KheerGanga- My First Trek

Whether listed down on a paper or not, everyone has a bucket list- a list of things they want to experience before their soul leaves the body. No matter how beautiful one’s city is or how upgraded and techie one’s room is, the pleasure of enjoying nature is unmatchable.

A frustrated engineering mind from exams wanted some refreshment. The evening after the last exam, our group of Nepali students studying at Thapar University sat down and started thinking of going on a trip. We certainly didn’t want to visit any cities but to go to nature. I have always wanted to go on a trek, so I suggested a place my friends had recently been to, Triund. Later we found out about Kheerganga Trek and decided to go there. We planned on leaving the following evening, and so we did. We left Patiala at around 7, we reached Chandigarh, and as there was no direct bus available for Kasol, we had to go on the bus to Manali and stop at Bhuntar. We arrived at Bhuntar early in the morning and then sat on a bus and we were off to the base of trekking, Barshaini. We then had some lunch and started our trek.

Trekking to Kheerganga

I was very excited about this trip, my first trek. I can still feel that feeling putting my first foot on the inclined hilly small path with a tripod in one hand and a helping stick in the other. We reached the top around 4 pm. There was no network, just nature; Gosh, that feeling is fantastic. My legs were hurting, but my soul was pleased to reach the camp.

Our group at Kheerganga

We then had mango juice(maaza), and then we went for a hot spring bath. We then went to the Shiva temple beside the hot spring (Parvati Kund). After that, we returned to camp and had Maggie noodles. Later, we enjoyed dancing to music. After that, we all went for a bit of rest, and then we all gathered for a campfire. We played Etymology (antakshari) in a group of two and danced. Some people from other groups joined us as well. Though from different regions, we were certainly united by the music. After that, we had dinner, and then some stayed by the campfire, and some, including myself, went to sleep.

 The following day, while most of us were asleep. Four of us went up the hill with determination to reach the snow point there. We went through bushes and rugged paths, but eventually, we got to the snow point, enjoyed it for a while, captured some photos, and returned.

Reached the snow point

After we reached the camp, the rest of the members were awake as well, and thus we had our breakfast, and then we set our backpacks to return. We captured group photos and then got back to our journey. We ended up on a different way around with no intention, which was a little tricky but more fun trekking. This path passed through a beautiful village as well.

 We had planned to spend some time in Kasol, so we didn’t spend much time in Barshaini. We got there fresh, had some chips and cold drinks, and sat on the bus to Kasol. We reached Kasol by around 3 pm. Then we had some evening snacks, momos and chowmein.

Beautiful Kasol market

We then booked our tickets to Chandigarh. The bus was at 10:00 pm. So we decided to spend time by the riverside, and so we did. We went to the nearby riverside and spent the evening there. We took some photos and piled up rocks as a pagoda. We later brought some cold drinks and snacks and enjoyed singing. After that, it was almost dark around 07:30 pm. We returned to the city and roamed through the local market. We went to the bus stand at the respective time, reached Chandīgarh by morning, wandered a bit there, and returned to the hostel by noon.

 Have you ever been into addiction? The addiction of tick marking the list, the list you make of things that makes your soul relaxed and happy. This trek was on my list, and I walked every step with excitement, like, yay, I am doing this. This trek was a wholesome pack of excitement and happiness to my soul. The more the uneven and uneasy path, the more keen my heart was to cross it.