The Mystical trek : 'Kheerganga'

Day1 : Delhi to Bhuntar

Tickets were booked by bhai already, we reached R.K Ashram and boarded our Volvo bus and the journey started around 6:30 in the evening. Talking about various topics regarding life and philosophy, ya mostly joking about it, whenever we are together we can laugh at any topic. In between we had dinner in Punjabi Dhaba after which we slept in the Bus.

Day2 : Bhuntar to Kasol

It was around 5 in the morning, the conductor started shouting that ‘Bhuntar aa gya h’, I was in deep sleep, my aunt woke me up and all of a sudden I got down the bus forgetting our mobile chargers in the bus itself. From the bus stand we hired a taxi to kasol, I would like to share a important piece of knowledge here that Kasol and Kasauli are two different places in Himachal Pradesh, we made the mistake of booking PWD in kasauli thinking it to be Kasol and ended up in a private hotel in Kasol. So, after taking some rest and having breakfast, we set out to explore the place. Crossing the iron bridge over parvati river, we went along the jungle trails, giving the idea of trekking to our parents also. Crossing cafes which are actually restaurants, moving along the pine forests, also apple orchards, a beautiful experience it was, also selfies are must! :D After walking for almost 3 hours we returned and had momos in one of the ‘cafes’.

Day2 (Evening) : The Beautiful sunset

Mighty Parvati river flowing, along it’s river bank me and bhai were sitting on one of the Rock. In the mountain everything has real strength be it the people or even the ants. That place is always enough to make one realize that how tiny we are, eventually making us humble in nature. On the other side of the bank was a hot spring where many boys were taking bath and also washing clothes. We sat there quietly for few minutes, watching the sunset and absorbing the fresh air inside. That moment was bliss which can’t be explained in words.

Day 3: Kasol to Barshaini

Again we hired a taxi to reach Barshaini. According to bhai’s plan we hiked from Barshaini to tosh, so reaching there in the afternoon. The entry of Tosh itself is very beautiful, crossing a tiny bridge which connects it with the outer world we entered the tiny mountain village, having people with huge hearts and extremely carefree attitude, but intelligent and humble in nature. We boarded in a hotel called ‘Holiday Homes’. After we took some rest we did a small trek to a village called Kutla, but as we were late and not having any equipment for a night trek, we had to return. So, we had our lunch in a beautiful tiny restaurant called ‘stoned age’ and started our return journey to tosh. That night, there was no electricity in our hotel, so we slept early. Mountain silence can make a city dweller extremely uncomfortable in the starting but eventually one will start feeling the calmness over there.

Day4: Tosh to Kheerganga

The final trek begins! We unloaded whatever extra material we had and left it with the hotel manager. One can fully trust them. There are very rare cases of any kind of violence or theft there. We carried only 2 college bags along with us, as packing less and efficiently is always the most imp. rule to be followed. The trek was 12 km in length, passing through the jungle trails, the wild cows, mules, streams, landslides and a small village called ‘Nakthan’. The most exciting part of a trek is that the road is not defined only the destination is fixed, have you ever heard any type of violence in the mountains from the trekkers..No! they are extremely peace loving and god-fearing people, if ever you got lost, you will always find the way. So, after completing 6km of trek we reached ‘Rudranag’, it’s a waterfall named after the shiv temple over there, we took some rest and continued our journey. Passing another small bridge beneath it, was one of the most wonderful magic of nature, I was feeling really blessed to see the mighty river in action looking extremely white in colour and in full strength. After around 3km, the last 3km is a little bit steeper, so the acesending is tough, but we continued and reached Kheerganga around 6 in the evening.

Altough I was little bit upset, as it has so many tents spread all over the area, making it impossible to have full view of the valley. But for human to survive money is important so, that place is also commercialized now. We took a tent and spend the night, as the weather was cloudy we could not witness the milky way otherwise that place is known to treat it's visitors with the panoramic view of outer milky way at night. Then we went inside our tent and slept, regaining our energy for the next day’s adventure.

Day5: Kheerganga to Tosh

We woke up at 8am, but the rays of sunlight couldn’t be felt outside our tent, it was going to take almost another hour to reach us. So around 9 we also took bath in the hot-spring about which I have told earlier. The place is very nicely maintained and they don’t even charge anything for it. Above the bathing area there is a Shiva temple, it is said to be the highest in the world and the villagers highly respect it. After having lunch, we started around 1pm in the afternoon back to Tosh.

This time it was tricky as the fact is going up is tiring but coming down is risky, we need to balance our body and also make sure that our parents were also able to make it. Around 4 in the evening we reached Rudranag which was just the half way. We became pretty certain that it will be dark before we reach Tosh or Barshaini. At the end it was dark. Descending the muddy trails while having one torch for four people was difficult but courage and patience played it’s role and we were safely standing on the river bank searching the bridge in dark which was again a difficult task. At least two times we lost our track in the forest but then finally we found it, looking at footprints of the horse and standing on a higher elevation from the ground to find our path. After reaching the main road, there was another task of finding a taxi to go to Tosh, because this time it was impossible to hike. Luckily we found a taxi near the Dam in Barshaini. Then very peacefully we reached hotel, had dinner and slept.

Day6: Tosh to Bhuntar

So, the time to bid farewell to the mountains came, with a hope to return again. We hired a taxi from tosh to Barshaini and from Barshaini to Bhuntar, The driver was a funny fellow with lot’s of strange stories, while returning I noticed Manikaran , there is a huge Gurudwara there and it is mainly known for it. Not only Sikhs and Punjabis, almost everyone from every religion comes there, to visit that place. Around 4 we reached bhuntar, from there we boarded on our bus and the next morning we were in Delhi, ready to move to our respective destinations.

Be it any worshiping place or the serene beauty of mountains, we humans are nature and we cannot live away from it, it will always draw us near it. Hope you enjoyed reading my journey, happy trekking 

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