Day 111 - Falls

Rishikesh is surrounded on all sides by mountains and watercourses. By default, this also means that Rishikesh is surrounded by waterfalls. We had been to the largest falls the day before yesterday. Today we decided to seek out the slightly smaller, but far more secluded falls on the opposite side of the river. According to the locals, we were to walk down the road until we came to the chai stall, and then take the path on the right. As we walked along the road, we marveled at the myriad types of butterflies. Even more exciting than the butterflies was this beetle. In the air he looked like 2 inch jewelled crucifix. When he landed on the pavement he prompted everyone of us to whip out cameras and try to catch the colour. None quite succeeded, but he was very patient about it.

About 3Km out of town, near the little roadside stall and shrine, a narrow path wound its way up into the jungle. Less than a kilometre in, the sound of rushing water lead us to a very nice little waterfall and pool. Hot and sweaty as we were, we lost no time in plunging into the water. Another traveller had a more serene approach, perching on a log to write in her journal by the tumbling water.

The trail continued up the mountain, and lured by the promise of even bigger falls with a deeper pool, we decided to trek up. An hour an a half of steep climbing later, with all sounds of water far below us, we gave up and turned back down. The trail down was steep and slippery, and we each took a few spills. Furthermore, we missed the turnoff to the original falls, and continued straight along an increasingly unfamiliar path. Fortunately after a few hundred metres we could hear traffic, so we knew we weren't too far from civilization. Nonetheless, we were super-relieved when the new path dropped us on the road only about a hundred metres from where we had started.

Incidentally, on our way down, we did accidentally find the bigger, better waterfall. It was off a tiny side-path about 500 metres above the original falls.