People
often ask me "Why do you go for trek?", "You have to walk miles
on such difficult terrain, carrying so much of weight on your shoulders, no fun
rather a tiring and precarious task." Some of my friends also ask that,
"What you do on trek? Just keep walking? No proper meal, no comfy place to
sleep, neither you bathe for days nor change clothes." I just smile and
never reply to their silly questions because I know trekking is something which
is enjoyed by doing it. It cannot be lived from other's experience. Only a
person who has adventurous soul, is a wanderer, adores nature, enjoy being free
spirited and most important seek fun in exploring inner self can take pleasure
in these activities.
A quote about travelling, I once read somewhere inspired
me a lot; it says:
"The
world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page"
St.
Augustine
This
was the time to read new chapter called "Har ki Doon" and elongating
my travelling list by adding one more location to it. The trip to Har ki Doon
valley was planned by IIT Roorkee, Himalayan Explorers Club [HEC] in month of October but due to some personal reasons I didn't
register for the trek. After few days in first week of december, when I was
enjoying my leisure time at home I saw one of my friend's pictures on facebook.
She had successfully completed her trek to "KedarKantha Summit" with
a group of 10 people. The pictures instigated me so such that I decided I am
not going to miss the upcoming trip to Har ki Doon. I contacted few of my
friends associated with HEC and asked them to include my name in the list. But
due to large number of registrations nothing was confirmed. Finally, my friends
Rosy and Subhash managed to include my name in the list, but whether I will be
going or not was to be decided after the conditioning camp only. Fortunately,
many girls cancelled their registration and after a weeklong conditioning my
name was eventually added in the list. Yayy!
Gigantic mountains, cool breeze, high altitude
sky kissing alpine and deodar forests, uneven terrain, fresh and crystal clear
river water, beautiful and natural waterfalls, white snow and a long trek with eclectic mix of
natural beauty was all we were going to witness on the long trek to “Har
Ki Dun”. We
were a group of 7 girls, 5 boys and two professors, all excited to witness the
natural beauty at the beautiful valley Har ki Dun. It is 3566 meters above the
sea level. It was a 5 days and approximately 50-55 kilometers long trek. A day before, HEC distributed us rucksacks, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and some eatables like magie, daal, chawal, etc so that equal weight is distributed amongst us.
All set to travel