22nd October – Trek from Madhmaheshwar to Ransi & drive to Guptkashi

 

I woke up before my alarm went off, probably because we were now used to waking up early, as we went to sleep by 7:30 PM.

We started packing our bags in the dark, and finally, the lights came on at 6:00 AM. All of us had aloo paratha with tea for breakfast, but I only had half a paratha, as it was too early for such a heavy meal. After putting on our backpacks, we walked towards Mahadev’s temple for a quick darshan. We offered a silent prayer to the Lord for the success of our trip so far and started our return trek at 8:15 AM.

The highlight of the day was the contrast between the monotonous first half and the varied second half. The walk, which we started at 8:15 AM, seemed to go on forever. The first part was a descent, the exact reverse of what we did yesterday. The second part was an ascent, the reverse of the day before.

The trek was punctuated by water breaks, tea breaks, and a lunch break at Upper Vantoli. The only difference I noticed was that Ramesh joined Swami for a quick dip in a waterfall during the return journey.

After completing the walk, we boarded the bus from the same spot where we had left it. Needless to say, everyone was very tired.

Swami had asked Uday Singh, our driver, to take us to a couple of temples on our way back to Guptkashi, where Kanni Swami had arranged our accommodation. Thanks to Swami and Vishagan (who quickly checked YouTube and Google), we were able to visit the Omkareshwar temple at Ukhi Math. This is where Kedarnath Mahadev resides for six months during the winter. The temple priest showed us the specially decorated throne where Kedarnath Mahadev’s idol would be placed during the next six months (after the temple closes on November 3rd).

 

The next temple we visited was Kali Math. Situated on the banks of the Saraswati River in Rudraprayag district, it is one of the 108 Shakti Peeths in India. Legend has it that the Goddess went underground at this place after killing the demon Raktbeej. A Lakshmi Mata temple, where the Devi is worshiped in the form of a perpetual fire, is also located here. We had to cross a bridge over the river to reach this temple, which reminded me of the Dhari Devi temple we visited earlier.

We ended our day before reaching Paradise Hotel for the night by visiting the Vishwanath temple in Guptkashi.

Vishagan and Vaidy thoughtfully arranged a packet of barfi from a nearby local sweet shop. During the journey towards Paradise Hotel, we faced a typical traffic situation common in hilly areas. Two large buses coming from opposite directions couldn’t cross each other due to the narrow road. As a result, all traffic on both sides came to a standstill. The issue was resolved by one of the buses reversing to a wider part of the road, allowing the other bus to pass.

While on the bus, Ramesh, Vaidy, and I realized we needed to book accommodation in Rishikesh after the Kedarnath trip. Ramesh tried booking online using our mobiles but was unsuccessful. Finally, we called people back home who could book using their laptops, and we were able to sort it out.

We reached the hotel and checked into our rooms. As instructed by Kanni Swami, we repacked our bags with essentials for the next leg of our journey. We left the non-essentials in an extra bag on the bus to avoid overloading the mules.

Setting alarm to 400 AM for the next morning (Vishagan set his mobile alarm for 345 AM) we hit the beds. The final trek, the long walk to Kedarnath Mahadev temple was scheduled for tomorrow and we planned to start by 500 AM tomorrow.

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