Chandrakhani Pass to Malana III - Day 1 it rains like there is no tomorrow

I worked from home on 14th of June in anticipation of getting to the bus stop on time. Which I did and the moment I was at the bus stop we saw the first rains of the season and I got drenched.

The weather forecast showed that for next four days it will rain cats and dogs.

We met some girls from Israel who had come to India to hike around and they were going to Dharamshala for a trek.

The bus finally cam and so did happy and by the time we were in bus I was completely drenched in my T-shirt; unfortunately due to the heat of Delhi I was not wearing my trekking tee which was full sleeves. The moment they turned on the airconditioning I knew if I wanted to continue with this trek I needed to get dry so I took off my shirt and wrapped me in a blanket they had provided.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful te bus stopped at a road side restaurant and we had lentils and bread. As always there were enough families with toddlers who had overstuffed themselves and were poorly prepared for any first aid so we became the bus doctors for motion sickness.

I dont know what time I slept but when I woke up the bus had stopped for a period of 15 minutes for people to get refreshed.

I think I slept again after that and the next thing I remember it was Happy waking me up as we had reached Nagar. It was raining heavily. We got off and and by the time we wore our jackets we were drenched.

We called our guide and he was waiting as promised for us at Nagar Chock or the town center. We took an auto rickshaw and went there. We were introduced to our porters and cooks over some hot tea. We were hungry but decided to push on.

We got into a jeep and went to Rumsu where our trek began. I think we made two mistakes one I had planned to give my sleeping bad and pad to one of the porters but due to heavy rains it was not possible to open the bag without getting drenched and two in this anticipation I had kept my sleeping bag on the top. Thus on day one my pack was incorrectly packed and I had added complications to my ability to carry my load.

Anyway we started; day one in any trek is tough because your gear is not helping you, the issues with your pack are not set and we had rain. It was raining heavily it did not stop for a second. Even the porters were having issues.

I think I could walk only for something like 10-15 minutes and needed a break my shoes were muddy the climb was very steep and visibility was poor; but we soldiered on.

Because of my poor packing I was unable to get to my rain pants and gaiters.

Finally we reached a small hut we took a nice big break shared some of the chocolates I had with me.

Gaurav and our Guide Budhi

The hut of some unknown helper

After another hour of climb I was exhausted and dehydrated. I needed someone to carry my pack; I was not used to carrying this load. Budhi our guide called some local porter who helped me carry my load for last one hour of the trek.

I have to admit the local people are very strong while we had been struggling with our packs and load our porters seemed to be strolling on these heights.

I think it was 4 PM when we reached our camp site. Budhi and his team pitched a tent in a span of fifteen minutes and started the stove. It felt like heven. We had some warm tea and biscuits followed by noodels.

We took some pictures.

The last mile of the Trek

The Peaks from our camp site

As it grew dark the peaks grew brighter

We went into our tents and changed our clothes and tried to rest for a while in our sleeping bags; unfortunately Happy's bag was down and a little wet at bottom.

I think it was 7PM Budhi sent for us, it was still raining and a walk to the kitchen tent drenched us,
We had a great meal and talked about our plans for next day.
I had no energy to carry my pack and needed a porter to which Budhi obliged by arranging one.
We alos talked about the weather; Budhi said he will pray to his gods who had once enslaved the god of rain so we need not worry.

Our fresh clothes were also wet so we left them in the kitchen tent hoping they would dry by next day. I was cold to the bones fortunately my bag was very warm and  I had an air mattress.

All clothes that I owned were wet so I slept in my sleeping bag in my underpants.

Last thing i remmeber was Happy saying if it keeps raining tomorrow we would have to go back.

It was still raining when I dosed off....