Baba and the mandali rose early on the morning of 7 April, and the whole party, including the coolies, began their walking journey to Uttar Kashi. Famous for harboring spiritual seekers, yogis and sadhus, Uttar Kashi is about 40 miles from Tehri Garhwal. The distance does not seem overly far considering the length of Baba's other foot journeys in the past; but this Himalayan mountain was steep and laced with rough tracts, and the intense heat relentlessly beat down upon them throughout the day. Baba and the men wore tennis shoes and carried satchels on their backs. By midday they had covered twelve miles and reached the dak bungalow in Syansu forest, where they stopped to rest. In the evening the Nepalese coolies sat together relaxing by smoking a hookah (water pipe), which was a common indulgence of the local villagers and which Chhagan was also fond of smoking.
They left the dak bungalow on the 8th, at five o'clock that morning, reaching Dharasau, fourteen miles away, and halting at the Kali Kambliwala dharamshala. They continued their foot journey early on the morning of the 9th, covering sixteen miles to reach Uttar Kashi, high in the Himalayas. By the time they arrived, they had blisters on their feet and were exhausted. Yet the scenery was breathtaking and exceptionally enchanting, with the peasant shepherds grazing their sheep and goats in the valley.
Baba stayed in a large dharamshala built by a famous Indian industrialist, named Birla. The work that Baba had come to do in Uttar Kashi began from Saturday, 10 April 1948. Baba worked with three advanced souls brought to the dharamshala that day. Falhara Baba was naked except for a loincloth, and lived off the wilds, eating only fruit, flowers and herbs. Digambar Avadhut was a genuine sadhu. A mast called Ramanandji was completely naked and had been silent for many years.
After these contacts, later that day Baba set out and contacted other seekers and advanced souls. Among the most interesting was Ganganand Maharaj , an old man who, oddly enough, was found reading some manuscript in a small, dark room of the Kailash Ashram in Vajali. Baba liked Ganganand so much that he contacted him twice.
In the evening Baba went to see Nigunandji Brahmachari . He was a very good Bengali mast, almost 80 years old and dressed in soiled, tattered clothes. He was staying in a temple of Durga, and when Baba went to him the mast led him to an isolated room in the temple, where they could be alone.