The Shimla traverse began from Gharola at the base of the Sutlej river and headed towards Taklech via Shrai Koti, over Sarota Ghati, Maral Kanda and Kushmulti Mund to cross the state border of Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand. Covering a total distance of 73 kms with 5700 meters of elevation gain over 4 mountain passes. The route goes through Sutlej river, Nogil Gad, Pabbar river and Rupin river.
Rampur to Taklech (via Shrai Koti), May 16th - 17th 2023
Trail head
Villages/Hamlets enroute
Night stay
We decided to take a rest day at Rampur on the sandy banks of the gorgeous Sutlej river. A bright sunny day made it perfect for a cold dip and basking in the sun, we washed our clothes, ate peaches and took a long seista by the river. After a full day of relaxing we reluctantly started walking towards the bus station in Rampur and caught an evening bus to Jarkhri, near Garola. We pitched up our tent at the Garola bus stand, not a great idea as the headlights and sound of passing vehicles on the highway disrupted our sleep through out the night. We rose at 5am, packed our tent and began our hike after a quick chai at the dhaba.
The trail starts from the Shimla highway up cemented stairs for 1000mts going through a few charming settlements with apple orchards all over the slopes covered in white nets. After the hamlet of Jumkari the route leads into a forest with meadows at 2600mts. We found some shepherds on the way who told us of the long journey they take in summer hiking from Khul to Pin Bhaba to graze their herd in Spiti valley for 6 months every year.
After spending a while at the pass we started walking down to Khul as our hunger grew rapidly from only having chai in the morning. We gulped down two packets of maggie each and rushed to a bus going to Taklech. A two hour bus ride with loud pahadi songs playing as it went down many hair pin bends along the valley. Everyone in the bus looked at my caucassian friend Gary like he was an alien, a sign that not many outsiders frequent this side of Himalayas. It was assumed that I was his local guide, giving a tour of India to this foreign tourist. I found this ammusing as the place and people was a totally new experience for me too.
We soon reached Taklech, a fairly well established town with an ATM, many shops and restaurants. The contrast in hospitality when you reach a touristic place is evident. People are reserved, suspicious and everything has a price tag. We asked around for a place to pitch our tent with no luck. Finally deciding to scout for a place on the outskirts, we came across a park by the side of the road which was perfect to pitch our tent.
The next morning Gary woke up feeling feverish, probably from previous nights dinner. We tried hitching a ride to Bahli, but the road was deserted. We walked up slowly until a car approached our way after many hours, the gentleman agreed to drop us till Tedha. After being dropped at the village we began walking uphill to the main road, Gary was visibly tired. A local in Tedha asked us where we were going and I explained our plan of hiking to Maral Kanda peak via Sarota Ghati. He saw the state we were in and insisted that we stay at his house to recover. Overwhelmed by this grand gesture we followed our host Kuldeep Thakur to his residence as he showed us to the guest room. His wife was an incredible cook serving us buransh juice made from rhododendron flowers which she said is good for recovery.
Gary rested in the room as I walked around the village admiring the peacefulness of this quaint little village perched up on the mountain with a magnificient view of Hansbeshan peak. The villagers of Theda were extremely friendly, we got invited to a few of their houses for chai. They informed us that it was the village festival that evening. Eager to see the celebrations we accompanied them to the temple where a goddess from a neighbouring village was being carried with musicians banging a hypnotic rhythm on the drums and others blowing huge horns (Ransingha). It was a special experience to witness the entire village come together for this auspicious occasion.
Theda to Dalog (via Sarota Ghati), May 18th 2023
Trail head
Villages/Hamlets enroute
Night stay
Feeling energised after a full day of rest at Theda village- we were ready to continue with our traverse. My hiking partner Gary recuperated from his fever thanks to the hospitality of the locals. We said our goodbyes to Kuldeep Thakur and his family, our heart filled with gratitude as we srated walking up apple orchads above Theda village towards the road to Chokaru. We had a short hike planned for today, so we walked at a relaxed pace enjoying the pristine environment surrounding us. The village of Chokaru is situated beside the road, we folowed the road for 4 kms towards Bahli until we reached the trail head to Sarota Ghati. Recent landslides had eroded the first 20 meters of the trail, but we could see a faint trail going uphill thanks to the shepherds that still use this route, with the survey trail as a reference we marched ahead.
The initial 100 meters was a steep climb through dense vegetation of pine trees. The trail soon cleared up to meadows with a clear wide path ahead of us, a short 2 hour hike lead us to Sarota Ghati, situated at an elevation of 2600 meters. There were apple orchads all the way to the top of the pass completely covered in nets to protect the produce from hail storms.
We descended down to Dalog through beautiful apple orchads. There were no restaurants at Dalog so we walked ahead to Narein and rested at a dhaba sipping chai while we waited for a bus. It was a clear sunny day and the villagers seemed to be making the most of it. Many older men gathered around the shop playing chess, another group played cards and smoked hookah. There is an infectious laidback atmosphere in many of these small mountain settlements.
Bus to Sungri soon arrived, packed with locals it seemed like we were the only outsiders in the valley at that time. Pahadi songs blasted through the speakers in the bus as we looked out our windows- the tire was only inches away from the edge of the road. Some of the bus journeys in Himalayas are more thrilling than the hikes themselves!
Sungri to Devidhar (via Maral Kanda), May 19th 2023
Trail head
Villages/Hamlets enroute
Night stay
My friend Gary decided to go back to Manali due to personal reasons after a week of hiking together. The adventure had just begun for me so I embarked on a solo trip from Sungri.
Maral Kanda is a well known trek among the locals in this area. Villagers come here with their family and friends to camp for a few days in the summer and enjoy their time outdoors. The hike can either be started from Sharan or Sungri. The route from Sungri is well marked with cairns and stone benches along the way.
Reaching the base of the Maral Kanda mountain I left my backpack under a tree and hiked up to the summit with a raincoat and snacks since I had planned to come back down the same way. The uphill climb is an amazing ridgewalk of about 400 meters, with the Pir Panjal range on the west and Chansal range on the west. The ridgeline from Maral Kanda extends to Jailanda and Maral Danda, all 3700+ meter peaks. I was greeted by buffaloes grazing at the meadows atop Maral Kanda, with nobody in sight for hours I thoroughly enjoyed the summit and treated my eyes to the wonderful panaromic views around me.
I sadly have no photos of the summit since I lost my phone while descending to Dumrera, a costly mistake which had me panickly looking through the forest floor for a few hours with no luck.
Accepting my unfortunate curcumstance I made my way towards Dumrera, zig zaging across streams and contouring along steep cliffs to finally arrive at Dumrera village around 5pm. I continued ahead towards Devidhar which was a 5km walk downhill. A restaurant owner at Devidhar heard my story of my phone mishap and offered to host me for the night. I hitched a ride towards Chirgaon from Devidhar and bought myself a basic used phone. The weather for the next 4 days was mostly cloudy with heavy rains in the evening. So I remained put in Chirgaon spending my time by the Pabbar river waiting for weather to clear up.
Chirgaon to Dhaula (via Kushmulti mund), May 25-26th 2023
Note: I missed the trail on the last 5kms to Dhaula, so the mapped route abruptly ends after the ridgeline.
Trail head
Villages/Hamlets enroute
Night stay
After few setbacks like losing my phone and experiencing 4 days of bad weather I was eager to get back on the trail. Getting stuck in a town is no fun at all when you have gotten used to being surrounded by pristine nature. The weather forecast on 26th looked clear, so I caught the last bus from Chirgaon to Kharshali, I was the only outsider in the bus. I kept my hiking plans to myself as locals sometimes do not share the same enthusiasm as you about exploring the outdoors, especially when you are alone. Which is why I chose to camp at a temple on the outskirts of the village. It was a pleasant surprise to find a beautiful pond around the temple which was a picturesque spot to spend the night.
Today's hike was a challenge with total distance of 30kms, 2000mts+ elevation. I was excited for the days hike as there was a high altitude lake on the trail called Saru Tal followed by a 11km ridge over many 4000 meter peaks which was on the state border seperating Himachal Prasdesh and Uttarakhand. I rose by 5am and packed up my tent and started hiking towards Jarkot. I was following a trail on the Survey of India map as this route had not been mapped yet. As I made my way to Jarkot the Chansal mountain range revealed itself, I could see Kushmulti Mund and Ratora in the distance. The snow covered peaks were almost flat on top and weather was on my side with the sky painted blue.
An old man who was taking his horse to graze spotted me filling water from a spring, after I told him my plans of the hike he invited me over to his place for chai. I had packed some aloo paranthas for breakfast which I ate with tea. The old man was curious about my route, he had hiked the same trail in his youth to visit relatives at Dhaula, it was a shortcut to get to Uttarakhand. There is a road that goes through Chansal pass now. We spoke for a while about our travels and the beauty of the mountains which we both appreciated greatly. He gave me yellow apples harvested the previous season from his farm for my journey ahead as I bid him farewell. These encounters with the friendly mountain folk was what I cherished the most about hiking in lesser known regions.
The path diverts into smallers trails going in different directions after Jarkot, probably being used by locals to transport log. I followed the widest trail going in the direction to Saru Tal, the vegetaion along the route is fairly sparse with meadows and alpine flowers at 3400 meters.
At 11-30am, after 1600 meters of steady climbing I reached Saru Tal. The stillness of the water body with the peaks reflecting on the water was a magical sight to behold. I took a short break there listening to bells straped to the horses neck as they grazed near the lake.
Although I wished to spend to more time here I still had another 20kms to cover by dusk, I hesitantly moved along making way up to Kushmulti Mund following the ridge. Snow on the ridgeline had melted creating a clear path to walk on thanks to a herd of sheep that must have gone up just a few days prior. Marvelling at the beauty around me I ecstatically hiked through the snow which was only ankle deep at most.
As I crossed over to Uttarakhand I felt a great sense of accomplishment that all the planning I had done paid off. I was covering ground at a good pace and had another 15kms of downhill ahead of me. On the way up to the peak I even spotted a fox! I paused for a lunch break atop one of the peaks to celebrate this special moment. An apple has never tasted that good.
The entire trail was devoid of any humans except for a few shepherds I met along the way. As the ridge was coming to an end I followed a trail heading downhill for 200 meters after which the path disappeared 5 kms before Dhaula. Using the survey map as a reference I hiked downhill on grassy patches of meadow. The terrain suddenly became extremely steep with dense vegetation of Rai and Kharsu trees. Even if there was a trail it had disappeared under leaf debris. Slipping and sliding along this steep face I tried looking for a more gradual slope using contour lines on the map, but many gullies and cliffs blocked any attempt of contouring my way across. I kept calm and pushed forward as the only refuge was getting down. I had another 1000 meters of downhill before I could reach the hamlet of Hadwari. After a grueling 2hrs in the dense jungle I spotted a farm a few hundred meters away, elated by this sight I rushed down. My body was aching and tired after almost 14 hours of hiking covering 26kms by this point. But I reassured myself knowing that the tough part of the hike was over. At around 7pm I reached Hadwari, I breifly stopped to get some biscuits and walked downhill towards Dhaula.
A mud road winds down to the Rupin river where Dhaula is situated. I checked into a lodge where an old gentleman cooked a wholesome meal of roti, rice, vegetables and dal. I gorged myself with this delicious food. Locals who had gathered around the shop were shocked and impressed by my long hike through the forest alone. They offered me locally brewed alcohol called gurr wine made from sugar cane. It felt great to socialise after a long day of hiking, I had a greater sense of appreciation for human warmth after experiencing the harsh terrain of Himalayas. The desi alcohol was strong and helped a great deal in relaxing my muscles for a good nights sleep.