Feeling Low? Go to the mountains! | Kheerganga Trek
Feeling Low? Go to the mountains! | Kheerganga Trek
After a weary workday, I got a call from my friend we were sharing glimpses and he came up with the Kasol tour plan. I wanted to escape from the routine so I didn’t check anything about it and without any hesitation, I said let’s go. And that’s how we ended up on this trek.
It was a companionless journey from Chennai to Delhi to join my friend at Delhi airport we were about to kiss goodbye to the bus that we booked. We could catch the bus at the last minute, met strangers on the bus who were planning to trek Kheerganga. After staying in Kasol for two days, on the pleasant morning of Day 3, we reached Bharshaini Dam to witness the beauty of nature.
I think there are certain moments which people will never forget, like All the firsts when the first tide touches your feet, first snowflake, first love, first kiss!! That’s how I felt after seeing the snow-capped mountains.
From there we started the 12Km trek, on the way we met a few students rushing to schools in the mountain terrain and walked through the villages to experience the completely unknown culture of Himachal on the way to reaching the base camp
After trekking for 7km we reached the base camp of Kheerganga trek called Rudranaag amidst the white-capped hills, where we saw the poster stating reward for finding the person who lost in the trek and realized it’s all fun and games until you lost and cease to exist.
We were a team of 7 members and accompanied by a local guide in Rudranaag not to miss the stray dogs, who stayed with us from start to end of the trek. From base camp, we crossed the Parvati valley to climb the mountains covered with slippery snow. Trekked almost 3 hrs to reach the kheerganga camp at 13000 ft above sea level, where one could embrace the mighty Himalayan ranges.
On top, we found one hot spring, At that moment I felt “God is a great artist but we are luckier than him to live on his finest art!!”
Barefoot we walked in the snow to reach the hot spring, the warmth given by the hot water, Oh, God!! That was heaven in real-time.
After a long trek, we camped at Kheerganga that night, amidst the Himalayas and clear night sky showing its beauty, next day we started our return journey. Trekking downhill on a slippery surface is not an easy task. I would personally say the return journey was difficult and one should be mentally ready to face the fear because while trekking uphill we will be facing the mountain but in the case of downhill, it is the valley. With the help of a veteran guide, we made it back to Rudranaag.
The trek hasn’t only given us adventure but shown us the culture of Himachal. You may not remember their names, you may not meet them again but you will always remember their quick laughs, quiet smiles, small chats, and great gestures, you will cherish them forever.
Some people say that unplanned trips are the best, I don’t know how far it’s true but the Kheerganga trek was unplanned, which will stay as a core memory in my life.
P.S: Find all information about Kheerganga Trek here.
Never Ending Voyage – Lessons learned from Trekking
Blue, green and brown were my most used pastel colors all through my childhood not knowing that these colors will forever leave firm imprints on my life. I am a total hill person. I love anything and everything about mountains, clear blue skies, vast green meadows and dense forests. I don’t remember what kick started this love but it’s there now for a while and one thing that I am sure of is that it will last till my legs give away. Mountains have given more than have taken from me. Here are my life lessons or things I learned from my trekking experiences –
You can’t succeed if you don’t try. You could only fail if you didn’t try .
I have been a soft corner for nature since childhood and was automatically drawn towards mountains and their beauty. Often times reading several adventure series and travel books made me wonder if I could also embark on such journeys! What would it be like treading difficult paths like these amazing men did? I used to underestimate myself thinking I can never scale such heights till I made up my mind one day to give it a shot and there hasn’t been any stopping since then. My first trek to Kedarkanta was not only strenuous but also painful.
My body did not expect hardships that I suddenly hurled on it and neither was I mentally prepared to hike more and more. But more I trekked along, pushed myself ahead, ignoring the pains and sickness, the easier it got for me to walk ahead. I slowly began to see things differently beyond the hardships and discomforts that nature bestowed upon me. I started to observe more, feel more and see the beauty of things around. That was the first time I realized how many other things I was capable of doing if only I tried. There is no point in letting the fear of failure hold you back from doing something you want to do or capable of doing. Just start with venturing out, see how far you get, improve your abilities and keep going!
Rise above yourself, there is a bigger world ahead that awaits you.
We are so engrossed in our own world, with our own little problems that we have lost all our capability to look beyond ourselves. It’s only when we are exposed to rough terrains wherein we are cut off from civilization and see local tribes with bare minimum necessities to live on, yet never complaining and living in harmony and complete submission with nature, that we wonder whether the Glass is half full or half empty? Mountain life is tedious and difficult. Hill people live in wooden houses with basic amenities and in areas that are always prone to natural calamities, bear tremendous cold weather, walk for miles to fetch water or woods from the forests. Kids with cracked red cheeks that hurt all the time, often walk for hours to attend school yet you will always find the locals hospitable with whatever little they have, ever smiling at you when met enroute. Sometimes they lend a helping hand or just pass a good luck smile and move on. In contrast, we the urban city life dwellers always live a life of tension and stress – we have loans to repay, our salaries are always too less, loved ones who never reciprocate, we love foods which we can’t intake as we have the growing obesity issues seeping in to our lives. We are constantly put under the scanner of society with people analyzing our every step. But if you manage to break free of this cluttered city life every once in a while you will come across people who care, and who bond with strangers with no high expectations.
A trek develops a sense of gratitude to things and people around.
Trekking makes you ponder over how many people and things came together to make your success possible. You instantly feel thankful about it. A monsoon trek to Deomali helped me realize “how many things” and “how many people” have contributed to our well-being.
Trekking gives us time for reflection, which promotes clarity. Clarity significantly improves decision making abilities.
There are many things about trekking that simply make you think. It could be the alone time, the view, the scale of the mountains, anything. But it promotes thinking and often gives you clarity. Walking alone in mountains is a great experience. Trails cut between mountains and run by the riverside. I get this opportunity mostly in my Himalayan treks. There are miles and miles of mountains in front of us and miles behind us. I feel minuscule among the mighty mountains. It is here I start wondering about the purpose of our existence. Have we found it yet? Do we even know that we need to find it? What are our primary and secondary duties in life? What are the factors derailing us from our duties?
These questions are not tricky ones. Sometimes on a trek, we get answers that are extraordinarily impactful on our lives.
Trekking helps you realize that true happiness is not a product of amassing things.
On the Bramhatal trek in the December of 2021, we walked past some beautiful forest and mountain passes. In my opinion, they were the the best seven days I have ever spent. Now let us look at it the other way. We were walking with a backpack, eating simple food and having “the best time”? How can someone be having the “best time” when they are deprived of basic necessities of a comfortable bed, car and sophisticated restrooms? What does happiness depend upon then? “What” and “how much of it” do we need to possess to be happy? How much mental baggage do we absolutely need? What I have said afore is by no means a complete cover of my experiences, but it gives you an idea of my biggest learnings. 
While some of my learnings are universal, learnings from a trek is also a subjective experience.
Kuari Pass | The Coldest Winter Trek | Awesome Experience 2021
It was this time of the year when like every year we go on a trek to explore the mighty mountains, to push our limits, to find peace within, to detach ourselves from our daily routines and to transform into a better human being.
This year we went on a Kuari Pass trek, which is also known as ‘The Curzon Trail’ as Lord Curzon trekked from this route in 1905. It is also one of the coldest winter treks in India. Specifically for us who are used to staying in 40°C heat to go on a trek where temperatures could go around -10°C at night, just the thought of it gave us the chills which actually helped us being mentally prepared for the challenge.
Snow covered tree on Kuari Pass Trek
To acclimatize ourselves, we decided to stay at Rishikesh for 2 days before starting our trek. The day one of the trek was travelling day where we travelled from Rishikesh to the Tapovan base camp from where our trek was going to start. The journey is very pleasant and you get hang of great mountain views and the river flowing beside all day long. However, if you are someone with motion sickness, you may not enjoy the journey as much as others 😅.
On day two, we started our trekking from Karchi village and we had to reach to Akhrotghetta camp site. Just the first few steps gave us the reminder that the next few days are gonna be challenging in terms of the cold and steep climb. Just after we reached the camp site, had lunch and layered up for the cold evening. It started to snow, it was just magical how the snow flakes were falling down from the sky, it felt like the god is showering his blessings on us in its own way. Few of us witnessed the snow fall for the first time in the life and everyone enjoyed playing in the snow like a kid.
Camping on Kuari Pass Trek
Our day 3 started with a blurry thought that we might not be able to trek to the Kuari Pass summit as it has snowed the whole night since past evening plus it was still snowing while we started to trek for the day from Akhrotghetta to Khullara camp site. It was like a dream to walk while its snowing and it was fulfilled on this day as it was still snowing while we were trekking to our camp today. The views were mesmerizing, we walked through the forest surrounded by the oak trees all around. The sunrays through the trees gives us immense joy and belief to push our limits and continue to grow along. We get the good view of some of the mountain peaks like Mt Dronagiri, Hathi Ghoda, Kamet, etc while on the trail which keeps you motivated and grounded at the same time. Just when we reached the camp site, we knew this is gonna be the coldest night and it indeed was, it went down till -13°c on that day, we all spent our evening in the dining tent as it felt warmer there comparatively. We all talked, played, prepared DIY tomato soup and after having delicious dinner we all went to our tents inside our sleeping bags to face the coldest winter night.
Cooking inside tent in Kuari Pass Trek
Day 4, this was the most important and challenging day of the trek. It was the long day so we started little early as we had to do the summit push and then to reach at the Tali campsite. When we started to trek there was a slight sun rays which gave us the hope that if there is no snowfall today like past few days, we will be able to successfully summit. And the god heard the prayers, it was still the chilly and freezing but there was no snowfall and weather was clear for us to push ourselves.
After a few hours of decent climb and walking through the snowy slopes we all successfully managed to reach to the Kuari Pass summit point which was a relief and much satisfying, emotional moment for everyone that our planning, preparation of past 3-4 months have paid off. Also, not to miss the view from the top, it has the astonishing 360° view of mountains from the top which includes more than 20 mountain peaks like Chaukhambha, Dronagiri, Nilgiri, Hathi Ghoda, etc so close and clear for you to witness the beauty of nature. After spending some time at the top, we all started to decent , but due to snow mostly everyone had to do a scary snow slide to reach down from the top and heard that due to that other groups were even not able to go to the top. While on the way to Tali, there’s a ridge walk with beautiful views around you. I personally love walking on such ridge and we also had our lunch stop with such view on the way. Today was the long exhausting day and all were very tired, some felt mild headache and body pains, but nothing was serious and everyone successfully completed the summit day.
Our Group on Kuari Pass Trek
The last day of the trek and it was also the last day of the year 2021, yes in last few days we were totally disconnected and didn’t remember which date or day it was but as the trek was coming to the end and it was 31st everyone was up for ending it on high note. So, today we had to reach from Tali campsite to Joshimath. We had to skip Auli as there was lot of snow on the way and in last few days we have seen the lifetime of snow and life in snow. First on the way we went to Tali lake, which is a frozen lake and we spent good quality time there as the weather was clear, the views were great and we also did a small activity to write a post card to our loved ones expressing our gratitude, feelings and emotions. We were writing the post card just in front of the mighty Nanda Devi peak which makes it more special. This activity made people emotional, opened up and write what they feel and look within ourselves. After that it was a lovely gradual decent walk with the most amazing views of the mountain peaks which was the highlight of the trek. You feel you are constantly walking towards the mountains and they are welcoming you with their arms wide open. After walking few kms and walking through the village we managed to reach Joshimath where we had to end our this year’s trek journey.
That’s me standing tall at Kuari Pass!
As it was the 31st Dec, we welcomed the new year with all the positive vibes and wishing each other a happy new year by cutting a new year cake🍰. Also, we looked at the past few days spend together in not so comfortable space and everyone talked about their journey to reach here and how they felt about it by expressing their thoughts.
Team at Tali Lake on Kuari Pass Trek
It was a life time experience, thanks to everyone for being part of it. Hope we continue to go on such adventures. God bless🙏