Ever since the start of 2019, I was determined to go for a trek. But 3 months passed and could not chalk out a plan. Then comes a surprise, Income Tax trekking & Mountaineering Club was organising a trek to Churdhar and got an opportunity to be a part of the 40 member group; excited me said yes without a second thought. But I would definitely like to mention here that it is not a beginners trek at all. Churdhaar is the highest peak outside the Himalayan Range.
We started from Delhi on a friday night, and reached nohradhaar on saturday morning. The trek starts from nohradhaar which is a quaint sleepy town. We were greeted by an awesome weather, cool breeze and drizzle. We quickly had a heavy breakfast and started our trek till pehlidhar. The trek started with a steep climbing, and it was a tough stretch indeed, but gradually it turned to be a moderate climbing. Soon the vista change and the route was covered with forest on one side and steep down the other side we could see fields where villagers grow their crops. Around 4pm we reached pehlidar, an open meadow, stream flowing by– which made it a perfect camping ground. There was a shephard’s den too where trekkers can get uncountable cup of tea, a very basic meal at a very nominal charge. He could also provide travellers with a place to sleep who is not carrying tent or probably feeling too cold to sleep in a tent. We quickly pitched tent and then enjoyed a hot cup of soup, followed by many cups of chai to beat the bone chilling cool wind. Had a sumptuous dinner beneath the star lit sky with a chitchat session to know the fellow travellers and called it a day. First experience of sleeping in a sleeping bag and a tent and it was exhilarating!!
We woke up to a rainy morning, the temperature dropped further and it was bone chilling; we were so dishearten thinking that we would not be able to complete the remaining part of trek till churdhaar peak today. But by 9am, the weather improved, we had breakfast and started moving uphill. Till teesri the route of the trek was marvellous. We were awestruck by the beauty of nature. We were above the clouds at some point and then in an instance the clouds covered us; it was so misty overall and rhododendron added to the beauty of the place.
We reached teesri and took a small break at another shepherds den there; had a cup of tea and maggi to beat the cold. Teesri is again a beautiful meadow but smaller than pehlidhaar.
I was completely drained till I reached teesri and decided to stop there and wait for the group till they summit and return at teesri. It took them 4 hrs, to and fro as the last accent was a steep climb. We then moved towards pehlidhaar, where we had already pitched the tents and enjoyed our last night there with bonfire and some good music. Following early morning, we started descending to nohradhaarwhere we had our bus waiting for the onward journey to Delhi.