Alkhananda-Ganga Expedition Report

"Cooper brother, do you know why all these half-burned logs are all over the beach?" Sahdev said. "No....," I replied. "This is the beach where the village burns the dead bodies."

You have to expect that kinda stuff on an expedition down the holiest river in India, but it still shocks you a bit.

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Packing the jeep the day before and leaving at 6:30am the next morning, we embarked on a 3.5 hour jeep ride on the landslide-wracked Shivalik mountain road. Of course, we stopped for chai and a great aloo parantha breakfast. I had been told that chai on the road is the best in India. It was certainly the best I've had yet.

We got to our charcoaled-log put-in beach around 10am and it might have been the first time I'd been on time in India. I've noticed that Indian guides don't necessarily work harder than guides in American, they just work hard in a different way. For example, at Red Chilli Adventures, each expedition requires the office manager, the guy who opens the gear store, a driver, a cook (who also buys the food), guides, and usually a helper. Back in the U.S. at Whitewater Voyages, one guy for a trip could be the manager, the driver, a cook (who also buys the good), a guide, and a helper. The guys in India work harder at their individual tasks - the driving is sketchier, power outages in the office make contact difficult, and the guides strap each piece of gear to the gear rig with its own individual strap. In America, one guy works less hard at each individual task, but since they do much more, they end up working equally hard (although guides on the Tuolumne still work harder than any other river I've been to).

The team prepares for the trip, awaiting our guests coming off a four day trek

We met our two British guests, a couple living in New Delhi for 18-months. Jim was in Delhi attempting to get the construction company he works for their first big bid in India. His girlfriend, Claire, volunteered teaching English. They were a witty pair and fun people to be around.

After a short 1.5 hour float, we picked out a beach for our first night of camping. The Alkhananda was disappointing so far. We were still close to the road with villages, power lines, and restaurants around us. Most unfortunate was the amount of trash on the banks of the river. Even at our beach camp that initially appeared fairly clean, you'd stumble over a washed up women's dress shoe and crunch stryofoam containers. For a country that loves its rivers so much, its a bit confusing to see them so poorly treated.

Still, the beach offered a nice place to get into the river expedition, Indian style, and relax for the night. And it was a pretty awesome place for a sunrise....



Having a dedicated chef on a multi-day rafting trip was a whole new experience for me. I like cooking, but it is sure nice to get into camp and relax as if you were a guest. I tried to help but Kumar, our Nepali cook, spoke almost no English. Sometimes I watched, but most of the time I just enjoyed. Another perk of having a cook on the trip is being handed a warm cup of chai while still in your sleeping bag. What a guy!

Every night, we'd erect a structure that required the paddle boat, two paddles, a big tarp with guy lines, and a few big rocks. At first I was skeptical, "wouldn't you rather sleep on the tarp than with it over us on this clear night?" "No," the Indian guys simply responded.

It was so dewy every morning it felt like it had rained. Everything was soaked - a great call to put the tarp up to keep us dry.

Kumar!

On day 2, the trip improved significantly. We were excitingly close to the confluence of the Alkhananda and the Bhagirati, the two rivers that come together to create the Mother Ganga. A very holy spot for Hindus, the team was stoked to reach this neat spot. First, we ran three of the biggest rapids on the trip, one with a huge pillow and a massive whirlpool. Still, the rapids were very friendly and nothing above class III. Meanwhile, the river cleaned up and the scenery improved. We reached the confluence and it was a very cool place to be.

The picturesque village that surrounded the confluence

The confluence

This river trip just got significantly cooler

The scenery by now was excellent. The road was way above the river and we were surrounded by lush, Himalayan foothill jungle.

Our second beach camp was lovely and we felt lucky to be sleeping out on the Ganga.

Settled into the rhythm of the trip and the way the Indian guys do things, day 3 was the best day of the trip. There were many small villages scattered above the Ganga river and the majority of them are only accesible by foot bridge. These bridges add texture to the awesome surroundings. One bridge in particular was crowded by monkeys and as I approached the bridge ahead of the rest of the group in the gear cataraft, I noticed a small house for sadhus to the right of the bridge.

As the kayak and paddle boat approached the house, the sadhus began playing what must have been massive drums. The booming native Indian rhythms filled the canyon and gave me the chills. Quite a way to say namaste to visitors!

Lovin' the drumming permanating the canyon

We got to camp at a reasonable hour and Sahdev, myself, Jim and Claire ferried across the river to do a short hike up to a big waterfall. The side canyon smelled like dying flesh...it was gross! After quickly hiking up, we reaching a point where Sahdev and I deemed it too risky to hike our clients over slick boulders choking the creek. Plus, it didn't take much to persuade Jim and Claire that we were going to get out of the small side canyon and hike around to a trail that provided nice views of our camp and the canyon.

This trail was much more - it was an old pilgrimage route that went from Rishkiesh 300km to Badrinath, a very holy Hindu city. Sahdev told us that it was a risky trek as many disappeared because of "man-eaters." "You mean tigers?" I asked, Jim and Claire looking confused. Spending enough time with these guys, I've slowly started to make sense of their sometimes interesting use of the English language :)

Along the trail, I spotted the biggest, coolest spider I've ever seen.

And below, our camp being set-up by Kumar, Matt, and Rakesh awaited us. We ferried back across the river for another delicious night of vegetarian meals and chai by Kumar and a windy, but pleasant night sleep.

Day 3 camp

The final day of this expedition is essentially the day-trip stretch we run out of Rishikesh. Deciding not to have Red Chilli spend the money on my lunch and not wanting Kumar to have to unload all the gear by himself, I opted out of the trip for the day.

Overall, this trip was a good experience. The scenery and beaches after leaving the Alkhananda was stunning. The whitewater, on the other hand, was really mellow. Of course, day 4 that I opted out of has a handful of big-volume class III rapids, but with only two or three other notable rapids on the trip, I would consider it on the whole a scenic cruise. I think there are other rivers with just as good, if not better scenery, and much better whitewater - I hope to explore some of them soon! Maybe to experience the Ganga, just do the day stretch out of Rishikesh to warm-up for a more full-on expedition elsewhere. Most importantly, I got to see how overnight trips happen in India (at least for one outfitter) and start to learn how I can involve myself and be useful in the different trip style (while slowly learning the new languages!).

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I got my second "red dot" while being here in India. We are in the midst of Durga Puja, a six-day holiday celebrating the god Durga (really can't tell you much more than that). Every night, Master Jee's family gathers into a small room and they chant and sing while posters of Hindu gods are lit by flashing "christmas" lights and candles (Master Jee's floor of our building is below the Red Chilli office and above Flow and my apartments). Then his three young boys come up to the Red Chilli office and give whatever members of the team are around a handful of fruit (apples, bananas, etc), curd, and brown sugar. Then you get a red dot. I asked Ganesh what the red dot means and he forwarded me to a regular in the store who is always typing what look like college notes on religion. He gave me a long explanation but essentially, the red dot is symbolic of the third eye that allows you to see divine things that the regular eyes cannot see and is also associated with the chakras between the belly button and the third eye. The conversation was much more interesting and in depth than that and I'm thankful for the great religious studies classes I took at UCSB which prepared me for such conversations and allowed me to feel knowledgeable and understand all of what he was saying.

I'm really enjoying getting immersed in Rishikesh and I feel like I'm living here rather than visiting here. I'm learning some Hindi (and a bit of Nepali), shop keepers recognize me, and I feel accepted by the Red Chilli local guides and the kids who live above me. Until next time...