quest for the snows.

brown ferns and the end of monsoon season, my weekend off, a birthday, and the need for open spaces and the hope of seeing the snow peaks to the north.... all viable reasons for a hiking trip... so yes, christina and i managed to sneak away from woodstock this last weekend and it was great. we hiked out to a local peak, just over 8000ft where we spent a couple nights. it was about 12 kms to the base and then quite a few feet up.. we arrived just as the moon was coming out on friday night, thanks to the help of a village boy who showed us part of the way as our legs were failing us and our trail was quickly disappearing.

we woke up to blue skies and an amazing view

we were out of water by saturday but found some at a nearby farm. little did we know that we would then have curious visitors throughout the next day and a half. the young boy brought up different people each time... which was a lot, sometimes for a picture, sometimes to test their english, sometimes to inspect our things... like my harmonica, or hockey/walking stick, or slingshot.

looking back west towards woodstock at dusk

the easton synergy-himalayan style

village life.

last week i was able to catch a motorcycle ride out to a local village with our outdoor education leader. he was busy planning some events for "activity week" in october and i was able to walk around, play with some kids, take some pictures...

it took some time to win the kids over, but once i let them play with the camera they were pretty excited. i really love how this last one turned out...

holy water...

so we both had last weekend off and headed out with some fellow woodstockers to rishikesh and the holy ganges... a place with many pilgrims, hippy tourists seeking enlightenment, and of course the beatles at one time. i realized on our way down the mountain that i hadn't left the woodstock/mussoorie area since we first arrived over a month ago, crazy how time passes... it was great to get away for awhile, but it did feel good to come home to the high elevation and cooler temperatures.