Tushar Agarwal went with us to the beautiful Nagtibba trek, and this is his account of the trek. We'd love to have Tushar back for anaother trek, and we hope every travel addict enjoys the amazing post. Read up!
Nagtibba – The Serpent’s Peak
Dates: 2nd Oct – 4th Oct
Tour Manager: Dinesh
Ever since the trek ended everyone was sad about leaving back to their respective place and getting consumed in their day to day lives again, but I was really excited for I had to cover the entire trek in blog and pictures for GIO. I was fortunate that I was chosen to cover this trek because of two reasons – Firstly, I think I will never be short of fathomless beauty and abyssal tranquil that this trek had to offer. Secondly, I will get to revisit the entire trek during my committal to writing.
From the time we met our tour manager Dinesh and till the time we saw Dinesh off, we were royally treated by the staff, the porters, and the chefs. There was a great sense of comfort and never for a moment it appeared that we were away from our home between the valleys and the mountains. There was not a moment on the entire trek when GIO did not pamper us. There was a plan to everything and professionalism was evident. It could be seen that the company was into this business from past 15 years and jaunts 30k nature lovers each year. From medicines to the first aid, chocolates to juices, lunch to dinner, porters to mules, everything was at the helm.
The Nagtibba trek is pretty safe and enjoyable. This can be understood from the fact that the age group on this trek varied from 8yr to 45yr- most diversified group I have ever trekked with The patients with bronchial problems can also do with this trek because of the trek falling in lesser Himalayan region. The trek passes through beautiful oak trees – used in the creation of furniture and colorful Chaulai(Amaranthus) plantations which is a popular green leafy vegetable. It is called Chua in Kumaun area of Uttarakhand, where it is a popular red-green vegetable. The trek only got better as it aged offering us different eye shots through and through. Also I find October as one of the best time to trek for it provides clear skies (at least what I thought) and a perfect weather to cater to every age group, not cold and not warm but only zephyr. However we did not encounter clear skies at the summit but can only envisage on how mystifying the view must have been which leaves us with a want to come to this place again.
What I really liked about GIO was the fact that they believe in creating memories rather than having just-an-affair. Best example was the decision to descend from a different route rather than taking the same route which we took to ascend. We would have missed a great deal if we had not seen the other side of this trek which ended at Tewa. The flora, the view, and the beauty on this trail was a lot different from what we had been seeing before.
Action as it happened
Day1 :
8:00 – Left Dehradun
12:00 – Reached Pantwari
15:00 – Lunch
18:00 - Base Camp at 2495m
20:30 – Dinner
Day2 :
Breakfast
7:30 – Woke up
9:00 - Left for Summit – 3022m
11:00 – Reached Summit
12:00 – Snacks near the summit
13:00 – Descend to the base camp
14:30 - Lunch
18:00 – Evening Tea
19:00 - Bonfire
20:00 - Dinner
Day3 :
7:30 – Woke up
8:00 – Breakfast
9:00 - Descend all the way but through Tewa
12:00 – Lunch
13:30 - End of the trek
14:00 - Left for GIO’s office
18:00 - Reached GIO’s office
Day1:
At 9,915 ft, Nagtibba offers one peaceful and serene weekend getaway from the great unwashed. There are numerous buses, from sleeper to seater, plying each hour for Dehradun, so don’t be bothered if you haven’t been able to book your train tickets in advance. However for this particular trek, the best way to reach Dehradun is via New Delhi - Dehradun AC Express Train which leaves Delhi at 23:50hrs and reaches Dehradun station at 5:40 hrs. Take a good night sleep in the train and after reaching Dehradun Railway Station take an auto to reach GIO’s office in Vasant Vihar, freshen yourself up, take a quick shower, sip a hot tea, meet fellow trekkers, before the bunch of 12-15 enthusiasts leave for the tourney accompanied with tour manager. I was surprised to see my fellow travelers because I could see a kid of 8years and at the same time I could see couple of seasonal trekkers in thorough trekking gear. Besides 4 solo travelers on the trek there were 3 complete families ready to sweat it out. The batch left in two separate tempo travelers of 6 each– look at the luxury - befitting a supreme ruler – hyperbole but yes quite royal.
We reached Pantwari, the starting point of our trek, at 12:00hrs having taken two stops on the way – one for the breakfast and other for buying water bottles, chocolates and other sort of munchies as per one’s penchant. The moment we reached Pantwari, we were greeted by our trek leader and porters along with mules. After dumping our luggage over the mules which could carry 100kgs of load at one go, we readied ourselves with the trekking gear and carried only water bottles, walking sticks, mobile phones and cameras with us.
The ascend started at 12:30hrs after all of us wished each other for a happy mount clicking a group photograph to mark the start of what would be one of the scrumptious trek for all kinds of age groups. The 11km trek to the base camp started with a concrete pavement which turned into a muddy, rocky and leaves stricken path only 500m into the trek. In no time we could see that we had ascended a lot because the terrain was too steep. The first break came at 15:00hrs, exactly on the midway, near the water stream when we were given the food supplies which we received from both the hands. The food was tasteful and homelike which was followed by a burger, apple juice and chocolates. After we filled our stomach appositely, we carried on to complete the remainder of the trek.
We continued through the dense jungle which convoluted in an open ground at various places. There was a constant cloud cover which hindered our views on the way but ensured we were smitten by mist always. Our base camp was at 2495m and I could hear voices echoing from the forest ‘bhaiya kitna aur’ time and again. Everybody was exhausted and tired to the extent of rolling down back to Pantwari. But our trek leader Madan was professional enough to keep us going by saying ‘bas aa gaya’ each and every time. Madan’s professionalism and the thought of what beauty lies ahead of us kept us moving. We finally touched the base camp at 18:00hrs.
We probed the beautiful campsite properly, kept the luggage in camps, freshened up, changed our clothes and were quickly back with the monkey spunk. We were greeted with a hot coffee/ tea along with Aloo Gobi Pakoda’s which seemed like a potion to bump off all the tiredness we had amassed during the trek. Nobody could tell that there was a point in the trek when we almost succumbed ourselves to the course. Quickly all the stash came out from the camps and we were set for ‘Cheers’ in no time. Some just boomed. Two friends/bikers/enthusiasts traveling with our group had even got Hookah along. Merci !
Temperature in the night dropped down to 10-12degrees for which bonfire was already set aflame. However the actual warmth was in the Rum. Dinesh after taking everybody’s consent agreed upon for a 20:30hrs dinner. In dinner we had Manchurian, Fried Rice and Noodles. After having our dinner and long discussions with the fellow travelers (love this bit) , we called it a day and headed to sleep.
Day2:
We were woken up by manager Dinesh at 7:00hrs. The best part about the trip was that we weren’t forced for anything and there were no fixed deadlines that we had to meet. It wasn’t a military training regime that we had to be scared of. The timings were flexible and were according to the mutual concord of every traveler. At the same time we also compromised a bit and ensured not much delay at any point of time also because we became too greedy after seeing the startling beauty of this trek.
The highlight of the day was to reach the summit which was 4kms from our base camp. After having our breakfast at 8:00 hrs, we left for the summit at 9:00 hrs. Everybody was quite pumped up and filled with pride for we had already trekked 11kms the day before, so 4kms looked like a cakewalk. The trek began and all our vanity was seen dripping off in the sweat and our sorry walk. The terrain to the summit could be coined as ‘Constant 75’ for the trek was inclined at 75 degrees for the most part of it.
It took us 2 hrs to reach to the summit leaving us accomplished and content filled at the end. Everybody patted each other for a brilliant walk till the summit and congratulated for discovering the enormous potential engrained within each one of us. We took our blessings from the Serpent God, lit Agarbatti and spread positive energy around. We took a moment out in calmness to enjoy the tranquil and capture the beautiful panoramas in our memories forever. We relaxed, cajoled for a while before having our snacks and leaving back for our base camp where we would be greeted with Rajma Chawal (happiness), , Vegetable Subzi, Chapati’s and heavenly custard.
After reaching back to the base camp at 14:00 and having delectable lunch, we were given time for ourselves, time to relax in our own preferred manner. Some people read, some slept in the camp and some went to the nearby ground with their sleeping bags only to wake up to the reinvigorating Garhwali tea. The evening had wonderfully set in and we were prepared for the bonfire night once again, this time with everyone in the camp including porters, chefs etc. The localites danced and sang the melodious Garhwali and Himachali songs with their heart out. While some sang and some danced, some of them even played music through utensils.
It was overwhelming and moments later all of us joined in with kids singing Summer of 69 & Another Brick in The Wall, bachelors singing Chappa Chappa Charkha Jale while the elderly singing the legends of Kishore Kumar. The night had something in store for everyone and was a perfect gift to the wondrous tale. Later while having dinner, we saw Hyena passing by too demonstrating the vast flora and fauna on this trail.
Day 3:
We were woken up at 7:00hrs. After sipping our tea, we bid adieu to our camp and the lovely local people who had been taking care of us since the last 2 days. We were sad to leave but happy for we had to descend now. We were in for a big shock when our trek leader asked us to ascend because we were going to take a different route which will end up on the different side of the mountain, at village Tewa. Anguished yet excited we accepted the orders from the leader and marched on. The entire circuit between Tewa and Pantwari was 70kms via road which was only 25kms via mountains.
We continued downwards and stopped midway for lunch. This time we had boiled eggs for our palate too. This trail was marked at various places with arrows so adventure seekers can explore this trail on their own too which all the solo travelers of the group decided to do post lunch. We reached Tewa at 13:30 hrs which marked the end of one of the finest weekend trek of this country.
We hugged and shared numbers with each other and left for GIO’s office thereafter. We reached Dehradun at 18:00hrs and left for respective places.
3. A short note on the arrangements and hospitality
Everything was taken care of and no stone was left unturned. GIO was always ready with their Plan B in case of any problem. A girl on the trek faced sickness few kilometers into the stretch and GIO was quick enough to respond with an extra mule for her to finish the trek. Similarly somebody needed an allergic and the leader was ready with it.
The tents were good and well maintained. The sleeping bags were warm only if you slept with jeans and jacket on. What I seriously missed was a pillow which could have stopped my sliding down a wee bit. The food throughout the trail was alike home, scrumptious and just like you expect it to be, light and befitting.
After being associated with GIO from quite some time now, I can assure that comfort and good customer experience is their top priority. I sometimes wondered that how did GIO made profits after providing such luxury but then ultimately I realized not everybody is a part of Congress and that money is not the only thing in the world. Their profits it seems were in the happy and content filled faces at the end of the trek, closed-knit-ever-lasting memories that they had been able to impart and of course in the praiseworthy oration at the end by each of the traveling member.
My association with GIO was amazing and I highly recommend their services to everyone.
