First Hike in Himalaya
I remember how eagerly I searched for Triund Trek long back, when I saw one of its pictures for the first time on some travel portal. That day I made a promise to myself to visit Triund whenever I visit Mcleodganj in Himachal Pradesh.
As the heat scorched up during the month of May 2019, I along with my travel buddy (@nikunjsavla) decided to pack our bags and head towards our dream. We first explored Mcleodganj and Dharamshala & then started our journey towards Triund. It was a good 4 hour trek. This trek offered us the panoramic views of Bhagsu village, Mcleodganj, Dharamshala valley, and distant views of Shivalik hills, as well as the plains of Kangra valley.
The trek started from the Gallu Devi Temple which is situated in Dharamkot. From our hostel it was a 1hour walk to the temple. We started our trek at around 1 in the afternoon. The weather was pleasant as we were in the hills. There were many break points wherein we could refresh ourselves with some lemonade and snacks & the view from each of the points were just spectacular.
As and when we climbed towards the summit, we encountered some snow which came as a surprise during the last few steps. The last 1 hour stretch was probably the steepest and the path was full of slippery stones. The view with which we were greeted after reaching the summit was completely surreal and mind soothing making the 4 hour trek totally worth it. We could see the beautiful sun setting behind the Dhauladar ranges. After capturing some memories in our camera and gopro, we set up our tent, ate our dinner (Rajma Chawal) and slept comfortably in our cosy tent as the temperature was dropped to 7°C. We missed the stargazing session as the clouds had taken over the sky.
Next morning we got up early at around 6 in the morning to witness the dramatic sunrise. After having an egg omelet and tea, we started to descend and we reached the base by 9:30 in the morning. It was altogether a different experience for both of us as we had one of the trek ticked off from the bucket list and was our first ever trek outside Maharashtra.
PS: Do watch my youtube video of the Triund trek as the link has been mentioned in the description (@travel_with_kapil)