Julley!
We were finally back on our hiking expeditions!
Just wondering off from the hometown and looking at the sky and the higher Himalayan mountains.. And yes they were calling!
A beautiful weekend, we decided just a night before that the very next morning we would be going for an expedition. The summers hike in Himalayas seems like the ones of the winter as the difference in the temperature usually gets so extreme that in the peek afternoon the sunlight would be so harsh that it leads to the worst sunburns and in the evening time the wind would be so cold that It nearly gets impossible to hike in the evening.
So the best time that we decided was very early in the morning around 5AM when we finally left our place and drove all the way to the starting point of the hike.
Even it was my first time when we were hiking without any information about the trail through which we would be going through as the trail through which we would cross was used by the locals of the place and was not known by the travellers.
I had a friend of mine from the village nearby who told me about this heavenly trail that went all the way through the deep forest leading to the Non Tropical zone.. Where no trees grow.
5:39 AM
Location : Shegli Village. Himachal Pradesh.
The starting point of the trail looked something tike this, It started all the way from the Shegli Campsite, Only very few people knew about this trail that it leads to a way to the magical Mahili Thach.
At certain points there were a lot of confusions as the pathways were just getting separated, one would led us to the different direction and other would led to a different one! We didn’t even had a GPS device by which we could navigate ourselves and know the direction towards Mahili Thach.
At this point I remembered the words that the locals told that whenever someone tries to find the route to Mahili Thach through this dence forest, At the time of early morning the leaves of these old trees fly and swing towards the direction of Mahili Thach and at the evening time they show the direction towards the Shegli Mountain. As there was something related to whin that used to blow through the mountain. The lee Ward and the Wind ward side.
The trail was quite visible enough but at certain points there were many confusing points where the trail led to different directions! And that was the point where this old technique used to come in place... Where the shepherds can easily figure the right way out to the Mahili Thach.
During our hiking expedition we even came across few of the wild horses. To be honest guys this moment looked that that we have came all the way back in time and I remember a video game that I used to play when I was a kid.. It was six guns where we had to ride horses and the map and the trail looked like somewhat similar to it!
It had been around half an hour for us since we had started our journey, As we were covering up the distance, More was the density of the trees increasing and the woods were getting dense.
There were few of the trees thousands of years old and even few of them gave up! And led to this magical moment that I thought of capturing.
The fallen trees, with their roots being there on the ground.
These were the trails unknown! The unknown of todays era, Once these were the main pathways to various hidden magical places In the Himalayas that only very few people know.
I even heard form the old local peoples of the village that there used to be a secret route to the other side of the valley where there lies a total change, change in lifestyle of people, change in the language, and even change in climatic conditions.
As the other side of the mountain range lies the lower Himalayas! As told by the old local people of the nearby village told that their ancestors once or twice a year used to cross the whole mountain range through the trails that shepherds used in order to cross the valley.
The whole place looked like something magical! The trees, The rocks... and everything.. As in this picture above we saw a huge cave right in between the huge rock!
This one had a whole right in the middle of the trunk of the tree.. All of the things like these made me wonder that what was the significance of such things! Maybe the ancient people meant somethings but such signs like these or was it something else.
It was around 7 Am in the morning when the sun finally came up!
The sunlight through the leaves of the trees seemed like that it was blessing the whole region as the floor form the sunlight was bright and yellow! Making it a moment in a moment..
Till now we had crossed the dense woods and we were now going straight towards the top and above the non tropical zone NTZ where no such vegetation used to grow due to hight altitude.
They Say Hi!
During the hike towards Sidhu Pur and beyond that To Mahili Thach, We met few of the furry friends to what I would call them!
The first Gaddi ka dera- Means the first stay of gaddis (The Shephards).
They were a lot! A lot that I tried counting them, then I gave up!
This moment was not less than a magical one, The sheeps gazing, the Himalayas covered with the snow..
The early mornings sunshine and the peaceful voices of the sheep made this moment that I would never forget. It was so peaceful and positive that I think even the words are less to express!
Though the whole area was quite a long way so In order to divide my expedition I will be naming the locations that even the future mountaineers could take the reference of the location and the photographs nearby.
Our next target was to reach Sidhu Pur.
A place from which the trail again through the woods led us to The Mahili Thach.
So the rock, Sidhu Pur is considered as a check point in this expedition.
This rock was at the side top of the place where we were right now.
The view looked something like this from the location we were right now! We were at a higher altitude which was somewhat above 3000m form the sea level.
The Rock of Sidhu Pur.
This was the place guys from where there is a trail that would led us through the last woods and beyond that we would enter to the Non Tropical Zone. NTZ
This location was at the top of the mountain from where we could even seen the opposite side peaks of the Himalayas too. The Dhauladhar Range of Himalayas.
The Last Woods .
Calling it the Last woods as these where the last trees that we would be seeing in our expedition! And beyond this patch we would be entering to the NTZ. Just the beautiful views of the himalayas and lush green meadows!
A magical Gate welcomes us!
The journey through the last woods patch was little difficult as even though the altitude was quite high enough the trail was slippery too, just because of the pine needles that were all the was over the trail making it al lot more difficult.
We were literally slipping over the trail and that was reason that was I taking the different ways! As seen in the picture walking over the fallen tree.
It took us around an hour for us to cross the last woods and the view looked something like this!
The sun was just right in front of us and A feeling of just touching the sky was there in our hearts!
It felt like that we were so close to the few of the mightiest peaks of the Himalayas but It was not that it seemed like! The peaks which were seen right in front of us were the peaks of Pir Panjal.
The peaks that no one has ever climbed in the past. There are few of the various stories related to climbing the peaks of Pir Pajnal Range but the answer led to unsuccessfulness of the attempts.
What so ever was right in front of us was all of that we have to cover. It seemed like that it was just a matter of few minutes but when actually we were covering up the distance.. The more we were covering up the trail the more far was the top becoming. As the distance was quite enough buts just because of no trees and clear atmosphere the far away places were also seen crystal clear.
Even the whole Kullu Valley could be seen form this location as the end poits led to hundreds of Miles.
It was around 11 AM.. Been more that five hours hiking straight in order to reach the Thach.
We were truly grateful for various streams of water that were all over the trail at a certain distance. The fresh glacial water and the mesmerising magical views were all that kept us going and making our expedition a successful one.
As I looked back the last woods seemed quite closer to us and It had been more than an hour for us covering us that distance. The trails of this place were really never ending one!
The never ending trails !
At this point we literally had no idea about that were to go.
We kind of got lost in these never ending trails.
As told by my friend and the locals, they told about following the main trails towards what the leaves of the trees would led us too. But at this point of time, there were no trees! Just the miles and miles long trails all over the meadows in this nowhere land of Himalayas!
We finally decided to climb up to the top of the mountain and find a way out to the Mahili Thach!
It took us around two hours In order to reach the top of The place and Yes! we were at the right direction! As told by the locals that mahili thach looks something like this!
Lush green meadows! Just right above the Last Woods!
Making is the first base Camp spot for Gaddies (Shephards) and Mountaineers in order to go beyond the Thach!
So thats all for today guys. I hope you liked it.
I will be sharing our journey beyond this point in the next post, otherwise it would be a lot to write about in just a single post.
I tried to capture the true beauty of the place so that you guys could get the true picture of the hidden side of the Himalayas.
Thanks for your precious time. 🙏
Love from the Himalayas.❤️