Never been a writer but always have thought of writing travel dairies as I love travelling.  I love trekking and have always dreamt of doing it since Ranbir Kapoor's character in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which inspired me to go trekking this summer vacations.

 

Due 45° scorching sun in Mumbai, me and my friend decided to trek in our very own The Himalaya and to start with it we thought that Himachal would be a great place. We came across many organizations like trek to through Himalayas, but all these were taking people from Delhi and somehow we knew that our parents will not allow us for that and hence we choose Yuvashakti to guide us. We went through their website and we saw they have ample to offer in terms of trek through Himalayas. Finally Chandrakhani pass was the trek we selected.

 

Finally on May 10, we departed for our two-week long journey to Himalaya. We boarded the train from Pune to Daund at 7am. We reached Daund at 10 and our next train Karnataka express was scheduled at 1130am. Our train arrived and we all boarded in and journey for Delhi began. Next morning we arrived in Delhi. We had time to roam around Delhi streets till evening till 4 in the noon. We all headed for Karol Bagh, a famous market place for lunch. We ordered chole bhature and we all Mumbaikars were unaware of the huge quantity! We were tired eating one whole plate of those big bhaturas...

  

At 4 in the afternoon we started our journey to Manali, Himachal Pradesh through a very luxurious comfortable Volvo bus. I thoroughly admired the beauty of northern states of Punjab and harayana during that 20 hour long journey.

 

On May 12, we reached, Naggar which is 6716 ft above Manali. One very beautiful thing about the roads here is its setting. You will find deep valley on one side or a river and gigantic mountains on the other side. Remember “Behti Hava Sa Tha Who” from the movie 3Idiots, we had taken the same route. We went to our base camp which was built there by Trek India. The tents were very big enough and beautiful. We all were much tired by long journey and food was the only thing we wanted at that time.

 

As they say we cannot absolutely predict the weather here in Himalaya and that’s exactly what happened. When we arrived at our base camp, the weather was completely clear and the moment we had our lunch it started pouring heavily. It kept raining for two days and heavy snowfall on our route. The trek instructors were constantly briefing us about how are the things going and also about how to survive from natural calamities while trekking. The rain God was so harsh on us that we had to change our route and also our destination. Our summit now was The Dhana Kunu pass which is 12000ft above.

  

We started on May 14 with packed food, some chocolates and lots of water. The trail was steep and not so easy for the beginners. We started at 8am and reached our first camp Matikochar (7250 ft.) On our journey to first camp we went through this village called Jana. It is a small green village and surrounded by snow clad mountains. Through Matikochar we could get the view of full Kullu valley it seemed very scenic and beautiful espacially at night.

 

Second day's trail was also steep and this time it was through oak woods and pine forest. In this route we went through many ascends and descends but it was worthwhile to camp at our second camp Rumtu, where we saw snow in Chaklani.

 

May 16 was a very important day for us because finally we were going to summit. We started with packed lunch which we were going to eat during the trek. We were asked to walk in one line no matter what and also to take care of the one who is ahead of you and one who is behind you. Let me tell you walking on snow is not at all easy. I hit myself so many times during the trek.

 

You guys must be wondering why no Maggie eating especially when its snow clad mountains all over just like in movies!! Well!! Needless to say Maggie was our savior during the trek. In middle of those mountains and pine forest whenever we could find a small shop, we all hogged on tea, coffee and lots of Maggie.  Trust me guys the joy of eating maggie in snow is something different you just can't have one.

 

 The snow ahead was a bit slippery as it was fresh snow thus we were instructed to walk carefully. The trail had amazing snow and only snow surrounding and nothing else...

 

Finally it was the time for summit; The Dhana Kunu Pass was the most amazing experience of my lifetime with 360° view of snow clad mountain ranges and deep valleys. The definition of Happy Place for me was there. We had our time of life.

 

Time to descend came too soon. Our instructors strictly instructed us that descending is dangerous and most of the trekkers injure themselves while descending so we have to take our steps very carefully. We had to slide through that steep slope while descending. This sliding thing was the most amazing thing and we did it again and again on the slopes.

 

As I wrote, weather can ditch us any time. Heavy snowfall and rains started again and we rushed before the conditions become worse. We all reached at Chaklani at 6-630pm in the evening. Everyone extremely tired to even eat anything. That night in Chaklani was one memorable night.

 

Next day we started descending to our base camp in Naggar. Everyone was happy and sad at the same time. We reached our base camp. That day we were allowed to do anything we wanted.

 

Then on our last day we all opted to go rafting over shopping to cover a stretch of 14 kms in river Beas.  We boarded in Karnataka express again from Delhi to reach Mumbai.

 

This was the best trip, the Himalayas makes you know more about yourself and believing that you can do wonders. I look forward to visit Himalayas again.. Soon!!

 

 

All the images © Madhura Kulkarni