I am
confused from where to start, but I have decided to write about my first
Himalayan trek experience, so I will write it in my own words.
After doing few treks in
Sahyadri, I had decided to see the scenic beauty of Himalaya. Hence I had
started to collect the information about Himalayan treks on internet. One of my
friend-Tina Kankariya suggested me to go with “India Hikes” for trekking. So I
had started collecting information about various treks on their website &
then decided to go for “Hampta Pass” trek which starts from Manali. After that
I have asked my friends & colleagues about their interest for this trek, response was
not so good. But still I decided to go alone if no one is ready to come with me
for trek. Then I just asked Barkha whether she is interested or not, she said
yes. But her Mtech exams were in June, so we had decided to book the trek in
June last week. Ranjeet & Chaitanya also joined us for trek. So in this
way, 4 of us finally decided to trek in beautiful & scenic Himalaya.
25, 26 June 2016:
We had a flight from Pune to
Delhi at morning 7.30 AM. We reached Delhi airport around 9.30 AM & started
doing time pass at airport, roamed around the airport. Chaitanya started
reading the book. We got bored after sometime, especially me. Then we decided
to go out & roam in Delhi. We took Ola cab & then went to “Connaught
Place”. There we found “Paradise” biryani, we just went inside & had a yummy
veg & chicken biryani. It was just 2.00 PM after finishing our biryani
& we had our bus to Manali at 6.00.PM. So what to do for next 4 hours, this
was the question in our minds, hence Chaitanya suggested to visit “India Gate”.
Immediately we took an auto & went to “India Gate”. Delhi’s temperature in
June end also was too hot, we were sweating all over, frustrated by heat.
Finally we got one place to seat under one huge tree. We just thrown away our
bags there & took a small nap. One cute little squirrel was playing there,
so Ranjeet captured her photo:
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| Cute little Squirrel: captured by Ranjeet |
We had packed our bags around
5.00 PM & then went to bus stop to catch the bus for Manali. We reached
Manali next day around 10.30 AM after having a journey of 16.5 hours. Our hotel
“Nihal Cottage” was pretty away & on hill side from mall road. But it was
worth to stay there. Huge pine & maple tress on hill were visible from
hotel room, scenic beauty visible from room’s window was awesome. Everyone was
hungry around 11.30 AM, so we took brunch & then had a nice afternoon sleep
of 2-3 hours. We had to go for “Briefing” session in Nature’s Park around 5.00
PM, so we left hotel at 4.30 PM. We reached there, but unable to find Nature’s
park’s entry gate. Two guys approached us during search of park’s entry gate:
"India Hikes India Hikes” they asked us. They were Sanket & Meghnad
from Pune & Hydrabad. So we got two more trekkers from India Hikes. Finally we called our trek lead “Soumya
Mitra” & then he gave directions to us for coming inside the park. Soumya
introduced himself to us as a trek lead. Soumya has 6.2 feet height, dusky skin
tone, bright & smiling face & energetic personality, this is how he is
& he was our trek lead for next 5 days. He gave us briefing about this
trek, reason behind the Manali name & then asked everyone to introduce
there selves. After that, Soumya told us to call him "SJ", because he
is Bengali & his name’s pronunciation is “Shomu, but people called him
“Soumya” which he don’t like. Hence he suggested short-form of his name as “SJ”
which everyone likes. So “SJ” became our trek lead. One more person was present
there with him- Tanmay: chhota packet bada dhamaka” I will say these words
about him ;). SJ showed us about bag packing for Himalayan trek, after that
Tanmay distributed trek things which we ordered online from “India Hikes”
website. Mind was so doubtful & full of mixed feelings about the trek while
coming out from park. People came from different regions like Delhi, Mumbai,
Bengal and Bangalore for this trek, talking in different languages, strangers
for me. I was so afraid whether I can mix-up with these people or not. But you
will get its answer at the end of my blog ;)
27June 2016: Jobra to Jwara:
11363 feet, 4 kms
We
reached to Rambagh Cirlcle of Manali around 7.00 AM. All team gathered there
around 7.30 AM Indian time ;). Then we started our journey towards Jobra in
tata sumo. Raghvendra Naik & Jyoti introduced them selves to us in this
journey. Our trek was going to start from Jobra which is 1 hour away from
Manali. This road has sharp 40 hairpin bends, each bend has given number &
its height in feet. There was complete fog in valleys & environment was so
soothing & cool. We had a warm tea after reaching Jobra, because everyone
was shivering due to cold. Everyone gathers around our trek lead “SJ” after
having yummy breakfast of puri-bhaji. He again gave us information about
today’s trek trail & told us about difficult level in it. Today’s trek was
bit difficult, since it’s a first day of trek & as usual we don’t have that
much of physical strength due to lack of exercise. Also trek was started from high altitude of
9800 feet & it was around 6 hours of trekking; so it is obvious difficult
for beginners. I had already made my mind that whatever will happen, I am not
going to give up, I have to complete this trek; because it was challenge for
myself. I & Barkha has offloaded our bags, Chaitanya & Ranjeet decided
to carry them.
We
started our trek by taking our day pack bags & camera. There are pine &
few maple trees in the trail, some ascent & some descent, some flat trails
& beautiful river was flowing from side. River water was so much pure than
Bisleri water ;)
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| Team crossing small pool & Much pure water than Bisleri ;) |
One nice song came to mind while
walking through this trail: "मंजिल से बेहतर लगने लगे है ये रास्ते". After
few time, there was one difficult ascent with huge rock patch, I just remember
“Torna” fort rock patch that time. After crossing this rock patch, we took some
rest for lunch. Evreyone has kept their bags on grass & started having a
lunch. We had a Himalayan “Momos” with bit spicy chatni & 2 bananas for
lunch. I washed my tiffin after lunch & took some rest by sitting near one
rock. Mules (who were carrying our bags) were enjoying green grass just aside,
I was so tempted to take their photograph & I finally completed my wish:
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| Mules at their leisure |
We again started walking after
taking some rest. We have to cross one river just before the camp site
location. Everyone has removed their shoes & tied them to bags to cross the
river. After keeping my first feet into the water I came to know about its
coldness & I just screamed. I lost my sensations of having legs for few
minutes after coming out of water. After that, we just again wore our shoes
& started walking towards camp site. We reached Jwara camp site around 4.00
PM, India Hikes team has already pitched nice orange colored tents for us.
Campsite was so beautiful & surreal, background covered with fog &
mountains. I was unable to control myself to capture it in camera:
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| Beautiful camp site: Jwara |
Everyone
was drinking hot tea after reaching camp site, I just took my cup from bag
& drank a nice warm tea. Happiness for me is having such a warm tea in such
a cold environment & at beautiful camp site surrounded by mountains with
fog. Tanmay has allocated tents to all
of us after having a tea. It was decided that 3 persons will stay in one tent.
So I, Barkha & Ranjeet took one tent; Chaitanya, Sanket & Meghand
stayed in another tent. After taking some rest in tent, we had a hot, yummy
soup around 6.30 PM. SJ took everyone’s oxygen reading before dinner to check
oxygen level of body. Then everyone was so hungry to eat tasty dinner after
such a hectic day. You cannot imagine of
having such a delicious food like roti, sabji, dal-chawal & yummy sweets
when you are in mountains. Outside temperature was around 15-16°C, but due to
heavy winds I got fever. So I decided to have just Dal-chawal instead of
skipping the dinner. I told to “SJ” about my fever & he suggested me take
one crocin tablet. He has again checked my oxygen level, it was 92-well above
minimum required which is 80. We just went inside the tent & fall asleep
immediately in our sleeping bags due to whole day fatigue.
We woke
up around 7 AM & There was a rain when we woke up in morning. Then we went
for tea & after that Tanmay gave us demo of packing sleeping bags. We had
packed our sleeping bags after our breakfast, did cleaning of tent & got
ready for trek. We wore our ponchos due to continuous raining. There were huge
stones & water of snow melt was flowing from side. We found yellow, purple
& pink colored tiny beautiful flowers in a lush green grass during the
trail. We have taken halt for few time after walking around 2 hours. We took
hot tea & biscuits at that place & did some photo session. Huge stones
were kept one above the other in structured way, it reminds me of playing one
game in childhood. We called it “Nigorcha” in Marathi, where you have to strike
down maximum stones (total 7) in one throw of ball. So I captured it to remind
myself about sweet childhood memories.
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| Stones Pyramid |
My
stamina was getting reduced during walking in high altitudes. People those were
walking fast were far ahead. Neha-Aravind, Raghvendra-Jyoti were walking slower
than me & I was walking alone in middle. I remind one sentence (said by my
close friend) that time: “Struggle to stand alone & walk alone”. So I was
walking with a peaceful mind, in which so many thoughts were running at same
time. We reached to camp site around 2.00 PM while enjoying the beautiful
nature surrounded by mountains. Camp site location’s beauty was increasing day
by day & today’s location was “Balu ka Ghera”. I was able to see our final
destination or target from camp site-Its Hampta Pass. We had a lunch at camp
site itself, because today’s walking trail was of only 4 hours. “SJ” and Tanmay
told us some rules while trekking during mountains at high altitude. We need to
cover our head & keep ears open during trekking. Because ears are sensing
points which gives message to brain that we are going on high altitude. So our
brain gets ready for less oxygen at high altitudes. But we need to cover our
ears along with head after reaching to camp site. Also we need to wear shoes,
so that cold should not enter into the body through legs & we can prevent
illness. Don’t sleep after reaching camp site- this is one more rule. Today’s
trek duration was short, so we had enough time after lunch. So we did lot of
fun activities; especially Raghu, Swaroop, Ram, another Raghu, Rakesh, Ranjeet,
Jyoti, Shefali & Tanmay did various stunts of jumping in air. We had group
photo session as well in various poses. Then “SJ” gave demo about usage of
oxygen cylinder in case of emergency. After this, Tanmay showed us- how to
carry the person on your back from ascent to downhill in case of emergency. He
made net by using rope & asked Ajit to insert his legs in it & carried
him very easily on his shoulders & back. After this, he showed us how to
make stretcher from ropes. He asked Preethi to sleep on this stretcher, Raja
(Preethi’s husband) was so tense that time & Swaroop was doing his
leg-pulling. After doing these fun activities & demos “SJ” told us to play
one game. He told us to sit in round, Raghvendra Nagesh gave place to “SJ” for
seating. Then “SJ” told us about game- he said, we don’t know each others names,
so everyone has to tell their names along with one adjective & next person
will tell previous person’s name plus his own name with different adjective.
After hearing this, Raghvendra Nagesh was so afraid that he has to remember 27
people’s names along with adjectives. So this is start of game & our “Special Chhabbis” team became busy in
playing this game. All team member’s names are as follows:
Rocking SJ, Cool
Ajit, Crazy Suparva, Confused Anindo, Happy Monalisa, Funloving Rajiv, Chilled
Raghavendra, VT Jyoti, Sleepy Megha, Sarcastic Rohini, Observer Shefali,
Exceptional Tanmay, Fainting Rakesh, Super Swaroop, Dashing Raghu, Frozen Neha,
Adventurous Arvind, Fastest Shital, Puzzled Barkha, Dead Ranjeet, Mesmerizing
Chaitanya, Hungry Meghanad, Flamboy Sanket, Rebel Ramshesh, Lazy Preethi,
Composed Raja, Jonty Raghu & Suman (sorry I forgot your adjective).
We had a
lot of fun in this game & we started knowing each other very well now. Then
we had yummy hot soup around 6.30 PM by chit chatting with each other. I had
lot of gossip with Bangalore group in this time. Everyone in trek group was so
different, but each of them has their own inherent qualities & common goal-
Hampta Pass ;) Dashing Raghu told me that he did 2 Himalayan trek earlier – Har
ki Dhun & Kedarkanth. This was his third trek, he was so enthusiastic about
trek. He told me about his trekking experience. I remember his sentence- he
said- You face lot of challenges in first trek, you became habitual to it in
second trek & you start enjoying these challenges from third trek. It was
so meaningful & true sentences by him. Then one handsome guy came to me (he
was Swaroop) - asked me where I do my studies, I told him I am working dude.
After that “Jonty Raghu” started taking my interview- what degree you have,
where do you work, which software you are using for design, what products my
company sells, etc etc. I gave all information to him while finishing my soup.
Then after finishing this question answer session we had a dinner & yummy
sweet- Gajar ka Halwa. We went to our tents & fall asleep to wake up for
next day.
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| Dining tent at Jwara camp site |
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| Indrashan Tip visible from Balu ka Gera camp site |
29June 2016: Balu ka Gera to Shea
Goru via Hampta pass: 14100 feet at hampta Pass to 11800 feet, 10.5 kms
We woke
up at 5.00 AM & started to wrap up our morning routine. Today was difficult
day, we have to walk around 8-9 hours till 14100 feet. We were ready to leave
the camp site around 7.00 AM, kitchen team gave us packed lunch of 2 parathas
& boiled eggs. So, our “Special Chhabbis” team was ready to cross
the Hampta pass, in fact to rock the Hampta pass. We had a lot of bit
difficult, tricky & dangerous patches in today’s trail, so “SJ” changed the
team structure. Those are walking slowly were leading the trek today & fast
walkers were at last, so that trek will be completed by team not by a single
person. Finally our trek started in this manner, fast walkers got bored due
to slow walking, but they don’t have any other option. So they started singing
songs while walking & gossiping to enjoy the slow motion trek. We have
taken a stop to drink the water at one place, “SJ” asked to everyone whether
anyone is facing any issue or problem while trekking. I had a little headache,
so I informed him. He advised me to take water mixed with electrol powder. My
headache was continuously increasing along with increase of altitude. Now I
have nausea & omitting feeling while trekking. Ajit took my day-pack bag,
so that I can walk easily. Now we reached to first snow patch, my headache has
crossed beyond my patience. We were around 13100 feet at that time. I had a
feeling of dizziness, then SJ checked my oxygen level. It was below 80, but he
didn’t told me. He just gave me “Diamox” tablet, so that my oxygen level can
increase. I drank water & started walking again. Everyone was enjoying snow
& throwing towards each other, I was able to see them; because I had energy
to walk only. But I had made my mind that whatever will happen, I am not going
back, I have to complete this trek. Even my body is tired, but mind not, so I
have to keep my will-power strong enough. Every time either Tanmay or “Rocking
SJ” was with me to keep me motivated. Here Dashing Raghu, Jonty Raghu, Super
Swaroop, Fainting Rakesh, Rebel Ramshesh from Bangalore group helped me a lot.
Jonty Raghu gave me dry resins to eat which helped me to increase glucose level
in my body & I can walk. These guys are super crazy, they cheer up me by
shouting my name –“Shital Shital” while walking. Dashing Raghu told me about
success of Marathi movie “Sairat” & how he liked it most. He also requested
me to sing the “Yaad Lagala” song after reaching to camp site. Super Swaroop-
the craziest person was singing old Hindi songs with his own invented lyrics.
He was singing one song: “Gulabi Aankhe, yeh tikhi najre”. I was like, Ohh god,
from where yeh tikhi najre came into this song. But I decided to keep mum &
to correct his lyrics after reaching camp site. So with all this fun &
gossip, finally we finished walking till second snow patch. We reached to 13700
feet & took break for lunch. My headache was continuously increasing, I
felt like my head will burst now & brain will come out. “SJ” forced me to
eat something, after eating one paratha bite, I stopped eating. I took
groundnut chikki from bag to eat. “SJ” told me that it’s his favorite, so I
gave it to him. Tanmay also came to take chikki, because chikki was his
favorite too. I felt better after eating chikki, then I drank some water. After
lunch, can you imagine what Frozen Neha was doing at 13700 feet high altitude,
she was applying either pink lipstick or lip balm on her lips to keep them pink
;) OMG, What a energetic girl she is, also continuously talking during the
trek. We started walking again after taking some rest, then we reached third
& last snow patch. We crossed third snow patch & finally reached
“Hampta Pass” after some time. Tanmay & “SJ” were greeting everyone after
reaching Hampta Pass. I felt so happy, that I forgot my headache, nausea,
dizziness for sometime. My face was brightened with satisfaction of reaching
hampta pass- highest altitude point of trek. I was feeling happy, because I
haven’t gave up. Then we had a group photo by holding “India Hikes” poster in
our hand. Everyone was screaming & enjoying the moment of happiness. Anindo
& Ram also captured this moment in their DSLR. I took few selfies, Dashing
Raghu was happy that I am finally smiling while taking selfie. He told everyone
that finally I am smiling while taking selfies. So after our photo session we
started trailing down.
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| Happiness after reaching Hampta Pass |
Pass
means narrow region which joins two mountains & we had already crossed it.
Now it’s all descent, so my headache was bit reduced. Now Barkha was scared,
she has phobia of descent. Sunil- one of the local trek lead hold her hand to
descent down. Descent was bit tricky, so everyone was helping each other to
come down. We reached to last patch of snow, where we have to slide down for
around 70 feet on sharp descent. There was a river with very heavy flow just
after the descent, so landing breaks are so much important in this slide.
Tanmay asked Ravi to give us demo of sliding down on snow. Meghnad asked me
whether I am going first or shall he go. I told him that I am going first.
Everyone was so amazed that this girl was unable to walk an hour back & now
she is going first to slide down. Tanmay told me how to apply the breaks by
using elbows & push me to slide down on snow. It was lifetime &
memorable experience for me. Everyone reached down after crossing this last
snow patch & we were reached to camp site around 5.00 PM. My headache,
omitting feeling has not stopped yet. So finally I puke, Barkha gave me water
to drink. I felt better now & had some groundnut chikki again. I took one
saridon given by SJ & slept for 1 hour. Other people were playing “Dum
Sharaj”, I really missed that game & lot of fun too. Professor Megha has
invented new movies – Chudail ne tale knoon mein pakode & Madam Mary ka
naya chhata, Rakesh did excellent acting of chudail & ranjeet tried to
identify as an angel, lol. We had a yummy dinner after this game & hot
gulab jamun too. Everyone slept early after dinner due to cold & whole day
fatigue. Mountains & water looks beautiful in a daytime, but it looks so
dangerous in night time when I woke up for short break.
30June 2016: Shea Goru to Chatru:
11800 feet to 8000 feet, 6 kms & then drive to Chandratal lake-70 KM from
Chatru- 14000 feet
We woke
up around 6-7 AM & got ready for trek. SJ has to go back to Manali for some
urgent work. We had a group photo with him & then we said bye to him with
sad mood & heavy mind. I felt like family head is leaving this trek half a
way. After group photo SJ has crossed the river very easily & went away
from my eyesight. I decided to do at least one more trek with SJ again while
watching him going away.
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| Group photo with Rocking SJ |
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| Rocking SJ- Trek lead |
We have
to cross the river today, which has ice cold water & it was so deep till
our knees. Tanmay told us to make the chain to cross the river. I came to know
about coldness of water after entering into it. Water level & its flow was
increasing once we started crossing the river. Finally we crossed river by holding
each others hands. We lost our sensation of having legs for 15-20 minutes after
coming out of water. We were jumping on grass like Kangaroos to create some
heat in body.
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| Team crossing the river with ice cold water: captured by Anindo |
After few
minutes we wore our shoes & started our journey towards Chatru.
Today’s trail
was complete descent, so Barkha was walking by holding either Sunil or
Ranjeet’s hand. I was enjoying descent trail, while taking photos of beautiful
mountains & nature. I was collecting memories of this beautiful trail in my
mind. We were able to see Chatru’s road & our camp site after walking for
two hours. But we have to descent a lot & walk too. We took some rest at
one point & had a group photos in “MJ” s pose; started our journey again.
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| MJ's pose photo just before reaching Chatru: Captured by Anindo |
We had
some difficulty in walking due to harsh sunlight & heat, so drinking water
was fished early. We reached camp site finally around 1.00 PM & had our
lunch. We took necessary things like water bottles, jacket, wallet etc &
started our journey towards Chandratal Lake in tata sumo. Road was so uneven
with large stones & pit, I was unable to understand that stones are in
between road or road is made through stones. Our one cab’s disc brake caliper
pin is slipped, so driver was unable to apply front wheel brakes. It took
around one hour to repair it, so people had a photo session over there. We came
to know about Ranjeet’s hidden photography talent over there. Swaroop was
seating on front seat due to nausea, but he got bored after sometime, so he
went in another cab where Jonty Raghu, Dashing Raghu & Rakesh was seating.
We finally reached Chandratal Lake around 5.00 PM after this hectic journey of
70 KM. Lake is just at 10-15 minutes walking distance, this is told by other
people to us. But actually it was 30-40 minutes away from car parking &
again at high altitude of 14000 feet. I again had a headache, so I called
Tanmay & took one crocin tablet. VT Jyoti give me water to drink, I felt
better after that. Tanmay asked me whether I want to see lake or not, I said
yes, I want to see the lake. I again made my mind to go towards the lake to see
its scenic beauty. So I started walking towards lake by holding Tanmay’s hand.
Chilled Raghevndra met us during walking & gave me “Perk”, so I felt much
better after having chocolate. Now I can see the lake clearly, so I took some
photos of lake. Lazy Preethi & composed Raja were standing there, she asked
me to come down with her. Because everyone was enjoying lake view at downside
& we want to go there. She took my camera & hold my hand to descent at
lake. She took my care just like elder sister. These stranger people to whom I
met on trek 2 days before are behaving so nicely with me with love, care &
affection. I felt so good for this humanity of these people. Again we had a
group & solo photos, jumping stunt photos of Dashing Raghu, Jonty Raghu,
Super Swaroop, Faitning Rakesh, Mesmarizing Chaitanya & other team members.
Chandratal Lake looks so beautiful & surreal because of reflection of
mountains & sky in it. But we were unable to see this view due to sunset.
Finally we left from Chandratal Lake by storing its sweet memories in our
minds.
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| Beautiful moon shaped Chandratal lake: clicked by Ram |
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| Chandratal lake's scenic view: clicked by Ram |
1st July 2016: चतृ ते मनाली
प्रवास:
Today was
last day of our trek & I woke up around 5.00 AM. We got ready to travel to
Manali early morning. After some time, Tanmay asked us to stand in round &
started distributing trek completion certificates to everyone. After that he
gave us medal to those people whoever collected maximum plastic waste in their
Eco-bags. I like this initiative of “India Hikes”. Super Swaroop, Composed Raja
& Fainting Rakesh got these medals. At this time, craziest person Super
Swaroop said that, I will show this medal to my dad. Because he was saying to
me in childhood: “Padhayi nahi karega to bada hoke kachara uthane ka hi kam
karega. To mein unako abhi jake bolunga ki kachara uthane ke liye bhi medal
milata hai”. We had a group photo session before leaving the camp site.
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| Everyone is happy after completing the trek |
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| With Bangalore group-my favorite :) |
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| With Bangalore group |
So this is how I have completed
my first Himalayan trek with new & unique experience; having a very special
bond of friendship with these guys. We said bye to each other by promising of
having one more trek together. We said bye to each other definitely to meet
again, to make new sweet memories, to do trekking in Himalayas & to do a
lot more new things.
We
stopped for tea before Rohtang pass. There we came to know about Rakesh’s
marriage in November & we made plan for a trip to Bangalore. We came to
Manali via Rohtang pass, this road was with full of turns & its scenic
beauty was increased due to fog. So I captured it in camera.
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| Temple just before the Rohtang Pass |
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| Rohtang pass road with beautiful turns |
We
gathered again at Manali bus stand to meet “Rocking SJ”. We finally depart away
by greeting to each other & after meeting our trek lead- Superman SJ.
This was my
experience about Himalayan trek. I did trekking first time with new &
stranger people (Now they are not stranger for me) & completed challenge
given to myself. Also my will power has increased due to this trek, because I
haven’t gave up even my physical fitness was very low at high altitude. So my
will power has increased for doing more Himalayan treks, at least once or twice
a year. This is my new resolution.
