Day 3 – Bedni to Pachhar Lauchani (2nd Sept)

This was an easy 3-hour trek and was devised to acclimatise us to the 12,000 ft at Bugwabasa - most trekkers go to Bugwabasa directly from Bedni. Thankfully for me, the short trek would help recover from the previous night’s trauma. Little did we know that the short trek could also be tough, as it started raining steadily. In the 3 hours, our motto was simple, keep walking to keep the body warm, apart from the usual drink and eat mantra. 

Ramesh saw that many people were stopping too often to get rest. He advocated small steps and constant movement to reach the camp successfully. Guess I was wobbling a bit coz of my sleeplessness; Abhinav noticed this and hand-held me for a while to steady my steps. Mustering all my strength, I walked on, with water dripping from my head cap, my nose freezing dead, hands in gloves - cold and numb, shoes squishy and cold, only my spirit warm and sailing. 

After trekking like this for a few kilometres, when I spied the campsite, I was so overjoyed that I could not subdue tears of relief. With my strength revived, I walked into the camp, into the big tent where others were huddled, busy making themselves dry and warm. I realized then that I was not as wet as others, who had worn ponchos and coats. My raincoat did its job well. 

Rajesh showed us the next day’s trail. It did look steep and formidable. Leaving all apprehension about AMS, enjoyed the lunch.  

After a while, when the skies cleared a little, lying in the tent, I could hear loud sqeals of joy. The Trishul and Nanda Gunti peaks were visible! I came out, took the sight in, and went back into the tent, nursing as I was a buddy tummy. The others carried out a photo-session and I could hear all the fun and visualize it. Ritu got busy drying her poncho and our shoes in the kitchen.

After lunch, we had the whole day to rest. Again as it was raining, we were confined to our tents. That afternoon, when Abhinav, Ritu, Mothay, and I sat in our tent, was the most hilarious time spent in the trek. It was the after-effects of that banter that Ritu was christened Rajmata and I Lux (though they had coined other names too, this was by far the most decent one). The laughter and camraderie did all of us good. Meanwhile in the next tent, one could hear grave discussions/sermons, guess they were all aimed at one person (Raghu). He did come around to our tent and grumble about the sermons but we left it at that, not wanting to add more gravity to his already grave air.

So ended day 3. Over to Bugwabasa the next day.