Magical Mystery Falls Trek ... part 3

So....the plateau in itself is a wonderful spot where you can take in the fresh mountain breeze... watch the dense foliage of Pari Tibba in front....the myriad chirping of the hill mynahs and the chuck chuck of the wood peckers.....



The pic above shows a foxy grape ("kingore") to my right...light green in color. The grapes are dark purple in color, and real sour. I guess the foxes like 'em that way. But then, the gorge descending down does contain a few remnant of the pack of wolves.

Anyway, now that one has got to descend down to the gorge of the Magical Mystery Falls....
...one faces a dilemma....horns of a dilemma...for at the plateau, the road bifurcates..one steep down left, the other to the right.

Which one to take...well, if it's a a newcomer's (mis)fortune to meet some really well-meaning mountain folk, they'll say.."Well, both lead to the Falls..." And they are right, for both do...
But the one to the left is rather steep, and about a kilometre longer, but the view is far better....for it passes through wonderful shrub country.....last time, I ventured a little down via the left "pakdandi".....

for I had to reach the exact spot where....in the pic below, where...colonel wyatt's younger son met a tragic end at the hands of a tiger, the story which I'll tell later in some other posting....




That was way back...when tigers did sometimes venture out up into the mountains from the denser Terai....in search of prey. This particular tiger had turned into a man-eater...probably tired of hunting deer....probably taking it a bit too easy under the influence of the Hill of the Pixies...for tigers rarely hunt man in the Himalayas. Anyway, that's a diff'rent story. This gorge , at about 5500 feet , harbours a stream, that springs its way forward to about 2000 feet into the Doon Valley where the Terai starts....there is still quite an unbroken strip of forest.

Alas, there are no tigers to be found here nowadays...perhaps a harmless leopard that'll slink away into the undergrowth if one happens to be in its way sometime in the late evening. In the pic, one can see the upper gorge leading to the Woodstock streams....

But I took the right path....the easier one. As it was springtime, the bees were keeping busy, as were numerous other insects/ butterflies...for one finds spotted butterflies of the most unimaginable colors in this valley.

The bees never sting.....they are too busy with their work.

The climb down is about a 1000 feet.....

and this pic shows the end of the trail leading to the stream...




On both sides, especially to right are kalijhora bushes.....we used to call them "pahari palak" or by some other name....but they grow profusely. Surinderji told me the locusts brought the seedlings long back from the Kumaons...and now they've colonized the mountains...these have small white flowers in springtime

Wonderful thing about this gorge is there are numerous rivulets, springs flowing into the main stream...

That later....

Magical Mystery Falls Trek..part 2

Magical Mystery Falls....the mystery that remains unsolved...and the magic of the mountains

Last trek was in April 2004...Clear skies, just a little nip in the wind, springtime in the Himalayas....The first half is a slow ascent from Barlowgunj.....the path covered with fallen, dried oak leaves. The right hand side is a well-forested 'khud', a gorge through which in wintertime the leopards do come sometimes. Mrs. Singh, now 85+, recalled how a few months back her Alsatian was almost taken away....Motilalji even told me of one leopard caught napping at 5 a.m. on the small playground (but that's an exaggeration ;-)

Anyway, the path winds through, mainly through the dense oak forests. And on the left hand cliffside one finds gooseberries ("anchus") occasionally, the kalijhora shrubs, the nettles ("pahari bichchus") and what not....Here's a pic of the winding path...



A few steps from Barlow and I was greeted with the sound of the cuckoos & the rat-tat of woodpeckers....But most of all, what soothes one's nerves is the damp smell of the fallen leaves and the gentle mountain breeze.

The gentle climb ends in a plateau......and the sight of Pari Tibba, or Hill of the Pixies. Pari Tibba is a special hill...it features in about 10+ stories of Ruskin Bond, the famed author....But then, the story of Pari Tibba, known by many names, such as the Haunted Hill, the Burnt Hill, the Fairy Hill, or the Hill of the Pixies......is a story or an epic in itself. Pic of Pari Tibba from the plateau :



I still can't explain the mysterious fluorescent streaking lights I saw on about 4 to 5 occassions from the window of our house.....I was told you could see them only late at night...and each time I saw them was about 2 or 3 a.m. at night from the verandah......I still haven't got an explanation. So I prefer to call it the Hill of the Pixies. But let me not trangress from the trek....

Covered in a dense foliage of oaks, rhododendrons in its lower reaches to pines near its western summit, plus mainly the dense undergrowth foliage.....it is indeed a sight to see from the Plateau......There are gorges, one that can be seen also in the photo...these gorges are filled with rivulets. One of the most dramatic sights I've ever seen a little bit below from this vantage point was an eagle gliding, gliding...and then suddenly diving down into a shrub....some scuffle of feathers..and it flies up, a silvery snake in its talons...

The stream of Magical Mystery Falls flows through a gorge at the base of Pari Tibba.....

Magical Mystery Falls trek...part 1

.......Nestled in a deep gorge located about 5 kilometres from the sleepy hamlet of Barlowgunj, near Mussoorie, is this stream......near what we call the Magical Mystery Falls. This is what I like about the Himalayas.....be adventurous, wander off in any direction, and you'll come across a gurgling stream like this...

But you've got to go off the beaten track....So let me describe the trip to this Magical Mystery Falls, nestled in a deep viridant green forest of oaks, foxy grapes , anchoos, gooseberries , kalijhora shrubs & what not...

INFINITE WONDERS OF THE HIMALAYAS

Having spent 400+ days of my life in the Himalayas, I would like to highlight in this blog some of my experiences. Focus would be on :

1. The amazing biodiversity that one encounters in the Himalayas
2. Some unknown , not so well-travelled trekking routes.
3. Some encounters with some denizens of the forests, be it a harmless beetle or a yawning leopard.
4. Meditation in the wilderness of the Himalayas.
5. Stories about the simple hill folks, their culture.
6. Information about accommodation, routes & facilities in case you want to visit some places.
7. Ghost stories
8. Conservation strategies for the flora and fauna
   

& much more…..

One lifetime is not enough to experience the wonders of the Himalayas. The more time you spend traversing its wilderness, the more you realize there is more to discover.

Let me give you a glimpse of point 1…biodiversity itself.

Just start climbing from the Terai (1000 feet) to about 12,000 feet…..nowhere in this world will you find such biodiversity.

The Terai is an arc of subtropical forests…..you have the mighty Bengal Tigers roaming through it, the slinking leopard in the branches, the kraits & the king cobras beneath the boulders. The forests are dense…you have sals, shishams, figs, kusum, semal, janglichameli.

Then you have the stretches of Bhabbar….covered with tall elephant grass. ???what lurks behind is anybody’s imagination

Now, climb just a bit higher to about 2000-3000 feet….you will encounter thorny shrubs, dazzling flowers, gorses,, and dense Himalayan bamboo growths. Gigantic lizards scurry through the undergrowth….and kingfishers stay perched over the babbling brooks.

Then climb to about 4000-6000 feet…..you find dense forests of oak, rhododendron, chir pines. These are the noble trees…..there are probably 10+ sub-species of oaks….banj oak, kharsu oak, silver oak, etc…Then there are the rhododendrons….fiery red in spring time. These forests harbour langours, woodpeckers, jungle cats, the mysterious leopard of the night, the red-monkeys, the wolves, the Himalayan black bear & countless species.

Climb further up to about 8000….you see stunted rhododendrons and pines, junipers, firs. And the majestic deodars.

Climb to 10,000….you see short creepers, alpine forest…..mountain-goats jumping across the steepest slopes, the Himalayan bears, yaks….

12,000……you see the bugyals, grasslands , shrubs…..the domain of the snow leopard starts from here.

Climb beyond….14,000 +….who knows what may be there lying as yet undiscovered , besides the secrets of the yeti (the abominable snowman) ??

It is possible to encounter such biodiversity within a trek of 40 kilometeres itself…though the climb is arduous.