Mount Shivling and the Origin Story of the Ganges

We started our journey from Howrah via train towards Haridwar.

We spent the whole day on train and at the afternoon near about 4:30pm we reached Haridwar. We quickly reached our pre booked hotel to freshen up and went to the Hari ki Pauri ghat at 5:30 pm to watch the beautiful evening Aarti at Ganges.

We started our journey at early morning towards Gangotri beacuse it's a long 10-11 hours drive. We stopped several times to eat our breakfast with Maggi and hot Parathas, lunch with rice and dal, and just to strechen up. We crossed the whole Tehri Lake and stopped many times beside the lake just to enjoy the beauty of the India's highest Dam. It's almost evening when we reach Harshil (1hr before Gangotri). We reached Gangotri at around 6pm, and felt the cold. As we were not prepared from Haridwar (cause inside car it was warm) we just hurried to unpack our bagpacks at the taxistand and wear our jackets. After that we met our guide for the whole Gamukh Tapovan Trek, and reached our hotel. Near about 8pm we went to the Gangotri Mandir and spent some time there, got back to a local dhaba and finished our dinner and went back to hotel.

Next day was the acclimatization day for us. At very early morning I woke up just to enjoy the beauty of the sunrise at Gangotri valley. I took some really beautiful images at the dawn. Near about 8 am I went to Mandir and made a video call to my mother to show them the Mandir and the surroundings. I had to do that for almost 5 times to show the Mandir and surroundings to my Grandparents, my uncles aunt, brothers and sisters. After taking the breakfast we roamed here and there and spent several hours at Mandir. During after noon we went to visit the Suraj Kund and the Pandav Gufa. Suraj Kund is the original origin of the mighty Ganges as the locals said. The starting point of the Gangotri Glacier was suraj kund at the very beginning (during the Beginning of the Himalayas). And the Pandav is where the Pandavas rested while their journey to the heaven. We enjoyed the mesmerizing view of sunset at Mount Sudarshan from the Pandav Gufa. After that we got back to our hotel and started preparing for our next day trek.

Now the day had come. After a heavy breakfast We started our trek towards Gaumukh and Tapovan. We all were very excited. We had started early just to make sure we reached our Chirbasa Campsite in daylight as the trek was almost 9km long. At first the steep ascent tested our endurance. We reached the Gangotri national park Gate and verified our documents and again started our journey. After we gained height gradually and slowly just to make sure we won't finish our energy. We were walking, while the mighty Ganges was on our right side all the time with its roaring sound. After 4 or 5kms we got a clearer look of the gorgeous Bhagirathi sisters peaks at distant which instantly vaporized our tiredness. We can't give our dslr-s some rest cause every single step brought another beauty and we didn't want to miss the opportunity of capturing those. After 7 km we saw the Chir- trees at a distant which was our campsite for that day. We reached chirbasa campsite at around 3:50 pm and started preparing our tents. The chirbasa campsite is just beside the ganges and straight view from the mighty Bhagirathi sisters peak. We enjoyed our evening staring at the Bhagirathi Sisters and the Ganges and clicked numerous images and got back to our tent.

This day was the shortest of the whole trek. Just 5km from Chirbasa to Bhojbasa. But the beauty of this day was much more than the previous day. Just after the beginning of this day trek we got the full view of the beautiful mount Sudarshan. The name of this peak itself defines it. While walking we encountered with Himalayan goat or the Bharal (as locals called it) at a distant high up in the mountains. As we approached Bhojbasa the Bhagirathi Sisters become more clear and the view is just astonishing. The bottom of Bhagirathi Sisters as we predicted was the mighty Gangotri Glacier. We were just stunned to view this from the distant and we realized what would happen when we actually reached that point. Near about 1:30 pm we reached Bhojbasa Campsite and we had a whole day to enjoy. I started clicking pictures here and there and the main attraction beside the ganges and Bhagirathi sisters was the trolley crossing across the Ganges towards Gaumukh and Tapovan. I clicked pictures of the trolley crossing too. After that we had our lunch and took some rest till afternoon. At the golden hour started at the mountain the Bhagirathi sisters peaks looked more gorgeous and beautiful. We just started and clicked many pictures of that hypnotic moments.

At night around 1-2am we got out of our tents and looked at the sky. The moment I couldn't forget. There are millions billions trillions of stars at the sky. The whole sky looked like a Planetarium. I just stared and thought if I can sat there till the morning but as it was freezing cold I had to get back to my sleeping bag.

This is the day we all were waiting for almost 3 4 months, from the very beginning of the plan of this trek. This was the day we are going to visit the origin of the lifeline of India , the Gangotri glacier and the Majestic Mount Shivling. We started our trek at around 8am, and at first there was the trolley crossing. The trolley crossing was a totally self helped process cause there were no dedicated men to do this. We had to pull our members all by ourselves and with the help of other groups. We helped others to do the same also. It was a very long process and just to cross a 100metre long river we wasted almost 1 hour and some of our group members became tired. But the roaring ganges and the mesmerizing view of Bhagirathi sisters kept us going. There were gradually ascent for almost 2 hours after that we got a better view of the gangotri glacier. After that we reached a miles long flat plane, looked like a deserted ground with no inclination. But as we were crossing this we understood that there is a good amount of ascent and at 13000 feet we found difficulty to cross this flat land. After the flat land amlost near the Gaumukh, or the origin of the Ganges or the origin of the Gangotri glacier the road divided into two. The right one went towards the Tapovan and the left one was to the touching point of Gaumukh glacier. We took the right path as we would go to tapovan and would visit the Gaumukh while descending from Tapovan.

Now the tricky part began from here. As there were no dedicated routes to Tapovan , every group had to find its own road towards the Tapovan. From the division of the road to Tapovan the whole 3-4km road was steep ascent and almost 70 degree climb for almost 1km. We started slowly and gradually as we mist be very careful of our every step as the whole road was full with dust, loose boulders and rocks. A single wrong step would end at 1000feet down at gangotri glacier. We started climbing very carefully and take rest when we get a chance. The climbing towards Tapovan is very much tiresome bit we kept on moving as the Majestic, our dreamy Mount Shivling was becoming more clearer as we climb higher and higher. After climbing for 2 hours we saw a huge rock at 100 feet high, someone said that's the end, behind the rock is the Tapovan. So we couldn't stop there we just want to enter the Devine tapovan. Yes, just after we reached the rock and looked around, this was it, we reached Tapovan. We all were mesmerized by the view of this huge alpine medow, the birth place of many mythological stories, the birth place of river Ganga. From Tapovan you can get the views of the gorgeous Bhagirathi Sisters, The Kedar dome, the Majestic Mount Shivling and the mighty Mount Meru(or the centre of the Universe). We all were so happy and cried and enjoy the beauty of this alpine meadow. We quickly setup our camp as just after 1 hour the sun got down and the shivering cold grabbed us. Now from the evening we all want to show our astrophotography skill and we know we won't get a chance to do that again. We clicked several pictures of milky way galaxy behind the mount shivling and mount meru. As the moon was so bright we couldn't capture the milkyway properly. We enjoyed the photo session a lot in that -2 degree C cold as we were all so involved in astrophotography. After that we had our dinner and went into our sleeping bag.

Day 8th way a buffer day, we want to stay at Tapovan as we won't get a chance to enjoy this astonishing alpine meadow. We roamed here and there, we reached the base of the mount Shivling and touched it. After that we reached the Mount Baba Asram and we talked with Mouni baba (who just started to talk) for 1 hours and he served us the herbal tea. Which gave us very positive energy and we started to climb the ridge to get more close to the Gangotri glacier ridge and the Bhagirathi sisters. Here we also saw the foot print of snow fox which also thrilled us. After that we reached our campsite and had our delicious lunch. At the evening we again started to show our astrophotography skills. The temperature went down to -5c at night.

We woke up early just to enjoy the sunrise at Mount Shivling. But from the morning the black cloud captured the whole tapovan and Mount Shivling. So we started our descending as early as possible after having breakfast and some group photos. We started descending and just in a moment the fog covered our whole path. Till then we didn't understand what would going to happen. We started descending and after less than one hour we reached the Gaumukh. And the snow fall started , we were very excited and enjoyed the snowfall but didn't realize it will become our nightmare. After reaching the Gaumukh we all were stunned we just want to stay there forever, The huge almost 3 4 storied tall ice glacier was the Gaumukh the origin of our river Ganga. Despite the snowfall we spent a lot of time there and mesmerized by the beauty. And i utter the famous writing of a famous Author Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay "আহা! কি দেখিলাম! জন্মজন্মান্তরেও ভুলিব না৷" . It menas "oh! What I saw today I will never forget till my death and even in my rebirth ".

After spending 1hour at Gaumukh we started our journey back to Bhojbasa and the heavy snowfall started. We didn't have Poncho, or rain coat with all of us. So we trusted our little water proof jacket and kept on moving. Again spending 1hour at trolley crossing we reached Bhijabasa at 1:30pm, but here we heard that the weather would become worst in coming days, and we had to take some serious decisions wheater to stay on bhojbasa or to move on towards gangotri which was till 14km away from bojbasa. Finally after some prasad at Lal baba asram we got some energy and we decided to move on towards Gangotri.

Now the dangerous part began. The rain became more heavier and the snowfall continued. As it was cloudy and foggy we loose the day light as early as 4 pm. And now we had to move on trusting our headlamps. We all put up our headlamps and kept on moving. Our legs became extremely tired but we didn't stop, cause we had to survive. We pushed ourselves beyond our limits and walked in that dense darkness and snowfall and rain but we didn't stop. But finally we reached the Gangotri national park gate at 7:30pm and heaved a sigh of relief. From there we take some rest, our jackets pants all were wet. We started from there and reached Gangotri at 8:15pm. Out legs were hurting and muscles freezed. After that we had our dinner and fell asleep.

Now our plan for this day was to go to Harshil. But the pain continued. Heavy snowfall and rain stopped us. We heard that we couldn't go outside of Gangotri as several landslides was happened in the road. The water and electric connection of Gangotri valley was disrupted. We had nothing but to wait. Here we heard several incidents that Several people had to be rescued from Tapovan as the whole tapovan went under 19 feet deep snow. Several landslides happen on the trails. We just waited there to be rescued.

Same thing on next day as the roads towards Gangotri were not cleared we couldn't go down to Haridwar. And we had to wait. We waited , waited contacted so many locals to get a car. But none can do anything as there were huge landslides on the road. So we waited again. At the night we got a god news that the road is now clear and cars are coming. So we didn't wait and we started our way back to Haridwar as early as 4am in the morning.

We reached Haridwar at noon. And after reaching hotel we freshened up and took our lunch. At afternoon we went outside and started tasting the local street foods. And enjoyed the moments and enjoyed that we were still alive. At night there were our train to Howrah, Kolkata.

We reached Kolkata by train