Coniferous Trees and Alpine Pastures

The entire group started walking again after their teacher had enlightened them. They had noted down a few points in the notes of their mobiles. They had been taking pictures of birds, butterflies, and anything that moved. They had been sharing these pictures among themselves as well as with their friends and family too, through whats app, we chat, Viber, discord, etc.

"Students please go slowly with your mobiles; your mobiles will stop working soon as there is no network further up. As you can see there are no telephone towers here," she informed. "I hope you have your battery chargers, as there will not be any electricity connection to charge your phones." She inquired, "Ok, one more thing, only satellite phones are operational further up. Can anyone tell me what a satellite phone is?"

"Ma'am, Ma'am, I can answer that," said Zen.

"A satellite phone or satphone is a type of phone that looks like a mobile phone but it connects to other phones using radio through the orbiting satellites instead of the land cells of land cell sites or cell phones. Satellite phones have an advantage in that its use is not limited to those areas covered by cell towers. They can be used in most or all geographic locations on the Earth's surface."

"Well done Zen, you seem to be a walking encyclopedia," said Luke.

Sir, do you have a satellite phone," Zoya inquired.

"Of course, I do. I was allotted one for this trip because basically, we are going into a remote area where normal mobile phones do not work." Luke replied. "Furthermore, there can be an emergency and one needs to be prepared."

After a short while, the mixed forest gave way to the coniferous forest. There were pine trees everywhere. Real tall trees with the long needle-like leaves. The ground was carpeted with the fallen brown needle-like leaves. The climbing was indeed slippery due to the fallen dried needles of the pine trees. The leaves of pine trees are like needles green in color but when they fall on the ground in Autumn they form a dry carpet of brown colored dried pine needles.

The children started picking these up to have a look.

Zia saw them admiring the fallen leaves and said, "These are the dry pine leaves and cause fires if accidentally someone drops a cigarette or matchstick.

She added," As we walk further upwards you will see what the reforestation drive by the forest department. Small pine trees have been planted and you will see that these occupy both the sides of the path."

True to what she had said, after a few minutes the group passed small pine trees. The hillside was covered with these small trees and various shrubs.

"They look like Christmas trees?" One of the children exclaimed.

"Yes they do, and soon you will see the blue pines too." Sure enough, the blue pines came into sight.

The students marveled at the tall trees and the cluster of small needle-like bluish-green leaves.

The all walked on silently looking around the tree trunks to see if they could spy any animals. They did manage to pass a dog which they were informed was probably a wolf or a fox. The dogs are not found here but dogs are found in the village on the other side of the hill.

"I think we should stop for lunch," Luke told her. "I hope the students are carrying their lunch boxes with them?" He added.

"Yes, I think you are right," Zia replied.

"Children please take your lunch that you have brought from home, it must still be warm! Thereafter, we need to move in order to reach the campsite and start setting up the tents. As you all know that nights falls quickly in this region and it gets awfully cold at night." She added.

Everyone stopped; Zia took out the sanitizer lotion from the side pocket of her backpack and one by one she called the students and the adults over. She squeezed a few drops of the sanitizer lotion on each palm so that they could rub their palms together before eating their lunch. This was in order to avoid undue use of drinking water. They then opened their packed lunches and shared among themselves.

When they finished their lunch, they washed their hands and rinsed their mouths with a few splashes of drinking water they were carrying.

Zia suddenly asked them if they wanted to go to the washroom. There were no washrooms, hence the boys were asked to move towards one side of the path and go little inwards to release their bladders and she would take the girls to the other side behind a short clump of bushes.

Their call of nature done, they gathered together used the sanitizing lotion again and were on their way.

After an hour of walking, they had left the pine trees, the little pine trees of the reforestation drive area and the blue pines. Now, they could see that the land area was becoming sparsely populated with less of the tall trees more of the stunted trees, many shrubs, carpet-like grass, and various berries and flowers. It was getting slightly cold too.

Everyone had been feeling hot maybe due to the walking or maybe due to the afternoon and the sumptuous lunch they had just had. Hence, they all decided to gather together slightly ahead so that all those walking behind would catch up.

Now that they had stopped they felt cold due to the cold breeze blowing down from the snow-covered peaks of the adjacent group of mountains. The air was clear and clean. The entire area was pollution free.

When Zia and Luke and Sherpa caught up with them, they asked about the area they were in and what was ahead.

Luke opened his mouth to say something but Zia looked at him with anger in her eyes as if saying don't you dare open your mouth. He immediately shut up, with a hurt expression on his face.

He had not said anything while walking for the last half hour or so. Actually, he had not said much since he had tagged along with the group. Silence is also companionship, he thought.

Zia seems to be annoyed with him, he was only teasing her. He would try to talk to her politely when they reached the camping site. There would be plenty of opportunities to get to know her and make her like him a little.

Zia turned to her students and told them that they were now approaching the alpine pastures and a few meters ahead they would be able to see the camping site which was midway if you looked directly to the adjacent range of snow covered mountains.

The camping site was at the top of this baby hill that they had just climbed. Further ahead it would become a flat area covered with carpet like grass. Thereafter, it formed a sharp cliff facing the snow-capped mountains.

It normally took 3 hours to reach the camping site from where the school bus had dropped them. But as they had stopped along the way, it would take them about 4 hours or slightly more to reach the camping site.

They all spied Rhododendron flowers. Zia explained that the Rhododendron plants were in the flowering stage during this season. These plants grew on the stony alpine slopes and ledges at altitudes of 3657 meters to 4419 meters above sea level. Rhododendrons are part of the heath family, like blueberries, cranberries, and heathers. Rhododendron flowers grew in large trusses, or clusters, which can be up to 10 inches across. Each flower is shaped like a small bell about 1 - 1.5 inch long. They bloom from spring to early summer and may be pink, white, red, purple, yellow, orange, or various shades of each. There are over 900 different species of rhododendrons all over the world. Most of the species are found in Southeast Asia, from the Himalayas through Tibet, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, to Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and New Guinea. People make juice of a certain species of rhododendron flowers and some even make chutney (a type of thick tangy sauce).

Some species of rhododendrons live in the wild which means they occur naturally and mankind has not interfered or tampered with their habitat or the way they grow or look. The wild rhododendrons grow in many different habitats, including alpine regions, coniferous, and broadleaved woodlands, and even rainforests. They can grow from a few inches high to as high as 100 feet. Wood from the rhododendron is used for firewood and building materials by shepherds.

Large areas worldwide of these rhododendron species have often been cut away. Many areas where rhododendron forests used to grow no longer exist. Cutting them away has naturally led to soil erosion in those areas.

Besides the rhododendrons, there were a few wild strawberries were also visible. Other plants in this region are lichens, grasses and different type of moss. Some bushes have yellow berries and some bushes with growing blackberries could be seen growing on the shrubs as the group passed by.

The camping site where they would be setting up their tents was approximately 1219 meters i.e,4000 ft. above sea level. The camping site was right above the place where they had got off the bus. That place was a small town and at night time they would definitely see the lights from the town below, twinkling like the stars above. Zia thought she would save this information as a surprise for the students.

The trek that the managing committee had chosen was the easiest and of only 3 days. A very beautiful and famous circular trek for 02 nights & 03 days beyond City B.

The first day you walk up to the camping site/ guest house and stay here for the night and on the second day walk to a beautiful and hidden village and stay overnight at another camp. The third day after walking for a few hours you reach your starting point and get on the bus to reach the school 15 km away. They were to go back following the route they had taken.

Another trek was from the town below, trekking a further 2 km to a waterfall then a 3 km trek to a small village then another 1 km to the camping site. The snow line was a further 5km walk.

Another trek would take them to the city on the other side of the mountains. On the route, trekkers would cross through forests of deodar, pine, oak and rhododendron, and pass streams and rivers and meander along almost steep cliff trek as well as the occasional lake waterfall and glacier.

There were 3 other trekking routes which crossed various passes of the snow-covered mountain range at a height of 3710 to 4580 meters taking 4 to 6 days to cross. The most difficult one was the one that crossed the pass of 4580 meters. One would encounter near-vertical rocky ascents, steep cliffs, and dangerous gorges. This was the most difficult level trek and took around six days to complete.

At long last, they arrived at their destination for today. They were facing a flat stretch of green carpet grass. This was their camping site. A short distance away was the guest house that Luke had mentioned. A little further away was the sharp cliff that dropped down to the adjacent mountain range and the various passes.

Near the camping site was a small stream with ice cold water. The water was crystal clear and better than the mineral water one would purchase in the cities. This water had all the minerals dissolved in it as it came from the mountains. It was fit for drinking.

For those who did not want to stay in the guest house, there were a few washrooms built of wood.

The students were tired but happy. Now they wanted to put up their tents and relax after cooking and having their dinner.

They chose their spots where they wanted their tents put up. It would be in a circular manner so that the fire would be lit in the middle for cooking and providing warmth. Of course, all carried sleeping bags.