Bametha Gaon Trek

Standing at the riverfront, if one were to look to the top of the hill across the river, is where Bametha Gaon is situated. The hilltop is a vantage point that affords a birds eye view of this entire river valley. Stunning views of Soulitude, comfortably perched on the side of the Kalsa river is visible from that height and so is Pari Taal with all its water veins as well as the Maheskhan hills oak forest.

There are 2 versions of this trek

The true blue Trekker, who would like to explore this area on foot could opt for a full day long trek, taking at least 6 hours, with the possibility of stretching upto 8 hours depending on one’s own fitness and speed. This includes time for browsing the village as well as for taking intermittent rest. There is however another option of making this a half day trek (approximately 4 hours) as well.

This trek, which starts at Soulitude needs one to cross the river, just beyond the gates and take a steep uphill pagdandi via forested areas to the top of the hill. Just short of the hill top, is a small clearing which is a great spot to take rest before moving on. This ascent – phase 1 of the climb would take at least 2.5 hours. At the top, one will come across a local school and beyond which lies the Bametha Gaon, where one could leisurely amble to take an up close look at village life and the local architecture in these remote hills of kumaon. The views from the top, looking down into the valley with the river flowing through it is truly breath taking. After taking in the views from the hill, which is phase 2, begins phase 3 of the trek, the descent. From this point, there are two ways to come back to Soulitude. The short cut would entail taking the same route back, which would be approximately an hour-hour fifteen on the downhill. However if one chooses to make it a full fledged day long trek, the route back is a much longer one. Further from the village, the dirt track leads one into descending the hill from the other side, whereby one comes down steadily to a point after which there is a uphill trek that joins the dirt track to the main road head. And from the road, one takes the Pine Forest trek back home. This longer descent would take another 2-2.5 hours.

There is however another version of this trek, whereby, one can take the Pine forest trek from Soulitude up to the road head. From here, there is a possibility of taking an hour long car ride to Bametha Gaon, so the uphill trek to the village can be avoided. From Bametha Gaon, either of the two routes mentioned above can be taken back to Soulitude.

Distance: While the full day trek would be about 10-11 Kms long, the half day one would be around 5-6km, while the alternate option of taking the car to Bametha and just doing the trek back to Soulitude via the longer route would be about 4 km.

Rating: Any of the versions mentioned above are not for the faint hearted. Only those who are passionate about trekking are recommended to take this trek.