Heavenly Har ki Doon

a trip to paradise

Desperate for another visit to the almighty Himalayas, I made an itinerary to invite various friends of mine. The plan was already postponed twice in the meanwhile, only Monty and I were ready for the trip. Just couple of days before we departed, Sam and Prakhar agreed to join us. For long I wanted to explore the region of the mystical Har ki Doon valley, and finally on 16^th June 2011 we were all set to start our journey.

The Bag of Sam

“Sam had no knowledge about where we were heading towards. In his bag he was carrying 1 jeans, 2 shirts, some weird colored underwear’s, a tie (I don’t know why), and some other stuff. Luckily we brought some extra clothes for him, but we were not kind enough to carry those clothes in our bag, we stuffed his bag like Adnan Sami used to feed himself couple of years ago”.

The boys’ talk of pulling each others leg started right from the moment we stepped into the metro station. After a long hunt for a bus to Dehradun, we finally managed to get four seats in an ordinary state bus to Dehradun. By the time bus moved, there were still some seats vacant in the backmost row. The ticket to Dehradun was just Rs.180, while paying money to the conductor I wondered, sometimes we pay more than this to Autowalas while commuting within Delhi.

Pissed Off 

“After making a couple of phone calls, we started our good for nothing conversation yet again which always turns out to be better than serious shit (politics, terrorism, corruption). I don’t remember who, but someone amongst us turned back and saw a man pissing out from the window at the backmost row. It was unbelievable, because we didn’t even crossed Delhi till that time. That guy must have felt embarrassed because we were laughing like anything, but he very well deserved that”.

The Journey – Day 1

The most interesting thing about this day was that we were on the road to embark a journey to one of the remotest places of India, Har ki Doon. And the worst thing about traveling in an ordinary bus is that they always stop bus at bad dhabas. There was a ‘Mashhoor Lassi Wala’ with multi-colored lightings and attractive presentation, at the dhaba where the bus stopped. Trust me if you have Lassi at this place then you would never ask for Lassi at any other place, because you will lose faith in Lassi.

After listening to my favorite songs collection, and taking a couple of naps while traveling, we finally reached Dehradun at around 5:30am. We took an auto to Mussoorie Bus Adda near Dehradun Railway Station to catch another bus to Purola. The bus to Purola was scheduled to leave at 6:30am so we occupied four seats. We had light breakfast at Dehradun. At 6:30 we fixed our butts on the seats of the bus for another 145kms journey that entirely lies in the lower Himalayas.

The soothing smell of the mountains and picturesque views overshadowed the tiring route with frequent curves. As soon as we were about to reach Mussoorie, Monty woke me up and said “we have reached Mussoorie”. I have been to Dehradun couple of times but never got a chance to visit Mussoorie. I don’t get why Mussoorie is so much hyped about, according to me it is an overrated destination, and it didn’t impress me at all. There are numerous places in Uttarakhand, which are not popular but possess abundant scenic beauty. Mussoorie is no longer a place for seeking peace; it is rather a fun weekend destination. The route from Dehradun to Purola was tiring but interesting as well.

When we passed through Kempty Falls, I came across a shop where the shop owner clicks photos of people with traditional clothes. Let me tell you one thing frankly those clothes aren’t traditional at all. Let me share one harsh truth with you, at popular tourist destinations, people are driven towards money and they could use any means to earn “the extra money”. We reached Purola at 1:30pm. After exploring the town of Purola to some extent, we dived into a dhaba to quench our hunger. The food was amazing at a pocket friendly price.

not so traditional

According to our itinerary we had to reach up to Sankri the same day. Sankri is situated 69kms ahead of Purola. We made phone calls back home. There were no taxis and buses lined up for Sankri, and we were not willing to stay at Purola the same day. It started raining, luckily a bus to Sankri arrived at that very moment and we bumped into the bus. While sitting at the backmost row of the bus, a girl gave us some local fruit to eat (actually she gave many). We didn’t refuse because she was very kind & pretty and most importantly because we were getting it for FREE.

Traveling from Purola to Sankri was an interesting experience because the bus was completely occupied by local people rich in culture. Situated 34kms from Purola, Mori is emerging as a popular rafting destination. You can do rafting and kayaking on the rapids of Tons River at Mori. A road from Mori goes to Rohru in Himachal Pradesh.

While traveling on the road towards right side of the Tons River, I started wondering that thousands gallons of water passes through this river every single minute throughout the year. Himalayas are amazing in every form be it beauty, culture, natural resources, spiritualism, flora, fauna, etc. (the list is never-ending).

We passed through Netwar while traveling to Sankri. There is a temple dedicated to Karna of Mahabharata at Netwar. Few kilometers after Netwar you will come across a gate of Govind Vallabh Pant Wildlife Sanctuary, Har ki Doon is situated in this sanctuary. You need to pay for entry in the sanctuary, the charges are nominal. You will come across numerous apple orchards while traveling to Sankri. Finally, at 6pm we reached Sankri. We started looking for accommodation and met Rawatji who owns Rawat Niwas at Sankri Village. Lying on the bed of our room was extremely relieving, after constantly traveling for 21 hours.

Situated at 1,920mts above sea level, Sankri Village consists of around 80 families. It is a nice village with friendly people. Cellular network at Sankri is available from 10am to 6pm only. After dinner, we went for a night walk for a short duration. Rawatji told us about the route and even arranged a taxi for us from Sankri to Taluka. After reaching back to our room we started playing cards and slept late at night.

Naugaon

Dhaba at Purola

Purola

On the way to Mori

Dense yet organized

Rawat Niwas

Adventure Begins – Day 2

We woke up early in the morning because we had to travel to Taluka by taxi. Gajendra, brother of Rawatji, was traveling with a French family as their guide. He called us as soon as taxi arrived and helped us during the entire trek by arranging necessary things for us like accommodation facilities and camping tents. Sam and I traveled the 12km distance from Sankri to Taluka by sitting on the roof of the Jeep. This 12kms journey was soul-stirring and hair-raising, as it passed through narrow jeepable road and landslide prone areas with deep gorges.

Taluka

Myle

 Nestled at an elevation of 2,410mts above sea level, Taluka is the last point connected by roads on the route to Har ki Doon. Har ki Doon is situated 27kms ahead of Taluka Village. At Taluka we had a conversation with the French Family. They were just three, husband, wife and their son Myle. Last week they traveled to Gangotri and Gaumukh Glacier – true traveler I must say. After having breakfast at Taluka we started our trek to Taluka.

The first few steps of every trek are very special because it ends at a heavenly place. The route from Taluka to Seema goes through ups and downs with the river flowing with gushing water towards the left. After trekking for a couple of kilometers we came across a stunning wooden bridge that helped us cross a waterfall. The water flowing below this wooden bridge was ‘transparent’ in truest sense of the word.

Bridge

Being a pahadi, acclimatizing was not an issue for all four of us. Sam is Kashmiri and Me, Monty and Prakhar are from Garhwal. While walking don’t just gaze at the beautiful mountains, you ought to look down at the path as well after equal intervals. There are many places in this trekking stretch where you will come very close to the river, and in case you slip into the river then it will definitely engulf you. The French Family, their guide and porter were the perfect trekking companions, not only because they were interesting and friendly people to be with, but also because we saved our money by not booking a guide.

We walked through the vast and dense forest, crossed some wooden bridges, saw several cascading waterfalls and after a steep climb we reached a tea shop. The boys who owned that tea shed named that place as Jannat. After having tea and Maggi at Jannat we head towards Gangad Village. Gangad Village is situated 10kms from Taluka. Gangad Village is actually located on the other side of the river, and there are few small shops on the other side. We reached Gangad Village at 1:45pm. Gangad is a beautiful village where all houses are made of mud, rock and wood. The experience of staying in these traditional houses will be more memorable and soothing than a stay in any high class hotel.

Me, Prakhar, Monty and Sam

Steep climb

They call it Jannat

Gangad Village

While we were sipping tea at Gangad, Myle washed around 6-7 plates nearby a water stream. Myle’s parents took this act sportingly and didn’t yell at him, because he was just experiencing a portion of the tough life of people living in this region.

Experience always counts

Local Women

Monty got tired and the 4kms stretch from Gangad to Seema seemed never-ending for him. While waiting for him I plucked some red colored small fruit that looked like strawberry. After asking the local people that whether they are edible or not I ate it, and yes I was right – It was wild strawberry. I had around 25-30 of them and then I stopped because the scene of the movie Into The Wild flashed by mind, where Emile Hirsch mistakenly eats wild potatoes. 

Wild Strawberries

Finally at 4pm we reached Seema. Seema is situated on the right side of the river and Osla is situated on the left side on a mountain – a bridge connects these places. GMVN Rest house, a temple dedicated to Shiva, some houses and few shops are located at Seema. We got a room at GMVN Tourist Rest House, Seema but there is no electricity at this place. We went up to a bridge in the evening and had a pleasant time over there. After clicking some photographs we returned back to the GMVN. We had dinner 8pm and went to our rooms to play cards. We slept at 12:30 and woke up at 6:30 the next day.

GMVN Seema

Red Headed Sparrow

Water + Shutter = Deadly Combo

Zoom in

Heading Towards Heaven - Day 3

We planned to carry only two bags from Seema to Har ki Dun and left the remaining things at GMVN. After having tea and packing paranthas, we started our trek. If you are planning to travel to Ruinsara Tal then don’t cross the ridge and head straight. And to reach Har ki Doon, you need to cross the bridge.

A Beautiful Morning

Thank you mist

The sky was as blue as the ocean, the Himalayas were shining as a pearl and crisp sunrays filled us with strength to reach the heavenly hamlet of Har ki Doon. We crossed the bridge at Seema and marched forward with a revitalized body. But as soon as we saw the steep route after crossing the bridge, all beautiful images faded away from our eyes. The route was not dangerous but yes it was steep and capable enough to exhaust the fittest person on earth. This steep route ends at a small bridge and gives a lot of relief by affording stunning views of waterfalls, mountains, river, Himalayas – all at once.

Relaxing after steep climb

Village with a Story

“A route from this small bridge goes to Osla Village. Osla Village is rich in cultural heritage and the houses here are also made of mud, rocks, and wood. Osla houses a temple dedicated to Duryodhana of Mahabharata. The people of this region do not disclose this fact and hide it by saying that the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva in the avatar of Omkareshwar. The reason why the people of this region have created this story is because people believe Duryodhana to be a bad person, as shown in the Mahabharata. The truth is that Duryodhana was bad and cruel for Pandavas, but he did good deeds as well for people. He didn’t discriminate Karna and gave him importance. Long time back when Duryodhana was traveling through this region, he asked the king if this place to fetch him with some land. He was not only provided with land here but he also worked for the benefit of the local people. This is just a brief idea of what I read and heard by the people but the real story is still a mystery.”

After trekking 4kms from Seema we reached a tea stall. We relaxed at this point by sipping tea and gazing at the Black Peak (Kala Nag). At some points the climb was steep and at some points it was leveled but there was no descend at least for another 4-5kms. We trekked through the alpine meadows enjoying the most of the wilderness. The dogs of this region are amazing. Every dog sticks to a trekking group and walks with them throughout the route hoping that the group would feed them. Our companion was Snowy – The white panther.

The Shepherd Hut

Cute Village Girl

Black Peak (Kala Nag) on the left side

Trekking through Alpine Meadows

We started trekking and after 1km we saw Gajendra removing mattresses, sleeping bags and tents from a pony. He arranged these for us, as promised. After trekking another 2kms we came to a curve on the mountain. We stopped at this point to rest for a while and to eat paranthas. We forgot to carry pickle with us so we stuffed Aloo Bhujia in the parantha, shhh… it’s our secret recipe. It tasted like something that you can swallow but definitely not ask for more. The great SAMu was way ahead than us but we were trekking together. This region has numerous ‘bhojpatra trees’ which were used as paper in ancient times. Even Mahabharata was written on bhojpatra. 

Sam was waiting for us at the next wooden bridge and from here all four of us walked together, the French Family was ahead of us. The final 4kms while trekking to Har ki Doon is a Bear Zone, this entire region is close to the river and is covered with giant rocks and dense bushes. We decided to walk together through this route and we even saw bear’s shit. I was afraid with the thought that what would I do if we see a bear? But I was also curious to see one. So, we didn’t hurry and walked calmly.

Shepherds

The Bear Zone

 It started raining, we took out our raincoats and poncho and within two minutes it stopped raining. The weather in Himalayas is as unpredictable as Yuvraj Singh’s form. Finally at 3pm we reached the heavenly hamlet of Har ki Doon. At Har ki Doon you will see small lush green grassland on either side of a stream, some rocks and picturesquely located deodar trees. We decided to pitch our tents at this scenic location. We crossed a rocky bridge over the stream and reached Forest Rest House of Har ki Doon. GMVN is situated 300mts ahead of FRH. Food is available at Forest Rest House at Rs.80 per meal.

I went to the back side of the FRH because I wanted to feast my eyes with awe-inspiring views of Har ki Dun valley with Swargarohini Peak as its backdrop. The enchanting Har ki Doon valley is a place where you can sit for hours doing nothing and trust me you won’t get bored. This was indeed one of the most delightful sights and it would have been much more beautiful if I would have seen entire Swargarohini Peak at once. The floating clouds were obstructing the view and I could see only half of the Swargarohini Peak at once. I was able to see the lower half of the mountain this day and the upper half of the mountain the next day. Swargarohini Peak is massive but I couldn’t get its complete look due to rapid change in weather.

Our shelter for 3nights

FRH as seen from our camping location

Har ki Doon Valley

We pitched our tents near the stream and rested for a while. The tent and sleeping bag were very warm. We went up to FRH in the evening to have dinner. We came back to our tents at around 8pm and still it wasn’t dark. We thought that it would stay this way but after 15minutes when we peeped out of our tents nothing was visible. It was DARK!!

Explore - Day 4

It was a beautiful morning at Har ki Doon but my camera batteries were done. Four of them lasted long but the other set of four batteries betrayed me. Luckily Sam’s phone had battery so we were able to capture some pictures. We had breakfast at FRH along with tea. The tea available at Har ki doon and Seema is made of milk powder. It is definitely not the best tea, but yes it is satisfying.

There were two options for us to explore. We could either go for Jamdhar Glacier or Maninda Tal (often misinterpreted as Morinda Tal). Jamdhar Glacier can be reached by traveling down the valley towards the foot of Swargarohini Peak. The original glacier is situated at a distance of 10kms, but the point from where you can see this glacier is situated at 4kms from Har ki Doon. But due to rainy weather we skipped the idea of trekking to Jamdhar Glacier, and started trekking to Maninda Tal instead.

Maninda Tal is situated 3kms from Har ki Doon. The path of initial 1.5kms towards Maninda Tal is very narrow, and one must walk cautiously at this place. After reaching up to a steep point there was an inclined rock. The fresh mountain air flowing at this place took away with it our exhaustion and drowsiness. After trekking another kilometer a place full of boulders appeared in front of us. The route to Maninda Tal goes straight from here. On the right side was a frozen glacier and while walking on it we could hear the stream flowing under it.

Himalayan Rangers at Maninda Tal

Maninda Tal

The Rock

Go Straight for Borasu Pass

The French Family and Snowy

At Maninda Tal, a massive rock has formed a small pond by stopping water. The aqua colored water of Maninda Tal looks like the purest form of water on earth. Maninda Tal is situated in a mystical valley covered by sloped mountains. The route to famous trekking expedition Borasu Pass goes from Maninda Tal. You can reach Chitkul from Har ki Doon via Borasu Pass if you have authorized permission. Chitkul is a picturesque town located in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

Prakhar and I indulged in some freehand rock climbing when Sam and Monty were busy clicking their pictures on the glacier. Visiting Maninda Tal was a very soothing experience for me because the virgin beauty of this place is truly amazing. Unwilling to leave such a heavenly place I walked back as slow as possible turning back after every couple of steps.

As it is rightly said while traveling to such heavenly places – take nothing but pictures, leave behind nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time and bring back nothing but memories.

Heaven or hell might be fictional creation but visiting places like Har ki Doon will definitely make you believe that if heaven exists anywhere, then it will look somewhat like this.

The clouds started gathering so we paced up and went straight to our tents. After resting for a while we went to FRH for having lunch. After lunch we and the French family tried our hand at open bonfire. We managed to light up the fire after 20 minutes because the wood was wet, but soon it rained. We went back to our tents to play cards, Myle accompanied us. We showed him few magic tricks but we didn’t reveal the secrets to him. It was evening and as I peeped out of my tent I could see the upper half of the gigantic Swargarohini peak. I went up to FRH to take a better look at it and sat there for half n hour. This is an incredible peak and it looks like that the mountain is welcoming with stretched opened arms.

We had evening tea and dinner. The only thing that started annoying me in the trip was food. The food was homelike and made of fresh ingredients, but it was repetitive. I personally don’t like nutri at all, but they will serve you aloo and nutri once everyday. This region is popular for cultivation of Rajma, everyone among us liked Rajma but it didn’t turned out to be good for our hajma. I won’t take their names but there were two silent killers in our group, simply unbearable.

After dinner we sat across the bonfire that was lit up inside the French family’s room. They shared their travel story and so did we. We came back to our tents before it was too dark. Today all four of us slept in the same tent. It rained all night.

Bonfire

Retreating to Seema – Day 5

Monty was the first person to get up early everyday. As per our itinerary we were supposed to trek back to Seema today. So we had Maggi and tea and then we packed our stuff. When I looked up at the mountain it was shining with a new white layer of the snow, yes it did snowed on top of the peaks.

The one thing missing in this trip was the complete view of Swargarohini Peak, but I will definitely visit this place once again may be at that time I will get lucky. These are the few extreme trekking excursions that you can go for while trekking to Har ki doon:

• Har ki Doon – Ruinsara Tal – Bali Pass – Yamunotri
• Har ki Doon – Ruinsara Tal – Dhumdhar Kandi – Jhala
• Har ki Doon – Maninda Tal – Borasu Pass – Chitkul (Himachal Pradesh)
• Har ki Doon – Kuari Pass – Himachal Pradesh

All these are high altitude pass and it requires prior trekking experience and lots of courage to complete this trek. The toughest among these are Dhumdhar Kandi and Borasu Pass.

With nothing to capture as our batteries were gone, we walked fast. We were giving a thought towards trekking back up to Taluka, the same day. We crossed the bear zone, the bhojpatra trees, alpine bugyal and Snowy followed us through this route. While walking we had an interesting discussion about spiritualism, souls, gods, devils, everything. Everyone among us had several believable stories to tell and this made the trek back to Seema very interesting.

As we looked back

Above us was the bluest sky which appeared like a shelter to us, even though it was not. We managed to walk fast while trekking back down the slopes. But while trekking down cautiously walking is always advised because it does comes with increased chances of accidentally twisting your ankle.

I could hear someone playing a flute from distance. I followed that invigorating tune, there was a boy playing a cultural tune, it was mesmerizing. I didn’t ask him anything but kept listening to what he played while looking at the enchanting Himalayas, it was an emotional moment for me.

We bid the farewell to the great Himalayan range which has abundant beauty and reached at the small bridge. After resting for a while we descended down the trail which was very steep when we were climbing up. Finally, we crossed the bridge and reached Seema. We didn’t want to make our trip hectic so we planned to stay at Seema, the following day.

TAJU

After pitching our tents at Seema we were resting outside. We saw a man coming towards us, he was mentally challenged. Sam offered him a bidi which he happily took and started smoking.

Then two local boys came and said to us that -“us paagal ko tent ke paas mat aane do wo tent phaad dega”.

Sam said “achha hua bidi pilake bhej diya”

We started playing cards inside our tent and after half n hour he came outside our tent and said – “Taju chaa  chaa…. Taju chaa…”

Sam said – “nahi be jaa, jaa”

He cam back and again said to Sam – “Taju chaa  chaa…. Taju chaa…”

Then Prakhar went and walked with him to other end and made him sit at the tea shop. There the tea shop owner asked whether you people will have tea or not. Prakhar came back to the tent and said that the mentally challenged guy was asking whether we will have tea or not. And TAJU means ‘big brother’ in Nepali language. Things got clearer in our mind; he was saying Taju to Sam because he offered him a bidi. And was just asking that whether we will have tea or not.

We felt embarrassed but it wasn’t our fault actually, we were influenced by those two local boys. But apart from that, the most interesting fact about this whole episode was that SAMu got a new name- TAJU.

Last we called our parents from Purola and it’s already been four days now, our parents must have been worried I thought. At this place unaffected by the civilization and technology you can experience nature at its best. Last four days were the most peaceful consecutive days of my life. We didn’t wish to return, but we had to. After dinner we did star gazing, I even saw a glimpse of shooting star. We slept early because we were supposed to reach up to Purola next day.

The Final Stretch – Day 6

We packed our bags and started trekking early in the morning. While we were trekking back we saw a group of men grazing a group of 550 mountain goats and sheep. We reached Gangad at 8:30am and had heavy breakfast there. We started trekking and reached Jannat at 9am. All three friends of mine left there presence at Jannat in the form of shit. While trekking back the route became extremely slippery due to rainfall and shit of ponies, sheep and goats. 

After covering approximately 8kms of distance we came across another group of sheep and mountain goats, but this time the number was 1500. A shepherd asked me where we came from and how was our journey, I told him everything. This shepherd will graze these animals in the region of Har ki Doon and Ruinsara Tal because there the grass is very nutritious which helps in proper grooming of these animals. He told me that they will spend 2 months there itself and will return after that – isn’t that amazing. I have made a plan to make a documentary on their life during these two months. Its quite an expensive project and difficult too, but lets see.

We finally managed to reach Taluka at 12:30pm, but we had to wait for the taxi to Sankri till 1:30pm. We reached Sankri and took a shared taxi up to Mori. From Mori we hired another shared taxi to Purola. There was a point where driver covered the distance of 10kms without starting the jeep, because of the slant road. He might have saved on diesel but it was actually dangerous.

After reaching Purola in the evening, the first thing that we did was to make phone call back home and the second thing was to take a bath. We stayed at Purola the following day.

Drive to Dehradun and Delhi – Day 7 and Day 8

We took a shared taxi to Naugaon from there we took another taxi to Vikasnagar. Finally we reached Dehradun in the evening and stayed at Prakhar’s aunt’s place. Next morning we went to Sahastradhara and after spending couple of hours there, we went to Mussoorie road. We came back to Dehradun in the evening and left for Dehradun ISBT. Next morning we were in Delhi. Delhi appeared very unreal after spending a week in paradise, but still it was good to be back at home mainly because I had several stories to tell.