Hello Hivers!
I hope you all are doing well
So today I'll be sharing my experience of a trek that I did back in 2021 along with two close friends of mine.
So the trek we went to was Yulla Kanda trek ,located in district Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh
Kinnaur is one of the 12 districts of Himachal and is well known for it's snow capped mountains and the famous Kinnauri apple.
Reason why we chose this trek?
I mean who wouldn't get intrigued to visit this place seeing the pictures?
So it was me who proposed the idea to visit this place
Back in 2017 while randomly scrolling through my IG I came across a picture of Yulla kand and at that very moment I decided to visit this place once in my lifetime.
Later when I showed my friends the pictures even they were tantalized.
Planning:
So the planning part was a bit extra this time , we had to plan a lot of things before this trek
You may ask why?
Let's not forget the year we went on this trek was 2021 and just a year ago the entire globe was suffering from the COVID 19 virus' outbreak.
So we even had to get ourselves tested so as to show the results to the officials concerned in case of any objections.
Apart from this I bought a portable stove because when I read about the trek I found out that the end point (ie the temple) was located in meadows where there were no trees around, meaning no wood so there was no chance we could cook food .
Plus we even arranged for a room at a government guest house in Village Urni which was just 3kms from the trek.
About the trek and our itinerary:
So first talking about the trek Yulla Kanda trek is located in the Rora Valley of Kinnaur and the trek is 12 kms in total .
At the top there is a temple of Lord Krishna and the most sick part is that the temple is located inside a lake!
Legend has it that the temple was built by the Pandavas during their exile in the Himalayas.
The temple (+ the lake ) is located at an elevation of 12,000 ft above sea level .The temple's most prominent characteristic is its elevation, which makes it the highest Krishna temple in the world.
Talking about the level of the trek , I would say it's an easy trek with high rewards .
The trek starts from a small village called Yulla Khas and after walking for 15-20 mins through the village, you enter a dense jungle and while walking through the jungle on the right side one would see a lot of waterfalls on the other side of the valley after the jungle comes the best part - the lush green meadows , here the terrain does get a bit steep and as there are no marked pathways it's important to take the route that's not much steep and less dangerous . After this comes the snow capped mountains and in the middle is the beautiful lake with the temple inside.
Itinerary:
DAY 1
We boarded a bus from Solan to Tapri (which is in Kinnaur)
Then from there we booked a cab to Urni
Stayed at a beautiful government guest house in Urni , Urni is a small village which is 3kms from Yulla Khas (the starting point)
DAY 2
We boarded a government bus from Urni to Yulla khas
The same day we started the trek to Yulla Kanda , took us around 3-4 hours to reach the summit
DAY3
We rambled across the snow capped mountains.
DAY4
We started our journey back to Yulla Khas and from there we booked a cab to Tapri .
After reaching Tapri , we stayed at a government guest house.
DAY 5
Started our journey back to Solan by bus .
EXPERIENCE:
Before I share my experience let me give you a little context so it was a group of three Kant ,Rajan and I.
We three went to the same school and have been friends since 3rd grade.
Whenever we go out on trips we give our best to be as much economical as possible.
We started our journey from Solan at 7am and reached Shimla within 1:30 hours however on reaching Shimla our bus developed some technical fault due to which we squandered an hour in Shimla itself and then after the bus got repaired we finally started out journey to Kinnaur , it was our first time going to Kinnaur so we all were pretty excited.
On the way we kept on chaffing one another (something boys do all the time) it was fun because last year 2020 we all were at home and hardly got chance to spend time together plus it was a major trip we embarked on after completing our school .
The moment we reached Kinnaur we three were awestruck seeing the beautiful views but more than that we were pretty scared seeing the roads ,as the roads were literally made carving out the huge boulders on the side of the hill.
Finally we reached Tapri in the afternoon it was a small town on the side of a river, there we had momos and Thupka at a small restaurant,trust me the Thupka was pretty good .
Then from there we booked a cab to Urni.
Upon reaching Urni we were welcomed by the caretaker of the government guest house we were staying at.
As we were quite enervated because of the traveling so after having bathing and having dinner we called it a day (we didn't explore the village). However before going to bed we did ask the locals about the bus timings .
Next day we started accordingly, we boarded a bus and it took us around half an hour to reach Yulla khas .
Upon reaching the base we faced some hurdles,the moment we alighted the bus , we had people walking up to us and telling us that the Village head ( Pradhan) wouldn't allow us in as the villagers were quite scared of COVID and were still following the restrictions.
Initially we didn't pay much heed but eventually we were stopped us a few ladies who were constructing a pathway, trust me they were completely against the idea of our starting the trek. We convinced them a lot and I mean a lot , inspite of showing them our COVID 19 test results still they didn't budge but after a lot of buttering they finally let us continue,however, told us to take permission from the village head (PRADHAN) who was a furlong ahead from that spot . We kept on walking on the trek hoping+ praying not to come across the village head on the way however ultimately we did.
She was a young lady in her 30s (we had expected a man) , the moment we came to know that she was the head we were all upset because we were expecting her to chase us and our excitement away but she turned out to be an extremely sweet person and when she checked out our COVID test reports was completely fine with everything.
We three were literally on the top of the world at that moment.
So we finally started the trek .
After walking for like half an hour we entered a dense jungle, to our right on the opposite side of the valley we saw soem beautiful waterfalls .
After walking for sometime even our energies started coming down however we kept on pushing and helping one another and finally we reached the beautiful meadows.
On the reaching the meadows all our exhaustion completely went away and we were super energized.
Though the views were incredible yet the terrain did get a bit steep and dangerous so we had to walk carefully.
Finally after 4 hours we reached the top , where we were welcomed by dog.
Trust me that welcome was better than any honeyed oratory, the dog literally came running towards us while wagging its tail .
After resting for 5-10 minutes we started pitching our tent as it had started getting dark,later after having a meal we called it a day as we were completely exhausted.
Next day we were woken up by cows , yes cows lmao, they had completely surrounded us so I had to muster some courage and shoo them away ,as my friends were scared lol.
Then we freshened up ,had breakfast and left to explore the mountains.
The best part of that place was that for 2 days we didn't come across any human , it felt as if the place belonged to us .
I had never experienced that much of freedom in my entire life , there we didn't have to care about others and what others would think about us .
While exploring the snow capped mountains we came across a lot of breathtaking views , views that I can never forget .
Honestly, after a while it did get a bit spooky as well because none of us were used to that kind of silence, at that altitude there we only crows and vultures.
There we used to drink water directly from the streams , it was such a phenomenal feeling.
Then next day we half heartedly started our journey back to the civilization, ofcourse none of us wanted to but we had to as we didn't have enough food.
Soon we reached the village (Yulla Khas) and met those same ladies ,who were against our plan, surprisingly this time the interaction was completely opposite ,very positive ,they asked us about our experience with a lot of gusto amd even asked us to visit again lmao strange right? But I guess that's how life is ,strange + amazing.
Then from there we booked a cab till Tapri and spent the night there in a government guest house,which Rajan's dad used to book for us .
Ultimately the next day we started for home with a bag full of memories.
Trust me Yulla Kanda is such a magical place that I never ever want to visit that place again because I'm scared ,scared that another visit might just normalise the sacredness of that place .
LESSONS:
- Proper planning is imperative
Before going out on treks it's important to know about the trek and about the level of the trek and then one choose wisely considering one's abilities. - Cooperation is everything
Trust me out there in the wild you have no one expect your brothers(people you are with) so it's important to choose people wisely, one should always go on treks with people whom they bond well with. - Treks do teach you a lot about adaptability. You learn how to come out of your comfort zone , there while we were camping we used to sleep inches away from our dirty socks and shoes.
- Treks also teach you how to push pass the limits, ofcourse eventually things do get hard it's not always a gala time . There you learn to push yourself because giving up is not even an option.
- Most importantly,treks teach you how to appreciate little little things in life . You learn that it's these little things that make life worth living.
So that's all about my experience friends. Thank you so much for taking out time to read my blog.
