1 Babaldhar
A 7-day Trek to Milam Glacier from Chillamdhar-Munsiary in Uttarakhand.
[via the new High-level route, created after 2013 floods]
Nearing Babaldhar Teahouse ... our treks 1st n/h about 150M downhill from the Sain-Singh-Top Pass
Day-1 [20-Oct 2016]
Munsiary to Chillamdhar by Maxx & Trek to Babaldhar via Pungdeo
Next morning (20th Oct) around 7:30AM, porter Gopal came with a 'booked' Maxx-jeep (Rs 600/-) to take us to Chillamdhar; the new starting point of the higher-level Milam Trek (after the 2013 cloud-burst floods had destroyed the lower route starting from Selapani on Madkot road).
We reached the road head at Chillamdhar around 8-15AM and immediately started the trek by first going down 150M to cross a stream on a small log-bridge and then climb up 150M on other side to reach the Trail.
Pretty soon a Landslide ... coming up ahead
The high-route trail first goes to Pungdeo (150M approx above Lilam village) and then on to a long walk with lots of ups and downs and then a narrow steep climbs over the Nain Singh Pass and then down some 150M to 2-3 Teahouses Shacks at Babaldhar.
Pungdeo Teahouse - where we had lunch on the trail
We reached Pungdeo teahouse at around 11AM and had a our lunch there. We left at 11:45AM and it was long and strenuous trek from then on ... climbing all the way to Main Singh Pass (3:45PM). And then a short downhill trek to reach the 1st Teahouse at 4:45PM.
It was pretty basic thatch-roof shack of a "hotel" in a clearing in the forest (pic at top) ... anyway, we decided to stay there. End of day-1 trek! Today was the toughest walk of all days in this trek; we did 1100M of uphill climb and 400M downhill.
We had dinner, just the basic Dal-Roti-Rice-Sabji combo, early at 7PM and hit the sleeping bags on rough beds made of thin bamboo sticks tied together with a sleeping mat on top.
Day-wise story in sub-pages below:
At Chillamdhar ... for Trek Start at 8:15AM
The Trek trail seen on other side of a side valley
Around 11AM could see Lilam village down below
Looking back (1-12PM) the valley & trail (R) we came
Gopal Ram (our Guide-porter) ... drinking water before the steep climb to Sain Singh Top via switchbacks
At 3-45PM we reach Sain Singh Pass .. Babaldhar is still 1 hr away ... but thankfully downhill now