This was going to be my first trekking experience, that would challenge me in all aspects. All the years of my life, I have been discovering the beauty, this world has to offer, in the form of travelling in luxury. But now was the time to trek, as my teenage years were going to be over really soon.
As the new recruit of Thapar Adventure Club, it is custom to go trekking as your first trip of Adventure Club.
The date was 7th October, when seventeen of us started out on our night trip to Manali, to summit Patalsu peak. We fitted in our traveller and reached Manali at 8am, with some minor hiccups in between. Our journey to the peak started at 11am from Solang village, which is around half an hour or so from Manali.
The trek commenced from the silent village and it saw me fall down gathering energy supplement, (which I dropped) within the first forty minutes. I was a little bit bruised but was seen by nobody by chance even in the group of seventeen, as I landed in the middle of the lead group and the lag group. I hid my bruises and with firm determination continued the trek.
The trek was gruesome, but there was no stopping me. I found another trekking enthusiast and started trekking with her to catch up with the lead group. Way down nowhere to be seen somewhere, were eleven trekkers fighting to reach the camping spot.
The journey ahead, saw us meeting the only other people in the entire trek, who warned us of a snowfall in forecast the next day and provided us with the wrong information of the base camp, being further away, from what it actually was.
This brought our journey to a halt and we camped in a nearby spot, collecting water from water sources and wood for food, in wait for others to arrive. It was nearly sun down, when all of them, finally arrived. The night was cold but I was not going to miss the shooting stars, even if it meant to sleep outside the tent to observe them and that is what I did.
The next morning, we had a long way to travel so we left early just after sunrise, leaving four people and most of our stuff behind. We were two hours into the trek and for once the forecast came true heavy snowfall began, the decision had to me made, in the end safety won.
We had to abort our mission to the top. I was disappointed yet, awestruck by all the snow falling around me. This was my first snowfall experience, something I will always cherish.
Nothing feels better than seeing snow falling all around you, staying there watching it,feeling it; is all that you want from this world over and over again.
It is well said “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
The time had come to bid goodbye to Patalsu Peak and finally Manali but Manali was not going to leave me so easily, I stayed there for two more days with five others celebrating dussehra and hiking to jogni waterfalls, with my wanderlust being triggered to the next level.
