Day 1 of our trek starts at just before 6:00 am. It will take us from Gangotri, to the Gaumukh Glacier and to the Tapovan Plateau at the foot of the sacred Mount Shivling.
I have a sore throat, snuffy nose and cough, the cold I caught a few days ago is far from over. Nevertheless, I want to give it a try.
The daily stages are short, the climbs per day seem very manageable and I've always wanted to go to the Himalayas. So we pack up our stuff and head from our hotel to the base camp to have breakfast with our group. We can still offload a few things, leave them in the camp and thus reduce the weight of the backpack. We come to about 10kg per person, but carry our sleeping bags ourselves.
Taking the first picture with my camera in the morning, I realize a huge mistake. I forgot to take SD cards with me. Heavy hearted I decide to leave the camera in the base camp, when I see that Nandita from our group also carries a camera. She has a second SD card that she can borrow me - what a luck.
After breakfast follows a short briefing on how to lace hiking boots and what pole length is ideal. Then the backpacks are shouldered and we boot off. First we walk through the narrow streets of Gangotri. Snacks, water, offerings for the temple and souvenirs are sold out of small shops on the left and right side of the street. We walk to the temple, pray briefly and then the hike starts.
Shortly after we pass the first row of houses, the trail climbs steeply through a forest. After a few meters it becomes flatter and a wide path leads gently uphill along the flank of the mountain. We follow the Bhagirathi River, which feeds from the glacier at the foot of Bhagirathi Mountain. The glacier is Gaumukh, one of the greatest shrines in Hinduism. The river later becomes the Ganga by joining with other rivers.
We reach the national park. Here my drone is taken from me and we pay a fee for the camera. I will get my drone back at the end of the trek in our basecamp. I have absolutely no doubts about it as I made only good experiences with these kind of things in India.
The path continues, slightly ascending, but without any difficulty.
In the morning we had taken Diamox, a pill that helps against altitude sickness. Side effects are an increased urge to urinate and tingling in fingers, toes and lips. At noon, my hands tingle so much that I almost have difficulty grasping things. But otherwise we hardly notice that we are already at 3500m and thus far outside of our comfort zone. We feel as if there is a little less "air in the air" but we are not short of breath, we eat with appetite and we do not have headaches.
Clouds are gathering, it starts to rain and the air cools down significantly. Like freezing mice we huddle together in a rest hut and eat our prepared lunch, roti (pan bread) and vegetables. 10 minutes after lunch we reach our camp. The porters have already set up and prepared everything and we gratefully crawl into the dry tent.
After a short nap, nature is calling us again. We snap a few selfies and tons of photos, can't get enough of this dreamlike nature. The landscape along the river is fantastically beautiful.
Autumn has arrived, grasses sway gently in the wind. Inbetween white and silver blossoms swaying in the wind, red small bushes and scattered boulders catch our eye. The water of the river flows down into the valley rushing with incessant force. The mountains themselves drop steeply. Although we are already over three thousand meters high, trees are still growing. Only a few hundred meters above, the tree line ends and jagged rocks rise into the sky, catching clouds with their pointed mountain peaks.
After a while it gets cold and dark and we head back to camp and sit down with our hiking group in the community tent. There we measure heart rate and oxygen saturation of each participant to ensure that no signs of altitude sickness are missed.
In the tent, we are told the legends about the Gaumukh Glacier, which we will reach on day 4. At this place Lord Shiva sent the river Ganga to the earth. The water near the source is sacred and the few who reach this place bottle water to bring it back to their families. The spirituality that characterizes this path and the dedication with which each individual from the group tells us and explains the legends makes this hike a very special experience.
We sit cross-legged on the floor of the communal tent, each with his/her bowl on the lap, which is filled with hot dal (lentil stew) and rice, as well as vegetables and chapathi (flat pan bread). It tastes delicious and the hot food does us good. It has become very cold and the wet cold humidity from the rain creeps through the thin tent walls under the skin and into the bones.
Fortunately, soon after dinner hot water is offered. We fill it in our thermos flasks and into two non-insulated bottles. The latter we put in our sleeping bags, they act as hot water bottles. We drink the hot water from the thermos over the night, that keeps us nice and warm. A last walk in the dark to the bio-toilet, then we crawl into our sleeping bags. The first day of hiking is done. The trek was much easier and the group much more pleasant than expected. This gives us a nice feeling for the next days. With the soft pattering of the rain we fall asleep.
Interested what happens on the next days?
The legends shared made this trek special. Here you can read more about the legends of Ganga.
Read more about our trip to Gangotri here.
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