Trek to Har Ki Dun

Tripoto
24th Mar 2015
Photo of Trek to Har Ki Dun by Rahul Kujur

The trek to Har Ki Dun was planned with my undergrad friends. Including me, we were six of them in total. The meeting point for us was Delhi. We arrived in Delhi on 25th of April. From there we took a overnight train to Dehradun. We spent the whole day of 26th April in Dehradun. Next day we had to depart early for Sankri which is around 200 Kms from Dehradun. We were supposed to catch a 5.30 am direct bus (Uttarakhand Transport bus) to Sankri. But due to some reason, on that day the bus to Sankri was not available. Instead, the man at the counter suggested us to take a bus till Naugaon. From there we can get private buses or jeeps for Sankri. We purchased the tickets for Naugaon. The price of the ticket was Rs 200 per head. 

The bus left Dehradun on time. On the way, the bus will cross Mussorie. So anyone travelling to Har-Ki-Dun has the option of staying in Mussorie instead of Dehradun and explore the town. The town is just one and half hour drive from Dehradun. Since we didn't had a direct bus till Sankri, we had to get down at Naugaon. The bus reached there at around 10:30 am. From there we took a shared jeep till Mori. Since we were unable to carry on anymore break journey, we hired a jeep till Sankri for INR 1500. We had to negotiate hard with the driver for this. Instead of taking all this pain, one can book a jeep from Dehradun till Sankri. A hired cab will charge INR 5500. So we reached Sankri at around 2 pm.

 For going to Har Ki Dun one needs to carry tent and food. So we had to hire three person from Sankri (one guide, porter and cook). We also had to hire 2 donkeys for carrying the luggage. The charge for the donkeys was INR 900 per day. And for the guide, porter and cook, the charge was INR 600 per day. We had already talked with the Himalayan Protection and Mountaineering Association (HPMA). Its a local operator for treks in and Sankri. They had arranged for everything.

The next day, 28th April, we started our trek. But first we had to reach Taluka. From here the actual trek starts. In order to reach Taluka, one has to book a jeep. The jeep will charge INR 800. Its an half an hour journey from Sankri till Taluka. So our trek finally started from Taluka. The total distance of Har Ki Dun from Sankri is 37 kms. On first day of our trek, we covered about 10kms. We reached our camping point at around 2pm. It was beside a river. Since we reached very early to our camping point, we decided to go to a nearby village Chail. So after a quick rest, we left for the village. Apart from seeing a traditional village, we also saw glacier there.

The next day we started our trek and covered another 12 km. We camped 6 km short of Har Ki dun. We had reached our 2nd camping point by 2 pm. That day was eventful for us. It started snowing at around 4 pm. Believe me, it was awesome looking at the fresh snowfall. But after few minutes of snowfall, it became a real pain for us. The design of our tents was not strong enough to stand in a snowfall. We had to monitor our tents every five minutes and remove the snow. To add to our misery, the snowfall continue almost the whole night. we and the guide had to get up in the middle of the night to shed the snow from the tents.

The next morning was no different. It was still snowing. However, it stopped at around 9 pm. We then decided to cover the rest of trek till Har Ki Dun. We started our trek and it took us no time that it won't be easy for us. The snow was fresh and it was knee deep. It was difficult to move. We would have hardly covered about 600m when it started snowing. So we had to come down. It seemed that we won't be able to make it till Ha Ki Dun. It was a dull afternoon for us. We gathered some wood and lit a fire. We dried our wet shoes and socks in it. By around 2 pm the weather started clearing. And some of the peaks from our camping point started coming into sight. 

Next day we had to leave for Sankri. We woke up early and tried our luck with reaching till Har Ki dun. The weather was clear and sun was up. However, it was difficult to walk due to the fresh snow. Due to time constraint we had to return back mid way.

It took us around 1 hr to get to our camp site. After having maggi in breakfast, we left for Sankri at around 10 am. We hiked continuously till Taluka. We completed the whole distance till Taluka in 7 hours. 

Next day, we had booked a Jeep till Dehradun. The fare was Rs 5500. Although there is option of catching a bus  from Sankri till Dehradun but Jeep will be comfortable option according to me.

Although, we didn't reach till HarKiDun but we enjoyed the journey which sometime is more important and reaching the destination. However, I will come back to complete this trek.