There is always a level of exploration, sometimes we mislead with exploration. We just visited a place that has already been explored, but we use the term exploration still. But some places are there which despite of explored multiple times, seem like it has not been studied till now.
It is a similar trip I have been planning for years and that for the famous “Lahaul and Spiti”.
As there was a week’s vacation from the company due to the official shutdown for server maintenance, my wife and I planned an extreme adventure. As we both are quite stacked in our regular sitting jobs, so we really didn’t know whether we would be able to do it or not. But anyhow, we planned our trip with Backpackclan, with whom I was in a connection when I was planning for Chadar Trek in early 2023.
This time they have provided the most affordable and quiet long trip which we were expecting. So we go ahead with them.
On the 10th of August, we started our journey by train. This was Vandebharat from Delhi to Chandigarh. We both were quite excited about our first Vandebharat journey. But, I mean a huge BUT, this was not what we expected. The train interiors were not that much good as we have seen in the online videos. As an automotive and rolling stock interior designer, my perspective for this train was not a proud node.
Soon we reached Chandigarh and moved to the hotel which was in the itinerary by Backpackclan. There we rested for a while, as tomorrow our journey was about to start for the mountains. In the meantime, we met Gautam who will be our trek leader, and guide throughout the next 8 days. So after having an introduction with all and having a good dinner, we took a nap and waited for the next day to start.
The morning was quite quick and we packed up our luggage. At the breakfast table, the bikers were given their respective keys and their safety accessories. But I was traveling in a more comfort zone this time, in an Innova, with my driver Dharam Veer, who is a very young but quite experienced fellow, who had explored the Spiti circuit multiple times.
Now at 9 am, the journey started, it was raining and the sprinkling breeze just made us mesmerized at the moment. The roads were first straight highways, then soon, they changed to curvy roads as we crossed Chandigarh and entered Parvanu. My happiness level was at its peak as after so many years, I again got a chance to visit Himachal Pradesh again.
The path started first towards Shimla, which is just the initiation of the trip or I can say initiation of the sight of mountains. My wife was very excited about the look at the mountains, so I asked her to stay calm as this was just a trailer.
On the way we passed Parvanu, then Solan, which is again the city view at the slant height of the mountain creating a fantastic feel of how people are living in a location like this and how enjoyable it is to have a view of mountains every morning.
Soon we crossed Chail and we moved towards the cloudy pathway. The pathway was not at all visible and it reminded me of my visit to Kasauli a few years back.
Basically, this was my first visit to Shimla, and it was much more beautiful than my expected. Similar to other cities of the mountain, it was also placed on the slanting face of the mountains.
While entering Shimla there was a tunnel at the start of the city, before the tunnel the aura was very clear, but as we crossed the tunnel, the aura was just another side of the coin. There was zero visibility and nothing was seen due to the dense clouds in the city of Shimla. Might be this is the reason and this is the view due to which people love to visit Shimla very often.
We were literally floating over the clouds which feels somehow godly obviously but also gives a feel of freshness that was not felt by people like us who are living in the urban jungle of cities.
The clouds were so dense that in traffic also we were not been able to see the number plate of the car in front of us. The moment was very fascinating, and more enjoyable when taking out head outside of the car to feel the fresh breeze.
Everyone was quite tired especially the ones who were on the bike. So we took a break multiple times, and sometimes we took a break so that we could click beautiful pictures of the backdrop of the mountains.
In the mid, we had a good lunch to fill our appetite, with a location so beautiful that we couldn’t control ourselves to click pictures and capture time-lapse.
After having all the fun, again we continued our journey get more from it.
Our next stop was a hotel ahead of Narkanda, which is also a similar hill station with the Sutlej River on one side and a huge tall green mountain on the other.
As we are the Himachal which is best known for its apple agriculture, so on the way after Shimla, there were apple gardens all over, with a net covering over it which can save apples from any environment or birds.
Our trek leader this time said, have patience, as these apple trees will be with you till the last day of your trip.
With all the amusing pathways and memories, we finally crossed Narkanda and reached our hotel and the bank of a ridge. As this was night time nothing was visible but I was expecting a beautiful valley behind it and waiting for the morning to come.
Now as per our itinerary, we had taken our dinner and now time to rest as the next day a beautiful morning with more beautiful adventures awaited us.
As expected, the next morning was one of the brightest mornings, with our stay at the valley and we were getting ready for the second day of adventure.
Soon we start from Narkand towards our next stay in Chitkul. The first milestone was Rampur, a serene mountain beauty with overflowing Sutlej at its banks.
We had some bike breakdowns, so we stayed for a long time there, and waiting for our full team to assemble.
After completing all repairing work, at 12 pm, we started towards Kinnaur, and in the midst, we crossed Jeori.
At the start, the name Jeori was like just another name in our travel, but it had a great impact in the upcoming hours.
On the way to Kinnaur, we crossed a beautiful waterfall, which gave us great happiness, so named Happy waterfall. We stayed there for a while to enjoy its beauty.
But the issue was in front of us, some 30m ahead of us. As we reached the Kinnaur checkpoint, the police asked us to stop. When we asked what happened, then they informed us of a heavy landslide in the Kinnaur region.
We were all suddenly in shock at what was going to happen next as today by evening, we had to reach Chitkul. But this is the time of afternoon, and we are still quite far away from Chittukul.
So we all planned to stay there near check post and wait for some further information. Our Gujarati bhai went to the happy waterfall and stayed there for some time and enjoyed the water coming from the mountains.
Kaushal just indicated me towards a temple which is down from the mountain. He asked me to let have visit the temple, but I thought going to the temple downwards was easy, but coming back was the hardest part which I thought my legs would not be able to achieve.
So he went there and grabbed some photos and drone videos, when he came back, I asked him how was the temple, then he said you are right. We should not have visited there as this is just a half-constructed temple and coming back by climbing. The mountain was the toughest part ever have done in my life.
After spending a few hours, we were quite tired and also discussing with Gautam. What to do next. The police said that it was not possible today to go there as the road was totally blocked by a heavy landslide and you had to go back from where you had come, so we decided to go back to Jeori and started searching for a good hotel. We will not be expecting very much, but at least get something to have a good night’s sleep.
Finally got to our hotel and then had some dinner walked to the roads of Jeori.
So this day ends like your feeling from inside that we didn’t achieve anything today. We have just traveled around 35 km from Narkanda and our Chitkul plan has failed.
As per our leader, we might not be able to cover the Chitkul as we didn’t have much time left, and we have to reach Kalpa anyhow by the next day, so we thought if the roads open early in the morning, then we would have our way towards Chitpur or maybe just touch it and come back and reach Kalpa.
So we all just wait for the night to complete and expect a new bright morning, which can show us how to continue our exploration and indulge more inside this Spiti.
