Har-ki-doon valley Trek

It’s a matter of debate, whether post monsoon period is the best time to go for trekking. You will find the greenery, the rivers, the waterfalls, the possibility of sighting wildlife/birds very very inviting. But the general damage to the roads, treks and night shelter is a nightmare. One of my co-trackers opined ‘the level of odds, adds to the excitement.’

All said and done the Har-ki-doon trek as well as the approach roads through Garhwal are simply out of this world. The sheer beauty and the all around greens will simply mesmerise you.

EOD an enthusiast will always find a reason to go, either which ways!

Trekked in Aug’06

Enthusiasts : Ashish, Praveen and Palu

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11 hours 400+km via Saharanpur, Dak-patthar, Purola.

The best part of the drive is around Purola when you drive through a wide  green valley and the stretch alongside the river. Check out the pictures.

We crossed Netwar and were still 11kms from our destination TRC in Sankri. Came across a road block with half the road washed away. There was no way that our scorpio could have crossed it. There was a jeep on the other side which was ferrying passengers to another point ahead. We quickly unloaded our stuff and parked it in custody of a local shop owner.

The jeep took us some 6-7 kms and we had to get down as there was another road block. The remaining 4-5 kms was done on foot i.e. the adventure started a day earlier.

The next day morning we left some of our luggage at the TRH and engaged a porter for carrying some of our luggage.

Started 6 am in the morning. The initial stretch had many points where the entire trek was washed away. The villagers had carved out chalta hai path for crossing over but for us it was quite scary. One of the crossing was some 50m across and it had a steep fall of 500 m to the river flowing down. While our guide ran across it, we took 15 minutes making our footholds and grabbing the hanging rocks for crossing. To date I shudder thinking about that stretch.

The second half we ascended higher from the river level, there was a lot of greenery and stretches which were steep.

Crossed a small hamlet where we were surrounded by childrens, shared our biscuits and chewing gums before moving on.

Somewhere before Saur around 5pm it started drizzling, We found a local house after 15 minutes walk in the rain.

The villager offered us homestay, giving us one room in their house for Rs 500. We cooked our own food (that’s why the porter).

The sky also cleared up and gave us nice parting evening shot.

The morning trekking to Taluka was alongside the river and track was in good shape. A dog from the village started accompanying us and wouldn’t go back. The river was at full flow and you can see it making lots of mist, with its water hitting the rocks at high speed.

Taluka has a GMVN FRH. The caretaker was missing, we asked the porter to check for him in nearby village. Meantime we enjoyed the scenery and river at Taluka.

The caretaker came after half an hour and told us that due to rains and damage to the track the GMVN RFH in Har-ki-doon is closed and there is no one there.

Now in 2006 there was hardly any communication between these FRH’s and the GMVN authorities. It was such a big disappointment that there was no one to inform and guide the tourists. Cooked our lunch and we decided to head back to Sankri.

The last pic shows that scary stretch where 50m trek was washed away. This time round we climbed up and crossed it over the damaged area.

Trust you me w/o a proper path, the incline and slippery grass, even that was a hair raising experience.

Reached the TRH by 6pm. Was a 12 hours day out for us and we were dead tired. Had soup and bun and dozed off.

With a day to spare, we decided to go to chakrata for a night. It was 135 km through Tiuni which we covered in 5 hours (rukte/rukate) photoshoot ke saath.

Stayed at Jain sahab ka bangla. It was crowded bcoz of 15th August holiday and extended weekend for Delhi-wallahs.

Next day it was back to Delhi.

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So this one remains an unfinished agenda.

Picture abhi baki hai mere dost.

Magar jani agar trailer itna haseen tha to puri picture to ekdum jhakas hona mangti hai.

Shall come back soon…….

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