Bedni Buggyal

The HEC contingent left Roorkee at around 4:00 am. The first destination was the Wan village in the Chamoli district of Uttrakhand. The journey took around 17 Hours but the amazing company made journey entertaining and enjoyable. The mountains provided great scenery in the day, the stars took the charge at night. By the time the group reached Wan, everyone was exhausted. The leaders quickly booked rooms in a aloof hotel, where everyone had food and dozed off to sleep. Day 2 started at 5:00 AM. The sky was painted in purple-whitish colours, which some thought to be the Milky Way. Everyone fed their guts and started packing for the trek. Trek started, one person marching behind another. A constant and steady pace rather than running was their mantra. The real trek had to start from a pedestrian bridge situated at a kms distance from the place everyone stood. From here its 10-12 Km ascent till one reaches Bedni Bugyal. The path is lined with forests, stone paved paths and steep slopes. Deep silence prevails as soon as one stops. Seeing the tree cover perish everyone started collecting woods for bonfire, as there is almost no wood at Bugyals. After about 2 km the jungle trail ended and there came a mini temple with bells hanging around. Full 270 degree view of the peaks was available. Trishul peak made it first appearance. As the conditions were snowy and the forest cover was over, the trail was laden fully with snow. Now the trek had to proceed through a narrow snow passage. Snowy incline on your right, Snow beneath your feet and snowy valley just at your left. After some serious 2 km of snow adventure everyone finally reached Bedni. Snow laden Bugyals with view of amazing peaks and shepherd huts were a treat to eyes. Amonst the group was a pack of 6 trekkers who wanted to reach the top to have a much broader look of the Peaks in backdrop, hidden by the Bugyal. After around 45 mins of steep hiking trekkers were at the top. Trishul, Nanda Ghunti , Nanda Devi , Roopkund all could be seen from the top. After feeding their souls with delightful and spectacular views, everyone had food and went to sleep. Everyone took tea and some food along with the view of first golden rays hitting the Gigantic Trishul and Nanda ghunti peaks, on the following morning. It was time to bid adieu. The snow got hard and slippery as it was early morning. But the impressions created by trekkers during the ascent had made perfect slots for placing the feet while descending. The descending slope puts a bit pressure on your knees as you try to reduce your speed. The trekkers took new paths and sometimes slid over snowy slopes to speed up. After reaching the base again, everyone rushed to the hotel to relish hot paranthas and lassi. The time had come to leave. The return journey took around 20 hours during which people talked, played and became better friends for life