Independence Day Trip to Dalhousie, Chamba and Sach Pass
Day 2 (part-2), 16th August 2008: Gati - Tissa - Bairagarh - Satrundi (hardships begin...)
Continued from the previous page...
Sitting in that shelter, we started making backup plans that we could utilize if we were not able to proceed further, but one thing both agreed upon was to at least go till Bairagarh and see how further we could go from there. At this moment we were somewhat consoled by a local who too was waiting in the shelter with his wife. He told us that at least till Bairagarh, the road is good and once we clear the landslide area of Gati, it should be smooth sailing.
This boosted our spirits somewhat and helped pass those agonizing one and a half hours at the shelter. Soon enough the rains stopped and as we waited for the vehicles to pass (a sign that landslide had been cleared), I went out and clicked a few photographs of a small waterfall nearby.
Soon a car passed us, then another and then another, signaling that the landslide had been cleared! We hurriedly mounted our steeds and headed towards Bairagarh.
The local we met at the shelter was right, roads for most part were fantastic and by now mother nature decided to reward us as well by displaying her raw, rain drenched beauty.
Now for a change I was riding ahead of Varun as he took more photography breaks than me! I waited at this turn for roughly 10 minutes and he still didn’t show up, so I decided to click photograph of this bus instead of his and move on!
And just as I put my camera inside and sat on my motorcycle, Varun appeared! After cursing him for showing up late, we moved on and came upon this fork in the road. While almost all places like this had sign boards to let travelers know which way to go, this one had none!
We decided to wait it out, as I have learnt from the past that smoothest road doesn’t necessarily leads to a major place (like Bairagarh). After a while a government vehicle showed up and my doubts were confirmed by people inside it. We took the not so smooth lower road (comparatively speaking) and headed for our destination.
Soon we encountered lush corn farms, which looked delicious even from a distance!
It was well past afternoon and we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. So we decided to stop in the middle of this forest and ate a few biscuits and drank water to somewhat subdue our hunger, as we enjoyed views around us.
After having a nice little break in the forest, we decided to head on. Only to come across this waterfall, falling directly on the road! While Varun adjusted his rain suit and ensured every bit of luggage was cover securely, there was only one thing in my mind, my cloths had just started to dry and they will be wet again now!
But a waterfall can’t stop BCMTians from achieving what they set out to achieve, so we bravely headed straight for it.
After doing this “brave feat” 
, we boldly headed towards Bairagarh, our pit stop for the day.
Once we reached Bairagarh, we headed straight for the PWD guest house there. While the caretaker wasn’t around, a junior engineer from PWD was there. Who informed us that the road to Sach was now open and a vehicle had just came from Killar.
Actually Sach Pass hadn’t gotten closed, it was the road between Bairagarh and Satrundi which bore the brunt of the rains and had closed down for the day. However the road was clear now and if we headed for Satrundi (18-19kms from Bairagarh), we would not only make it by sun down, but can also get accommodation in a hotel there!
Now this was news for me and Varun, since we didn’t knew there was actually a hotel at Satrundi, we went back to the town to call up our homes to inform them that we wouldn’t be able to speak to them for a day or two because of no network/STD between Bairagarh and Killar. Once at the STD booth, I once again confirmed with the owner of the shop, whether or not there was a hotel at Satrundi and got a positive reply from not only him, but also from those standing around him. Reassured, we decided to move on, even though it was already 5:40pm.
Couple of kilometers after Bairagarh, Chamba ends and Killar - Pangi territory begins. This also signals a dramatic shift in road conditions, as it is apparent in photographs below:
You can see the Killar-Pangi board in the distance:
It was now apparent that the real ride, for which we had traveled thus far, had begun. I was encountering some of the worst roads of my life, some 25 kilometers before the Sach Pass!
Water crossings were dime a dozen, most hard enough to ensure that we wouldn’t stop to take photographs and would just move on huffing and puffing.
Varun crossing one of the easy water crossings
Then we came across the real reason the road had shut down, while the road to Pathankot looked as if someone had dropped bombs on it, this road looked as if it was custom made to break suspensions and spirits.
Not only was the road steep and filled with water, gravel and rocks, it had large enough craters to swallow almost the entire bike. This ensured that we couldn’t just rely on momentum to get of this situation, from second to first, then half clutching in the first and then a little push from the legs to get the motorcycle to the top. Compared to this, Suru and Zanskar Valley was a piece of cake, Losar - Gramphoo, child’s play, and it wasn’t like it was only one or two stretches like these, they came in plentiful with one place even demanding a little help from Varun to get my bike out, which was now behaving as if it had no energy to carry on and we were still ~10kms away from Satrundi!
All the rain had not only damaged the road thoroughly, it had also created numerous waterfalls like these, whose water was flowing on the road, lessening the traction.
But harder the penance, grater the reward. Even though it felt such an inhospitable place, scenic beauty was still as enchanting as ever:
As darkness engulfed the forest, rain too started, now there was nothing to do but ride and hope that we reach Satrundi soon and can climb into a warm, comfortable bed and go to sleep.
We finally reached Satrundi at 7:40pm, which meant it had taken us around two hours to cover the 18-19km stretch between Bairagarh and Satrundi and that too when there was no one else on the road, no blockages and stops were kept to the minimum!
Once we got ourselves registered at the Satrundi check post, police officers posted there, started asking why we came here in night, instead of spending it at Bairagarh which had a PWD guest house?
When we told them that we were told that there was a hotel here where we could find accommodation, they had a slight smile on their face. They took us to the hotel that we had been told about
(This photograph was clicked next morning):
We were shocked to see the hotel and even more shocked to learn that there were only two beds there and three people already sleeping on them! With no other accommodation, we turned to police for help, who were actually IRB (Indian Reserved Battalion (Special Forces)) and were thus not allowed to entertain any guests. They did however go to laborers nearby to ask them if we could sleep with them in their tents, to which they got a negative reply as their tents were packed to the brim.
Now we were in a fix, it was already past 8 and raining slightly, I was completely drenched while Varun’s rain suit had also let in some water and temperature was dropping faster than our spirits! It looked like we would have to spend the whole night, sitting in the “hotel”.
With no solution in sight, the “hotel” owner (Nepali guy named Gore) offered us bedding on the floor, which we readily accepted. After a hot dinner and chat with the IRB personals, it was time to go to sleep.
Now picture this; two guys in wet cloths, sleeping on the floor on a small bedding made of a blanket and a couple of sheets, with only a thin quilt (rajai) and blanket (made for a single person) to keep them warm in a tent which was open from one side with rain in full force outside. As if it wasn’t uncomfortable enough, the side on which I was sleeping, had two large rocks which were directly under my upper back.
The moment I lay on that “bed”, I knew it was going to be a long and uncomfortable night…
Kilometers covered: 165kms
Expenditure:
Breakfast: Rs.40
STD: Rs.10