Khedarnath

Due to the lack of signal in the mountains, I haven't been able to update the old blog... but never fear, I'll get caught up this week.

I think when I last left you, I we were on our way to Chopta. Well, this is India, and plans change and you have to be flexible to roll with the changes. Apparently the road was blocked to Chopta by a landslide so we decided to go to Khedernath instead. It's one of the most holy Hindu pilgrimage sites. There's a temple, and it's up in the Himalayas. 

To reach it, you start at a town called Gaurikund and then hike about eight miles up a mountain. You can also hire a horse (which is really more of a mule) or get carried up the hill on a litter

Or in a basked carried on one person's back.

You could also go up in a helicopter.

But I wanted to hike, darnit! I came all this way to hike, not ride on the back of a donkey.

But we did hire a guy to put our packs on the back of a donkey.

In retrospect, the donkey might have been a better idea.

This is Craig and Songjoo at the beginning of the hike.

There really aren't very many pictures after this one, because it got a little bit rainy.

And then it got a bit cold.

And while I was fine (thank you Columbia brand water resistant wind breaker and my mutant mountain goat genes), poor Craig and Songjoo were fa-reeezing! 

And then it started to get dark so Matthew, went on ahead to arrange for rooms for the night.

We finally arrived in the town of Khedernath right after they lost power. So there were no lights on the buildings. And we didn't actually know which guest house Matthew had gone to with the donkey guy and our luggage.

It was looking pretty bleak until Songjoo managed to get Matthew on her phone (Thank you God for cell phones) and we paid a guy to walk us over to the guest house in the dark. 

Craig and Songjoo wrapped themselves in blankets and were too cold to move. I ended up spoon feeding them dahl and aloo mater from the guest house kitchen until their lips weren't blue anymore. 

And we all took Diamox, a wonderful pharmaceutical that helps with altitude sickness.

But it was pretty cold - especially when I stopped moving. 

None of the buildings had heaters so it was cold both inside and out.

Breakfast chai

I think this is a pika

It was actually warmer outside during the day than it was inside because the sun was nice and bright.

Which was good, because it made for a good picture of the Khedarnath peak behind the temple. Supposedly the temple was built by one guy a really long time ago. Don't know if I buy that. It's really cold up there and you'd have to haul those stones a LONG way.

But it was neat to see the great Himalyas up close and personal. I should have taken more pictures in the morning because by the time the afternoon rolled around, the peaks were all covered in clouds.

We stayed for one more night to give Songjoo and Craig time to recover and then we headed back down the mountain. 

The trail really was lovely. There were waterfalls all the way down and besides the trash, the scenery was breathtaking.

Then we caught a taxi to another town whose name I cannot remember. But we stayed at a hotel with HOT water which was great after no heat and no hot water in Khedernath.

Oh, and the view was pretty great too.

The next morning, we had to say goodbye to Songjoo (again!) and Craig because Craig was flying out of Delhi on the 20th. 

I know it looks like I'm frowning because Craig and Songjoo are leaving...

But actually, I'm making that face because I just realized there was something crawling up my leg (like... inside my pants). 

Yep, it was this not so little guy who had decided to sleep in my pants. Always check your pants, people! You'd think I would have learned my lesson after the leeches. 

Anyway, I'll post more on our trip later. But for now, it's bed time in Dehradun.