Finally, out of office..Week 2 (Thirthan Valley)

I made a good start in the first week, met a friend and visited few places in Madhya Pradesh and also went to Agra to see Taj Mahal. The sadness of leaving family behind is still raising few questions, but I am treading along. At the start of week two, after wrapping up my visit to Taj and making a stopover at  Chandigarh, I entered the lower Himalayan region. Next day, my plan was to reach up to Mandi in Himachal, but a thunderstorm led me to stop at Sundernagar, few Kms short of Mandi. Night was spent quite comfortably as rain brought down the temperature quite a bit.

My first main stopover in Himalaya was Thirthan Valley, a valley in Himalayas that derives its name from the river that flows through the valley. The place has a distinct charm with quite a few old Himalayan homes adorning the mountains around. The white smoke coming out of the roofs of these houses adds another dash of colour in the already colorful landscape of the valley. The entire valley is filled with music of Thirthan gushing down the valley, as if in a hurry.

I reached Sai ropa (5 Kms short of Gushaini) little after noon and spent some time making lunch. Post lunch when I went for a walk, I found a small dhaba and went there to get something to drink. Little did I then realize that it will not only be my home for next three nights, but I will have fantastic company of Rahul and his family who run the dhaba there. I had an amazing time at this place. First evening Rahul took me around, he showed me a trout fish farm and took me to the river in the evening. He was fascinated by my car and wanted to check out everything in the car. We made a deal – if he lets me play cricket and volleyball with him and his friends, I will go and drop him to the school in the car. He was thrilled by my proposal.

During nights, Rahul and his family used to leave for their home which was a short walk away and I had only the countless stars for company. Next morning, I decided to go for a walk  to Gushaini. It turned out to be a 8 Kms walk. In the afternoon, Rahul’s father arranged a guide for me who took me to Chhoie waterfall, a steep trek of couple of Kms. The waterfall was spectacular, hidden till the very end in the canopy of trees and mountains. Monsoon must be the right time to see this waterfall, but I was not disappointed at all. There was enough water cascading down and filling the surroundings with mist that was so refreshing after a steep hike in the sun. One could sit there and soak in the scenery for hours together. I decided to return after spending an hour.

The third day in Thirthan was reserved for the trek to Great Himalayan National Park’s (GHNP) gate. GHNP is a UNESCO world heritage site and this title was awarded due to its outstanding contribution to biodiversity conservation. It was 9 Kms (one way) of absolute bliss. The trek is easy without much elevation change and the trail runs along the Thirthan river.  Inside the national park, there are several treks most of which are multi-day treks. While I had lot of time at disposal, but the cost for multi-day treks is significant and therefore I just returned from the gate. Suresh, the same guide who took me to Chhoie waterfall, also was my guide for the GHNP gate trek. We went for this trek at 6 am and returned by 3 pm, exhausted but very pleased.

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On the way back, I bought couple of trouts from a fish farm for dinner. When it was time to make the  meal, my car was surrounded by kids of all ages (some really grown ups) who probably were wondering what I am up to. Three days of togetherness saw us sharing our meals on my last night there, I gave Rahul and his sister trout and they offered me chicken dish that Rahul’s family had made for themselves.

Next morning I decided to leave but not before fulfilling the promise. I dropped Rahul and his sister to their school and we said goodbye to each other. More than them, I was happy to be able to give them this short ride.

My next stop was Jhibi, a small town 25 Kms from where I was parked for three nights, but on the way I decided to do a small trek to first Shringa Rishi Temple and then further up to Chaini Kothi, an impressive tower made of wood and stone. It is the tallest standing structure in all of Western Himalayas.

I reached Jhibi little after 3 pm and went to see Jhibi waterfall, just 500 mtrs walk from the main road. The waterfall was nice, shorter than Chhoie waterfall, but equally beautiful.

In the evening I decided to treat myself with a nice dinner and went to a local cafe. Surprise surprise..found Rs. 26,000 lying on the bench on which I sat. Apart from me, there was a foreigner sitting at the other end of the cafe and a family was just leaving from the opposite bench when I entered. I decided to keep the money (wasn’t ready to trust the cafe staff). I parked myself outside the cafe and kept looking out if someone comes there looking for something. Finally, after 30 mins found a man coming out of the cafe looking perplexed. He was soon joined by other members of his family (the same family that was leaving when I entered the cafe). I decided to ask him what he is looking for. The money belonged to him and I gave it back after doing some basic inquiries. The family thanked and the man immediately sent me Facebook friend request. I met them next on Serolskar Lake trek where he introduced me to other members of his family and they took pictures with me. I must admit, it was a nice feeling and  for a moment, I felt like a mini celebrity. The feeling was definitely worth more than Rs. 26,000.

Like my routine these days, next day I woke up early and started for Jalori pass, a mountain pass which is just at 10000 ft. However, I had just covered 4-5 kms and it started raining and the entire area got engulfed in thick clouds. I decided to  park the car and wait for the weather to clear. After waiting for couple of hours and utilizing the time to make breakfast, I again started for Jalori pass. Unlike the other mountain passes that I had seen before, this one had lot of green cover.

There were couple of treks that I had on my mind which start from Jalori pass, but I decided to go for just one of them – Sarolskar Lake. It is a small lake that lies at a walking distance of 5 Kms from Jalori Pass. I started little after noon and soon found myself in a thick forest that had mist all around. I must say that walking alone in that forest was little spooky. Much to my relief, I found a family (couple and their six month old daughter) coming from the opposite direction. Since they also didn’t see anyone on the trail, they were feeling scared to go ahead. From then on, we gave company to each other and the young girl, for the duration of the trek, abandoned her family and became my trek buddy.

The lake was beautiful with hills and tall deodaar trees all around it. There was a small temple too on one of the small hills next to the lake. After the trek got finished and it was time to bid adieu to my trek buddy, she was visibly sad! Such is life, we meet so many people, grow fond of them only to not meet them ever again! The night was spent at Jalori pass, my first night at any mountain pass.

Want to sign-off with this picture:

From here on, I head to Spiti….