Dalhousie — Trekking to the lap of Himalayas
This year, Dalhousie Winter Trekking Expedition made me travel to this beautiful mountains of Himachal Pradesh for the 3rd consecutive time.
Dalhousie is a popular hill station situated in Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is located on five top hills and surrounded by snow capped peaks of Himalayas. Many Hindi films, including 1942: A Love Story, Vinashak, Gadar, Lootera were filmed here.
Each year around 2000 participants take part in this trekking expedition from Invincible NGO. Being an integral part of this NGO, I have been travelling to Dalhousie since last 3 years. My experience of 3 years contains many unforgettable memories with nature, participants, local people, and Invincible instructors.
I have been to Dalhousie in December or January. During this time this place shines with snow covered mountains, dense green forest, ice cold atmosphere and regular snow fall! The temperature is been around 7°C during day and -5°C at night time.
The trekking starts from Pathankot Railway Station after 28 hrs long train journey from Ahmedabad.
Day 1: Acclimatization Day
Dalhousie is at an altitude of 6500ft. Acclimatization is necessary when we have long days of trek. First day is free day, you get chance to visit the localities, taste food and explore market. There are many places which we can visit on this day, such as Gandhi Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Church, Panchpula, Chamera Lake, or even roam in Market.
I like sitting at the hotel, enjoying these beautiful range of Himalayas and quietness of this place.
At night, it’s mesmerizing to look at the shining stars. How clean the sky is! Being here I realized how much polluted our city environment is! In our city, we barely see such vista!
Day 2: Trek to the village of Wooden Huts
On this day we start the journey towards Kalatop. The best part of trekking is taking shortcuts through forests & hills. By taking shortcuts, we pass through the dense deodar, pine and fir forest; seeing forest from inside, hearing twittering of birds and many more.
After 7km of trek we stop at Lakkadmandi Village for a small break. If you ever get a chance to visit this amazing place, I recommend not to miss the tea, coffee & maggie here. I dont know whether it was the joy of eating them in the icy cold weather or was it! Most importantly have a conversation with kind hearted localites. Lakkadmandi has a small snow ground.
Initially, we start playing with show, but being Gujaratis, it always ends with Garba! 😜
From Lakadmandi we enter in the area of dense forest. This the place of bear, Himalayan Black Marten, leopard, deer, Barking Goral, squirrel, serow, jackal, langur. Don’t worry you won’t be able to meet them until it’s night time! Kalatop is another 3km away, but trust me it’s 3000m. Yeah, you would say it’s same. But only experienced ones will understand this!
We reach to Kalatop at around 2pm. After Lunch, we have an access to Adventure Park developed by our local guide Jagdishji and his team. You may enjoy activities such as zip-line, rope climbing exercises, obstacle courses and zip-lines for recreation.
At Kalatop the accommodation is in wooden huts. The night is too cold. These wooden huts always keep us warm, even in February when the temperature drops to -10°C. I was amazed to find that they make us feel more comfortable than our regular concrete buildings in the city. And the night stay there, I can’t elaborate my feelings in words. This is one of the reason I like to visit Dalhousie again and again!
Day 3: Height Gain to “360° view”
Looking at the marvelous creation of Mother Nature, I felt everything went still. This view has played a crucial role in my constant visits to this place and I believe it will be continued.
I suggest you to wake up early this day (5am or check the forecast). We would see the Pir Panjal Range right from our huts. When sun rises, these peaks turn from orange to yellow to snow white. It’s lifelong memory to see this shining peaks.
We start height gain to Dainkund Peak along with our packed lunch. That is 6km of trek having height gain of around 1,200 ft, tougher than the previous one. Below Lakadmandi, the snow on the road melts due to continuous vehicle transportation. But in this route, we find more snow covered areas to play snow games with our beloved friends.
Finally there is steps to reach at the peak at the end for 200 m. On reaching Dainkund Peak, we will be able to see the full view of the surrounding mountains — western edge of the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas. This place will reserve lifelong spot in your memories.
Standing at the height of 9600 ft, holding the tricolor flag; it feels like we’ve conquered the world. That is a proud moment in itself.
At night, it’s time for Campfire. Best time for Invincible Stories, playing Antakshri, knowing experiences and feedback of participants is Campfire. There are only two things in our mind, the campfire in front and the sky above.
Day 4: No-trek route to Mini-Switzerland
Khajjiar sits on a small plateau with a small stream-fed lake in the middle that has been covered over with weeds. The hill station is surrounded by meadows and forests. It is about 6,500 feet (2,000 m) above sea level in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges of the Western Himalayas and peaks can be seen in the distance. It’s 12 km of roadway to reach Khajjiar from Lakadmandi.
On 7 July 1992, Mr. Willy T. Blazer, Vice Counselor and Head of Chancery of Switzerland in India brought Khajjiar on the world tourism map by calling it “Mini Switzerland”.
Khajjiar is the only place I’ve seen where bright sun, a lake and snow ground meets.
This year I got a chance to try paragliding at Khajjiar. It was fantabulous. I saw an aerial view of the forest, the giant Shivji Idol and the glider above me. I had conversation with pilot on his different experiences of gliding. This memory still gives me goosebumps every time I think about it. I would love to re-live those moments!
The total trek is about 22km. Every day is better than previous day. We return back to Dalhousie.
Day 5: Way to Lassi of Pathankot
We have 2–3 hours to explore the Pathankot market. Pathankot’s market is famous to buy best quality army items, clothes, shawls, shoes and wooden art furniture as gifts for your beloved ones.
For lunch and sweets I suggest you to visit “Bikaner Sweets” and “Bhilla Di Lassi” less than 1km from Pathankot Railway Station. Bikaner Sweets is a good place to have lunch or dahi-vada, chaats, samosa and many delicious dishes. While I always want to have special Malai Lassi by Bhalla’s Lassi.
Best Memories at Dalhousie
- Sky full of stars
- Sitting quite and enjoying the beautiful range of Himalayas
- Panipuri, Momoz, ice-cream at Gandhi Chowk
- Passing through forests, that cool breeze of trees, and shining sun
- Sunset — orange sky
- Sunrise with snow covered peaks turning orange to yellow to white
- Trekking in Snow
- Snow games, sliding, snow fight with friends with snowballs
- 360° view at Dainkund
- Knowing new people and making new friends
- Pathankot’s Lassi
- 28 km of trekking in a day (it’s not part of this camp, we took another special route for wandering in forest)
- Going from Lakadmandi to Kalatop @ 7pm — Dark Forest Night with Varun Trivedi
- Most Important — Trekking!
I love travelling! I have been travelling a lot since past 4 years. Travelling gives me the time to read, to see new things, to taste different food, to meet new people, for sabbatical, and have some adventure. Most importantly travelling brings me closer to my inner self. I get time for introspection, to plan for future and make important decisions. This is how I love myself more!
Dalhousie is the only place I have traveled thrice. Still, I am looking forward to go to this place again and again.
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Photos by: Deep Vadaliya, Mori Rushirajsinh , Jayveersinh Solanki, Harsh Mangukiya, and many more Invincible Volunteers…
