The orange and black butterfly
brought back memories from my childhood, flying right above Gobind Sagar
reservoir waters, visibly enjoying the new day that had just begun. We were on
our way to Kasol, running very late, primarily due to the traffic jam in Delhi
and partly due to a few slow moving members of the group. We had stopped for
breakfast somewhere close to Bilaspur, with still a long way to go.
Our group captain set the tone
for the day by playing some nice numbers on the Volvo’s music system once
everyone was back onboard. We were passing through small towns and villages,
with open fields on both sides; the mountains beckoning in the distance. The
drive to Kasol/ Manali is one of my favourites, with the mighty Beas river
flowing alongside.
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| At Alpine Guest House Cafe |
We finally reached our hotel –
HHH around lunch time, although we were very tempted to lie down on the soft
and luxurious bed; we resisted. My friend, Sukhmani and I decided to head out
to one of the many cafes in order to make the most of our free day. The next
day, we were to trek up to Kheerganga, a perfect long weekend summer getaway.
Alpine Guest House café was our first stop, it had a beautiful view of the snow
clad mountains as well as the roaring Parvati river. A hot glass of coffee and paneer
pizza provided us with the much needed energy. We went to a German bakery later
to have those delicious chocolate balls. Later, we shared the leftover
chocolate balls with a beautiful husky who sprang out of nowhere. He did not
leave us with much of a choice.
Jim Morrison café, another well
known café was unfortunately shut for renovation. We found another great café
right behind our hotel called River side cafe. It was a nice, quiet find; by
the river as the name suggests. Their
mint tea coupled with the sound of the flowing river was refreshing.
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| Fresh mint tea |
For dinner, we went to an Israeli
café on the main road, right opposite Alpine Café’s entrance. Although service was understandably slow, their hummus with lamb and freshly baked pita bread was worth the wait.
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| Breathtaking view en route |
The next morning, we made our way
to Bershani in a taxi, our starting point for the Kheerganga trek. It was a
beautiful 45 minute drive past Manikaran and a few other villages en route; the
river Parvati flowing alongside as we steadily climbed towards the snow capped
mountains. We bought walking sticks for our 14 kms long trek, at Rs. 20 apiece,
got a group photograph and off we went. These walking sticks were a good
decision, as we later realized. It helped us keep our balance at various rocky,
marshy areas.
Our first stop, Nakthan village
took us about an hour to reach, the way up here was fairly easy with a few
steep areas in between. As we were carrying rucksacks and the sun was out in
all its glory, we took frequent water and rest breaks. There were a fair number
of trekkers, majority of them carrying day packs. As we kept walking and
climbing higher ground, we were getting closer and closer to the snow clad
mountain tops. Passing through apple orchards, streamlets and waterfalls along
the way made for some amazing photographs and memories. We took a long-ish
break at Rudranag which has a couple of dhabas and one of the larger
waterfalls; many people took a dip in the icy cold waters there. I lay on the
ground, resting my back and taking in the scenery.
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| Breathing in the deodars |
The real trek started post Rudra
Nag. It was a steep incline pretty much all the way from there. We were now
surrounded by deodar forests, providing us with the much needed shade. As we
kept trekking our way up, we could feel the strain in our lower backs. Sukhmani
and I made several rest stops, sometimes just to take in the sound of the
birds, the river flowing down below, to observe the butterflies flying past us
or to simply breathe in the fresh mountain air.
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| Made it! |
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| Campsites at Kheerganga |
After a couple of hours, I was
absolutely thrilled upon seeing the ‘Welcome to Kheerganga’ sign. After taking
a victory picture with it, I dragged myself up the last steep stretch towards
our campsite. We were lucky to get a roomy tent for two, the mixed vegetable
and rice gave us the much needed energy. After a short nap, we made our way to
the famous hot springs. One dip and I could feel the pain and tiredness in my
body disappear. Definitely recommended after the arduous trek up!
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| Reflection of the setting sun |
As the sun began to set, we watched
it light up the snowy peaks with its warm, orange glow. Once back at our tent,
we layered ourselves up with all the woolens we had as it was starting to get
cold. It was night sky full of stars; I had not seen so many stars in a very
long time. We lay down on the cold ground, star gazing, trying to spot
different constellations.
Soon enough, the bon fire had
been lit and we could hear everyone singing and dancing around it. As we joined
in the merry making, it was a night full of stories, music and laughter under a
blanket of stars, a perfect ending to a perfect day.
