When Adventure met Faith Part -III (Dumak - Toli Tal - Panaar Bugyal)

We had a sound sleep as we were damn tired so next day we got up little late around 6.00 AM . As I came out of my room I was awestruck by the beauty of village which we could not see it in the darkness last night. I stood there only for a while to soothe my eyes with the beauty of nature unfortunately which we have ruined in plains in the name of urbanization.

Village Dumak

Village Dumak

Village Dumak

After getting freed from daily routine and breakfast we started onward journey around 7.30 AM for Panaar bugyal.The punch line for the day was “Chal mere yaar pahunch Panaar”.

Village Dumak

Village Dumak

Village Dumak

Before leaving the village we went to visit a local temple “Vajir temple “which is quite well-known there.After offering prayer and spending some spiritual time there we continued our journey further. 

Vajir temple

As soon as you were out of the village the next 3 kms trek was risky and steep down till Maina river. We took around 01 hour to reach near the river. 

Risky and steep down trek

The sun was very bright and we were feeling very hot and uncomfortable so reaching near the river bed some of the friends could not control and jumped into the river to get some relief from the scorching heat.  

Maina river

We spend almost 45 mins there and continued our journey around 9.45 AM.  After crossing the cemented bridge the rest of the journey was through the dense forest. 

 

  

  

After walking for an hour around we reached a beautiful small bugyal where we took rest for 15 mins and moved ahead. Soon we were passing through the dense forest which was little scary too. 

Small bugyal on the way to Toli Tal

Small bugyal on the way to Toli Tal

We reached stunning Toli Bugyal / Toli tal with picturesque beauty around 11.45 PM. It is situated at a height of 2640 mtrs from the sea level. 

 Toli Tal

Toli tal / Toli bugyal is one of the most beautiful place of that region. One can see many cows and horses grazing here.  

Horses grazing

cows grazing

Rest Time - Toli Tal

We refreshed ourselves there and rested for an hour and then proceeded further around 12.45 PM.

We were so impressed with the peace and beauty of Toli Bugyal / Toli tal  as if we could live there forever. One can see many skeleton of animals scattered in Toli bugyal. 

We just crossed 01 km and it had started raining. Usually in hills it doesn’t rain too long so we took a shelter under a rock shade and decided to have lunch there only to save our time inspite of not feeling much hungry. We waited over there for almost one hour neither it stopped raining nor there was a sign of getting it stopped as there were dense dark clouds up in the sky.

We decided to walk in rain only as we were not carrying our own tents, sleeping bags and ration. The rest of the trek was very steep till Panaar bugyal  and we were finding difficult to trek on slippery path, extra efforts was making us very tiring. 

As soon we entered Panaar bugyal around 6.00 PM , we were thrashed by high speed cold breeze which was very scary and  unbearable. Punaar is one of the most beautiful bugyals of India and situated at a height of 3500 mtrs. It is located at 15 kms from Village Dumak.  

From here also we had to walk at least half an hour ahead to reach the hotel and now my condition was started worsening as I was not able to walk further as  I was feeling very cold due to nonstop rain and cold breeze. I was too  tired feeling very  uncomfortable walking with poncho. 

All of a sudden I realised that I was surrounded by 4-5 dogs who started barking frantically at me. I was so scared that I thought I was gone. One of our friends who was just 200 mtr ahead advised me to be calm and walk slowly, I quietly followed him and moved ahead. Luckily those dogs didn’t attack me as I was speculating .In this scary situation I was literally about to cry. But l think all these incidents, circumstances and situations only we face on our way make the trekking more adventurous.

Some of our friends reached early and tried to arrange accommodation.  There was no room available because of rain. The people who were coming from Rudarnath also stayed at Punaar. We were 05 persons and the owner said maximum he can arrange 04 beds in store room. Store room was made upstairs and was hardly 3 feets high. Beggars are not choosers and moreover it was a matter to save our own life so we had no choice but to say yes to whatever was available .We could not spend terrifying chilly night in open hence we accepted that offer.

Pucho na kaise raat bitayi .......:-)

Around 9.00 PM hotel guy asked us to come down to kitchen for dinner but we were so tired that we could not manage to get down for dinner and  requested the hotel guy to arrange food upstairs only or we would sleep without food. He was kind enough and arranged everything upstairs. 

After having dinner we were making efforts to sleep as it was uncomfortable because of lack of space and bedding. Any how we managed some sleep. 

Panaar to Rudarnath coming soon ……