Until and unless you visit a place, you would never know the pros and cons about it. They say everything brings in experience in our lives. So, does travelling…. you get know yourself better when you travel, the challenges which scare you, the inhibitions within and most importantly some conclusions of your life. Last month, I went trekking to the mighty Kheerganga… which I had always seen in pictures, where men would be posing in the lap of snow-capped mountains while they took a dip in the hot springs. It was indeed fascinating to read about it, until I actually visited the place or I would say scaled the mountains amidst all the odds.
Day 1
We boarded our bus from Delhi to Manali, and woke in paradise the next morning. We got down at Bhuntar to reach our destination- Kasol. The ride from Bhuntar to Kasol was in a local bus when you would see locals and tourists flocking the bus. The view from the bus is mesmerizing you keep proceeding to closer to the snow-capped mountains. Himtrek camps, Kasol was our next destination which is located near Parvati Kuteer along the river side. The experience of sleeping in a tent was way better than sleeping in a posh hotel room with a view. We visited Manikaran Sahib Gurudwara on the same day, which is about 3.5 kms from Kasol. We took a local bus ride to Manikaran. Manikaran is also famous for hot water bath and Gurudwara Sahib. A Shiva temple is located around the Gurudwara, where the food is cooked in utensils submerged in hot water for overnight. The view of the mountains and fluttering colored flags gives an enigmatic view to the place. We headed to some cafes on our way back to Kasol. Evergreen cafe is one of the most famous camps located in Kasol. The place is flocked by local tourists as well as international tourists. Kasol has a touch of Israeli culture, which is witnessed in the cafes. There were other cafes around the market such as Moon dance, Morrison, and King Falafel. Some people also chose to trek around Chalal and Rashol located nearby Kasol.
Day 2
The next morning we hit the road to kick start our trek from KC cafe, Barsheini. The cafe is the start point for the Kheerganga trek. The trek is about 12 kms up hill trek to Kheerganga scaling through forest area, meadows, waterfalls, and rivulets. The trek trail also has various cafes which are halt zones for trekkers. The trek could be rated as a difficult one, as you need some prior prepping session to walk uphill. The trek trail is mesmerizing as you walk through the waterfall, gushing cold water. As you reach the summit, it is a great feeling. However, as you scale up the temperature decreases considerably and difficulty level of the trek increases. We reached around 1900 hours at night where the white peaks were still shiny in the darkness of the night. The night subsided with the sense of satisfaction, we sat across the bonfire and played the endless game of antakshari as the temperature dipped down further.
Day 3
We headed to our next destination after completing the Kheerganga trek. Tosh camps by Himtrek was our next destination which is located about 3kms up hill towards Tosh village from the dam area. The camps was located in lap of nature, where you can hear the sound of river rushing down in the silence. On one side of the camp was Kheerganga and the other side was Sarpass, which was an amazing view. We decided to head to the Tosh village after a while. We walked from JJ Dhara Cafe to the village, about 2 kms up hill. There are small cafes located in the village along with homestays. Pink Floyd Cafe is the most famous cafe of Tosh village, where the view is breath-taking. We headed to our camp after a quick bite at the cafe. The night subsided by the side of bonafire and stories by our camp manager. The moonrise from the mountains and star gazing were the highlights of the day for us.
Day 4
There came the day when we had to bid goodbye to our homely abode. For one last time, I sat on the log bench getting lost in the silence…. and there my camp manager signaled me to look up to the sky. And there I saw a Himalayan Griffin fly past the camp. It is the second largest eagle in the Himalayan range. Though, I couldn’t click the picture, but seeing it fly past was amazing. We trekked down till Barsheini to catch our transit bus to Delhi in sometime. It was the hardest goodbye to any place I have ever been to.
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