triptoheaven

All birds have flown up and gone,
a lonely cloud floats leisurely by;
we never tire of looking at each other -
only and mountain and I



Here is my trip log of the 5 day trip to Himchal (June 8 - June 12' 2005) covering some 1550 Kms.. most of them away from the highways with plenty of off roading..





Sunilg, Crimson, Xyberdip, Manik (from Left to Right..)

some facts at a glance

bikes Four, 2 150 dtsi, 1 Honda
Unicorn , 1 P-180 clasic
bikers Crimson, Sunil, Manik, Xyberdeep
total days 5
distance covered 1600+ km
max distance in a day 600+km (manali- ggaon/ghaziabad
day 5)
min distance in a day 110+km (narkanda-ghiygi, day 2)
Max altitude hit 4111 m (Rohtang pass)
Total pics taken 700+
route delhi-ambala-chandigarh-solan
-chail-kufri-narkanda-hatu peak-
khanag-jalori pass-Shoja-ghiyagi-
Mandi-manikaran-mandi-kullu
-Manali-rohtang-manali-delhi

It all started with a call from Manik on the day of MTV Roadies G2G. He said he had a trip plan in mind; it was from Delhi to Amarnath. I was quite sure that I won't make it, still don't know why but I agreed to meet. Incidentally, the night before I had a word with Crimson, he too had a trip plan to Himachal. So, we decided to meet at India Gate on Wednesday, June 2, 2005. Meanwhile Deepan (Xyberdeep) was also informed and he too joined in on Wednesday meet. Ultimately, it was decided that we'll be moving for a 5-day trip to Himachal on 7th June as the roads to Amarnath Cave were not opened fully.

I somehow managed to tek leave frm my ofice (only I know how). We again met 2 days before trip to buy the air pump n some other imprtant things from Karol bagh.

We were all ready to leave with a word "go" when d things began to move in opposite directions. First, Manik called up n said that perhaps he won't be able 2 mek it on that day n then I had an emergency situation at home. It was looking that we'll not be having things as planned. But, luck was with us n everything was in its place by 11 p.m. the night before we were leaving. Finally, I was on my way to the laps of mother nature 2:50 a.m. Wednesday. Mom gave me hug n put a Tika on my forehead as a token of her blessings. N soon we all 4 were cruising on NH1 easily @ 90-100 kmph despite heavy traffic there. Took our 1st break somewhere before Ambala to respond to mother nature's call, but the first major break was at 6:39 a.m. around Ambala for breakfast; by that time, we had already covered 218 km. After a much deserved break n breakfast of tea, omelet, n paranthas we were again heading for the hills with a break in between just after the breakfast to fill up the bellies of our bikes at patrol pump. As soon as we got the first glimpse of mountains from Kalka, black clouds were abov our heads, mekin us a bit worried abt the rains. Soon, the twisties started n started our endless game of movin the bikes from left to right n right to left. Tuk another break some 50 km before Shimla for some pet-pooja n then light drizzling forced us to put our waterproofing gear on, but it didn't last longer n soon the weather opened up. Leavin evry vehicle behind we were cruising 4 Chail ven just after a nice photo-shoot break of approx. 30 minutes, I had a fall thanx to an under-inflated tyre n my loss of concentration; escaped with a big bruise on my right knee; nothing major.

After reaching Chail we decided to 2 xplore before gettin my knee dressed. So, after lunch, exploring, and foto-shoots, we headed towards Narkanda via Kufri. Road til Kufri was vry bad n narrow but was beautiful enuf 2 mek u 4get evrythin. But the real fun started after crossing Kufri, as the road leadin to Narkanda was lyk heaven, wide enough to allow 2 trucks move on it side by side. We ripped thru this road lyk nethin as we wanted to catch sunset at Narkanda with mor than 50 km n less than 1 hour to rech there (not easy on mountains).

After reaching Narkanda we headed straight 4 Hatu peak be4 even ensuring a hotel room 4 ourselvs. What happened @ hatu peak was just miraculous. I had a flat tyre in jungle some 6 km away from nearest help, on top of a mountain at 6:30 p.m. with rains making the whole scene a bit more scary. Me n Xyberdeep decided to march towards top leavin the bikes behind. After abt 100 mts of trekking we heard the Manik shouting loudly, calling us to come soon. I had thousands of bad thoughts in a second ven I heard him shoutin; but as we reached to them barely controlling our breaths, what we saw was nothing less than magic; it was the most beautiful sunset ever we had seen.
















after capturing it, we had a retreat downwards. Manik's airpump gav my bike enough air that sittin almost on my tank I could road it down the hill befor havin to fill the tyre again just after reaching down. I got my tube changed n Xyberdeep got his headlight fixed at a nearby puncture-wallah, while Manik n crimson searhed a room.

In the room, crimson n me decided to hav another go on the Hatu peak to catch the sunset, but manik n xyberdeep decided to stay back. Again, Me n crimson were on the roads at 5 a.m. 4 Hatu peak from where we could some breath-tekin scenery. It was 360 degree view from the top with snow-peaks surroundin us n a deep valley on the other side.

Sunrise at Hatu Peak





Got back to room around 8:30 n were again on the roads 4 Jalori pass after havin a breakfast at dhaba which gave us the most beautiful view of snowpeaks shining at the horizon wherever we cud see from the windows. Crimson wrote a lot abt the ride to Jalori pass, so I won't go into its details.

From Jalori pass, I had the most beautiful walk of my life, going through thick jungles, sound of dead leaves crushing beneath our steps, narrow lanes, leading to the Sarolsar Lake, a very quiet, soulful, beautiful place. Spent around 4-5 hours for a total 10 km trekkin, n it was really worth it. From Jalori, we moved down towards Shuja, no room there, we moved down further just to stop at a place called Ghiyagi where we got the room n what a place it was. I would want to spend my whole lyf there if given a chance. Not-so- wide but beautiful rooms wall-size windows, a cold water stream on the backside, a rose garden, 2 wooden cottages just beside the stream, n not to mention lots of greenery n mountains. I wud recommend to everybody doing jalori pass to hav a night stay at that place; u'll never 4get it.

From here, day 3, we moved towards Manikaran via Mandi. Around 40-km drive from Mandi to Manikaran was a kinda dull ride, lot of traffic, bad roads; It happened first time on that stretch that we road 50 km in 1 go without having to stop even once for taking pics. Ven returning, tuk the bikes to the river side after lot of heavy offroading through the rocks n trees, n enjoyed there for approx an hour, which made up 4 the boring ride there.

Parvati River at Manikaran






Upon returnin frm there, all kinds of mishaps happened, Deepan tuk a fall, Manik had a flat, n finally crimson separated. Ultimately, we re-regrouped at check post just b4 Manali. From there, we moved 4 Manali in search of a room. Manali was lukin like Chandni Chowk in old delhi, with a heavy rush of tourists n it tuk quite a lot of time 4 us to tek our bikes from there. After taking the room, we headed 4 the market 4 dinner. Got back 2 room n were asleep by 1 p.m. after taking shower to freshen up as we were to move 4 d Rohtang at 3:30 a.m.

So, the morning came n we all 4 were headin towards Rohtang in the dark slowly due to deepen's malfunctionin headlight. We took all warm cloths, waterproofin stuff, n lots of batteries n camera rolls which he had with us. Conditions were vry tough, but we were movin nonstop in formation 4 the top. Here, I would lyk to use 4 lines of a Dhoom song to describe what was goin on in our minds ven we headed towards Rohtang.

Its burning inside,
u know u jus cannot hide
So don't fight the feeling just let ur body decide
Ven u get down on the road,
it's a wild overload
Riding higher than u ever did b4.

As the visibility increased, we all decided to rip off some 10-12 km b4 the top. Crimson shoot off so did I, as I was vry desperate to catch the sunrise on snow peaks. But around 3-4 km before suddenly my rear tyre skidded lyk hell, this was our Ist encounter wth black ice. Now, we were very careful, just moving ultra-cautiously through the black ice, which was getting thicker with each passing inch towards the top.

Myself






Finally, the time came ven we were just luking for the broken road n mud n stream of water to tek our bikes through these as these were the only place where we had the least chances of getting the black ice. I was particularly havin a tough time getting thrugh the black ice as water had just frozen between the deep treadings of my rear tyre (Ceat Endura Sports). this way I was having black ice stuck in tyre making my bike to skid even on the dry roads. I just can't describe that moment either. Finally, we back-tracked from around 1 km ahead of rohtang top n had a well-deserved cup of tea n Maggie inside a tea-shop in tents.







Enjoyed 4 around 4-5 hours there in the snow, taking lots of snaps, climbing some more heights, n then returning through a long 3-4 km traffic-jam on the hills.







Heavy rush of tourists n traffic made the returning a bit more tiring. We saw tourists who were just happy playing in the snow mud coz they knew they wud never mek it to the top thanx again to the heavy rush.

Hav nothing to write abt returning from Manali to Delhi except the rivers-side cafes in old manali n a real bad bike crash involving two of us some 150 km before Chandigarh. Coming back, riding in the planes was just hell , however we cruised @ approx 100+ throughout frm chandigarh to delhi.