Ranthan Kharak Trek April 2025

 Ranthan Kharak Trek (Uttarakhand)

Indiahikes - April 13-19 2025

        After the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek in April'24, our Vista Brunch and Trekking Club (VBTC) wanted to do another long trek in 2025. 14 people signed up, of which 8 were first timers for a Himalayan trek (other 6 had gone to ABC). We were in the 12-58 age range. So we chose a moderate trek, and within India this time for variety. We closed on Ranthan Kharak in Uttarakhand, through Indiahikes. Kharak means a clearing in the forest. The highlights here were going to be lots of rhododendrons, great mountain views and camping in tents. The indiahikes group had 23 total trekkers (other 9 were from different parts of India) and 3 guides. We all trained hard for the last 2 months - walking, running, treadmill incline, elliptical trainer and weight training.

        On April 12th, the Fantastic14 set off to fly to Bareilly and then a 2.5hr drive to Haldwani (close to our pickup point Kathgodam next day), and stayed at the Fortune Walkway Hotel. We had a good dinner at the hotel. We also tasted the red Buransh juice (Buransh = rhododendron flower). 

April 13th - Day1: Haldwani to Gogina (6400ft) drive - 17 hrs!!!

        On 13th, we were picked up in a TT (the 9 others were in another TT) at 5am for a 10 hr drive past Nainital, Kainchi Dham, Almora, and Bageshwar to Gogina village, our trek starting point, where we would stay the night in the Indiahikes homestay. We got stuck in a traffice jam at Kainchi Dham for 3 hrs!!! Who says Bangalore traffic is the worst?? Well, we got to have maggi and kullad chai while we were stuck. What with a lunch (Kmaoni thali, Shingori mithai and baal mithai) and a tea stop along the way, our ETA had moved to 8:30pm. We got some great views of the mountains far away in the evening. 

    But as luck would have it, an hour before Gogina, one TT broke down, which cost us another 1.5hrs, so we reached Gogina (6400ft elevation) at 10pm, in a very tired state. We got formally introduced to the other hikers.We had a hot dinner, and a very quick brief, before we retired to our shared dormitory style rooms for the night. We were to be up at 6am next day.

Day2: Gogina (6400ft) to Namik (7400ft) trek - 7.5km/5hrs

        We had a bunch of things to do in the morning - detailed briefing and intros, health check, rental equipment, packing both our offloaded bags and daypacks, breakfast, operating procedures, etc so we were able to start only at 10am after warmup. No showers, that would be only after a week! The weather was very clear and we had great views of the mountains and valleys. Our lead guide Khushman was at the front, the sweep guide Narinder Singh at the rear, and the trek leader, Praveen moved up and down among the trekkers, sharing information about vegetation, sustainability, birds etc.

    Initially, we went down about 1000ft to the Ramganga river, which was fast runing and the water was very cold and blue-green in color. It comes from the Namik glacier. 

    After playing in the water for half an hour, we crossed the river via a bridge and then had to climb up 2000ft through a forest to the Namik village and further to our campsite, reaching at 3pm. The campsite was beautiful - on a large flat grassland with mountains all around. We had bright yellow tents, with 3 dry eco-friendly toilet tents, a dining tent and a utensil washing area. Yes - we had to carry our eating utensils and wash them ourselves 😇 We got welcome drinks - lemon water or aam panna every day. Very refreshing! 

        We also got snacks and tea in the evening, then played a game with walkie-talkies and finally had dinner and a de-brief before retiring to our tents with our headlamps. The group was a lot of fun, not just the Vista folks, but the others too! The night was very clear, and the sky full of stars. It was cold, but not terrible. It was fun to hear private conversations from tents of first timers, who didnt realize how far sound carries in the night 😁

Day3: Namik (7400ft) to Bajimanian (9600ft) - 6km/5hrs

        The weather was partly cloudy in the morning, and we saw the mountains peeking from behind clouds. Sleep was not that great in the tents. Some people were having mild headaches. Again, morning conversations from the early risers were hillarious - Did you use the toilet? I dont want to go... I am having constipation... 😂This day was going to be uphill all the way, but not too steep. The routine was 7-8-9: hot black tea at 7, breakfast at 8, and leave at 9. We eventually left at 9:30 after warmup exercises.

    In mid morning, we stopped at a Kharak, and got great views of rhododendrons of different shades of pink. We had been seeing them already, but here they were everywhere. It was a special feeling! There were a few skulls of cattle lying around on the way - presumably from natural death or a leopard strike?

            I got quite tired near the end, and our sweep guide Narinder Singh asked if he should carry my backpack, which hurt my ego! Of course I declined and tried to go faster :) We reached our camp, Bajimanian at 2:30pm. It was in a clearing with flowing water next to it. Its named after a baba who lives a little above it. We had hot lunch and rested a little. Food was very good in general - we got roti, rice, daal, vegetables, and dessert for dinners. Snacks were also yummy, we got aloo bondas this evening. After tea we had a little walk to see birds in the forest, and also experienced some hail and light rain. After dinner, some of us sat in the dining tent and sang songs - was good fun! It was getting fairly cold in the nights and mornings now. There were great negotiations about who would wash the dishes, esp among the young college friends 😂

Day4: Bajimanian (9600ft) to Thal top (11,100ft) - 5km/4.5hrs

        In the morning, we found that our trek leader Praveen was not well, and would have to go down. So we would go up with our lead and sweep guides, until another leader joined us. The weather was crstal clear and we got great views of the mountains. 

We left at 9:30am, it was going to be an initial gentle ascent and then a final steep climb to Thal top. We were treated to lovely rhodo views again. 

    Around noon we reached a huge meadow (Bughiyal) with green grass and took a break and enjoyed the views and snacks that people had got from home. We also re-created "Kitne aadmi the?" and "Why did Kattappa kill Bahubali" scenes on a little hill, was fun. 

        Our new trek leader Shubhankar joined us here. He was leading a group down from the summit, and would take us back up. He seemed like a jovial person, it was his 50th trek with Indiahikes, and a double one at that. We also had our packed lunch of khichdi there, and then started again. After a while, we reached the steep part, with zigzag switchbacks up the mountain. We huffed and puffed to the top. The camp was in a smaller area this time, but there was a concrete structure, which housed the kitchen, dining cum sleeping area and there were 7-8 tents around. We got to touch snow for the first time in a patch in the shadows, and Shashank and I had a good snow fight, and also gave a "cold" welcome to others as they came in! 

        Evening snack was hot thukpa (noodle soup), and after that we sat around and shared funny and scary stories from our lives. Some were really hillarious - running on the platform beside a moving train negotiating with the guard to stop it, succesfully! Or running along the tracks trying to beat a train coming behind in a narrow area. Or trying to break into a forest police chowki and being chased by guards 😁

        We were going to do our summit push that night at 3am with headlamps, so we had early dinner, slept by 9am, and then had early breakfast at 2:30am. The weather was cloudy, and we kept hoping it would clear up for our mountain views from the summit at sunrise. But god had a different treat in store for us :) 

Day5: Thal top (11,100ft) to Summit (12100/12900ft) and back - 3.5km/3hrs;

                    Thal top to Namik (7400ft) - 7km/5hrs

        We left for the summit at 3:30pm. Initially it was up hill in zigzag form, we could see the headlamp lights of people ahead and behind for comfort. 

At some point it started raining lightly, and we were not sure whether to stop and put on our rain gear. The rain got heavy so we did all stop and gear up. There was also a lot of thunder and lightning flashes. We were getting wet, especially our boots and gloves. Then it started to hail. It was quite scary, but we kept going. At ~5am, we started to get daylight, but it was quite gloomy. By the time we reached Chafu top at 12000ft, we were in a proper ice storm. The wind had picked up, we were getting hit with small ice particles from all sides and getting covered by them on our jackets and rucksacks. 

        Soon our leader called for a halt to assess. 17/23 trekkers decided to go down - we were wet and cold, the ice was battering our faces, and the thunder and lightning was scary. Six waited to see if the storm would abate. After another 5 minutes of no relentment, our trek lead said it was dangerous due to the lightning and our metal trekking poles etc and we were going to be on an exposed ridge the remaining 1km to the summit, so we should go back. We all agreed and started back. 

        The light was quite good by now. On the way back the sky cleared up for a few minutes, and we got gorgeous views of the Nanda Devi range. A few pictures were taken. 

        It was also slippery, and some people fell down a few times. Finally, by about 7am we reached back to Thal top. My gloves and boots were completely soaked, and I was very cold, my fingers and toes were numb. Taking them off itself was a big task, before I went into the dining room and huddled with the others. We felt like we were in a train station in winter :)

        I was very disappointed that we didnt reach the summit, especially since I had arranged for the trek for my 13 friends. But we didnt expect anything like this at all, for what was a moderate trek. Our trek leader said this was the first time a group couldnt summit this season! But soon we started realizing that the experience we got was once in a lifetime one, and we did get great views of the mountains too. So all in all it was a very memorable day. That perked me up, not to mention the hot tea to warm us up. It felt like it was afternoon, but it was only 8am :) We listened to and sang songs and were generally quite cheerful. We even went to a lookout point and took great pictures of the cloud covered valley below us, and with the DONE banner.

        We had lunch early at 10:30am - manchurian fried rice, veg balls in gravy, papad. Was very satisfying. We also packed sanwiches for a snack, and started down for Namik at 11:30am. The weather was better by now. After the steep descent, we entered a flat area, and then took a diversion to bypass Bajimanian and go straight to Namik. Now we entered a large valley area with grass underfoot, and some of the best rhododendrons you can imagine. It was a magical place etched in all our memories. We stopped for snacks and really enjoyed the time and place. 

        The last part to Namik was a little tedious, we just wanted to reach, since it had been a long day. We reached between 4-5pm, and enjoyed the vast open camp and refreshing aam panna. Then we sat outside in the dryness and relative warmth and had pasta and tea, and exchanged stories of the day. Later we had the de-brief and a good dinner topped off with gulam jamuns. We were quite relaxed since the next day was the last and relatively easy. Some people played the card game bluff which generated a lot of laughs!

Day6: Namik (7400ft) to Gogina (6400ft) trek - 7.5km/4hrs

        We woke up to a crystal clear sky and great views of Dang Tyal. There was a lot of chitter chatter, and lots of action pictures. We also learned how to setup and dismantle a tent, and after a great breakfast of poori chole, we left for Gogina at 10am - the last actual trek day. We met a bunch of cute little children returning from school at Namik village - yes returning at 10:30am - and gave them chikkis. We had so many snacks, we finally took some back home! 

        The highlight was the time at Ramganga. We spent more than an hour there. The cold water was really refreshing. Now that I was past my disappointment, I did my trademark dip in the fast flowing river. I couldnt stop a scream as I went in chest deep, the water was freezing! Soon others also joined, including Shashank, and finally the trek leader too. What happens in Ramganga stays in Ramganga 😁

We also had an activity of listening to the gurgling water with closed eyes and rewinding our lives, and of forgiveness, which was quite cathartic.

        Somehow that fresh cold water and the imminent end of the trek gave me a burst of energy, and I walked non-stop for the 1000ft elevation upto the Gogina homestay with good energy and reached by 2pm. Later we had a de-brief and celebration with cake and enjoyed some local samosa chat and momos before dinner. Some of us also took cold baths and shaved :) We did all our re-packing amid all the chit chat, I did a marthon diary writing session of 2.5hrs before retiring at 11pm.

April 19th - Day7: Gogina (6400ft) to Haldwani drive - 12 hrs!!!

        We left at 5am back for Haldwani, with breakfast and lunch stops on the way, and reached at 5:30pm. It was fairly uneventful except we had to change TTs on the way. We Fantastic14 had a great celebration dinner at a restaurant called Pots and Stones, with a large variety of Asian, Italian, Mediterranean and Indian dishes. There was also a suprise birthday cake for me, more than a week before my actual birthday! It was so sweet. 

        April 20th saw us head to the Bareilly airport and then take our flights to Bangalore through Mumbai. We took back precious memories for life with us! The trek was more memorable than I expected - we had such a wonderful group, so much fun along the way, the rhodos were heavenly, and we got not just great views of the Himalayas but also such a unique experience with the ice storm. The Indihikes support staff were amazing! Personally I am also very satisfied that I was able to take the Vista Fantastic14 for the trek and they all had a great time and stayed safe. Now everyone is excited and want to target EBC next year! Lets see what the future holds.