Day 1 of the Bali Pass Trek: Arriving in Sankri from Dehradun
8th June 2024 – Saturday
As the minutes passed after 5 o’ clock, the train began to slow down. The next station was Dehradun.
The sunrise outside was a nice view and I noticed that a new person had joined in. It was Kavita who had gotten into the train at Ghaziabad station and excitedly woke up her friend Harish upon arriving.
We got down the train and made a check of all the luggage. We then went and brushed our teeth in the middle of the platform at a public sink.
As we got out of the station, we walked on until a tempo traveller that was halted on the side of the road came into sight.
Quickly enough, our luggage was taken over by a group of 3 porters and they tied it on to the top of the vehicle as we stood there watching. There, another member of the group, Ashish, joined us after his bus journey from Chandigarh to Dehradun.
As we got in to the vehicle, we were met by a few unfamiliar faces. On the back seat were two people. I later came to know them as Bachan Rana and Prashant. Bachan was the founder of Himalaya Shelter, the group that we were going with, and Prashant was a content writer who was brought in as an intern to work with the company.
To our surprise, we were also met by another new face. His name was Sahil and he was a solo traveller who had been assigned by Himalaya Shelter to join our group for the trek.
The bus journey began. We were to reach the village of Sankri within 8 hours, from where we would begin the trek tomorrow morning.
We stopped at a restaurant for breakfast and ate a hearty meal of aloo parathas and curd. The restaurant had a huge glass pane towards its wayward side and that was when the first site of the hills came to be seen.
On the way, we stopped by and saw the river Yamuna, gushing against the rocks and exceptionally clean, a far cry from its polluted segments in Delhi.
We spent some time here, splashing water on our faces to relieve ourselves from the scorching heat outside.
It was also interesting to see the turpentine collection on nearby trees surrounding us. Turpentine is commonly used as a paint solvent and has various other uses in the chemical industry. It had a gel like texture that was a bit sticky to touch and had a peculiar smell. It’s also a highly flammable liquid which may have been an explanation for the abundant charred remains of pine trees close by.
The rest of the journey to Sankri, was rather uneventful except for the narrow pathways, several feet high above the ground, that would give me a short lived adrenaline rush each time the bus passed through one. Yet the frequent hair pin turns was a bit unsettling for anyone with motion sickness. (I learnt it the hard way.. yikes!)
Once we arrived at our destination, we reached the guest house and got into our rooms. There was a slight chill in the air but just enough to be classified as pleasant weather. Everybody got freshened up and we explored the nearby area and walked around.
There were a few more groups who were staying at the same homestay, as Sankri was the starting spot for a lot of Himalayan trekkers.
During dinner we were briefed up about the next days plan by Bachan and his team. We were to be there for breakfast at 7 am and would start for the day at 7 : 30 am sharp.
As we walked back into the room for a good nights sleep, I wondered what was next in store. Thankfully I could sleep quite easily that night and the next morning I was ready to finally begin my first ever Himalayan trek.
Bali Pass : Day 2, journey to Seema from Sankri
Bali Pass : Day 3, journey to Waterfall Camp
Bali Pass : Day 4, journey to Ruinsara Lake
Bali Pass : Day 5, journey to the Basecamp
Bali Pass : Day 6, a chilling ascent, summit triumph, and a snowy descent
Last Day of Bali Pass Trek: An Epic Himalayan Adventure in 2024
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