Have no fear
For when I'm alone
I'll be better off than I was before
I've got this light
I'll be around to grow
Who I was before I cannot recall
For someone coming all the way from Andaman and the other coming from Mumbai for trek inHimachal, you would think the planning for the trek to be to the T. And so it was, atleastaccording to us. We knew we would go to Manali from Delhi, trek to place where we would find snow for sure and ya, that was our plan. And for all this planning , one of us decided to carry a shawl( yes, a shawl for a trek to beat the cold!!!) and mind you he carried only a shawl and nothing else, second person carried a pair of woollen gloves and yours truly , carried a woollen cap. Between the three of us ,we though we were carrying enough to beat the nature.
Day 1 :
After we landed in Manali we decided to hire a guide and settled on our itinerary.
It would Manali to Solang en rout a water fall, solang to Dundhi (Camp for the night), Trek toBeas Kund and come back to Dundhi for the night and then head back to Manali.
So we started for the first leg, 17kms to solang.
The waterfall 5kms away was visible right from the start and didn't look promising. But for the three of us it was just the start and 5 kms was piece of cake,that's what we thought.Hmmm.... After, I think, walking for 2 kms , we knew that it was going to be long and painful day, but we kept the thought to ourselves, least we should show any sign of weakness this early. And mid-way through the steep 3km hike the signs of weakness were loud and clear, not that we admitted , it was evident from our walk and appearance. Finally we got to the waterfall. 5 Kms closer and it still didn't look promising. What we found there was a temple like millions of temples in India under a tree and firangs like millions of them in India, reading a book basking in the sun. I don't know whats with them to walk 5kms to read a book. Anyways, we decided to drop our bags and hike to have a even closer look at the waterfall. And to our surprise what do we find there, some more firangs and yes they too were reading... as if 5 km walk wasn't sufficient for them to read, I guess they understand things better as they go higher up.
We decided not to disturb them any more and moved on. This stretch was rewarding as we walked through apple orchards, tiny villages where life was ancient as it could get. And then it had to happen, we hit a road block..... Army camp.... Our guide was doing this particular trek for the first time and decided the best way would be to jump over the compound and walk through the army camp.Manali, 4 guys, tresspassing a army camp... didnt seem a wise thing and convinced him to walk around the camp. After walking around for half an hour , we found walking through the camp was the only way. So 3 wise men did just that and finally reachedSolang.
Walk from Solang to Dundhi is not much to write about.
At Dundhi it was time for us to setup the tent and spend the night. After having trekked for 21kms, next leg , 7kms, from 3000 m to 4200 m, seemed impossible. As it hap pend, there were 3 women in their early 40's at the camp, who liked to call themselves girls.They asked where we were headed and with pride we told them we would scale to 13500 feet, and assuming that this is where their trek would have ended and would not even dare to venture any further, we asked them about there trek. And the reply" Ah... we three girls trekked to 19000 feet, just came back form a six day trek". :-O . We walked away with our pride shattered and, well we slept like logs.
For when I'm alone
I'll be better off than I was before
I've got this light
I'll be around to grow
Who I was before I cannot recall
For someone coming all the way from Andaman and the other coming from Mumbai for trek inHimachal, you would think the planning for the trek to be to the T. And so it was, atleastaccording to us. We knew we would go to Manali from Delhi, trek to place where we would find snow for sure and ya, that was our plan. And for all this planning , one of us decided to carry a shawl( yes, a shawl for a trek to beat the cold!!!) and mind you he carried only a shawl and nothing else, second person carried a pair of woollen gloves and yours truly , carried a woollen cap. Between the three of us ,we though we were carrying enough to beat the nature.
Day 1 :
After we landed in Manali we decided to hire a guide and settled on our itinerary.
It would Manali to Solang en rout a water fall, solang to Dundhi (Camp for the night), Trek toBeas Kund and come back to Dundhi for the night and then head back to Manali.
So we started for the first leg, 17kms to solang.
The waterfall 5kms away was visible right from the start and didn't look promising. But for the three of us it was just the start and 5 kms was piece of cake,that's what we thought.Hmmm.... After, I think, walking for 2 kms , we knew that it was going to be long and painful day, but we kept the thought to ourselves, least we should show any sign of weakness this early. And mid-way through the steep 3km hike the signs of weakness were loud and clear, not that we admitted , it was evident from our walk and appearance. Finally we got to the waterfall. 5 Kms closer and it still didn't look promising. What we found there was a temple like millions of temples in India under a tree and firangs like millions of them in India, reading a book basking in the sun. I don't know whats with them to walk 5kms to read a book. Anyways, we decided to drop our bags and hike to have a even closer look at the waterfall. And to our surprise what do we find there, some more firangs and yes they too were reading... as if 5 km walk wasn't sufficient for them to read, I guess they understand things better as they go higher up.
We decided not to disturb them any more and moved on. This stretch was rewarding as we walked through apple orchards, tiny villages where life was ancient as it could get. And then it had to happen, we hit a road block..... Army camp.... Our guide was doing this particular trek for the first time and decided the best way would be to jump over the compound and walk through the army camp.Manali, 4 guys, tresspassing a army camp... didnt seem a wise thing and convinced him to walk around the camp. After walking around for half an hour , we found walking through the camp was the only way. So 3 wise men did just that and finally reachedSolang.
Walk from Solang to Dundhi is not much to write about.
At Dundhi it was time for us to setup the tent and spend the night. After having trekked for 21kms, next leg , 7kms, from 3000 m to 4200 m, seemed impossible. As it hap pend, there were 3 women in their early 40's at the camp, who liked to call themselves girls.They asked where we were headed and with pride we told them we would scale to 13500 feet, and assuming that this is where their trek would have ended and would not even dare to venture any further, we asked them about there trek. And the reply" Ah... we three girls trekked to 19000 feet, just came back form a six day trek". :-O . We walked away with our pride shattered and, well we slept like logs.
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