Trek to Triund Peak and Bhagsu Falls

This was the first trip of my college life and I was really excited for this. It was in first week of July, we decided to go to Dharamshala and Mcleodganj. We boarded the HPTDC volvo to Dharamshala from Delhi and reached there in an overnight journey of 12 hours. Upon reaching, we took another local bus to reach Mcleodganj. It was raining heavily and it took us 2 hours to reach. After the rain stopped we looked for a hotel to stay. After were ready to explore this beautiful hill station.

View from our hotel room

Welcome to Mcleodganj

There is a trek to Triund Peak from Mcelodganj. Although we hadn’t planned to trek earlier, but we decided to give it a shot. The official trek route to Triund Peak was closed due to heavy rainfall and landslide issues. But we were adamant to do the trek. So, we planned to take the exciting journey through the non-official path. We had our breakfast at some restaurant and believe me the food at restaurants here is fabulous. You will get variety of food all tasting just awesome!

Decorations at Restaurant

Cheese burger at Restaurant

We enquired about the offbeat route and the trekking equipments. Shopkeepers at Mcleodganj were charging very high rates for the tent and trekking equipment which was out of our budget. We decided that we’ll have "adventure' and will directly search for some accommodation at the peak only. And there we were in t-shirts and boxers ready to trek. 

Sukhdeep, Gaurav, Aditya and Gagan

Sukhdeep, Gaurav, Anuj and Gagan

The initial phases of trek were easy and we were really enjoying. It was raining slowly but we could trek easily. Soon we were into the wilderness with leeches and wild creatures welcoming us at every turn. We saw Tibetan flags and Buddhist monks trekking to some temple nearby. There were small waterfalls on the way.  We took proper rest and clicked various pics of the natural beauty.

Leech will welcome you at every turn	Tibetan Flags
Group pic near a mini waterfall	Somewhere in between the trek

Soon the adventure took a new turn. There were various diversions on the trek. There were no sign boards and we probably took some wrong turns and got lost. We kept on trekking and looked for any human beings but there were none. We saw few houses and knocked their doors also, but probably no one lived there. At one point we thought we should go back but we didn’t even know the back route. So we decided to keep walking in hope that we will meet someone who will guide us to our destination.

Looking for some help

9 June 1904 is the date engraved

I don’t know how far we had gone on the wrong trek, but we met some villagers later who told us that we were very off track from the route. They told us the correct way and soon we were trekking on some beaten paths. We saw a food outlet and it was like “Jaan main Jaan aayi” moment. We had reached one checkpoint from where only one route was there to Triund Peak. We ate Maggi, the natural choice for someone on mountains and soon started our trek again. This segment of trek was difficult compared to the previous one but we were determined to reach. Somewhere in between we saw foreign national trekking down on one leg. The situation was sad but kudos to the brave spirit of the guy. This man had lost on a leg few years back after he fell down from a mountain. But his spirit didn’t die and there he was trekking Indian Himalayas on his one leg.

Looking at the Menu was vain	Group pic with brave guy
Gagan and Sukhdeep pushing their way	Trekking towards Triund Peak

After some 2 hours of further struggle we reached the Triund Peak. It was late evening and it was getting dark with every minute. It took us around 7 hours from Mcleodganj to Triund. We saw 2 guest house to stay but they were not in good condition to stay. We chose to stay in the tents. They were overpriced but compared to the thrill we had the price was nowhere. We ate rajma chawal, Maggi and some snacks at the food outlet on the peak. The items were costly but it was no way near the efforts of the villagers providing you food at such great heights. There were just 2 food outlets. 

First glimpse of the Triund Peak

Finally reached the Triund Peak

The five of us somehow managed in 2 tents. That night it was raining very heavily and we felt that soon our tent will blow off and will fall into the deep ditch. Luckily we survived the rain storm. The next morning the view we saw after getting out of our tents was something we hadn’t expected.

Group pic just after waking up	Tents at Triund Peak
Food outlet at Triund Peak	Full zoom to Dharamshala Cricket Stadium

View of Himalayas from Triund peak

The guy at the canteen told that this trek further goes till snow point but it was risky to go there in monsoons. We had enough of adventure the previous day so avoided this one. We clicked few picks and left for Mcleodganj.

You are at 9325 feet

Triund Peak

The return journey was pretty much less time consuming as were walking back on correct routes. On our return journey we took rest at “Magic View” point which as per the sign board was the “Oldest Chai Shop since 1984”. We reached Mcleodganj in about 4 hours.

Magic view point

Chilling at the edge

The next stop was Bhagsu falls. To reach the bathing point at Bhagsu falls you have to climb through the large number of stairs. Bhagsunath temple comes on the way to falls. We kept our bags at a shop and then jumped in the water pool near the falls. On further climbing down few big rocks we were directly under the intense water pressure of the falls. The water was very chilled, but the enjoyment was at 7^th cloud. 

The mighty Bhagsu Falls	Aditya and Gagan bathing at Bhagsu Falls
Bathing under Bhagsu Falls	Families bathing at Bhagsu Falls

This is one place where one can enjoy and chillax with their friends and families for sure. In our next series we will explore the Namgyal Monastery, Dalai Lama Temple, Local market, Dharamshala Cricket Ground and lots of other viewpoints in Dharamshala.

Group pic at Bhagsu falls

If you want to enjoy your summer holidays with your friends and family at a place like Mcleodganj, you can contact HolidayPlans for any enquiries.

Phone no. : +91-9313-777-577 /  +91-9312-777-577

Website : www.holidayplans.co.in

Facebook fan page : www.facebook.com/holidayplans.co.in

GALLERY