Kedarkantha Trek Day 04

CONTINUED FROM  - Kedarkantha Trek Day 03

Day 03 - 30-Dec-2021

Route - Kedarkantha Base Camp To Sankri

Distance - 8 KM (4-5h)

At dawn, I was waken up by the fresh batch of Hikers who were climbing the peak that day. Many groups vacate the Kedarkantha basecamp and either go directly to Sankri or stay somewhere midway. We stayed there that night and I think its better than rushing back. The views from here are great anyways because you are above the tree line.

 

After the batches left to the summit, I tried to go back to sleep. Within an hour or so, I heard someone scream - Hello Please help us, we want to go to our Basecamp, we are injured. They were asking for help from the staff who were sleeping in the tent near dining area. One of the staff members asked them to come up and relax in the dinning area for a bit. From where I slept, I heard another set of people return back without being able to do the trek. 

After that commotion stopped, I went back to sleep. I was very tired and did not want to wake up early that morning. I slept well till 7AM. The camp was empty. Everyone, except us and the team of young boys from Jarkhand, had left to the peak. We did not feel the rush to get ready. By the time the Breakfast call came, it was 9:00AM. At around 10:30 AM, we began our descent back to Sankri.

As per the initial plan we were to take a different route down. But Prakash told us that it had snowed heavily in the past few days and the route is dangerous. So, we went back the route we came. 

Everyone was so tired that we walked extremely slowly. We had the spikes on that helped us get down on the trail that was getting slippery due to the melting ice. The ice on the lake, Juda ka talab, was beginning to melt. 

After a difficult stretch, we finally reached an altitude where there wasn’t any more snow. But, we continued to walk slowly. 

We stopped at one of the Dhabas for some maggie and tea. It is here that we got a news of the sad demise of a trekker from Rajasthan. We learnt later that this 37 year old trekker had been to the peak the previous day and on his way to Juda ka talab had fallen sick. He passed away on his way to Sankri this morning. He had suffered a heart attack. 

Normally, the return takes you around 4-5hours but we walked so slowly that it took us almost 6 hours. We reached Sankri by 4:30PM. I was lucky to get a full bucket of hot water to take a shower. Bathing after 5 days was definitely refreshing. 

We had a late lunch at around 5:30PM and decided to take a walk to the market. The seven of us felt like a team now. That is something trekking does to you. The amazing experience that we lived together, bonded us. We went to a cool cafe for some coffee and wifi. 

Photo credit: Abhishek Tarone

Upon our return, we arranged a small event to felicitate our guides. Each one of us spoke a few words in appreciation of Chauhan Ji and Prakash. Chauhan Ji was a very different person that evening. With his cool Garwhal coat and a cap, he spoke non stop. Prakash told us that he was intoxicated and that turned him talkative. He was extremely funny as well. At one point he asked us to comeback for Bali trek, which he said is much more challenging than Kedarkantha trek. He added - Kedarkantha kya trek hai? Godhe aur Gadde bhi chad Jathay hai. (Kedarkantha is a damn easy trek. Even horses and donkeys climb that trail). That was slightly humiliating, but very funny. 

After dinner, we all sat in one of the rooms and chatted till midnight. It was a good trip. We enjoyed each others company a lot. Abhishek who specialises in portraiture quickly sketched portraits of Prakash and Chauhan Ji. At around midnight, we bid farewell to one another and went back to our rooms. It had been a long day and a comfortable bed awaited me after 4 long days.

Here is my film on Kedarkantha Trek -