Day 2 - Nichnai to Vishansar Lake via Nichnai Pass
I am having trouble sleeping in a sleeping bag. Especially when I have to sleep in a slightly inclined surface. I am not really a claustrophobic but I'm feeling choked inside the sleeping bag inside the tent. I realize that every time I'm just about the fall asleep, I slip down into the bag and suddenly I wake up to climb back to the opening of the sleeping bag. This is a mini-trek which I'm doing inside my sleeping bag. Due to these repeated attempts of crawling inside the sleeping bag, I end up absolutely not sleeping. But again I wake up around 4.45 am. Today's schedule is again 5, 6, 7. I missed to sip the ginger water which was served the previous night and hence I have a bad throat and cold.
1 liter water done. Black tea at 5am done. 6 am breakfast done. 'Pack-lunch' done. I realize at this point of time that my DSLR, which I carried with great passion, is creating more trouble to me than expected. My 5kg day bag would have weighed a lot less without this DSLR. Also, I'm not in a condition to click pictures, given that my goal is to climb these raw and strenuous mountains. So I offload few more items from my day bag to my rucksack and decide to keep only the DSLR, rain coat and water bottles. Today I have taken more energy bars and chocolates with me than the previous day.
Our trek starts. The ascent look achievable today considering that I'm getting more comfortable with my new pair of trekking shoes. Also the sight of some green meadows and those cute sheeps is making me feel up. Dushyant has told us that we should try to take as minimal breaks as possible. This is because if we walk with minimal breaks, our body starts to build a certain rhythm. And this rhythm is important to keep us going. Plus the weather in Himalayas is pretty uncertain. We never know when there will be a heavy downpour or when it is going to snow. Talking of snow, from nowhere I start feeling snowflakes on my face. Yes it is snowing. Also there are strong crosswinds. But I see that majority of my group is not seen anywhere close to my vicinity.
Once again I struggle to breathe when I ascent this steep mountain. I'm trying my level best to not take any break. My trek pole has become my soul mate in the last 2 days. The only feeling in my mind - Why am I doing this torture to myself?! Even before this thought completely registers in my mind, I see Naseem sitting in the midway with the exact expression of what I just thought of! Why am I doing this torture to me! I take another break in the name of filling water from a nearby stream.
I'm walking through a 6-7 inch path, struggling to strike a balance. And from behind I hear the sound of horses marching towards me. Poor things are carrying all our rucksacks, kitchen utensils, tents and so on. I feel sorry for them. But at this point there is noway I can move and give them a way! Even before I finish thinking, they are already here. Just behind me and the khoda-waala says 'Side please'. OMG! Where is 'side' here?? If I move an inch I'm going to roll down! But I have to move. I almost stick to the mountain like how a lizard sticks to a wall and the horses move ahead. I need to realize now that this situation is going to happen almost always. And I need to learn to balance when they ask for 'side'.
With an iota of energy still remaining in my body, I reach Nichnai pass! This is the first pass we are reaching ever since our trek started. Pretty elevating moment for me. Yes, I reached. I did not go back so far! No pictures clicked here as I am not interested in taking my DSLR out!
After sometime it is all about descending. I love this part. I'm pretty bad at ascending but pretty good with descends. We find a point where we have our lunch.
At this point, I see some chunky rocks and we are supposed to learn how to walk on them. I am trying my skills to balance and walk but it is no good. Dushyant introduces these chunks of rocks to me as 'boulders'. This is a fairly new term to me. He taught me (and others) how to tackle them. Basically we are not supposed to spend time trying to find a balance on them. We are supposed to very quickly hop from one boulder to another almost in a zig-zag manner. This way you do not feel the fear of falling or slipping. At the same time you quickly cover some distance unknowingly. Though Dushyant gave this lecture, I have not gained confidence in his lessons yet.
Fortunately rest of the journey is a meadow walk. The landscape truely reminded me of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. I had seen the pictures in a travel magazine. In fact, I even wished to do the Yatra. Coming back to these meadows - We pass through the Manasarovar-looking-like meadows in the slowest pace possible. Farooq bhai who is coming with us with his horse has lost hopes that we will ever reach the campsite! Very soon (by around 4-4.30 pm) we get a glimpse of our campsite. That moment when we feel close to the campsite cannot be described in words! Time for a little break. Picture taken by Swaraj.
After the break, I try to increase my pace to reach the campsite and here you go. A whole stretch of boulders. It is as if the mountains have conspired to make this journey as tough as it can get!
With great difficulty and not applying any of Dushyant's lessons, we climb past the boulders and reach our campsite. The campsite is stunning! Surrounded by surreal mountains, very close to the magical Vishansar lake, I see our orange tents! This is my favorite campsite of the entire trek. I soak in the beauty and calmness of this place!
We offload our bags and take some rest in our tents. Already my trek mates have started with their DSLRs for sightseeing around Vishansar Lake. I and hubby decide to take it slow. We take some time out and enjoy the beauty and calmness of this magical place. I take out my DSLR camera which is dieing to see these mountains. I click some shots here. And slowly we walk towards Vishansar Lake with a mug of hot soup in our hands.
The Lake has a magical blue color. All lakes in Himalayas probably have this magical sapphire blue color. I fell in love with this lake at the very first sight. We click some pictures around and relax in the shore of this mystical lake.
I must say that it is very difficult to strike any pose or even smile to the camera when those
crosswinds are blowing!
It is 4.30pm and we have a briefing session about our next day's trail by Dushyant. What fascinated me was our campsite is almost 25km away from POK! That is pretty exciting.
Back from Vishansar to our tent. The whole area is 'infiltrated' by a bunch of cute sheeps now! I cannot say how happy I feel on seeing these sheeps. They are treat to my eyes! I soak in this view. I try to catch a few but they escape. This was the perfect evening for me in this trek.
Dinner at 7.30 pm followed by oxygen level checks by Ravi, followed by hot ginger water and it is time to sleep. Once again I try to master the skill of sleeping in a sleeping bag in a slope. My exhaustion levels drive me to sleep. The next day is supposed to be the most challenging day of the entire trek. With this very thought I fall asleep.
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