In my peregrination , trekking is one activity that will be concomitant to all my stages of life. The trekking to Kedarkantha (via Sankri-Juda Talao-Kedarkanth- Dhundha- Talhouti- Taluka- Gian Gad) made me express such a statement. I swear that the ones you consider as your favorite spots will turn out to be a ZILCH after completing this trek. My penchant for trekking further scaled the heights after my trip to Kedarkantha. I should thank YHAI as under their tutelage , the trip was made successful n lively!!
Initially I was cursing my long time companion Jegan for choosing this trek(KedarKantha). I could see no one registered for this trek initially apart from us when all other treks were getting filled for all the days. I was wondering if this trek is too easy or the trek route doesn't look that good which makes the trekkers avert their interests towards other treks. Also I could not find much information about this particular trek over the net. I was expressing all sorts of emotions to Jegan & made some tenacious statements to get back to Sar Pass again.. But thank God he wasn't shaken a bit.. And at last the denouement of the trek was much.. much exceeding my expectations as my excitement was like champagne out of a bottle. I learnt a lot in this trek from my friends.. in fact a family of friends..
Let me start with the introduction of the tamil trios who decided to go for this trek . To start with, let me introduce Jegan Kumar alias Jgan Schwarznegger..(the one with orange T-shirt in the pic). He really plans well and I must confess that he was the backbone for all the travel arrangements and bookings.. He did some funny things en route to Delhi from Chennai..(like he devised a new idea to climb to Upper Berths in train) ..For more details mail me separately. And the next one on the roster is Mani alias Matter alias Maadu alias Polizei..(the one standing on the right )... The one with teeth all over the face whenever he sees a gal from Sankri passing him... And I need to congratulate Sushma aunty for guessing it first.... And the last one in the trio list is me..myself... Vivek .. (of corz how will I let u know my nickname when am the creator of this Blog)..
And the important star casts in the trek were
We were a gang of 21 young trekkers(in terms of YHAI :)) ready to face the challenge of crossing the barriers en route to Kedarkantha . To be more specific, there was one big family from Karnataka ..a gang of 11 from banglore , then a CA couple from Lucknow(Sujeet n Tuleeka), Avid trekkers Ratan n Anjali from Mumbai , Woohoo gals from Mumbai or the Mumbai Trios(Ankita Ila n Tanvir) you can say and then the Tamil trios were registered for the batch KK6.
We were asked to report at Musoorie on May 6, 2008. I did not have a good impression about Mussorie as it was hot and the place was also not that enticing.. The song from Shania Twain's album .. 'That Doesn't impress me much' was running in my mind when I reached Youth Hostel Musoorie.. Even there only we three guys were there when we reached around 11 am.. We met the Director for this trek once we reached there and he was telling his experience about this trek... I remember him using the words 'TIRING' & 'STRENUOUS'.. I thought these are the words all the YHAI directors use while conversing with participants.. But now, I would like to recant my statements on these words as the trek was really strenuous.. On the same day night, we had a meeting with Trek Director and it went on for an hour. That was the first time everyone in the group got introduced to others and the meeting ended off with a nice hot drink (I meant Bournvita!! )
Day 1: (Moving to Base camp Sankri)
It was a tiring journey to Sankri but you will forget it once you reach that beautiful village . It did gave me a good impression when you can breathe fresh air , saunter on the roads during a pleasant evening and getting nourished by YHAI every hour...Wot else you need ? We were greeted by the field director PS Chauhan in the Base camp and tents were allotted to us .
We had a great luxury in our tent as we were only 5 instead of 12. So we made it as messy as possible. We had instructions for to-do on the next day for acclimatization n rappelling. And every night in YHAI camps, it's a tradition to conduct camp fire.. This dint turned me on during our last trek but this time YEAH !! We had amazing camp fires every night !!
Day 2: (Acclimatization n Rappelling)
We did not have that much of acclimatization on this day as mostly we were asked to do Rappelling and if interested the Rock climbing. The day went off like that but the best part was the Camp fire on Day2 where all the 21 trekkers displayed exhibited their gamut of talents.. songs, jokes, salsa... It was terrific. 
And the to-do activities for most of the days would be as follows:
Morning
5 30 am - Bed tea
6 15 am - Exercise (If you are in Base camp)
6 30 am - Returning Sleeping Bags n Blankets
7 30 am - Break fast n Packed Lunch
8 00 am - Procees to the next camp
Evening (Most intersting!! :) )
4 30 pm - Welcome Drink (If you report to the camp at the stipulated time :) )
5 00 pm - Tea n Snacks
5 30 pm - Soup
6 30 pm - Dinner
7 30 pm - Camp fire
Day 3: (Sankri- Juda Talao)
The Base camp Sankri is at an altitude of 5800 ft and we need to proceed to the next base camp Juda Talao situated at an altitude of 8000 ft. You could surmise the trek route on how it would be? Just steep n inclined.. I was really pissed off with the first day trek because the director mentioned that we can sight the next camp after a trek of 4kms.. Beware Guys whatever the distance mentioned is from the line of sight and not the actual distance.. We just kept on climbing the steeps for a long time and was happy to see the lunch point for the reasons, we would get maggie which the local people over there sell and the beautiful view lush meadows.
After a heavy lunch, we were set to proceed to the next camp when the whimsical climate played its role to trouble the trekkers. Everyone was busy wrapping their bags with rain sheets and we guys were customizing the rain sheets by cutting off the redundant parts. Again it was a painful walk on the steeps but still we enjoyed that too.. At last we could see the light @ the end of the tunnel.. Yes!! I was able to see the pin up inviting us to Judo Talao but the tents were far from it... It just started raining and we got bit wet... And there in the camp we met the mostly lively field director @ Judo Talao ..Sunil alias Pink Floyd (For the reason he wears a Pink Jacket ).. He was much jovial enthusiastic expressive and has gamut of talents like dancing , mono acting .
Then we played some games in the evening to keep ourselves warm and we visited a place which is half a kilometer from our camp known as View Point!! And believe me it was worth visiting the place as we were able to view all the peaks around us from this place & I felt like nature was inculcating me on how to enjoy the views . Just have a look at our camp site at Judo Talao below: 
Also we took a couple of pictures and a documentary on everyones experience on the first day of the trek. Look at the pictures of the view point now : 
Don't you feel it is worth visiting this place at least once in your life time ? Just hang on guys ..I met some trekkers in my next batch who are trekking this place for the third time and you know the reason !! These breath taking views get etched to your brains and keep popping up in front of you often n always. I am not exaggerating as at least this happened to me (rather happening!).
The camp fire in this camp went on for a long time and some people came up with some of the songs which were totally inevitable for the rest of our treks. To name a few, the song sung by Girish from Bangalore 'Jakka Nakka' created waves among the trekkers. I would consider this as D inevitable song of our trek. Next one was by RatanDip from Mumbai 'Churmurra' for which we guys gave a visual treat too(he he!!). We called it a day after the camp fire and our feet were happy as it could rest @ the same place for the rest of the night.
Day 3 (Juda Talao to Kedarkanth)
Yet another day where you gain 2000 ft more to reach the next camp Kedarkanth. But the trekking route was not as steep as the previous day. We took some breaks wherever possible (even some power naps!!) and made our trek as leisurely as possible. Pink floyd accompanied us for some time and kept us engrossed with his lively performances. Look at the pictures below en route to Kedarkanth from Juda Talao: 
During the trek, I was able to identify a lot of book readers n movie lovers and was able to discuss my thoughts and also gather opinions from them . It was quite interesting and you never know how much you walk when you dicuss some things which turns you on . And Ila, thanks for your suggestions on 'Motorcycle Diaries'.. I will be an active contributor for forums on Che Guevera hereafter. That guy did impressed me a lot. And during the treks, watchdogs are ones which I loved D most. They had a metal tag around their neck with saw toothed sharp projections to protect them from other animals(How u guys think man!!). I would like to coin a name for the above pic Me, Toffy n Sherpa :) :) .
If am correct , we just crossed a patch of snow (dirty snow actually!!) on an inclined land and we reached our camp Kedarkanth well in time. And believe me the camp is amidst the green meadows and it looks so beautiful. I can't explain about how that place looks like as it is priceless n we were amazed by the breath taking views and also happy that we made it to this trek. The pictures below will tell you the rest:
Hope you guys were bit envious after seeing the pics. Thats what we want..jus kidding. However you will fell that every ounce of your blood will be evaporated while climbing the steeps but these enchanting views will rejevunate & charge up your souls to climb for more heights (I am serious!!). May be you can have a look @ some more pics we took at Kedarkanth camp.
The evening at Kedarkanth camp was bit cold, ample time to saunter along the green valley and we guys were as usual engrossed in taking pictures n documentaries. We were able to view the Kedarkanth Peak from here and we thought it would be an easy task the next day provided the climate does not refute our predictions. We called it a day after our camp fire.
Day 4 (Kedarkanth to Lohasu Thatch )
After our breakfast n packed lunch, we set off to our next camp Lohasu. We need to climb to the peak and then descend down to same alitude. The climb to the peak was not that tough and we were able to see our next day camp from this peak. It was pretty exciting to have a look at other peaks from Kedarkanth. And thank God, weather concocted our success in climbing the peak and we hoped the same during our descent too.. The way down was even more exciting ... More of patience was required while descending. Me Jga n mani were going slowly and Mani whenever is feeling uneasy , its easy to make it out as he would be walking inch by inch , would not talk much and his expressions would convey u "Get away from me Buggerz" !! (Am i rite mani? ;) )
Actually we walked a lot while descending and when we reached Lohasu, the camp site was fully green and surmised that it would rain at any time from now. And as expected it started to rain but we realised it wasnt rain ..it was snow balls ...A real surprise factor.. Only we trios were out of tent and enjoying it . And beleive me after an hour , the camp site totally white. Full of snow.
We could not beleive it , it was like a movie in which a lush green valley been garnered with tonnes of snow in an instant. It was an amazing experience!! Wish I would have added our video here :) I was really worried about the watch dogs but was happy when I saw it got some place to keep itself away from the hailstorm.
Unfortunately we could not have our Camp Fire (Ppl dint bother though but V trios bothered for the HOT DRINK) that night and everyone set off to sleep mode. The next day early morning
I heard Santhosh's voice, 'Hey Vivek, get out of your tent '. I had no clue why the hell he was calling me, but later I thanked him for I would have missed the wonderful view of the peaks in the early mornings .. Yellow Sunlight caressing the mystic snow clad peaks.. It was a cold day and the coffee soothing my throat & the view feasting my eyes. One more camp which made me feel its worth the visit.
Also the previous night, Mani was telling us he heard some noise outside the tent and we saw the pugmarks the next day . And the conjecture was that snowleopard paid us the visit that night which made the trek even more interesting. So completing the daily routine from cleaning the tents to packed lunch, we set off to our next camp Dhundha.
Day 5 ( Lohasu Thatch - Dhundha )
The trek to Dhundha was easy compared to other days of the trek as we just need to cross a glacier. One of the days we need to walk most of the time in snow and so enjoyed a lot. We need to climb down and again climb up the other side. It was very slippery during our trek downstream and few of them were slipping regularly.. may be because of butter soles :).. And to top the list were Ankita n Ila and of course me too sometimes. Whenever I ask Ankita if she is steady, the next moment I would be slipping down. So I stopped asking her to keep myself safe amidst the snow. But the whole way to Dhundha was enchanting. Have a look at the pics.
