A walk you should take at least once in your life !

So I make sure I visit the Himalayas every year basically to connect to myself and I get the best and really important thoughts that are going to drive me that year. I love trekking because the huge mountains me feel really insignificant and makes my problems seem little and helps me look at things in a much better way.

This was the third time in the Hills and was amazing to see people recognizing you and interacting with you with a lot of love. This year we went with a Trek in mind, a 15 Kilometer hard trek to Khir Ganga.

Khir Ganga is at 3050 Metres and is the last village in the Parvathy Valley. It’s one of the most beautiful spots I have been to during my travels and once you do the trek, you feel really great about yourself and it’s a sense of achievement that you can definitely add in your life’s resume.

We were a group of 5 and all of us were beginners and was doing such a long trek for the first time.

So here’s what you need to do when you leave from Delhi. Catch a bus from Majnu ka Tilla to Manali and get down at a village before Manali called Bhuntar.

From Bhuntar, take a bus to Barshaini the last motorable spot. You should reach here before noon if all goes well. From here, you need to buckle up your bag pack and head to Pulga which will be your base and you can find rooms there at even 200 Rs a night ! We stayed at Hotel Devraj because we had become friends with the owner last year and also Bandari Ji who who loves to wear bright orange kind of a suit people wear on ships/ construction sites.

After a good night sleep at Pulga, we kept our bags in the room and, we started the trek to Khirganga by 9 AM first headed to Calga grabbed some food and then to Khirganga. Calga is a beautiful village too and would love to stay there.

From Calga, there is a 10–13 Km walk through the jungle. The advantage of Calga route is since you are walking through the pine trees, the sun won’t make you tired. There is another route from Barshaini as well, but it’s better to take the route while coming back.

We never thought the trek would be so intense. It taught us a lot of things, To believe in the team, Be together and believe in each other when we take wrong routes, understand ones weaknesses better and to top it up, it gave us a sense of understanding of how insignificant we are in front of nature and was a real eye opener.

The terrain is incredibly messy at times with slush so ensure you have proper trekking shoes with extra pairs of socks. Also you will have to walk through waterfalls which can be really scary and you really need to focus ! One wrong step and you will be gone for ever. This was one of the riskiest treks I have ever taken and I remember at a point we all got lost and was wondering what to do and in the end made it a funny moment and laughed our guts out imagining our situation thinking of various spheres we all come from and where we have ended up and finally managed to get back on track.

Well that’s life. You have to make the best moments out of every situation life throws at you and here you realize how to solve issues that will keep you alive because you have to reach the destination before it gets dark or the danger becomes 3x it was during the trek.

So we managed to pull our socks up and at a point we felt we did really a long distance and felt like we are almost reaching. We asked a fellow traveller how long to Khirganga and he said 2 hours more.

At this point our fatigue levels were really high and the climbs were getting to be steep. But the brain was tuned to the destination. There was no way we are going to give up !

We reached the waterfall on the left and thought wow, this is it. Wished each other pleasantries as we felt it could be the last time we meet and all of us managed to cross it safe in one piece.

Around 1 hour after the waterfall, we were almost there after really steep climbs and the terrains had become really mushy because of the rains and made us slow as we were careful not to slip while trekking.

We kept drinking water from water falls as we knew it would be the safest and purest form and trust me it felt really fresh and energetic.

I still remember when we finally reached the destination the kind of feeling that we had. The sense of achievement of having done something, even though there are lot of crazier treks. We felt this one will be close to us. Not many do it and the ones who do it, big respect to them !

Finally we reached Khir Ganga. The amazing hot springs makes you feel completely rejuvinated and ready to take on life ! It makes the trip totally worth it with views that could split your brain into 4 ! The best walk I have taken in my life. Everyone should do this atleast once in life. Live it ! ☺

So what are you waiting for ? Pack your bags and discover yourself ! ☺