INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
Clouds of Wildflowers and Rain:
Monsoon Trekking in Himachal Pradesh
by Elen Turner
wet. Fortunately, one set of clothes had
been sitting on top of everything else
and stayed dry.
Day 2 was similar to day one, walking
uphill through intermittent rain. The
clouds cleared from time to time,
allowing brief views. I was glad of my
walking poles because some of the
uphill track was slippery. We came
into camp about 2.30pm, and it rained
heavily. We sheltered before rushing to
pitch the tent in a brief sunny spell. I was
a little bit over the rain by this point, and
questioned the wisdom of coming on a
monsoon season trek. But at least there
were no leeches, as there would be in
Nepal! In the evening the men made a
fire again, and I dried my belongings.
Day 3: Camp 2 to Malana, via
the Chanderkani Pass (3700 m)
There was only a little rain in the night,
and again in the morning, so I felt
better on day three. Which was lucky,
because this day was about to get
tough. If it had rained as heavily as the
first two days, I might still be there now.
Wildflowers in bloom in the Indian Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh. Photo: alisha24.
We had camped at about 2800 metres,
900 metres below the Chanderkani
Pass. Ranjit said that we were about
1.5 hours’ walk from the pass, so I
anticipated that it would be a difficult
climb. Almost a kilometre of vertical
height in under two hours! But it was
surprisingly easy. Much of the ascent
was through meadows. When we
got to the pass shrouded in cloudy
mist and Ranjit announced that we’d
arrived, I was amazed that we were at
3700 metres already.
We couldn’t see any views because of
the clouds, but rested awhile and then
started to descend gradually from the
pass towards the Malana Valley. The
Kullu Valley had had light sprinklings of
wildflowers, but these turned into thick
carpets. We passed a dense patch of
pink snapdragons swaying above our
heads, buzzing ferociously from all the
bees dipping inside them. Elsewhere
there were tiny blue forget-me-nots,
yellow daisies and a whole variety of
pink, purple, blue, yellow, and red that
I couldn’t identify. Such an array of
gorgeous flowers only appear in this
season, and entirely made up for the
lack of any views on the first two days
of the trek.
Before the descent got too fierce we
stopped for a picnic lunch, which—
it was soon to become clear—was
necessary to gather strength for the
descent. And what a descent it was.
The ‘path’ from the Chanderkani Pass
down to Malana was through thick,
high foliage and over steep rocks. It
was incredibly beautiful, and the view
down to the road that passed through
the Malana Valley was dizzyingly far
below. Again, I wanted to kiss my poles.
And perhaps even the amazingly
helpful Ranjit, who physically helped
me down much of the way. I couldn’t
have done it without him (though I did
refrain from kissing him—I’ve picked up
enough handsome South Asian guides
for one lifetime).
By the time we reached the campsite
just outside Malana, after four hours of
descent, my legs were barely holding
me up, and even my arm muscles
were sore from using them for support
on my poles. Full-body workout! I had
read that this trek was ‘strenuous’,
and after the first two days I thought
that was silly. There’s no way that the
uphill sections of the Naggar to Malana
trek are strenuous if you’re fit. But the
downhill is an entirely different story.
Plus, if it had been raining, the path
down from the pass would’ve been
dangerous.
The weather was clear on the evening
of day three, so I enjoyed the sunset
views down the Malana Valley towards
the Parvati Valley, while camped on a
small ridge overlooking the town of
Malana.
Day 4: Malana to Jari
It rained a little overnight, but by the
time I awoke we were just engulfed
in cloud. My legs were pretty sore,
but there was still a lot of descent left
ahead of me.
We started the day by taking a walk to
Malana Village, just ten minutes from
the campsite. This had been one of the
most isolated settlements in Himachal
Pradesh until a road was built through
the Malana Valley several years ago,
at the same time as a hydropower
project. In fact, Malana village is the
only settlement in the Malana Valley.
The people of Malana believe they
are descended from the soldiers of
Alexander the Great, from his men who
broke away while passing through this
area and settled with locals. They say
that the fair complexions, hair and eyes
“I never meant to go trekking during the monsoon. But I read about the odd, isolated settlement of Malana in India’s
Himachal Pradesh, and was intrigued by the town that supposedly treated all outsiders as untouchables and grew the
finest marijuana in the world. So in late July, I set off on the four day/three night trek from Naggar, over the Chanderkani
Pass, to Malana. In the rain”.
Day 1: Naggar to camp 1, via Rumsu
Treks in Himachal Pradesh are mostly
camping treks, and you need to
take your own food along. Being a
solo female traveller, I hired a guide
and two porters through a Naggar-
based company. Guide Ranjit was
exceptionally helpful and kind.
Naggar, the starting point for the trek,
is about an hour’s drive from Manali, so
I stayed the night before in the pretty
little town. The first day got off to a bit
of a slow start because it rained heavily
overnight and in the early morning,
so nobody was in much of a hurry to
get going. Once the skies had finally
cleared (sort of), I was driven with
the guide to the trailhead, about ten
minutes away. that would have had lovely views over
the Kullu Valley on a clearer day.
The walk was entirely uphill for the
first two days, but not steep or difficult.
After about half an hour we reached
the village of Rumsu, with a lovely
Himachali-style wooden temple and
traditional wood and stone homes. If
you can’t or don’t want to do a multi-
day trek, the walk from Naggar to
Rumsu and back would make a nice
single-day hike. In the evening, the men made a
campfire and I dried my damp clothes.
Dinner was tasty dal, vegetable curry,
rice and chapatti. We were the only
people camping there, though Ranjit
told me that in June, when most
Indians have their holidays, this trek
and its campsites get very crowded
with Indian students.
Day 2: Camp 1 to camp 2
At Rumsu it started to rain, and didn’t
really stop for the rest of the day. We
were engulfed in mist much of the time.
We walked for about 3.5 hours before
coming to the first campsite in a meadow
It rained heavily overnight and although
I managed to stay dry, the water
seeped through the groundsheet of
my tent and most of my belongings got
Malana is an isolated and culturally unique village in Himachal Pradesh. Photo: Mivr.
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www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
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