I’ve been contemplating a trek to the Himalayas for a long time now. But, due to the lack of time and money, the concept was far from reality. One Single Chance.. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. And I finally obtained it this April. At the eleventh hour, I registered for the Har Ki Dun(HKD) trek and managed to turn it into reality within the stipulated time. Pure bliss is the rest. It was a life-long trek.
One of the most beautiful valleys in the western Himalayas is Har ki dun peak, accessible through Govind National Park. Its base camp is Sankri. At an altitude of 11,700 feet, the HKD location is The route has all the flavors that a lover of nature needs to taste.
Bhubaneswar to Dehradun:
The journey began from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on 24th April. Luckily, just two days ago, I managed to reserve a cheap flight ticket to Delhi. The flight took place in the evening.
Dehradun to Sankri:
Right on time, the train reached Dehradun station. Right from the moment I got off the train, I could sense the chill. The first thing I did was dial the phone number of Pravin, who was assigned to pick me up from the railway station. In front of the train station, he was right. There was also another party of trekkers who were going to Kedarkantha(KK) Trek. For both HKD and KK, the base point was Sankri. I had no knowledge of my group members as I had registered a bit late.
I got into one and settled down for a long but amazing journey ahead. The journey from Dehradun to Sankri is 10-11 hours long. The path is a mixture of stunning scenic beauty, a cold stream of water, new greenery and a bumpy trip. Around 7:30 AM, the journey began. A ride through Mussoorie, the Queen of Hills, was the initial portion. The view was splendid.
One thing I found is that at the top of the house, most of the buildings had a car parking area, i.e. the absolute opposite of the normal case. This was because there were houses on the lower side of the hill. The rest of the itinerary appeared to revolve around the Yamuna River.
It also began to drizzle just before HKD’s check-gate. So, the sun was about to set by the time we reached Sankri. The atmosphere was completely cool and the weather was totally cool. The call of the hour was Hot N Sweet Tea.
The individuals performed record verification. They inspected the certificate of medical fitness and evidence of photo-ID. After that, the papad and hot soup were served. Then an introduction session took place.
Sankri to Puani Garaat via Taluka:
We drove from Sankri to Taluka, which is a 12km journey through Bolero. The route is extraordinarily scenic, but rough. The bolero went through a few streams of water, a lot of up-and-downs, and a truly treacherous path.
From Taluka, the real trek started. Most of the route was around the Supin River. Throughout the voyage, I blissed out. There was a layer of wide spread soft green grass below; there was a clear blue sky above; the continuous babbling buzz of the river Supin to the left and a stretch of mountains to the right.
