Contd from Part II Jibhi camp site was part of a resort next to the river and had pretty good facilities like a pucca toilet with water and light (it’s a luxury indeed, if you are thinking I was sarcastic), camps by the river, a very cozy restaurant. After lunch and rest, while we were getting ready to explore Jibhi, Rahul and Atul were heading back and told us that a beautiful waterfall was nearby and told us the route to take. We were all sold and headed towards there, following a beautiful forest route, which had some absolutely picturesque scenes and small bridges across pools of water.
The waterfalls was breathtaking yet too cold to be completely
drenched in as we also did not have much spare clothes handy and the offset of
evening in wet clothes could really be disastrous to the rest of the trip. So
we just let ourselves drench a little bit in the drizzle and the shutter bugs
went clicking. Parth made some great SRK poses and also came up with great
ideas for the group pics. Onour trek back Hitesh bhai joined a local group of
men, who were just settling down to booze and we jogged back into the camp
site. I was offered a room in the resort over a separate tent, which I refused
for the great joy of outdoors.
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| Outside My camp site !!! |
That night we had a real camp fire and sat around it playing
Dumb sharads, Antakshari and singing random songs. A couple of tourists from
the resort also joined us. Everyone wanted me to sing the then famous Tamil
Kolaveri song, which I should confess they sang much better than I did.
The next day was reportedly the toughest climb up. It was
just a 7Km ride, but the slope was consistently at about 45 Degrees, I doubt if
any one did much cycling at all. The slope was so much that it became
impossible to even stand with your cycle as you keep getting dragged backwards.
The crowd had thinned down as there were not much villages between Jibhi and
Shoja. Hitesh Bhai, me and at times Parth dragged ourselves to the last leg of
the ride. The milestones were just not coming and the roads were jus not
ending, and we were probably just not going anywhere J :P I was an happy soul when I saw the village
kids waving at me, for I knew now the camp site can’t be far away. As I
approached the campsite, I saw the whole team waiting for me impatiently. Parth
put my cycle away in the parking, while others were telling me that the bus to
Jalori pass is to arrive shortly and we can get there by bus and visit the
Raghupati fort, which is a short trek from there. We heard the bus, and I grabbed my lunch and
hopped in with the rest of them.
The bus was crowded and we were standing. Atul was trying to negotiate or rather argue
with a local that he must vacate the ladies seat and give it to me as I had
come all the way from Jibhi. The local argued he is coming from even far away,
and then Atul tried to make sense to him by saying she rode a cycle not hop
into the bus. I was so touched by Atul’s gesture but told him I’m fine standing
and we as travelers can’t argue with locals and we left it that.
Jalori pass at 10700ft, was indeed a beautiful place with a
great panorama of the mountains around. But we first decided to feed our tummy
before we fed our other senses and ordered lemon tea and Maggi in the fort view
Dhaba. After inquiring the route, we set
off to the fort, what the locals considered to be a 30 min climb seemed never
ending esp with our lack of acclimatization. The ridges in pass made the whole
place look like a valley and I chose to take some rest in one of them and
admire the scene rather than test the patience of my body. Ultimately, none
other than Rahul reached the fort, rest chose to return at different a point as
Rahul dissuaded them saying it was far important to get down before sun goes
down than get to the fort where the view wasn’t more brilliant than where were
standing.
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| View from Jalori Pass |
So we got down, and took a sumo back to the camp
site. I retired early that night and we had a leisure day to look forward to
lazying around a bit next day since the morning activity of Jalori pass was
already complete. Apoorv’s gang and the XLRI folks chose to leave early albeit
without a guide straight to Aut camp. We the lazy folks decided that we slumber
and enjoy sojha with our sojha (Sleeping). I spent most of the day with my legs
up the window sill, staring into the golden tinged Himalayas with the sun
making its contours even more beautiful and sipping hot chai. The day couldn’t
have been any better. To be contd...
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