Trip to Butoli - (Concluding part) Taking a bow to majestic Bhadraj

When we reached the head of the river we were to take down, we realized that this river was actually starting from the Bhadraj itself (at least we thought it was Bhadraj and would to like to keep it that way). In fact, from where we were standing, we could clearly see Bhadraj, standing tall and proud. In fact, it was so close, we could have almost stretched and touched it.

Possibly Bhadraj from out point of descent

There was just a little bit of stream in the river. The water was crystal pure and flowed with beautiful, soft sound that echoed through the entire region. Once again we didn't see a single human being througout our descent, only a few langoors (Dinu, can u post a pic). The river was full of loose soil that made walking a little difficult. As we descended, the air got purer and purer as if this part of the world was never corrupted by man. We sat down in the middle of the river with high hills on either side and birds humming a beautiful song. That one intimate moment was worth the whole trek I thought, such was the kick of it. Dinu then played nice soft music on his cell phone at one point that just melted away in the ears creating an instant meditative effect.

We took this river on the way down

The trek down was really long I have to admit. There was no strain on any part of the body but the knees that took all the pressure. When we hit the plane, the sun itself was preparing for its final leg of the day's journey but decided to give us one last darshan setting on the edge of one of the hills. The coolness of the wind was most welcoming. We were not too sure of how to get to doonga or belonwaala at this point. We just continued walking. Surprisingly, at several points, we noticed some life like movement, but when we went nearby, there was nobody to be found. Dinus called it hallucination like seeing water in a desert, but I disagreed. I thought there was defintely a wandering soul trying to tell us something. At one point, though, we did find a couple of local boys who were trying to catch fish in the little water that was there in the river for dinner, and got directions for doonga from them. We also decided to finish off the rest of the food at this point.

Sunset near Doonga village.

At the same time, on the other side of India, Mayank was riding the train to Doon. Little did he know of the sinister plot that was at play that was about to strike him. Mayank, may be you can write a bit about the incidence and your observations and theories about the incidence.

Doonga was still abt 100m or may 200 higher than the river, and one last ride up was a challenge. Dinu was absolutely broken by now, and I had to resort to the military tactics a little bit to motivate him to continue climbing. We covered the distance in no time, passing the ruins of the temple that was once location for a mala sinha movie (anybody knows which movie, please!). Just when we hit Dinu's uncle's house, the last streaks of daylight passed away. Uncle had, anxiously, his eyes set on the road as it got darker and darker. He had just started to get worried about us, but eventually Dinu kept his pride of a garhwaali and we made it back just in the nick of time.

In retrospect, we couldn't conquer Bhadraj, but the fact is, somewhere inside, we never thought we could even make it to Butoli. So, it was a good starter trek and something that motivated us to continue exploring the great himalayas as and when time permitted. Lets plan for something bigger, next time, Dinu !!