Pindari Glacier : A trek to the origin of river Pindar

Our journey started with packing all of our decathlon purchases into rucksacks and taking the road into the Himalayan mountain region. Gradually passing the Shivalik hills the road took us to the Himachal range. One such road took us to Kharkiya, a small village in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand. Kharkiya is a beautiful village with a few small shops, restaurants & rest houses.

There we parked the car and then the journey on basic mode of transportation, i.e. by foot, took it's natural pace of pleasure. Our legs took us to Khati Gaon, being the last point of civilisation in the journey which is five kms from Kharkiya. Waterfalls accompanied us on the hiking trail and donkeys kept overtaking us.

At Khati, after a cup of tea which tasted like milk-powder tea, we gained back our strength and walked 17 kms to reach Dwali. Dwali is a place where PWD and KMVN have constructed a few rest houses, and a kitchen. The cook and caretaker, Madan, was kind enough to serve a well cooked meal even though we reached there with headlights on and we were the only hikers there.

We pitched our tents and dozed off. Next morning we woke up to a breathtaking view, visible from the tent's door. It was very rewarding. After a good breakfast cooked in our campfire, we packed again and headed for Phurkiya. It was a 6 km trek all along the river. Heat from the sun was melting the snow on top of mountains and resulting into beautiful waterfalls all across the valley.  

Phurkiya, a meadow, is situated right in front of a huge waterfall. The valley opens into an amazing view of snow covered Nandakhat and Nandadevi peaks. We fixed our tents again and began searching for firewood. Later, the campfire was lit and it helped us brave the cold winds and freezing temperatures.

Next morning at around 5, we left our tents and trekked the last 7 kms to the Zero Point. At this time of the year, the whole area was covered under 3 feet of snow. Two groups of trekkers had already returned unable to complete the trek. At our dinner conversation with them at Phurkia Kitchen, they briefed us about the condition of the trail and why they couldn’t reach the zero point.

The next day we found that there had been a few avalanches destroying the trail. We were determined to complete the trek so we moved gradually on the hardened morning snow, making our way through the avalanches to reach the Pindar Baba Temple. The Babaji welcomed us with a cup of tea and some Ajwain Puris. It was a rejuvenating snack with a great conversation.

After meeting the Babaji, we went for the last stretch of the trek on the snow to reach the zero point. The snow had a very bright glare, and as we were going to be the first ones to get to zero point for the year 2017, there was no trail. The babaji had already told us the spot where the zero point was, and we had the opportunity to make our own path to it. On reaching the zero point, we were just feasting our eyes on the view of the glacier. We were at a cliff and on ignoring the scariest of the drops that was ahead of us, we could see the glacier just above us.

Pindari is one of the most easily accessible of treks of our country. The leaping waterfalls and the breathtaking scenery makes you stop, admire and help recover from the tiredness of the trek. As we returned on our way back to home, we passed the message that the trek is now open.