The himaliyaas and the Trek .....

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo DaVinci

breathtaking snow clad Himalayan peaks

Okay! So its finally time to write about the Himalayan adventure... What can I say about the mighty Himalayas!  If you have been there once, you will go there again and for as long as you will live you’ll keep going there. That’s the beauty of Himalayas. The snow clad mountain ranges, those enchanting forests right out of a fairy tale, the streams, the majestic Beas River, the humble people give you an undeniable presence of God around the place. Also the roads will remind you of God more than any religious place would because one mistake and you’ll go right to Him!

After a journey of two days from Mumbai to New Delhi to Manali, sleeping my ass off in the bus, I was woken up by my cousin’s voice continuously chanting" wave (wow) snowww...wave snowwwwwwwwwwwww", in different tunes and pitches which would give complex to any vocalist. When I opened my eyes the river swept me off my feet, literally thank God for that! It was love at first sight with the nature!

 We got off at Naggar, and camped there with Trek India Organization. It was a beautiful place. The thing about Manali is which ever place you wake up in the morning, you will open your eyes to the Himalayan ranges. You will see the sun kissing the peaks and spreading its radiance gracefully to the rest of the India. On the third day we set out for trekking, the aim was to reach a height of 12000feet and cover Dhanna-Kunnu pass.

Day1: We started with Meshu, Monty ( trek guides) trekking from Jannah with Shifu aka I don't his real name a wonderful dog,  to Matikochar. Matikochar is about 7250 feet high and route was basically a man made road along the forests and streams and panoramic view of the Kulu town. The jungle house that we camped at gave a feeling of 2skies in the night, one on the top of our head with twinkling stars and the second below with glimmering artificial lights.
   

Day2: It was gradual upward hike from Matikochar through dense forest of pine, oak, Rhododendron and beautiful meadows takes us to the small natural lakes at Phutasor. The trek continued with gradual ascending and descending and wondering how much more to go until we camped at Rumsu (9240ft.). The camp at Rumsu is between two streams. Its like a bowl and you are in the center with mountains all around you. We were tired but place was worth all the sweat literally( you don't sweat there at all). It was super cold, i wonder how Deepika wore those short skirts for trekking in YJHD! (Fakooo!)

Day3: Initially we  had a steep ascend to the top of Dhanna Kunnu Pass that is about 11000feet. The Pass overviews a wide and panoramic view of PIR PANJAL, DHAULADHAR ranges and PARVATI VALLEY. We traversed the ridge, this ridge was like walking along the valley of death (I'm not kidding!). Then after sliding through snow (snow is a bitch, you can't walk on it without falling a no. of times) , we got down to the beautiful camp at Chaklani. We camped overnight at Chaklani with the fear that bears would come to visit us (group of beautiful girls you see!).

Day4: We descended down to our base camp at Naggar, it was a painful descend. I felt like I had my grandma's knees (well atleast her's were better post-surgery). The path was through the beautiful meadows and forests of oak and pine and through the villages of Kulu valley. 






































Okay! Now I need to go and eat something and enjoy the rains! I will cover the rest in the next... First one of this sort, please be kind!

 There are lot of people I haven't mentioned/covered. I had to pen this down before I forgot. I'll write about them as soon as the pics come!

Closing credits: 
 

Shifu for being there with us...

 

 For all the nautanki Saalis for the entertainment and drama

 

Special tribute to Red Tent for being a comforter in times of need. (Reflection spot)