Trapped In Time - Chapter 22 Choosing an Option

Luke had realized that everyone was in a state of shock due to the incident of the bears. He knew he had to stop their negative thoughts otherwise fear would get embedded in their mind.

Ben had been literally trembling. Danny, who was sharing the tent with Ben, was quite shaken after the incident as he had encountered danger at close quarters. To some extent, even Danny did have a close encounter.

To deviate from the issue, he decided to bring the situation to as normal as possible so that all would start feeling normal.

He turned to Sherpa and said, “First things first! Sherpa, you need to help me dismantle the equipment we set up last night.”

“Yes, of course, I would have dismantled it myself if everyone had not got up,” replied Sherpa.

“All of you please complete your ablutions, your morning chores and get ready. Then we will make our campfire to cook breakfast and make tea or coffee.” He smiled at everyone and added, “Thereafter, we can all sit down to come to a decision as to which of the 4 options you would follow. We can take a vote on it.”

“Luke Sir, can we all come and help you dismantle the equipment first?” choired the students.”We will do everything else afterward.”

“Of course, come along,” he replied thinking it was necessary to create a diversion so that all would feel safe and comfortable. Even Zia seemed perturbed as she was in a pensive mood.

Everyone walked over to the two tripods which had been placed some distance away from their camping area. These two infrared cameras were placed on tripods at a level ground by Luke and Sherpa. One camera had been placed facing their camp and the other was placed facing the cliff side to note any activity on the snow-covered mountainside.

Luke removed the cameras one by one and handed them over to Zoya and Zen. He and Sherpa dismantled the tripods, folded them then packed them in their respective bags. These two sets of tripods were handed over to Ben and Danny with specific instructions not to drop them. Then Luke asked them all to come with him to his tent so that he could pack them. Everyone started walking and making a beeline towards Luke Sir’s tent.

There Luke took the cameras and put them inside his tent.

“I think we all need to finish our ablutions and then get ready for breakfast,” he added with a smile on his face. “After that get the campfire going so that we can make our breakfast and have some coffee or tea.”

Everyone agreed to do as Luke Sir had said. They went to their respective tents got their towels, brushes and went to the wooden washrooms. There were two washrooms with attached toilets. The washrooms had running water coming through pipes connected to the stream. The used water went through a drain and into the ground. The water was quite cold. The attached toilet was clean too. They all had to go one by one. Boys used one washroom and the girls used the other.

First, one to enter was Sunny. After doing his business he found that while washing his hands the water was very cold. So he just washed his face, hands, and feet. Thereafter, he soaked the hand towel and wrung it dry to remove as much of the water drops as he could. Then he rubbed this damp towel all over his body, wore a fresh set of clothes. Got ready and came out after soaking the hand towel again and wringing it dry and placing it outside on the grass to dry. He told all the others how to go about taking a sponge bath with their hand towels. Some of the girls were carrying those type of towels that are given in airplanes.

Soon all, even Zia, were ready and they assembled before the campfire area. A campfire was lit and they were busy making toasts, applying butter, the powdered milk they mixed in boiled water to make glasses of milk for everyone. They also made instant oatmeal porridge as well as tea and coffee. They had their breakfast, then cleared up the area to ensure no crumbs were left.

“Everyone has had their breakfast and coffee/ tea, now we need to take a decision about which option we should take,” Luke said with a serious look on his face.

To recapitulate, I had given 4 options which were:-

1. Continuing to camp here, though it is not advisable as we do not know how many bears there are and they will definitely come back. I have a gun but limited bullets. Furthermore, we cannot shoot to kill wild animals’ only fire bullets to frighten them.

2. Would you want to move into the guest house at night? This would mean dismantling the tents and dumping them in the guesthouse. This is a good and comfortable option. By the time we need to go back, the bears would probably have gone elsewhere.

3. We can radio the authorities to send a rescue team to come and get us while we stay at the guest house. This is another option. But if, on their way, the rescue team does not meet any bears, we would look stupid and probably, we all would be laughed at in school and the city.

4. We can try to get back by taking any of the other trekking routes.

“Now tell me what do you guys want to do? We can take a vote on it.”

“We do not want to move into the guest house or stay here in the open at the camping site,”Zen replied.

“If we call for rescue and the bears are no longer in the area, everyone will laugh at us. Our entire trekking trip will be treated as a joke and perhaps no more trips will be allowed. I think we need to move on taking another route to go home.” Chris added.

Luke wanted the opinion of others too, especially Zia. “What do the rest of you say? This is just the response of Zen and Chris.”

The students, one by one second, what Chris had said. Sherpa also said this was the best option.

Luke then turned to Zia. “Zia ma’am, what is your opinion and what do you suggest?”

Zia thought for a minute and then replied, “We can neither sit around waiting in the open nor move into the guest house to wait for the rescue party.”

“Who knows what the situation will be when the rescue party arrives. We cannot even think of continuing the program but spend the rest of the time in the guest house and the day after tomorrow go back.”

She was still thoughtful. “The only option left is to go back via a different route. The route should be of the same duration that no panic is created in the school.”

“Do you know the shortest route? Have you trekked it?” Zia inquired.

She had the responsibility of the children and had to ensure that she took them back to City B and handed them over to their parents without any mishaps.

“I have the maps of all routes,” Luke told them. “Just wait, I will bring them and will inform you.”

Saying this Luke got up and walked to his tent. He then extracted the maps from his backpack and strolled back to the campers. “Here is the complete information,” he explained.

Our camping site is approximately 1219 meters i.e., 4000 ft. above sea level. It is practically above the place where you got off the bus.

1. The trek that the Managing Committee had chosen was the easiest and of only 3 days. It is 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 not to go to the village but take the route directly back which they had taken while coming here.

This direct route was out of the question, Luke informed.

2. 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.

This route was almost similar to the first one and was possible to follow.

3. 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.

This was also out of the question as the trek would take them to the other side and the city there.

4. 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.

This was also out of the question as it was dangerous involving many days of trekking.

As you all can see the first two trekking routes are almost the same. The trek we followed was the first one directly walking from the place where we got off the bus and walked all this way. We can take the second route going via the village nearby.

The third would take them to the city on the other side of the mountains. The other 3 routes involved very high passes and were of longer duration. They also were trekking routes crossing thehigh passes of the snow-covered mountain range at a height of 3710 to 4580 meters taking 4 to 6 days to cross..

“Hence, we need to proceed to the village, then walk the different path to the place the bus was parked where you all got off.”

“So…! I take it that we are ready to leave, we need to pack up everything and start moving by 9 a.m.” Luke smiled.

“Sherpa keep the ropes handy, we may need them.”

“Everyone dismantle your tents, pack everything. No loose utensils all need to be tied up, if you do not have packing material for these things ask Sherpa.”

“I want to see all of you here at 9 a.m. sharp. Is that clear?”he added in an authoritative manner.

Everyone nodded their heads and ran off to do the needful. Zia was a bit hesitant.

Luke called her, “Zia, after you finish packing please spare a few minutes as there is something important that I want to discuss with you.”

Zia. “Ok, fine Luke, I will come.”

He had called her Zia and she had addressed him as Luke. He was glad that they had made some progress and were not addressing each other as Luke Sir and Zia ma’am.

Some progress.