Trip to Pari Tibba, getting lost, broken boots, and leeches

Yesterday there was a countrywide strike in India. Apparently they raised the price of gas (both petrol and cooking) and the countrywide shutdown was to show the government how unhappy the people were. This meant that we had a day off from school because all of the schools were closed as well. I'm not really sure how those things relate, but here, I guess they do.

So I decided to take a trip up to Mussoorie finally and do some hiking. Unfortunately, no one else was interested in a day hike so it was just me.

The taxi dropped me off at the taxi stand in town and pointed me towards Woodstock school where the Pari Tibba trailhead starts. 

So I walked through the town and along the road. It was a nice view once I left the main town area.

There were true mountain goats.

And a goatherd?

 Apparently this is why the phone service up there is so crappy... they had a heavy snowfall last winter and it literally bent the telephone polls in half.

 About five to ten minutes outside of the town, I started seeing signs for Woodstock school.
Woodstock is an international boarding school for middle to high school aged kids.
They even have a pool...

The guides to get to Pari Tibba are not particularly easy to follow. They said to follow a steep set of stairs and then a ramp just below Woodstock school. There are quite a few different sets of steep stairs below the Woodstock school.

I almost went down this way. But then I figured the directions would have mentioned a big sign that said "St. John's school. So I kept going.

I stopped at a tea stall and bought a soda. I met this lovely Sikh couple who own a restaurant in town. They had the morning off because of the strike. They said this tea stall served the best Maggi noodles (basically Ramen). So I ordered a bowl and shared their company.

After several false starts, I finally found the "steep stairs" all of the guides say to use to get to Pari Tibba (or Witch's Hill). 

In case you're wondering, a little ways past the main gate for Woodstock, there's a wooden sign that says "Woodstock School" with an arrow pointing down some stairs. Once you get to the bottom of the stairs, there's a ramp you have to walk down. At the bottom is a sign that looks like this:

Then there's more ramp. A lot more ramp. All going down hill. I hate hiking downhill on the way to a trail. It just means you're going to have to go back up it when you're already exhausted from hiking.

These are the Ridgwood basketball courts.

After the courts was a guardhouse and the path turned sharply to the left.

I think this a football or cricket field. 

And for some reason, there was a fire surrounded by monkeys but no people.

After I walked a bit further, I came upon the Dhobi valla which is a very small village. It feels like you're walking through people's backyards.

Once through the town, I was faced by another choice, to the right or the left.
I tried the right side first but ended up at someone's house so I backtracked and tried the left.

which turned out to be the correct way. I know because I found the abandoned mine that's supposed to be off on the right side of the trail.

But I didn't go down into it.

I kept walking for a ways until the road became unpaved. Eventually there was a place that looked like it might be what the guides called a "low saddle".
And fortunately it was because when I got close to the top, I found this sign.

I also ran into a couple on their way back down. I asked about the top and they said it was very overgrown and there were leeches.

"hm," I thought to myself, "good thing I have drawstrings on the bottom of my pants." 

(ill fated thoughts)

I kept on until I reached a place that was relatively dry. I sat and read my book until the sun finally came out and burned off much of the fog.

Then I found after a little more exploration, some little alters and prayer flags.

And I headed back towards the starting point.

Which was when I noticed the sole of my right boot was almost completely detached from the bottom of my hiking boot.

According to my dad who had something similar happen to him, most hiking boots that were made around ten years ago have disintegrating soles. Doesn't matter who made them, for some reason they were all using the same material and all of those boots are now coming apart. 

So I pulled the drawstrings from my pants down around the bottom of the shoe to hold the sole in place. Then I kept going.

But I got a little sidetracked. 

See, there was this other trail and it looked interesting and I thought, "why not?"

You know all of those stories about stupid hikers going by themselves into the mountains and getting lost for days? Well, for about a half hour I was pretty worried that was going to be me.

The trail I was following disappeared and I ended up wandering around. When I finally found another trail, it wasn't the same one. But I figured if I was going to be lost, I was going to at least be lost on a trail.

Then I followed the sounds of people until I finally came out on this ridge

And thank you God, I was right above the Dhobi walla.

Of course by that time it was getting late and I knew it would be dark by the time I got back to the taxi stand. I had hoped to visit my new friend's restaurant in town, but I felt bad about keeping the taxi driver waiting so long. 

And back down the mountain we went.

I got back to the hostel exhausted and very dirty.

It wasn't until I started peeling off my filthy and still damp hiking clothes, that I noticed my legs were all bloody. "That's weird," I thought, "I don't have any rips in my pants and I don't think I cut myself on anything."

And then something small black and slimy fell onto my floor and started inching itself away. It was a leech. Actually, I think there were about a dozen of them in my clothes. And then I'm pretty sure I said several dirty words. 

My socks were soaked with blood and there were still two of the little suckers stuck to my legs. 

I guess on the bright side, leeches don't carry diseases the way that other bloodsuckers do and as one friend commented, leeches were supposed to be good for all kinds of illness back in the 18th century. 

So if I had an excess of humor, I would be all set.

But it's still really really really really gross. I lost track of how many of them I killed and clearly they had been feeding for a long time because there was blood EVERYWHERE.

This isn't even all of it but it's the only picture I took.

The worst part of the bites are that they take forever to stop bleeding. And I had a lot of bites. At least 20. I counted.

They still look gross, but they'll heal.

And tomorrow I'll drop off my boots at a shoe repair place and hopefully get them fixed.

So all in all, an interesting day.

I miss Colorado where most of our hikes ended above the treeline and far from any bloodsucking invertebrates.

I was going to go out of town again this weekend but I'm still exhausted from yesterday. I've decided I'm going to stay for my church's jumble sale tomorrow and so that I can spend some time trying to find a used scooter.

hmm, me on a scooter, watch out drivers of India.