Well this write-up gives you some insight of my experience with KheerGanga. I am not a avid trekker but I love to travel. So while looking for an outstation trip I was searching some place in Himachal. This time my search gave me KheerGanga as an option. I had done Triund trek (Mcleodganj) twice before this.
So before finalizing KheerGanga, I have read lot about it. And from all my readings I concluded that it is more challenging than Triund. Lots of people had mentioned the beauty of this trek. So I decided to do it.
We were three college friends. Its been 7 years since we are out of college and since then we were trying to find time to go on a trip together.
We started on Friday evening from Delhi at around 8 PM. We reached Murthal at around 10 PM where we stopped for Dinner. After having a quick break we started around 10.45PM and then we drove for next 5 hours. We then stopped for a Tea Break. So after crossing Mandi, Sunder Nagar, Kasol we reached Barshaini. Barshini is the point till where you can go by Car/Taxi. Himachal State Transport also ply buses from Mandi to Barshaini.
Barshaini gives you option to stay but they give you very basic facilities. Although we didn’t halt at Barshaini. The point from where the Trek starts is basically a Dam construction site. They are constructing a huge dam on Parvati river. We parked the car and then took our trekking bags with necessary stuff like jackets, extra socks, towels, gloves, cap, torch and then we headed towards our target. Its been said that the trek is 12 Kms long. The view of the Parvati valley from the point where trek starts was spectacular. It gives you energy to start the trek. It attracts you and then you without wasting any time start heading towards it.
Along the trek you will find good number of shops which are managed by local villagers. They serve you Maggi, omlette chai etc along with dry snacks and fruits as well. You don't really need to carry any food item for this trek.
We started our trek at around 12 noon. After 2 kms we found one café/shop and stopped there for a quick break. After having maggi we then started our trek and reached Rudranag. It is almost at the middle of trek. There is a waterfall at this point which looks like snake and thus this point is named after it. To reach Rudranag it took almost 90 mins from the last stop. We had fruits/tea at a shop here and then we started again.
So, after having a good break of about 20 mins we started our journey again. And immediately there comes an interesting wooden bridge over river Parvati. This photograph says it all. I was quite scared crossing this bridge. :)
After this point the terrain becomes more difficult, and it is almost 2 hours from this point to reach our destination. In this part there are water streams, steep paths and beautiful views.
We reached at around 4 PM to the top. And the view from here are spectacular. Here is a glimpse of that.
To my surprise, there were so many eating outlets along with places to stay. I must stay rooms and halls for stay were way beyond my expectations. Here you will even find currency exchange counter as lot of foreigners come to this place.
At the top there is a temple and close to it there is a Hot water spring. It has proper arrangements for women. Water is quite hot but it is very very relaxing. We booked one room with three beds. The rent was very nominal. He charged us 200/- per bed. The sky view at night was awesome. It was clear and mind blowing. We slept early as we were really tired. We woke up at around 4 AM next morning. After roaming here & there for some time, we started our back journey at around 5 AM. Slowly we reached from where we started. Surprisingly it took us almost 4 hours to descend which includes 40 Mins break for breakfast. On this way we found apple and peach trees. Kheerganga was a beautiful experience but I was greatly disappointed after realizing that it is becoming more & more commercialized. We should respect the nature :). I found this written over a rock on the trek.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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