A twisted tale of Phulara Ridge and Fachu Kandi pass in Uttarakhand

Our trail was going up in the jungle and then finally at around 3 pm, we saw our tents pitched on the left side of the trail.

BHPian prajakt_23 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Part-I Please bear with me for a slightly lengthy beginning, but once you read through it, the photos would start makings sense!

Let me start this story by telling you a joke. Folks from the 90's might have already heard it. Among kids, it was a very common joke back then.

A high school student was travelling in a state transport bus. A ticket checker hopped onto the bus and started checking tickets randomly. He came to this boy and asked for his ticket. The boy reached out to his trouser pocket and pulled out a bus ticket. The ticket checker smiled and asked mischievously, “What would happen if somehow you misplace this ticket?” The boy smiled and said, “Do I look that careless? I already have another ticket in my shirt pocket as a backup plan”.

You would get to know the relevance of this joke as the saga unfolds. And I am confident that you would be laughing out loud in your chair, the way I am laughing now, recollecting the events of this story.

Clock was ticking and I was literally counting every minute this time! I was not sure when my flight would land at Delhi airport. I was also not sure if I would get my baggage sooner. The moment I felt the landing jerk, I looked at my wrist watch and it displayed 11:30 pm. I immediately rushed at the baggage belt but I knew that it was already too late! I got my sack at around 11:45 and at 11:50 I heard a beep of a mobile message. I knew what it was, but still I thought of reading it. The SMS was from my elder brother who was sitting in Kota - Dehradun express at Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi. It said, the train was on time and just departed from the station as scheduled. And that's how I missed my train to Dehradun to start my onward journey towards Sankri in Uttarakhand, for one of the most anticipated treks of my trekking journey so far!

I had been meticulously planning for this trek as usual. However, the sequence of events was beyond my control this time. Since I was the only person in my group who was traveling from Pune, I had the flexibility of choosing any flight which could reach Delhi in the evening. While I had checked for flight options 3 months ago, I had booked Vistara flight at 8:20 pm from Pune which was reaching Delhi at 10:30 pm. And since the earlier flights were too early for me to reach Delhi, I thought I would have just enough time to travel to Hazrat Nizamuddin station before the train starts at 11:50 pm.

We were scheduled to start our travel on 26th May evening and on 21st May, I got a notification email mentioning that my flight had been rescheduled to depart at 8:35 pm and will land in Delhi at around 10:45 pm. Although it was just a 15 minute delay, now I was really skeptical since there was hardly any margin available for me to reach the station in time. For the Airport to the station journey, Google Maps was showing travel time as around 45 minutes. I could have still managed to reach the station in time, but in case my luggage gets delayed, then there was a high chance that I would miss the train. Other members of my group were traveling from Mumbai and were scheduled to reach Delhi by 8:30 pm itself. So, instead of waiting for me at the airport (that too at a different terminal), I had asked them to directly reach the station and wait for me in the train compartment itself.

Being part of the Program management team, I am used to recursive / iterative planning and continuous risk mitigation :-) However, this time it really tricked me! Considering the risk associated with the revised flight timing, I decided to look at an alternative flight option. This was essential since missing my train was kind of equivalent to missing the actual trek itself. It would have not only resulted in monetary loss, inconvenience and other hassle, it would have resulted in an emotional setback since it was the first trek plan which we were executing after 2.5-3 years of Corona pandemic.

This time, I quickly booked a GoAir flight which was scheduled to depart from Pune at 7:35 pm. Since it was scheduled to land at 9:45 pm, I had more than 2 hrs. to reach the railway station. Although it would cost me much higher to book a ticket at the last moment, I was happy to see the risk of missing the trek getting successfully mitigated ;-) Pardon my official lingo!

What I didn't anticipate was another twist in the tale. I tried to cancel my original Vistara ticket from Pune to Delhi, but since it was bought in advance at some discounted price, the system was not allowing me to cancel only one leg of the booking. It wanted me to cancel the entire trip, which means I need to cancel my return ticket from Delhi to Pune as well :-( Since I didn't have any other arrangements for return travel, I just decided to forgo the Vistara ticket specific to Pune - Delhi travel. Yes, it was a financial loss but again, I convinced myself with the same argument that at least I won't miss my trek anymore!

But was that all? Of Course not! Fast forward to the 24th evening and I received another notification email, this time from GoAir for my second ticket. It said that they have rescheduled their flight now, and the revised scheduled time of departure is 8:35 pm!! So, the situation was back to the same point again. So, for the first time in my life, I had two flight tickets of the same date, same time and for same place to go to :-D Since I didn’t have much choice, I decided to stick to GoAir since it was an old name in aviation history compared to Vistara and an additional plus point was that it was scheduled to land at Terminal 2 in Delhi. I had checked that The Nizamuddin Railway station was relatively closer to Terminal 2 than Terminal 1.

Do you think that the ordeal was over? Hell No!!! So, here is the final nail in the coffin. I eagerly completed all my activities on the 26th and started towards the Pune airport. Since I was traveling in the other direction, the roads were relatively less crowded. I reached the airport well in advance, dropped my check in baggage (Sack) at GoAir counter, cleared security screening to reach the allotted Gate. I was shocked to see the flight information display screen. It showed that the Vistara flight was ‘on time’, whereas the GoAir flight was delayed! I was just about to laugh out loud at my luck. I mean, how much one can plan for! There are always multiple ways in which your plan can go for a toss!

I called up Milind sir (our leader, who had already reached Delhi) and explained to him this new twist. He advised me to check with our trekking agency to look for any alternative in case my flight doesn't land in Delhi on time. Abhishekji from the agency mentioned that there are regular Volvo buses plying from Delhi Kashmiri Gate which travel overnight to reach Dehradun ISBT as early as 4:30 am. This way, I could have still made it to Dehradun station before our train reaches there by 5:40 am. This looked like the last option I had, if I still wanted to make this trek. So, I started surfing online and found out UTC online booking site (https://www.utconline.uk.gov.in/). The last Volvo bus was scheduled to leave Delhi Kashmiri gate at 11:59 pm, and the next one was directly at 5 am. As a last resort, I decided to book a ticket for this 11:59 pm bus just in case I am unable to make it to the train station in time. While I was doing this, I saw people boarding the Vistara flight and I was seriously amazed at what all can go wrong in a single trip!

And then finally they announced boarding of the GoAir flight at around 8:20 pm or so. I was still hoping that if it departs as scheduled, I might have some chance to catch the train. While I was boarding the flight, I booked my bus ticket before they could ask me to switch off my phone. Now I had one confirmed train ticket along with one confirmed Volvo ticket to travel for the same date, and from the same place (Delhi) to Dehradun. Isn’t that fun?

While I kept my camera and other gear in the overhead compartment and occupied my seat, the pilot made an announcement that Pune being a military airport, Air Force had planned for some activities which took precedence. All civilian planes were made to wait at the airport until clearance from the Air Force while they finish landing their fleet of fighter jets. However, just before this announcement, Vistara flight was allowed to depart on scheduled time and I saw it taking off while my GoAir flight was put on hold for clearance. It took us more than 50 minutes to get the clearance and then our flight took off at around 9:40 pm or so. To make it more dramatic, a baby sitting in the next row was crying intermittently. As soon as I felt the landing jerk, I messaged my brother that I was still trying to reach the station but it looked difficult now. By the time I got my sack and came out of the terminal, it was 11:50 pm. I not only managed to miss my train, but there was also no possible way to reach the Kashmiri Gate within the next 9 minutes. So, finally I managed to miss the last option of getting on the Volvo bus as well :-D I was just looking at my watch imagining my empty Volvo seat and the happy face of my co-passenger who was going to get 2 seats at the price of one, for his / her entire journey!!

Now, let's skip to the good part, shall we?

While I was standing at the departure gate, I just took a pause to evaluate my options. First and foremost option was obviously to skip the trek and get back to Pune with the next available flight. But then every bit of planning which I had done for this trek flashed in my mind and I decided to check other possible alternatives. Next to the gate, I saw two police personnel chatting, so I just thought of checking with them first. I told them that I had just missed my train, as well as the last bus to Dehradun, and was looking for the best alternative. They asked me if I could wait till morning. But since my entire team had already left Delhi, that was not possible. So they advised me to hire a private car from the airport. They mentioned that it's a safe option and I should not be worried about traveling alone at night. They also advised me to check Delhi police approved taxi vendors just outside the airport instead of the one inside the airport since it was exorbitantly costly. There was a RTO approved taxi booth just outside the arrival gate. It was relatively crowded and many passengers were hiring Cabs for their local traveling. I approached the person sitting at the counter and asked him if he could arrange a reliable cab to get me to Dehradun railway station. He looked puzzled for a minute but soon realized that I needed to travel to Dehradun immediately and hence he made a few phone calls to get a CNG DZire. In my mind, I thought of all those ‘Crime Patrol Dustak’ episodes, where a single passenger traveling in the middle of the night gets robbed and left stranded (if lucky), on an isolated highway :-D. I took a photo of the cab along with the driver and shared it with my brother and family members before starting the trip. I also ensured that the driver understood what I did, just to minimize risk of any untoward incident :-) Also, I categorically asked him not to pick up any other passenger enroute, and should not stop the car unless I ask him to do so. I also insisted that he would only stop at a restaurant of my choice! Yes, I know it might sound crazy but these were only a few proactive precautionary measures I could have taken.

It was almost 12:30 am or so and the driver said it would take around four and half hours to reach Dehradun station. He needed a few permits which he decided to arrange by calling his contacts. Before we exited Delhi, we stopped at a CNG pump to top up and we were on our way. After driving for 35-40 minutes, I could feel that the vehicle randomly changing lanes in either direction and then the driver would course correct. I immediately realized that he was feeling sleepy. I asked him to take a short break or stop for a tea instead. He did accept that he was feeling sleepy but at least this direct conversation got him back in an alert mode and we continued safely.

It was around 2:30 am and we were near Meerut where I saw a decent and crowded restaurant. I asked the driver to stop for a quick tea break. I was really surprised to see families ordering full blown dinner even at that odd hour. Tea was awesome and it gave us the much needed kick.

We at least stopped twice to top up CNG till we were nearing Dehradun. Just before Dehradun, we were stopped by the traffic police. But after showing the permits received on WhatsApp, the police immediately let us go. The train was on schedule and my team got down at Dehradun station by 5:45 am. I managed to reach Dehradun station by 6 am and then I joined them happily for a hot cup of tea at a stall just outside the station. What a rollercoaster ride it was to make it to Dehradun station from Pune! Looked like the trek was in my destiny!

We quickly loaded our sacks and gear in the tempo traveler and started our journey towards Kotagaon / Sidri by 6:45 am or so.

Everyone was feeling hungry so we decided to stop for breakfast after getting out of the chaos of Dehradun city. We stopped at a decent restaurant at around 8 am, had a course of different types of parathas and continued our journey towards Purola.

Our tempo traveler was facing some issues, so our driver decided to stop at Naugaon at a local mechanic. He tried his hand at it and meanwhile we started roaming around in the market to see if we could buy some local fruits.

After spending some 40-45 minutes there, we continued our journey further. However, immediately after leaving the village, our tempo traveler gave up on us. We pushed it on a slope to try jump starting it, but it didn't work. We were stranded in the middle of the road. It was around 1 pm and it was pretty warm with no shade around.

While our driver was trying different options, we just roamed around the river which was flowing on the left side.

Some divine soul must be staying there

Our driver made another desperate attempt to start it but it didn't work. He made a few calls to his colleagues and followed their instructions and then after spending another 30 minutes in that heat, the vehicle started.

Fortunately, we could continue further without any vehicle issues. We stopped for lunch at Purola and had a feast on paneer butter masala among all other dishes we had ordered. Instead of the traditional base camp of Sankri or Kotagaon, we had decided to reach Sidri, where our stay was arranged at the hotel ‘Nature View Himalaya’. We reached Sidri by 4 pm or so. We were offered hot tea, coffee and French fries in the restaurant / dining area and then showed the way to our rooms, which were located on the opposite side of the road.

As per what I was told by Abhishekji, our lead guide Bachanji was supposed to meet us in Sidri itself. It was one of our prime requirements that he leads this specific group since he is not only an excellent trekker and trek leader himself, but he also owns this trekking agency. So, when he traveled with us on our past Bali pass trek, he personally looked after our arrangements during the trek. And since he was traveling with us, all other porters and support crew were genuinely looking after the trekkers. We were told that he is building a new resort / cottages in Sidri itself so we decided to visit him on that site itself. After dumping our sacks and taking a shower, we started our casual evening walk on the road towards his resort site. After walking for 10-15 minutes, we saw him with his team on the right side of the road. His team was working with JCB, leveling the ground and moving big boulders from the site. While we talked to him casually, he mentioned that since this resort had been his top priority, he won't be traveling with our group. That was really disappointing since it was really a key factor for choosing his trekking agency for this trek. After talking to him for another 10-15 minutes, we came back to our rooms and started working on separating our luggage items.

After dinner, Bachanji called for a short meeting to discuss the trek plan and to introduce us to the cook and other key members of the crew. We handed over our fitness certificates as well as duly signed declarations and carefully listened to the minor changes in the plan. He also mentioned that the weather forecast was not in our favor and heavy rain was predicted for the entire week. He introduced us to Tikamji, another senior trek leader joining us on this trek. He also mentioned that his nephew, Mukesh would also join us from the second day of the trek since he wanted him to get acquainted with this trek route. We realized that except Tikamji, none of the other members had been to Fachu Kandi pass before. We handed over our individual trek fees and decided to hit the bed early. It did rain that night proving part of the weather forecast to be true!

We woke up early the next morning and observed that the entire village was already busy with their regular morning activities. From the verandah of our rooms, Sankari village was clearly visible at lower level and we could also locate the old green GMVN building on the corner, where we had stayed during our Har ki Dun trek in the past.

Our rooms in Hotel Nature View Himalaya, Sidri

We quickly separated our luggage since we had decided to keep a pair of fresh clothes and some other stuff at the base camp itself. It was planned to be carried to Dehradun and would be handed to us once we finish the trek. There was an 11th trekker added to our group who absolutely had no idea of what Himalayan trek is all about. Ulhas sir spent a considerable amount of time helping him separate his items and pack his sack for the actual trek.

While we approached the dining hall, we saw that few of the tempo travelers were getting ready for their journey towards Dehradun.

While we looked around we saw that there was construction going on everywhere along the sides of the main road and there were many homestays cum resorts coming up.

After finishing our breakfast Bachanji mentioned that he had to send his cook back and hence he would himself accompany us on the trek. We were delighted to hear this positive change. While we were getting ready to bring our sacks down to be handed over to the support crew, we decided to take a couple of group photos.

And finally we started walking on the road towards the Kotagaon village. Tikamji joined us and were leading the way, while Bachanji was supposed to join us later along with the mules and support staff. After walking for around 10-15 minutes on the main road, our trail branched off on the left through a relatively broken road. From this point onwards, we started climbing and gaining altitude. In the begining, the trail was going through small farms and plantations on hills.

Soon we came out on a plateau from where the original base village (Kotagaon) was visible on our right side at a distance. It was a relatively mid-sized village with many multistoried colorful houses.

From this point onwards, the trail was entering a relatively thick forest. The weather was getting warm and hence we were eager to take a break under the trees nearby. We waited for a couple of minutes there and once everyone else was visible on the trail below, we again started in the direction which Tikamji pointed us.

After walking on a winding trail for more than an hour and a half, we came out on a lush green meadow. It was covered with colorful tiny yellow, white and purple flowers.

Since it was almost noon, we decided to continue till the next visible tree line and wait there for others.

While we were almost near the trees, I saw this healthy and handsome bull grazing there, who finally decided to rest there, giving us an opportunity to photograph him.

Tikamji asked us to rest under the trees and eat our packed lunch since there were few fresh water streams flowing in the vicinity. To our surprise, the packed lunch packet only had a bun with mayonnaise and a banana with it. Few of us had picked up a boiled egg as well.

Two mountain dogs had joined us since Sidri. One was of cream colour while the other one was shiny black. Most probably these dogs were used to travel with trekkers since trekkers usually happen to feed them all along. So, we shared pieces of bread and egg whites with them and they did enjoy them!

Magesh and Vermaji (the 11th trekker who had joined us through the trekking agency) were walking slowly and catching their breath quite frequently. So Milind sir had also stayed back to accompany Magesh. Finally we saw them coming out of the meadow and then they also joined us for lunch.

After spending more than 30 minutes, we decided to continue further. After walking through the forest for some time, the trail started descending and on our right hand side we saw Juda Ka Talab. I had heard so many things about it previously so I was really keen in validating them myself. From that very angle it was looking beautiful with a reflection of pine trees and blue sky in it.

However, as we approached closer, we could smell it stinking. The water in it had turned completely back mostly due to rotten wood and other stuff lying there. During the winter season, none of the trekkers experience these issues since it is almost frozen and snow covered all around. So, please take my word for it. If it's not snowing, please avoid going there. And if you still do, please do not stay at the campsite in its vicinity! It was that bad, period!

We continued further on our trail from its left side.

Our trail was going up in the jungle and then finally at around 3 pm, we saw our tents pitched on the left side of the trail. When we checked with Tikamji, he mentioned that since part of our team was walking at a much slower pace, they decided to camp early. From this place, the actual planned campsite was another 1.5 - 2 hrs walk. They had to fetch drinking water from the stream nearby but considering all other alternatives and the situation, we decided to drop anchor for the day early. Since our tents were pitched already, we looked for our sacks and grabbed sleeping bags to occupy tents pitched along the mud pond in the center.

There was a huge rock opposite our campsite towards the incline . Dada and Shri went up to it to have a birds eye view of the campsite.

Soon Bachanji asked his team to serve hot tea and pakode so we sat in front of the dining tent enjoying the beautiful weather.

Since it was just the first day of our walk, everyone's body was getting used to the altitude. We were served dinner early in the evening by 7 or so, and we were done for the day. Veeru joined us there as a cook and hence Bachanji announced that he would be going back to Sankri. This was another unexpected blow to us since we really wanted Bachanji to continue with us on this trek as promised.

Continue reading BHPian prajakt_23's travelogue for BHPian comments, insights and more information.