Birthi and Kala-Muni
- 18th of August
- Binsar - Baageshwar - Chaukori - Udiyari Bend - Thal - Nachani - Quiti - Birthi
- 180km
Early in the morning, we caught hold of a local forest guide. He accompanied Sandy and me on a short trek, lasting about a couple of hours. We reached a fire look-out tower called Zero Point. On a clear day, half of Uttaranchal would have been visible from said tower, but when we were there, we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. Though very little wildlife was sighted, we saw plenty of leopard foot-prints. Lots of leopard action around these parts, apparently. We did see a few langurs and caught a glimpse of some wild boar (pork with a fork) in the distance.
Stopping by the woods on a foggy morning.
‘Repeat "You are old, Father William",’ said the Caterpillar.
Alice folded her hands, and began:
'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And you hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
- Lewis Carroll
In a minute or two, the caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away into the grass, merely remarking, as it went, "One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter." - Lewis Carroll
The trekking route in Binsar
By the time we got back, had breakfast and started riding, it was nearly 10. Big mistake. As it turned out, this day was the toughest ride of the Uttaranchal leg. Stiff ghat roads, pouring (POURING) rains and tricky water crossings didn’t spare us time to stop for a single photograph.
It was on this stretch that Madaan’s bull started acting up. On very straight-forward regular roads, the bike kicked up not once, but twice, throwing Sandy off both times. Sandy cut both knees, bruised both shins and had aches and pains all over. His bike didn’t come through unscathed either. Both foot-pegs bent, crash guard bent and scratched, and worst of all, a broken headlight ring.
The plan in the morning was to get to Munsiyari for the night. It was 6:30 in the evening by the time we reached Birthi, still a good 30km away from Munsiyari. After negotiating a mother of all water-crossings, Prashi stopped a local to ask directions, who confidently told us that the last 30km would take us a good 3 hours, and our best bet would be to halt at the KMVN right there in Birthi.
A quick bit of decision making, and we were sitting comfortably in the dining room of the KMVN 15 minutes later. I may or may not remember our other meals in Uttaranchal, but I remember the one we had that night in Birthi… for once it wasn’t Aloo Parathas. We had Kichdi.
That night, mother nature kicked in with all her vengeance. Severely strong rains beat down all night, and though the room was warm and comfortable, it was hardly sound-proof. We slept fitfully that night.