I always remember my fortunate days when I was in Himachal completing my graduation. I just wish that God be gracious to me to offer this opportunity one more time to live there again. Please God! Hope you are reading this blog!
I happened to have my time of life when I chose to do the splendid Bhabha Pass trek. Below are some of the images from the trek I undertook 5 years back cause words can never actually let you visualize the beauty of this amazingly beautiful hidden corner of the world.
Bhabha Pass (Monochrome): We decided to do this trek during the month of May when the Snow cover starts to go off. We decided to cover this snow laden Pass sliding right from the top and believe me it was immensely splendid experience one could ever have.
The Kafnoo village, where it all started. The village is located some 25-30 Kms from Bhabha Nagar (or Bhawa Nagar) on the NH 5 . The Village is peaceful and offers a very pleasant freshness and flowery fragrance when you enter it.
And there we go ! Our 5 Day trek started off with a venture into a dense Forest. A walk of 3-4 hours with minimal sunlight reaching the ground was a really good start for the 3 of us.
We witnessed some gushing flow of streams turning into small waterfalls. Always a pleasant experience to feel the tiny little water droplets falling on you relieving your from the heat and exposure from the sun.
Yes ! we did some River crossing too. These logs of wood are kept by the locals to enable crossing few segments in the forest area when the preferred and safer route is blocked or not feasible to walk through. Its a bit risky but nevertheless your excitement will Pump you up
All your tiredness go off when you see such an eye pleasing view and your guide tells you that It will be your first camp site. Mulling, A perfect scenery I'd always imagined how living in mountains would feel like. Green grass, Blue Sky, River, forest and Mountains in the backdrop.
And there were horses too !
A view from Mulling .We started heading towards the next stop Kara Lake. The excitement was made to jump off to next level when our guide told us Kara Lake is even much better then Mulling . Needless to say, after the first night, We were already in love with this Trek!
As the Landscape was unfolding, we could feel there is something good coming up in store for us. But it was a tiring stretch specially after the first day, as our leg muscles we beginning to feel the strain.
But Unfortunately, by the time we reached there, it was already dark and so decided to retire off with a little celebration and a Bonfire to keep us warm!
We woke up to this view straight out of our camping tent. Eyes could not believe first, our mind was not able to feel ourselves, everything looked so surreal that we sat there thinking if such a view could really exist. The spectacular reflection in the Kara Lake was beyond our imagination.
We did our morning chores utilizing the running stream of water coming straight from the snow melting high up in the mountains.
Some Bear Gryll's stuff to keep yourself warm !
We then started off around 10 AM to move towards Fustirang, which was again going to be a long journey before the ascend to Bhabha pass, the next day. As we started to go higher, the Landscape was getting gigantic and magnificent . You can witness the tiny little Kara Lake towards the left bottom
At one Point, we felt our guide has been pushing us to walk continuously and not letting us enjoy the precious view we may never cherish again. We requested them to let us halt for sometime and digest all that we have seen so far. It was too much nature over dose for us just in 2 days.
We reached Fustirang after a 6 hours long trek. The height certainly increased in this leg of the trek with more boulders on the way which made the way more difficult to walk on. Anyways, we camped and cooked some delicious meal. That's me making the Bread Wali Ras Malai.
Since Fustirang is the base camp for the ascent to Bhabha Pass, we took off early morning at 5 AM in order to reach the Top around Noon. This was definitely the toughest we were about to see. Lots of loose rocks and steep ascent with almost 15 Kgs on our back and almost 15 kms to go.
We got some really good closeups of the mountainscape
The ascent was getting more steeper as we go higher. We have already been half panting and there was a long way to go. The only relief was the view which never stopped amazing us.
It was a formidable task to witness the peak and still believing in our capabilities to go pass through it.
Nevertheless, we kept moving ahead. One step at a time!
While we moved ahead with all our energy, we didn't know there was whole new level we were achieving, This whole thing was becoming more of a mental challenge rather than physical and our willingness to achieve something had overpowered our senses. The Views became even more surreal and mesmerising
Finally, After climbing for 6 hours we reached, where we were destined to be. It is rightly said that "People don't climb Mountains but themselves" You need to show the ultimate will power that you possess overcoming all the pains in your life to achieve what you desire for
Bhabha Pass- A Time to take a break and appreciate everything around us.
Time : 13:30 PM. Day 4. We never knew what we had on the other side of Bhabha pass for us. A vast gradual slope of snow in front of us. We fastened our rucksacks, sat one behind the other and got the sleeping mat rolling. Wohhhhhoooooooo! . That we called it as the "Ride of my life"
The slide ride got us high! Really really high!
And now all of a sudden we were looking at the Spiti Valley!
The stretch of snow which was visible from above didn't look that vast as it felt. There is a scientific explanation of why things that seem close are farther actually in colder areas. A concept similar to Mirage but acts in reverse. In any case walking on snow is the most tiring thing one can do.
It took us more than 5 hours to walk this whole distance from the point where the bhabhapass rise (in the center of the image). It was again a test of our determination to keep ourselves moving in the hard sun. Bada Baldhar was the next campsite but we were too tired for the day to walk further.
We camped somewhere before Bada Baldhar close to the snow where we could find a stream of water running. This is next morning Day 5 where we ate maggi and other stuff and got us running for the last leg of the Trek
There we Go! We picked up our Rucksacks. We were already feeling like we know our way and surged ahead. The distant mountains of Spiti were calling us !
After one Blind Turn, we witnessed what we knew it looked like Spiti as in images all over the internet. The colourful hues on the naked mountains were quite visible.
But all that looked Good was not Good afterall. The walk through the spiti plains was even more frustrating and less charming all because of the cruel sun.
But Possible because we have had gone through a lot that we were comparing this cold desert with all the greenery and the snowy world we had just seen the couple of days before. Spiti holds its own charm. It has to be seen through a different eye. An artists eye!
Spiti did provide us with a lot of challenges like this. The water was super cool and boulders were unpredictable. And so if you fall, its Game Over for you.
But we did go pass through all of them. We stood like we didn't care what ever may come. This was clicked before the last few couple of hours before we reached the final destination - Mudh Village. Our guide told us that we would be staying at Tara guest house.
A view of one of the Pin River Tributary snaking through the high mountains of Valley
The Mudh Village was in sight now. The green patches are the fields of Green Peas. The village is nestled deep in the remote region of Spiti with half made road leading to it from Dhankar, the village owns a handful of houses no more than 30 families.
We were greeted by the cute locals here who were fond of Candies
Tara Guest house, Mudh Village. A hot cup of Tea! Nothing else we needed now !
Expect the fact the Guest house' Restaurant Menu carried names of dishes we never could imagine we would get here. We ordered 5 Honey Pan cakes which was as delicious as you could find in any of those cafe in Old Manali.
How can I forget the sumptuous Chocolate filled Momos. That day I actually felt momos could be a good thing to eat!
The Three of Us.
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