Delhi- Mandi-Kasol-Manikaran-Barshaini-Kheerganga
After having a fulfilling trek to Gaumukh-Tapovan last June, followed by a painful and depressing 3 months of bed ridden condition due to medical issue, life has witnessed its wave. By December'16 I had joined the office and life was returning to its ordinary pace. But in my scary body, a desiring heart was still beating to breath in the fresh mountain air once again. As the day passed, my desire overpowered my fear and I once again decided to make a short trek to Prashar Lake during the 3 day Holi break. I was accompanied by my friend Kislay (and yeah he too had DSLR) and started our journey to Mandi from Delhi ISBT bus terminal.
Prashar Lake is a high altitude lake, 50 km away from Mandi. We reached Mandi by morning 6 am and refreshed ourselves quickly at bus stop itself. Being Holi, most of the public transport were off and taxi were demanding exorbitant price.
Our fate now had started to betray our itinerary. Going by hints and direction of locals, we went 5 km away from town by a bus only to realize that we were heading in opposite direction from Baggi, the village from where the trek starts. Disappointed, we returned back to bus stop and had lunch. Maybe I had an overdose of spirituality during last trek, so the fate was deciding something otherwise. Assessing the place geography, we quickly decided to do Kheerganga trek in Parvati Valley which is also near to Mandi.
So by afternoon we took bus to Bhuntar and then to Kasol, the stoner's paradise as it is known. We were exploring the wilderness of this hippie place and by chatting went on 3 km ahead to Manikaran on foot. Manikaran is a holy town famous for its Manikaran Sahib gurudwara located near to hot water spring.However the weather has changed dramatically few day prior, as it had snowed in upper regions of Kullu and Manali. But we didn't find any difficulty till now in this region.
We took a local bus to Barshaini, the last village from where the trek of 14 km starts. The initial 6 km till Rudranag temple is fairly easy and path is well defined. After crossing the bridge nearby, the gradient had become steep and the whole trail till Kheerganga was covered with snow. We were totally unprepared with this sudden weather challenge. Kislay was wearing flat base shoes which skidded a lot. Given the steep path and deep gorge on other side, we were on our knees and hands like polar bear because any slip would be perilous.
By 4 pm evening we reached the Kheeganga Camp site. It was mesmerising scene with huts mushroomed over snow filled valley having hot spring with Lord Shiva temple on top. On the journey we got a company of two guys out of which, Mohan(if I rightly recall) was completely stoned but trekked the whole trail with same pace and somewhat higher zeal. Really someone rightly said: "chillam phoonk ke ek hi trek kar sakte h-Kheerganga."
We settled for a hut charging 700 buck per person including dinner and private tandoori oven to keep the room warm in night. The host gladly offered the 3 C: Chai, Chillam and Chappati. Here was Mohan enjoying all the three, Kislay refrained only from chillam and I settled with Chai only. Then we went to top to have bath on hot spring, but both of us froze to even think of removing our jacket. We prayed at the temple and returned to a common dining hall. It was getting dark and colder. A huge tandoori bonfire was lit up and all encircled around to gather the warmth. Songs of Bob Marley, Coldplay were playing and everybody was quiet, enjoying themselves. Suddenly the song from Lootera, ''Mujhe choor do mere haal pe" played and the whole place transported to some other dimension. Though I was not stoned but the moment felt surreal gazing the stars above and feeling the warmth amidst snow filled surrounding.
Morning, waking up to the view of huge mountain range was refreshing. We came down the entire path to Manikaran by 4 pm in the evening. Then we went to the Gurudwara for the famed hot spring bath to relieve our body muscles pain followed by pious langar.
This short trip was not only a welcoming change but reaffirmation of my faith that I can once again climb the mountains