never hear the end of it! Keith meanwhile has paid a visit to a Hydro Station at the bottom of the hill. He soon catches me up though.

We enter town which is a scruffy ‘mecca’ for pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath. Ajay is waiting for us and he shows us the way to our Guest House. Keith and I crash out and then have a shower. We get get buckets of hot water from reception.

In the evening we wander through town and find a place to eat. It’s Thalli! Mostly lentils. Jan was here, and had been for 4 nights. This must have been terribly dull as I can’t imagine their is much to do or see. After dinner we picked up some samosas from a roadside stall and sat on our terrace. It’s a good job we still had a touch of cognac left!