It’s McLeod Ganj this time, which is 10 KMs uphill from Dharamshala. With this trip log I present the last of the Nostalgic Moments series, in which I traveled with my friends with everything planned, with booked rooms, no places in mind to see just the destination was known, an unknown tourist without any knowledge of the place, where everything was supposed to be a holiday with least preference to adventure. But, as everything has it’s own significance so did these trips which were as good for me as today’s trip which are full of adventure and unknowns :). It was a great pleasure sharing these trips with you guys and I know the friends involved in the series did really liked them. If any chance you missed the previous trips, here is a list below.
Well as I told you throughout the series, I didn’t recall much of the moments and would be sharing mostly the pictures but of course it was a 3 day trip in June 2007 to beat the scorching heat of Delhi Summer.
Trek to Laka Glacier…
It was again same Manali group with one alteration, a long weekend trip and we left from my house with lots of joy and pleasure on one Thursday’s night to reach McLeod Ganj in the morning. Delhi to McLeod Ganj is around 530 KMs approximately and takes about 11-12 Hour. There was one Hotel Sahil, if I remember correctly, where our stay was planned. It was just near the end of Mall road and very near to famous Dalai Lama monastery which is a must see of the place. After resting for couple of hours once we reached McLeod Ganj in the morning, it was time to leave out and check the place.
The first target planned for the day was trek in the woods behind famous Bhagsunath Temple from where one path leads to Triund Trek and other one goes to Dal Lake through the woods ( no no, 😉 not Srinagar one). So, we asked our driver to drop us as far as possible near Bhagsunath Temple. WOW!! The drive was just super amazing and scary once we got off track. The driver had the capability to conquer the difficult roads even in Qualis, but soon the point came where the car just refused to ascend and we prayed to god and asked driver to drop us here. We will cover the extra distance by trek only :lol:…
We reached the temple, had some prayers and went the trek in the woods….Here are the pictures…
This is me at Trek starting point…Bhagsunath Temple
Trek in the woods of McLeod Ganj…
View of some towns through the Mcleod Ganj woods trail…
Dal Lake of McLeod Ganj…
Well that was it pretty boring Lake and disappointed to see it after toiling through trek so much :D. It was time to go back to hotel buy some booze and relax on the terrace to rest. We did the same, in the night we visited the night club there but again unluckily not allowed to enter the music due to some private party ;). It was enough for us and no one had the mood to search more, so we decided to dine there only. Next morning we had to leave early for Triund Trek.
After having Aloo Paranthas and cold coffee early in the morning at the same food point where we had lunch last day, we left for the trek. Again, first step was to reach Bhagsunath Temple from where the Trek to Triund (2827 Meters) starts. The trek is around 9 KMs and takes about 6 Hours for lazy guys like us to reach. It was awesome experience but heat was getting it’s toll in the month of June even at the height of 2500 odd meters approximately. We had multitudes of stops in between and were really easy going. You will find lots and lots of foreigners on this trek and more of them staying at Triund, obviously in camps :D. You need to book the FRH at Triund from Forest Department office at Dharamshala (01892-224887). Keep in mind if you don’t have any bookings at Triund FRH do take your camps. There is only two rooms available at the top rented by a locale but don’t count on it at least in season time. Here are some lovely pictures of the trek…
Trek to Triund from McLeod Ganj…
Some views from Triund Trek…
Maggie stop at Triund Trek…
Rest time at Triund Trek…
Foreigners enjoying the Triund trek…
First view of snow…Laka Glacier ahead of Triund…
Beautiful Triund…
On the verge of death :D…
Eagle at Triund…
After resting and seeing the environment, views there it was just an awesome feeling. It was time to check the accommodation and we had no idea. One thing was sure that no one was ready to go back and no one could have :lol:… Well incidentally being wise our friends sent me and one of my other friend named gaurav (kullu) to ask for the rooms and negotiate. Well we showed our foolish wisdom in such a manner that even when the only two rooms that existed there were available, we foolishly opted for only one big room for nine of us just to save Rs 200 by mathematics :shock:…The decision was surely shocker and no one realized it till the nightfall.
That was done and everybody was happy with the decision!!! We enjoyed some lunch there and contemplated the peaks in front of us. Then 5 of us stood up and said we will go trek to Laka glacier, 3200 Meters high, base to feel the snow in June :D… Out of 9 4 declined and five of us went on towards Laka Glacier to see some snow…It was an approximately 4 KM trek
Trek to Laka Glacier from Triund…
Deep gorges aside trek…
That’s the second wise man…he is just about to jump :)…
A stop for Tea and Maggie…
Laka Glacier…It’s close now…
Difficult part of the Trek…
Difficult part of the Trek…Finished…
Some tiny flowers on trek…
Time for some fun on the trek…
Washing face in icy water of melting snow…
Laka Glacier…We reached at the base…
That’s Laka Glacier high and up from base…almost melted…
Melting snow at Laka Glacier…
Sun is setting…time to go back to Triund…
Well after playing some what in snow and totally exhausted, we started the trek back towards Triund…We knew that it’s late and probably it will be too dark when we will reach Triund. But, we were positive yet exhausted :)… First thing was to have some tea where we stopped for Maggie. There we lot’s of foreigners camping so we asked them for match box, if we get too late. None had but one generous gentlemen gave us his lighter. We saw so many people camping aside this trek as the sun went down and down, but none of them was Indian. We felt we were the only idiots who did a long 17 KM trek in a day 🙁 just to see hard/black melting ice and some snow.
We reached in extreme dark and the only path of light to follow was fire down at Triund and we knew it was us. We were greeted by our friends with some booze and to our surprise to foreigner girls resting in our room were asked to clear it as we came by one of our friends :shock:, well frankly they were nice and pretty :lol:…but that time we needed rest more than anything. Unluckily there were few anti-social elements present just in front of room who kept drinking and shouting the whole night 🙁
The night was horrible with extreme cold and almost zero sleep. Few of our friends slept outside 😯 It was then we realized that we had taken wrong decision when opting for one room. We should have taken two :)…But, nevertheless it was time to head back to McLeod Ganj.
Early morning views at Triund…
The only two rooms at triund where we slept…
Walking back the Trek to Triund…
Early morning and McLeod Ganj is still far away…
Finally after reaching back McLeod Ganj we quickly went to the hotel and had some breakfast. Then we slept like horses for next few hours :lol:. It was Sunday and which we enjoyed there fully, did some shopping, slept and left for home next early morning to reach home at Monday evening.
This ended yet another trip and the Nostalgic Moment series traveled with some great friends with loads of fun.
8 Comments
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Hello dheeraj
Iam planning a trip to mcleodganj from 26th to 29th march i had several queries in my mind and i appreciate if you answer them
Can i able to see snow in triund
What are the charges of tent in triund
Dev, there will be some snow leftovers ahead of Triund towards laka glacier if you can trek to it.
hey Dheeraj we friends are planning for a trip on 8th of July, is the road safe to travel as we will be travelling during night, keeping the fact in mind that monsoon is just round the corner and is leaving on thursday night and returning on sunday sufficient as we cannot spare one more day.?
Yes Surbhi, mostly the roads are fine to Mcleod Ganj. Do check the weather updates before leaving for sure. In case of heavy rains, there is no point going ahead and locked up in hotel only.
Hi Dheeraj, i am planning a solo trip to Mcleod Ganj this December, most probably i would be leaving from Bombay on the 20th. I have heard that most of the shops, hotels…are shut this time of the year. Do you think that’s the case? Also, is it the right time to go considering the weather?
Dhruv, Mcleod Ganj is all time, all weather tourist place and do not shut down as such. Some shops might close but it shall be fine to visit.
Hello Dheeraj,
Please help me in planning my trip of 4 days (7th Aug to 10th Aug) for Dharamshala and Mcleodganj from Kurukshetra. Will it be safe to travel during this time? We are planning to book volvo tickets, please suggest.
Please advice good budgeted hotels also.
Thanks in advance,
Himanshu
Himanshu keep a check on weather as monsoon gonna coming in full flow in coming days. You can check with Pink House for the stay. Regarding plan:
Day 1 | Reach Mcleod Ganj and rest for the day
Day 2 | Around Mcleod Ganj local
Day 3 | Visit to Palampur tea gardens may be or again rest in around Mcleod Ganj. There is a 4-5 Hr trek to Triund but considering rains and limited time I feel you will not be able to do 8-9 Hrs up and down in a day.
Day 4 | Return. In case you have evening volvo to catch this day you can attempt the triund trek previous day and reach back by 11-1200 Hrs to get the evening bus from Dharamshala