Travel Journal ( 02-07-2017 to 09-07-2017)
Destination – Roopkund, Uttrakhand.
ROOPKUND – The Skeleton Lake
“Mysteries fascinates peoples“, true, but “Unsolved Mysteries” are the one’s which lead people to them. It was mid of May, 2017 when me and my friends were looking for a place to spend the weekend together, preferably the hills. We came to know of “Roopkund – The mysterious lake”. It looked mysterious yet beautiful, over the google pages. We kept on digging more about it and finally decided to go there.
Just like every other human being on the planet, we too were excited about the journey we were about to make. On July 3rd, we reached our camp site at ‘Wan Village’. People say that Wan, is the last village where you’ll find some population before wilderness starts. People on those hills are so kind, down to earth and supportive that I feel like being at home whenever I visit there. We had our meal at night and just roamed around the local village. There wasn’t much of a crowd because we were there in an off season. I chose to visit there in the off-season because I don’t like crowded places. It makes me dizzy.
Next morning we started our trek from Wan to Bedni Bugyal. Around 4’o clock in the evening we reached there. Believe me, I have never seen such a beautiful and heavenly place like Bedni Bugyal. It was green all around. Actually, Bedni Bugyal is one of the highest altitude meadow in the whole of Asia. It was serene and just mystique at the same time. The weather kept changing very frequently there.
I felt really pure there. At night, when moonlight falls on snow clad peaks of Himalayan range, it is a sight worth watching. Nothing soothes your eyes after watching that scenic beauty.
Finally on the summit day, we started from our tents, keeping our fingers crossed because of frequently changing moods of weather. But whatever you pray for, we encountered rain that day. It was like a cold needle every time a rain drop touched our skin. We crossed Pathar nachauni and Bagwabasa and by the time we reached our ultimate resort, “Roopkund”, we were all wet and tired as hell. But one look at that beautiful wilderness and the tiredness was all gone.
Roopkund– the mysterious lake. When we saw the lake there was nothing mysterious about it. But let me remind you of the fact that, no exact event has been associated with the skeletons found at Roopkund. Those are just mere speculations. We howled like wolves, we shouted our names, and hailed “Lord Shiva“. We could hear our echo at that place. I don’t know about the others, but I cried that day at that place. I was enthralled and enslaved with the thought of being there.
It is not only a journey to speak of, not a trekking experience to brag about, it was something beyond that for me. I felt like I was sanctified.
As I would say , ‘I’m like a hermit to the journeys I have made’.