This is a story of how two sisters explored the hills of Himachal Pradesh and looked good doing it (or so we hope)! :P Our journey began in New Delhi, the place we have the pleasure of calling home. To reach the majestic hills of Narkanda, we took an overnight bus which took us to Shimla, the capital state of Himachal. From there, we had our cab driver waiting for us to take us to our final destination. He was an extremely sweet man and knew every nook and carny of the hills.
The thing you don't know about Narkanda is, people here love driving Maruti 800 and Alto more than your usual jeeps, that are commonly used in mountain travels. So we loaded our bags and ourselves in a rustic Maruti 800 and drove to the top of the hill and then straight down the peak because the camps were close to the river. We obviously had our doubts about how long will this old car be able to take it but it all died down with the beauty of the Narkanda roads and the driver talking about the local foods and places.
We visited this beauty in the month of March and our cab driver told us that usually there is no snow at that time of the year but global warming has its ways, it seemed.
We reached the camps after a bumpy but scenic ride. Each tent in our camp could hold a capacity of four people and just adjacent to our camp was a modern toilet system in place, inside a small tent house.
The view from our camp was truly out of a fairy tale book. The lush green, dense forest with the sound of the babbling river is why I will go back to Narkanda instead of Shimla. The peace that comes with birds chirping and river flowing is something that is so under-appreciated in the city, that it had us hooked for hours.
But, we are humans after all and after a while, our stomachs started calling out to the mountains themselves, for food. Now obviously we would've appreciated a proper meal with proteins and other nutrients but our camp care-taker was out running errands and asked us to make do for the time, with a promise of a feast in the evening. So, we snooped around the kitchen and made the 'mountain essential' food. Yup, you guessed it!
Some Maggi with a piping hot cup of coffee by the river-side, is what life was all about for us, for those well-cherished 15 minutes.
After that, we were on our way trekking up to reach the Hatu Peak. Our guide told us that there was a snowfall 2 days ago, so we shouldn't expect any snowfall that day. He also said it meant that as we trekked higher there will be more snow on the way and that the peak is covered in snow.
With dewdrops rolling down the leaves, and road-sides covered in snow, just when we thought it couldn't get better! This mystic land decided to grant our prayers and it started snowing! This was the first time I had ever seen snowfall and it was a truly magical experience.
With little snowflakes in my hair, we kept trekking and finally reached the top of the peak. The place was adorned with snow and people were skiing and snowboarding (or at least trying to :P) through it. Couples were holding hands, rejoicing the fresh sheet of snow that had recently covered the ground and some worshipers were headed towards the temple.
My sister and I decided to put on the special boots that people there were selling and trek up the peak. Because let's be honest, who would pass on the opportunity to walk on a fresh powder of snow!
After that, our guide arranged for a unique ride, i.e., at the back of a tempo truck to bring us back to camp.
Once we reached the camp, we quickly changed to warmer clothes and galloped down the feast that our camp care-taker had promised us.
The night stars started to twinkle above our camps slowly and before we knew, it was night time. The place at night is truly serene, with owls hooting and the river rippling, it really felt like maybe life is more than the 9-5 jobs, we have devoted our lives to.
Later in the night, our care-taker got some woods and we had ourselves a bonfire!
Under the twinkling stars and a full moon, with a little good Ol' Bourbon and a plate full of delicious food, we called it a night. :)