My First Trek!

Triund Trek

This was my first no-parents trip. Though I have travelled to many places with my parents, this was a different experience as I went there with my cousins.

Preparations

The place and date of travel was decided almost a month ago, so all the preparations were on time. The place was Triund, Mcleodganj, Himachal Pradesh. As the place was cold, we had to buy warm clothes. We decided to do some shopping at Decathlon. It has a wide variety of clothes of every need and budget.

About The Place

Mcleodganj, is a hill station situated in Himachal Pradesh, India. It is around 500 kms from Delhi. If you are taking a road trip, it will take around 9 hrs to reach there. Temperature in Mcleodganj ranges from 15°C to 32°C. The average temperature is around 15°C. The place surely needs warm clothes as one will find cold breeze during any time of the day.

Leaving From Home

We decided to take on a road trip through bus. We decided on the evening of October 21st 2017 and the time was 7:30 PM from ISBT Kashmere Gate, Delhi. It took us around 1:30 hours to reach there by Metro.

En Route

The bus left around 07:45 PM and reached Haveli Restaurant, Ambala at 10:30 PM, where we had our first stoppage. We took some light snacks like coffee and biscuits and we left in the next 30 minutes. The next stoppage was a small Dhaba/Restaurant on the outskirts of Himachal Pradesh. The time was around 02:30 AM. 

We reached Dharamshala at 06:00 AM. It was very cold there. The temperature was a chilling 18°C, so we had to take out one more jacket.

The destination was Mcleodganj, so we took a taxi to cover the remaining 6 kms. It took 45 minutes to reach there as the road was under construction. Be aware about the fare as the drivers charge a bit too much for a small distance. 

We found a small hotel there to have some rest, freshen up, and have some breakfast.

The Trek

Starting point of the trek was 300 m from out hotel. We hired a person to take our tent and other things up the hill through a person we knew. There is a check post at the starting point where any person of the group have to give some details and an ID proof, for security reasons.

The trek looks like a very difficult one in the starting itself. You will find many co-trekkers on the way and if frank enough, you will surely make some new friends. The trekkers come from all around the world, so you will find people of all kinds. But most of the co-trekkers are kind hearted and helping. 

We started the trek at 11:00 AM. The trek has numerous spots from where the view is astonishing. The steps are a bit steep and sometimes slippery too. You'll need to have a pair of shoes with good gripping.

There is a small cafe midway called "Best View" owned by Mr. Hemraj. It is situated on a small hill top. The food there is budget friendly and tasty too.

So it completed the trek a bit late. We reached the Triund Hill at 04:00 PM so it took us 5 hours to complete a distance of 6.5 kms.

Just when we reached the top, it started raining moderately. So we took a shelter inside a nearly stall. Just in a matter of 15 minutes, a parallel mountain was heavily covered by ice. 

Temperature dropped drastically from 18°C to 10°C. When the rain stopped, we unfolded our tents. Since we were a group of 5, we took 2 tents. One was a bit larger than the other. The hill top was full of colourful and beautiful tents, one after the other. There were 3-4 stalls for refreshments like biscuits, chips, tea-coffee, maggi etc. Prices of these items are a bit high, but are satisfactory at such an elevation. We were very tired by then. Learning that the tents were very warm from inside, we immediately fell asleep. It was small nap and we all woke up after 15 minutes. Watching outside, the place was filled with complete darkness. No lights except the ones from individual tents. People were sitting outside their tents and I could listen whispers. It was 06:00 PM by then and it was time for our dinner. The person who brought our tents, had prepared chicken. It was a small cemented room with kitchen attached. As there was no electricity, we had to eat under candles. It was a bit scary, but was thrilling. We completed eating by 07:00 PM and went near our tent. We could see tiny lights shining from Mcleodganj city. The sky was shining too. It looked like diamonds were spilled in the sky.

Then we lit a bonfire to warm ourselves. We listened to songs. 

And yes, THERE IS NO NETWORK COVERAGE THERE!

We went inside our tents by 09:00 PM and immediately fell asleep. The zip of my sleeping bag was not closing, but somehow I managed and to my surprise, it was warm enough.

Next morning, we woke up around 06:00 AM. The weather was chill and later on, Sun came up. We took a walk around the hill, had some coffee and maggi. The stalls open up very early there. We had bought some cup-noodles and ready-to-make coffee. We somehow managed to get hot water through one of the stalls. We clicked some photos there as the morning view is very over whelming. We had breakfast, which included Omelette and Maggi.

We never wanted to leave that place. It was so beautiful and peaceful there, but we had to. We left the hill around 09:00 AM and reached the city at 01:00 PM. Coming down is not as tiring as trekking up, but is more dangerous.  

After returning back to the city, we all got freshen up and left for the Shiva Cafe. It is situated en route Bhagsunag Waterfall and at a distance of 5 kms from the city. One has to trek there too but it is well maintained, so steps are provided for ease. Shiva Cafe is known for its simplicity and uniqueness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbFVe2bBgTJ/?taken-by=vanshsatyarthi7 

Inside the cafe, there are no chairs, and you have to sit on mattresses and eat. There is wide variety of food items available and taste good too. It is a limelight especially for foreigners.

 At the back of Shiva Cafe, there is shortcut that leads to a part of the waterfall. You need to climb down a dozen of stairs and there you'll find fresh water running down.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcDqEKmBM55/?taken-by=vanshsatyarthi7 

Completing our food cravings there, we again left for the city. It was 6 PM by then. The bad news was that we had to leave for Delhi that day. Having a couple of hours for the bus, we decided not to take a taxi and walked all the way down. We reached McLeod in 45 minutes and did some shopping there. Then it was time for our bus, so we took a taxi from McLeod to Dharamshala bus depot. Reaching there on time, we get to know that bus is late by 01:30 hours. We had to wait there and took some snacks for the route.

The bus took off and had its first stoppage on the outskirts of Himachal, at 11:00 PM. The second stoppage was at Murthal at 03:00 AM. We reached Delhi by 06:00 AM the following morning.

You can find some of the photos on my Instagram page :
https://www.instagram.com/vanshsatyarthi7/

Overall Expenses

The overall trip is not much expensive. If you manage the trip smartly, it will not fetch you a hole in the pocket. expenses were as follows:

• Ticket : 800/- to 1200/- per person. Depending on the bus company.
• Tent : 1200/- to 1500/- per person.
• Food : 500/- to 1000/- per person.
• Return Ticket : 800/- to 1200/- per person.

So it takes around 3300/- to 4500/- per person, which is moderately fine.

Where To Book Tickets From?

You can purchase tickets online rather than physically. It will save you time. Himachal Tourism has its own mobile application - HRTC app link through which you can purchase tickets. There are other third party applications available too like - Paytm and RedBus.

Some Tips

• Don't eat too much while in the bus. This will lead to vomiting
• Book AC buses if possible. Conditions of these buses are much better than Non-AC
• Don't hurry up while trekking or coming down
• Always carry a blanket with you
• Try to book your tickets in advance
• Take emergency lights
• Pick some medicines

Thank you :))