Triund, Mcleodganj, Masroor – A Travelogue

To Triund – Mountains were calling.

December 2015, last few days of the year and my birthday was near.  Birthdays are special to everyone and just like most of the people I’ve been celebrating it the same monotonous way so far.  Going out for treats, taking a day off from work and pampering myself. Off course, Birthdays are to be celebrated and why not? Its the day, we become part of this huge and marvelous world of ours but isn’t it boring to do similar things every year, again and again? Indeed, It is.

I wanted my birthday in 2016 to be out of the ordinary, far from the world and different from all the previous birthdays, being as close as I can get to nature and peace, hence my trek to Triund became a reality.

After a week of discussion & research, I and my roommates finalized The Triund Trek for our 2016 New year and my birthday celebrations.

Dauladhar Range of Mountains

What Research?  Here you go:

1. We checked Youtube videos to see if the place is really worth.
2. Read a couple of blogs and travel websites, to get an idea about the place, routes, and any possible challenges.
3.  Researched about nearby places, hotel prices, and their availability on several websites like Tripadvisor, Makemytrip, and what got us gripped was the amazing pictures from Inderjit Singh.
4.  Discussed with colleagues and friends. “You never know, someone might suggest you a good place around. I got to know about Masroor Temple near Dharamshala from one of my colleagues.”

New year in an HRTC Bus.

And the Adventure Begins…..

31^st December 2015 around 11:00 PM, just an hour before New Year, we started off to Dharamshala from Chandigarh taking our seats in a Himachal Roadways bus (Tickets – Not more than ₹600/person). The bus wasn’t a luxury one but with reclining seats it was comfortable enough to fall asleep during the night. We started our New Year in the bus few kilometers outside Chandigarh, heading towards a great adventure.

DAY 1

At around 5:30 AM the bus reached Dharamshala, it was still dark and quite. We witnessed lights uphill and all around, coming from several houses. After inquiring from people present at the bus stand,  we moved toward The Masroor Temple. The first local bus which started at 7 AM from Dharamshala dropped us at Ranital, followed by a walk of about 2 km and we were at our first destination.

Rock Cut Masroor Temple

Rockcut Temple-Masroor

Walking towards Masroor Temples

Located around 40km on the outskirts of Dharamshala, Masroor Temple is one of its kind in Northern India. It is probably the only rock cut temple found in this region of Indian. The temple has a unique architecture and its carved out of one single rock. Locals mention this place to be as old as from the time of Pandavas. The temple is extremely out of the city buzz and gets very few visitors.

The Masroor temple has a gorgeous viewpoint and we were able to observe bright blue sky covering the mighty Dhauladhar range of mountains, a pure delight to the eyes. The atmosphere too quiet and peaceful was almost like a cherry topping on an ice cream. After staying for about an hour at Masroor Temple we started back. We took another bus towards our next destination Tatwani.  “It wasn’t on our list but our interaction with locals made us aware of it and we planned to check it out.”

Top view – Masroor rockcut temple

Tatwani- Hot Water Spring and Temple

Introduced by locals and bus conductor on the way to Ranital, Tatwani seemed a place that we didn’t want to miss. After getting back to Ranital from Masroor Temple we took another bus and asked the driver to drop us at Tatwani.

River and view near Tatwani

Our last night journey followed by all the physical workout so far made our bodies tired and sleep was gripping us everytime we found a comfy seat and that’s what happened next. After asking the driver to drop us at Tatwani, all of us fell asleep at our seats. We woke up hearing a loud noise and it was our conductor telling us that we need to get down from the bus and we have reached. The conductor told us that Tatwani was right down the hill. “Which was literally true but not that simple as it sounds!“

Crossing river to reach Tatwani

As we rushed out of the Bus getting ourselves back to full consciousness, we realized it wasn’t that easy and I had a voice in my head saying ”This is going to be fun !”. Turned out that we had to cross a stream of a river to reach there. Tatwani was down the hill but on the other side.

It wasn’t a conventional way to Tatwani and we were the only humans up on this side of the hill. However, from the top, we saw few people near the river and that was comforting. We made our way down the hill through bushes and rocks and looked for the place where banks were closest and not deep, tied our shoes to our bags, pulled up our pants and crossed the river.

5 minutes walk and we were there. Tatwani has an ancient Hindu temple with a hot water spring, it also has a small canteen to settle some hunger. We dipped our feets in water spring and it was soothing.  All this took almost half of our day and we decided to move back to Dharamshala and further to Mcleodganj. “This included walking 7-8 Km  and then boarding a van to MCleodganj”

We reached MCleodganj around 6:30 PM and started looking for a place to stay. It wasn’t a tourist season and many options were there. We selected ‘Yellow Guesthouse’ which was closer to market and charged us around 700 in total for 2 rooms which were decent enough to stay. We explored the market, had dinner and came back to our rooms to sleep.

Day 2

At around 10:00 AM we were on our feets after having breakfast.  Hiring a cab from Mcleodganj Bus stand (which charged ₹400)  to cross Dharamkot and to drop us at Gallu Devi Temple, the place from where the trek begins.

Starting the Trek

The Mcloeadganj view

Starting the Trek –  Towards Triund 

Gallu Devi Temple is about 12 km’s from Mcleodganj and from there it’s easy to notice several groups of people going up and returning back. The trek is about 8 Kms and seemed to be a moderate one  (depends on your company, though it was easy for me and most of my friends). Which can be covered in 3-4 hours if you have an average paced and take fewer breaks. It can take around 6 hours if you are not habitual to long walks and would be taking many breaks.

We reached to the top in around 3 hours and 15 minutes even after making few stops for tea breaks. The entire trek has a rocky terrain with rocks pointed upwards and going there with flat shoes, formals or sneaker is not a good choice. There are few steep curves and at times we encountered slant heights to climb up, which gets tougher once you are about to reach the end point.

Triund

Mighty mountains

On reaching the top we stood mesmerized with the view around us. There were a clear sky and a huge mountain range covered with snow in front of us. It was sunny and bright but we could still feel the chill in the air.  Triund is vast and it’s easy to see a lot of camps up there.

Right after we reached the top, we spoke to people at the shops up there and got ourselves a Tent for 4 along with sleeping bags (cost – ₹1500). We kept our bags in the tent and came out to explore more about the site. At around 6 we viewed the sunset. “it was a genuine pleasure for our eyes, mind and what not. “Watching Sun getting lost somewhere between two horizons is a precious experience.

Night view of Mcleodganj and Dharamshala from Triund

Camping at the top – Triund

The night was supported by a sky full of stars and it was the best sky I have ever seen in my life. Beautifully lit with stars scattered all around, it felt like a sheet of shiny sparkles covering our head in the dark. We had our dinner at one of the tent shops, gathered together were other fellow travelers we spoke to few of them, heard some of their stories, danced with some of them and enjoyed the gathering of known strangers. In the night it got very cold and our sleeping bags did come to our rescue.

The morning was beautiful and more pleasant. It was quite, cool and had a beauty that’s hard to put into words. After having our morning tea and enjoying the Sunrise I tried to capture and gulp down the beauty into my eyes as much as I could before we started back to Mcleodganj. That view and feelings are tough to describe. It was one of those moments which you re-live every time you of thing of it. Something that you keep in your memories and cherish throughout your life.

Back to Basics

Started back early morning around 7 AM, we were able to reach down in about 4 hours and took many breaks in between to enjoyed the view wherever we can. We spend some decent time at Mcleod ganj, checking out the market and eating street food. In the evening we boarded the bus, back to Chandigarh.

Putting feet to rest

Here are some important tips which I feel one should always consider whenever planning for a Trek.

What should you be carrying?

Since its trekking no matter how much fun it is, one should always have some primary commodities which might come handy in case of any emergency or mishappening. “I would recommend taking along below mentioned few things always when you are heading for mountains.

• Warm hoodies and sweaters (Because it will be cold and chilling during nights.
• Pair or warm socks (cold feets makes people fell sick faster than cold upper body, so avoid it)
• Good n strong Boots (Treks can be a ruthless strain if your shoes don’t fight the terrain).“Make sure you go with Boots, probably of Brands like Redchief, woodland, Lee Cooper which are really good to trek up such a terrain.”
• Raincoats (Because it rains frequently on mountains)
• Torch (You won’t get street light up on trek and hills)
• Chocolates/Snickers (Emergency diet and energy supplement or just for taste 😉 )
• Small Knife (Multipurpose)

These things cover almost all that you will need to safely do the trek.

Things to do and what to avoid?

• Make sure to check the connectivity and timings of buses to your destinations. “You would like if you get stuck for a night at one place.”
• Speak to 3-4 locals about places to make sure you are going right.
• Avoid over eating and oily food (some people might have issues while breathing and some might feel like throwing up).
• Try to start early in morning, a trek is safer be done in daylight.
• Be careful and don’t try risky things like shortcuts and following new trails.
• Keep cash with you, don’t trust ATMs up in mountains.“You won’t get much, anyway”
• Make sure you tag your bags and they are easily identifiable.

• Don’t litter, keep your garbage with you and maintain the beauty of nature as it is supposed to be.

Treks are fun and adventurous, they make you realize your strength, nature’s beauty, and supremacy. Going out and traveling is exciting and a great learning experience. Go ahead and take your time off from tiresome office cubicles and computers. Life is much more, makes sure that you are careful, responsible, smart and courageous for new adventures…..

Stay curious and it will take you places!