My mountain journeys have always had one aim, to go as far and as high as possible. 6 years ago, standing on Zero point at Binsar, I was feeling disappointed that the snow peaks seemed so far away. A local then told me of this place from where, it seemed, you could reach out and touch these mighty peaks .... Munsiyari. Since then, it has been a place I've always wanted to go, but somehow, it never panned out
In early November 2016, Some friends decided that life was too short, and we needed to get out more. Just the boys, at least once a year. So it was decided, we would travel for 4 days in December. The destination was left to me to decide. My first thought was Munsiyari, but I thought 4 days would be too less. After giving multiple other places a think, I realized that I kept coming back to Munsiyari. I decided we would bite the bullet and do a mega ride on the first night/day and reach Munsyari in a single go. The plan was received with trepidation, but I overrode all dissent (dictator me), and hence the following beauty was arrived at
14th Dec (night) - Start from Noida
15th Dec - reach Munsiyari by evening
16th Dec - Chill at Munsiyari
17th Dec - Drive back till Sitlakhet (6 hrs)
18th Dec - Head back to Hell
We stuck to the plan pretty well, except for the fact that we added Patal Bhuvneshwar to the Itinery
You know how it is, when a trip is planned, time seems to slow down. Well, finally 14th rolled around and we were ready to go. We left around 2330 hrs on the night of 14th. Thankfully the night was clear, and there was no fog ... yet. The mood was ecstatic in my beast (Scorpio), and the 5 of us were looking forward the long drive. The plan was to meet up with 2 more friends in Almora. After a quick stop at a dhaba near Hapur, we were on our way again.
The beast stands proud
The team
Sleep soon took over the back Benchers, and AK came over to the front to give me company. After Bazpur, we encountered heavy fog till Kaladhungi, but at 6 AM, we were witnessing a surreal sunrise over Naini lake
The Mosque and parade ground in Nainital
After 3 cups of tea each, we moved towards Almora. The early morning stillness instilled us with a sense of calm, and we couldn't be happier. Reached Almora around 0830, and met up with the stragglers. Too a 2 hour break over there and then started on phase 2 of the mega drive to Munsiyari.
Brunch was comprised of Paranthas, bread, Ommelettes, chai and some amazing chutney. The sun was out, the gang was all together, our bellies were full, and we were all going somewhere we'd never been before. Life was perfect
With each curve of the road, the views were getting better, with each ridge we crossed, we were getting closer to the mighty peaks that so enamoured us. Suddenly my friend braked hard and stopped on the side, and before we could say anything, he pointed to the horizon. After seeing what he was pointing to, we couldn't get out the beast fast enough. This is why we stopped
The mighty Trishul
To be contd