Day 4 of Bali Pass Trek: Journey to Ruinsara Lake

Day 4 of Bali Pass Trek Journey to Ruinsara Lake - Bali Pass Trek

Bali Pass : Day 0, reaching Dehradun
Bali Pass : Day 1, arriving in Sankri from Dehradun
Bali Pass : Day 2, journey to Seema from Sankri
Bali Pass : Day 3, journey to Waterfall Camp

Day four was relatively slow-paced. However, after the rollercoaster from yesterday, I was still a bit tired to walk with the same pace as the rest of the group.

So we split up, once again, the four of us on our own, the others, a rough 200 m ahead.

We walked through green forest covered terrains and stopped periodically to explore the flora nearby.

We climbed up to reach Ruinsara Lake and explored the vast green meadows surrounding us, hundreds of feet above.

I was still dead tired as expected, and took a power nap at every chance I could get.

After climbing back down, it was time to cross the bridge overhead the turbulent river.

And by a bridge, I mean, two long logs of wood attached to either end to form a makeshift path.

We did have two ropes and a harness to secure ourselves and one by one we braced ourselves and crossed the bridge.

Among the distant clouds, the rays of the sun reflected from the peaks to give way to the sight of Mount Swargarohini. With two small peaks resembling the ‘horns’ of the mountain, I would take a moment to gaze at the scale of the mountains, in sheer amazement.

There were rather peculiar plants on the way when walking, and Bachan plucked a few and gave it to us to try.

There was a certain grass that seemed to coat the entire land that tasted identical to that of a garlic. There were others which had the familiar taste of Imli.

And the last one, and my personal favourite, mini strawberries that were the size of small peanuts. Take a bundle of those tiny things, and the sweet fruity taste of raw strawberries greeted your mouth.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful

That was until the tents were set up and it was time to sleep.

In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of ringing bells akin to that of a typical wind chime.

But why would there be a wind chime in the mountains? I wondered.

Maybe it was just a dream or something, I thought to myself and went back to sleep.

But the ringing didn’t cease, it went on and on periodically and I could sense that something was moving outside our tent. I woke up my dad and asked him what the commotion was.

‘The mules. They let them roam around freely tonight’ He said.

And so it was. The entire night was filled with the sounds of ringing bells and traversing mules. One person commented the next morning that a mule had brushed past his tent and touched his head, waking him up in shock. Everyone’s sleep, that night was expectedly bad but we had no choice but to keep moving forward. ‘The Night of the Mules’ , as one person termed it, marked the beginning of the icy journey towards Bali Pass.

The next morning was the day that we would finally be walking and camping on the ice covered terrain.