Apparently there used to be a sign a few kilometres ahead that said ‘Abode of Gods”. We trekked towards Gaumukh (cow’s mouth) where the source of the Ganges is. Our intention was to walk as far as we could go and return at 11am as we had been given more information and we planned to go back to the village to do more research. It was a beautiful walk with mountains on both sides of the valley; Sudarshan, Bhagirathi and Mehru to name a few peaks. On the trek we came upon a big group of soldiers from the Maratha regiment on their way to climb Bhagirathi II (6500m). By the time we got back we had walked 25 km that day. We had a couple of days to probe around before going for a 5-day trek, which we had booked with a local trekking company.
We did the Dodital trek. We started from Sangam Chatti. It was a steady climb through beautiful forest towards Bhewra, our stop for the first night. There was a big group of public school girls from Dehradun on the same trek as us. We thought it was great for school children to be given such opportunities to appreciate nature. I had a very interesting talk with our guide, Govind. When asked what sort of wildlife could be found in the forests we were going to be trekking through, he answered, “Tigers bears, leopards, lions and cheetahs”. I got a very clear picture of what we were dealing with! The next day we walked to Dodital, it was the toughest day of the trek; 14km and an altitude gain of 1000m. It was another beautiful day of walking in the forest very early in the morning. I could hear barking dear in the distance, I saw a Kalij pheasant, some Blue sheep and some pika (a tail-less rodent). Along the way we passed a settlement of Gujjars. They are believed to have originated in Afghanistan. They are nomadic tribesmen who keep cows and buffaloes. They are vegetarian Muslims who exist mostly on dairy products. The Indian government tried giving them incentives to settle down and send their children to school, which they refused outright to do, and they live on with the same lifestyle as their forefathers.
Dodital is a beautiful lake surrounded by forest at an altitude of 3307 metres. There is also a shrine dedicated to the Hindu gods Shiva and Ganesh. The priest at the temple told us an interesting story. Dodital was where Parvati (Shiva’s wife) gave birth to Ganesh while Shiva was away. The lake is where Parvati did her meditation but there were many menacing entities that tried to disturb her. When Ganesh grew to a teenager he was asked to stand guard at the entrance of the Lake. One day when Shiva arrived to see his wife, Ganesh stopped him despite several requests. When he wasn’t allowed to see his wife Shiva chopped off Ganesh’s head in a rage.
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