Roopkund Trek,Uttarakhand. Day 3 (Bedni Bugyal to Pathalnachni)

Day 3

In Brief
Distance to be covered today- (~4km)
Change in Elevation-from Bedni Bugyal(3354MSL) to Pathalnachni (3800MSL)
Scenery-Through grasslands initially,then through rocky terrain and then stretches of snow here and there.
Duration- Around 2-3 hours depending on your speed
Difficulty- moderate

For accounts of Previous days  -Introduction

                                                  -Day 1

                                                  -Day 2
                                                  

In Detail

Day 3 was the easiest of all the days of the trek.We were to cover a distance of around 4km in about 3 hours.We were pretty relaxed in the morning and had our breakfast leisurely.The morning produced some spectacular views of the snow clad mountains surrounding us.But it was Mt Trishul which took the limelight.It shone majestically as the sun's rays reflected off its bright coat of snow.Today we were to trek to Pathal Nachni which was going be the base camp for our final push to the Roopkund lake.This was decided on the previous day.Since GIO(our trek agency) had the concept of a running camp we had two options for our choice of base camp.Either Pathal nanchni or  Bhagubasa which was further away.Pathal nachni camping was on dry ground as opposed to Bhagubasa which was on complete snow.Mr Durga gave us the liberty to choose our camping spot.After a brief discussion amongst ourselves we wisely choose Pathal nachni.

      We started off by 9am from bedni bugyal.There were two options for us, either we could retrace our steps from yesterday(where we descended to reach the campsite )and catch the trail or we could take a tougher shortcut to climb a steep section and reach the trail a bit ahead.We chose the latter.We passed by the enchanting bedni kund lake.The water of the lake was shimmering with a bluish tint reflecting the perfect cloudless blue sky above.As we had lots of time on hand today we stopped by the lake and took some pics.A lake in the midst of mountains is truly a spectacular sight.Only Mr Durga's insistence compelled us to leave from that spot and we trudged off onto the trail again.

      We left the grasslands behind and a rocky terrain welcomed us.We reached Ghora Lautani after an hour into the trek.This place was called so because this was the last point where horses could reach,Beyond this point there was no food for the horses and they couldn't be taken any further.So the horses returned from here.Hence the name Ghora(Horse) lautani (return).

      There were stunning views everywhere and we kept stopping to take pics.We finally reached our campsite around 12 noon.We spotted our camps from a distance and the location, for the first time  did not look good.Our camps were to be clustered very near to each other.There was a small hill just behind our tents which we found out a bit later was the 'potty hill' (I overheard this description from another trekker from another group) Even our Toilet tent was set up on this hill.This was a bit annoying but we had no choice here.Reluctantly we headed into our tents and got ready for the rest of the day ahead which meant slipping into 4 layers of clothing.This was going to be the harshest night of the whole trek so I was not taking any chances.In addition to the 4 layer clothing I had 2 layers of socks on my foot with a plastic cover in between the two layers.During the night I wrote thermal socks over these.This kept me warm and I did not feel a thing.

Our camp site of Day 3

      We spent the afternoon talking.Now and then bursts of rain completely enveloped the area.So we only came out when it was clear.We had our dinner in the evening itself because we were to start very early in the morning at 3am.So we had our dinner at 6pm and were into our tents by 7 30pm ready to sleep.The next day was going to be the most important day of the trek when we push for the final ascent to the roopkund lake.We were very excited and I slept with visions of myself standing beside the roopkund lake.