Indrahar Pass

“The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other, again and again.

And if you allow yourself opportunity to be present throughout the entirety of the trek,

You will witness beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit”.

Well accordance with the above quote , me and my friend Harsh Jain started our trip for Indrahar pass on 7th Oct till 11th Oct ‘16 from Delhi.

Enroute Indrahar - via Triund

Normally Indrahar Pass require 4 days to complete the trek and the usual checkpoints are

Day 1 : Galu Devi Temple - Triund.

Day 2 : Triund - Ilaqa Got.

Day 3 : Ilaqa Got - Indrahar Pass (In between Lahesh Cave).

Day 4 : Ilaqa Got - Galu Devi Temple.

But since both of us have already done other high altitude trek prior to this, so thought of completing in just 2 days.

Our plan was like this :-

Day 1 : Galu Devi Temple - Snowline Cafe.

Day 2 : Snowline Cafe - Indrahar Pass - Snowline Cafe - Galu Devi Temple.

So as planned we started on 8th oct from Galu Devi Temple by 11:00 AM with guide and on the way we met two australian women whose name are “Dawn Meaders” & “Michelle Symes”, who were our companion till Snowline cafe and they were really inspiration for us, because both were of 50+ age.

                Hot Cup of Tea is best among the mountains.

We reached Triund by 2:30 P:M and had lunch there rested for a while and then again started for Snowline Cafe and reach Snowline by 4:00 P:M.

The weather was superb and we came across flock of sheeps spreaded across the meadows, which added beauty to the views.

Few of the Pics are :)

The moment we reach here, our guide told us that tomorrow early morning we have to start our ascent for Indrahar Pass which is just in front of our eyes and Harsh was sceptical about the Trail, as it is very challenging and we were asking is there any other trail which we can do to reach the Pass and he nodded no, this is the only trail and last 300 meters are very tough.

        Indrahar Pass is hidden in the clouds but the trail is scary as it seems.

Then in the evening we sat for a bonfire and there were various people discussing about their trekking experience and i heard 4 out of 5 people who were doing for second time or third time only few of the people were there for first time.

I was trying to convince Harsh that we will be able to do it, just focus on legs and eyes and keep the momentum, but he was saying we will see in the morning.

Then we went to sleep, but to be honest, i was not able to sleep, because i planned this trek for both of us and i wanted to complete it with Harsh, since he was my trek buddy since my First trek and it feels special when you are with your best friend on the top of the pass.

I woke up around 3:00 AM for washroom and i found one man from the group who was clicking few galaxies photos, and i helped him at few instances to get the best shot but on return, i got a piece of advice or you can experience , because he was a local from Himachal and he know much about the surroundings.

He told me that he has done this trek more than 10 times and being a fat guy, he was able to do it, and both of us were being in good shape, so i convey the same to Harsh and that talk works out and he joined me for the Trek to Indrahar Pass.

                            

Finally we started around 5:30 AM

I heard from the locals that Indrahar Pass changes 14 colors a day and we were experiencing lively the same while doing ascent towards it.

Our guide told us that we have to reach Pass by at most 11:30 AM because weather is unpredictable at the top. So we follow accordingly but in between Harsh was experiencing extreme cold due to this we got little delay and reach Lahesh Cave by 9:30 AM.

At one point i was thinking to hold with Harsh but seeing his state of health, i was sure that he won’t be able to reach on time, given a stretch of time, he might do, but this would be very late for all of us and weather will get worse after 12:00 PM.

So after lot of discussion my guide said that, if he can’t do then we have to step back towards Snowline Cafe, but i was looking at the pass and i just had one thing in my mind, to reach the apex anyhow.

“Here comes the Twist in the story”

                 Harsh with fellow trekker trying to ascent.

I was carrying souvenir with me and i had just one wish to place the souvenir at the top among the tridents of Trishul, being a Sikh, we believe in one God, but when you are on mountains, you experience the profound silence of voices which is emanating from Mountains and i do believe that god resides in them too, So hearing this my guide got convinced and from there Harsh and the fellow guy moved back to Snowline Cafe and me and my guide went further towards Indrahar Pass.

     

                My guide is moving ahead on the trails

What i listened from fellow locals can be seen, the Mountains have started to change it colors and this is the first kiss of the sun on the mountain, at that point i was just gazing at the Sun and it was so relief to see our Biggest star on the earth waving smile from other end, i know it sound weird, but on the trail, it was cold in the morning and getting the warm rays gives us a relief.

As said the weather has started changing with in few seconds, the whole rays are wiped out and it was covered with clouds over us, since we were near to Pass.

The trail is getting treacherous as we are moving ahead ,the last 300 meters can be seen, it is tough and i have seen people moving back from last few 100 meters, but i was just holding souvenir in my hand and praying to god, just give me the power to place this among the Tridents of Trishul and i was moving like an ant towards the Pass.

  

            Me with the Guide - Mahinder Bihan (Guide Name)

Finally after half an hour by 11:29 AM, we were at the top and i was missing Harsh,

But i know, he will come again and will complete it all the way up to Chamba. Without wasting any moment i placed the souvenir at the top and gave a big thanks to God for giving me power to complete it all the way up to Indrahar  Pass.

The other side of the valley (Chamba) from the top of Indrahar Pass and i know Harsh is down there so after half an hour, me and Guide started descent towards Snowline Cafe.

                                               At Indrahar Pass

                           Pir Panjal Range at the Back

            Camp at Snowline Cafe next morning after Descent

Now after coming back to Snowline Cafe ,i was just looking for my tent, because i was so tired and just want to sleep for few hours.

        This is how our Indrahar Story ends with the Smiley Face :)

Here is the video link for the souvenir placing at the Top.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4kF4MuhEgeyX2pDTjg2SURiTzA

Thanks

Shanky Kalra

Amidst the snow, there lies a hot spring -Kheerganga !!

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is rapture in the lonely shored,

There is society where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar,

I loved not the human less, but nature more."

That's pretty much define me.

I am a traveller, photographer and a Trekker by passion and software engineer by profession.

I love the mountains, rivers, waterfalls and everything which is natural.

If there is heaven, it is at Kheerganga.
Where you can see the snow covered mountains, filled with dense forest and hot spring water on the top.

We were 2 software engineer, bored from regular 9-6 job, so during holi weekend 23-27 March 2016, instead of going home. We went for Kheerganga.

We boarded the bus from Delhi by 6:45 and reach Bhunter by 9:00 A:M in the morning.
And from Bhunter, it is 2 hour to reach Kasol.

  

Day 1 :-

 
As we were tired, so we took a break at Kasol and stayed at Old Kasol, coz it is very cheap in terms of hotel rooms.

Well for a traveller it is very important to save penny and spent it wisely.

Here is the Details of a guy - 

Name - Vishal

Mob : 91-9816733211

Cafe - Danyal Cafe 

The people are very nice and always there to help you in case of any issue.

Here are the few pics :)

The Parvati Valley is so serene in the evening, you can listen the waves even from anywhere sitting in the valley and do Check out the Momos stand, that stood middle of the Old Kasol and New Kasol on the bridge.

Day 2 :-

After waking up in the morning it's time to catch the bus.

Please note the first bus runs by 7;30 A:M from the bridge and next by 9:00 and then by 12:00. So plan accordingly.

We just have our breakfast by 7:35 as unaware of the fact that we missed our first Bus and waited for the next one to come and if you are in hurry then you can board a private cabs, which will cost you 1000 Rs per person, which is not fine as per traveler.

So we board the bus and during the way to Barsheni, we came across beautiful views, just 2-3 kms ahead there is a Sikh holy Temple, Gurdwara Shri Manikarn Sahib Ji, where you can have a big structure of Shiv Ji and hot water sulphur bath.

But we stopped at Barsheni, which is the last stop before starting Trek for Kheerganga and had a lunch, before starting trek. 

From there you can also go for Tosh, if you want to have some Hash and Cannabis Time, but we went for Trek.

     

So from Barsheni we started our trek by 11:00 AM in the morning. As we were going upwards the view was becoming more spectacular and breathtaking, the waterfall was adding more charisma to the dense forest.

The first 6 KMS were mixed of steep curves but after the Bridge, the trek becomes more steep and difficult.

For refreshment we were stopping and filling the bottle with bone chilled water and splashing on the face.

Here are the few pics :)

There are few Cafe on the way, where you can have Maggi, Lemonade, Aloo Paratha.
While trekking i was just falling in love with the nature, as it was so captivating.
After 5 hours by 4:00, we reached the heaven. 

After reaching there, finding place to stay was a tough task, coz there were 1000 + people from across the world, so one of us stayed in baba ki kutiya and other one was searching, and we met one guy who was high and asking for some hash or weed, but at that time we were having 1.5 bottle RUM, thanks to Old Monk, which saved us and we got the place to stay. 

 Here are the few pics at the top :)

                       The place where i stayed till we got the camp to stay.

During the night we had a bonfire with the camp owner and he was so high, that he even don't know, hou much he had. We just have few pegs of Old Monk.

As said, Old Monk is never old and it is require to survive in the cold temperature of the mountains and after that we slept like , we haven't slept for ages.

 

Day 3 :-

 

After 15km Trek, its time to lessened out the tiredness from the body, our morning was welcomed by light drizzled rain and we step out for hot water springs, which is just near by Kartikiye ji Cave at the top.

 Here are the few pics  :)

 

After 2 hr of hot spring, we finally sayed bid adieu to Kheerganga, it was really hard to come back from that place.
But we ll visit again, so we start our Trek towards Barsheni by 11:00 and at some place it is getting tough, rather than climbing.

Here are the few pics  :) 

The last bus which run from Barsheni to Kasol is by 5:00 P.M, in the frequency of 1hr, so plan your Trek accordingly, it took 3 hrs to come down and from there we went back to Kasol, and last bus which run from Kasol-Bhunter is 6:30 P.M, we were lucky to get and we went back for Delhi next from Manali.

Have a great Trek Guys :)