Mcleodganj and Trek to Triund

[April 24-26, 2009]

Fact file:

Place: Mcleodganj and Triund
Itinerary: Delhi - Dharamshala - Mcleodganj and back to Delhi

Delhi - Dharamshala: Volvo or TATA AC bus (online book http://www.hp.gov.in/hrtctickets/)
Fare: Rs. 840.00 by Volvo and Rs. 640.00 by TATA AC (one way). Buses leave at 20:00 hrs.

Dharamshala to Mcleodganj: 13km (take a taxi or bus)

Place to stay: I prefer staying at Naddi village - 5kms from Mcleodganj, very peaceful place with a nice view of the mountain peaks. Several hotels and resorts are available for stay. Taxi charges Rs. 250.00 from Dharamshala to Naddi village. Hotels are available from Rs. 500.00 - Rs. 2500.00 per night.

Things to do: Visit Dalai Lama temple, St. John's church and go for walks in the forest. Eat momos and other Tibetan dishes.

Trekking places: Triund (around 9 kms from Mcleodganj and 14 kms from Naddi Village), a 1 day trek

Triund trek route: Naddi - Galu temple - Triund - Inderhar pass
or
Mcleodganj - Dharmakot - Galu temple - Triund - Inderhar pass

If you stay at Naddi village, there are several walking trails in the nearby forests and if you plan to trek to Triund, just ask your hotel and take the forest trail up to Galu temple instead of a drop by vehicle which will cost around Rs. 500.00. Also, you don't need a guide for this trek and you can enjoy the forest and the trek if you are on your own. The trek route is rocky, so have a nice pair of shoes. The trek to Triund is moderate except for the last stretch of 500 meters, so take your time and have a leisure walk. Start early around 6:00 AM and come back peacefully by 3:00 PM. Take lots of water and of course your camera, but I bet that whatever you see up there at Triund would be embedded in your mind for years to come.
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It's not everyday that one gets the opportunity to be closer to the Himalayas and being from Bangalore, its probably a dream. I was in Delhi recently for an official work and I had one of the weekends to spare and the urge was to go somewhere in the mountains. The nearest places which I could think of was in Uttarakhand, but it is a pain to reach there if you don't have your own vehicle. If you plan to visit places like Pithoragarh, Kausani, Uttarkashi etc., it takes atleast 18-20 hours of travel by public transport, then it becomes difficult to enjoy the place with just two days in hand. The other option I had was to visit some place in Himachal Pradesh and after a bit of search, I decided to visit Mcleodganj and trek to Triund.

Mcleodganj is a hill station which headquarters the Tibetan Government in exile and is popularly known as the Little Lhasa. It lies on the Dhauladhar range of the majestic Himalayas and it is at a height of around 2082 metres. The entire Mcleodganj area is surrounded by thick forests of chir, pine, rhododendron and himalayan oak and the place is set against a backdrop of high peaks on three sides.

Dharamshala is the transit point to reach Mcleodganj and it takes around 30 minutes by cab from Dharamshala to reach Mcleodganj. From Delhi, it takes around 12 hours to reach Dharamshala by bus and there are regular bus connections which are available. The best and popular option is to take the Volvo run by Himachal Road Transport Corporation (http://himachal.nic.in/hrtc/). One can book the tickets online at "http://www.hp.gov.in/hrtctickets/". I was not lucky enough to get a seat on the Volvo, but then I could book a ticket on the other bus which is the TATA AC run by HRTC only. The options are available on the online site. Both the buses start from Delhi's ISBT Kashmiri Gate with the Volvo leaving at 8:00PM and the TATA AC leaving 15 minutes later. I boarded the TATA AC bus on friday (24th April) evening and I was expecting the bus ride to be a painful one, but it turned out to be otherwise. The ride was comfortable and by 8:30AM of saturday, I was at Dharamshala. The last stretch of journey through the hills via Kangra to Dharamshala was breathtaking. I had booked a place to stay at Naddi village which was around 17 kms from Dharamshala and 5 kms further up from Mcleodganj. I hired a taxi directly to Naddi village and I was there at the resort by 9:00AM. The resort was very nicely located on the slope of a small hill and from the window of the room, one can have a amazing view of the snow covered peaks of the Himalayas right next to it.

After a quick rest and shower, I was ready to go down to Mcleodganj. I was told that there was a nice walkable path (about 4 kms) from Naddi village to Mcleodganj through thick forests and I decided to take that. The path initially takes you to Dal lake, considered a sacred place and surrounded by deodar trees. On the banks of the lake, one can see a temple too. There was not much water in the lake at this time of the year. Once you cross the lake, you have to go up towards the football ground of the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) school. Right next to the lake and at the junction of the lake and school, there's a lady who sells aaloo momos - 5 momos for Rs. 10. She seems to have a good business as the students from the school were her main customers. I too tasted the momos and they were really good. Well, I was in the land of momos. Cross the football ground and on the left side, one can see the track through the forest which leads to Mcleodganj. There are no signboards around, so under any confusion, just ask someone out there. The moment you enter the thick forests, u can feel the difference in the air, its just ecstatic. On one side you have the valley on the other side you have the steep slope of the mountain. The last km of the path is on tar road and it took me around 45 minutes to cover the distance to Mcleodganj leisurely. It was lunch time and the hunt started to find a suitable place where I could get to taste Tibetan food. There were several restaurants, but I decided to try a restaurant which was there right at the main circle on the first floor (forgot the name though). Again, tasted veg momos (both steamed and fried ones) and egg chowmein - it was just delicious. Now it was time to visit the Dalai Lama temple complex which was very close by. Several shops selling Tibetan art and literature stuff line both the sides of the streets which lead to the temple. The temple is very beautiful from inside and for the first time, I had the opportunity to rotate the prayer wheels in a monastery. I spent a short but peaceful time in the monastery. The next item on my agenda was to visit the St. John's church which was a km away towards Dharamshala on the main road. It was a very nice walk to the church along the main road lined with deodar trees. The church was built in 1852 and is beautifully located in the midst of deodar groves. The surrounding environment was as peaceful as the temple I visited earlier. The time was now 4 pm and slowly the the body was wearing down and I needed rest for the trek to Triund the next day. I went back to the main Mcleodganj marketplace again, did some buying for the trek and then started my way back to the resort at Naddi village through the same forest path on which I came. A match was on at the TCV football ground when I reached there and it was nice to see a good crowd watching the match. Shortly, I crossed Dal lake and hit the main road towards my resort. It was evening time and there were several people around the Dal lake and on the road. The view of the snow laden peak was awesome and I spent some time sitting on top of a small hillock admiring the beauty of the surroundings. It was getting dark pretty fast and for dinner, I decided to try the veg thuppa (another Tibetan dish) and I found it to be very plain and good, so try it out.













Next day, I started the trek to Triund around 6:45AM. Triund is a nice trekking spot in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas and it is around 9 kms from Mcleodganj. This place is very popular amongst tourists and so it is not very difficult to find details on the net. Depending on the place one stays, there are different options for the trek. The route to Triund from Mcleodganj goes through Dharamkot and Galu temple. The road is motorable upto Galu temple from Mcleodganj and a taxi will charge anywhere between Rs. 350.00 - 500.00 for a drop at Galu temple. Beyond Galu temple, the actual trek path to Triund starts. If somebody wants to save time, they can take the cab, or it would probably be a nice walk too from Mcleodganj to Galu temple. As I was staying at Naddi village, I had initially planned to go to Mcleodganj and then walk down to Galu temple and trek to Triund. But as luck would have it, the manager at the resort told me that there's a nice forest trail of around 4 kms starting right from Naddi village up to Galu temple. I was excited and I decided to take this route instead of going down to Mcleodganj. The trail starts on the road going just opposite Anupam resorts at Naddi village. The walk through the thick forests was very peaceful and invigorating and it took me about an hour to reach Galu temple. The last 1 km of the path to Galu temple is actually on the jeep route which comes from Dharmakot. After taking a short rest at Galu temple, I started for the trek to Triund which was a gradual uphill climb. The sun was slowly rising on the horizon and the air was getting hotter. The trek route is very rocky and one needs to be careful when walking. As I climbed up, the valley below became very clear and the views were an awesome treat for the eyes. On one side of the trail was the valley whereas on the other side, you have the hill and in the front you can see the magnificient views of the hills and the distant towns all around. I was wondering as to how nice it would be to trek when there's lot of snow around. In an hour into the trek, I could see the snow clad peaks in the front. Very soon, I reached almost the half way stage of the trek where there are a couple of tea shops for the tired trekkers. From this point, one can see the destination (a house) atop Triund at a distance with the snow peak as a backdrop. Upto this stage, the trek doesn't seem to be challenging at all and it should be actually a test of stamina for people. The trek path beyond this point became more and more rocky and the steepness of the trail also started to increase. Since there was no snow along the trail, the path could be easily identified. Also, suddenly I could see a lot of other folks also trekking up to Triund. There were many other people also who were coming down from the top. Amongst them, there was a big group of schoolgirls from Pune who were coming down in a line and it was so good to see the enthusiasm of the crowd. Within a short time, I was at Triund top and the majestic view of the snow mountain right in front of your eyes was just breathtaking. I was actually shocked to see so many non-Indians out there with lot of kids. The entire place was filled. The place is probably getting commercialised as you can see a couple of tea stalls out there too. I could locate a slightly secluded place right next to the valley starting point with the peaks right in front of me. It took me 4 hours to climb up to Triund from Naddi village. The trek can be best enjoyed if one walks in a leisurely manner rather than hurrying to reach the top. From Triund, one can still trek further up to Inderhar pass and that would probably take two full days. I stayed at Triund admiring the beauty of the place for around 2 hours and started my trek back down and it took me around 3 hours to reach the resort. It was around 4:00PM and I have to catch my Volvo back to Delhi at 8:00PM from Dharamshala.













That was the end of a short but exciting and wonderful trip to Mcleodganj and Triund. I loved the place and I have already planned to visit the place again sometimes next year but during winter and when lot of snow is there. Also, I plan to do the trek up to Inderhar pass too. The return trip to Delhi by Volvo was comfortable and I was back in the hustle and bustle of life by 7:00AM on Monday. This trip is probably one of the complete trips which can be made from Delhi during the weekend. There are actually many more places (http://www.mcllo.com/Places%20to%20see%20Dharamsala%20%5BMcllo.com%5D.html) to see in Mcleodganj and several treks possible, but one needs to spend at least a week out there.