Trekking expedition experience in Mani Mahesh In Himachal Pradesh

In 2010 I was working in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh for a Sub-station project. I was staying at Chamba city. On 15th August some of my colleges and me decide to go for trekking on Mani Mahesh. We hired a car and started at 4:00 am first going to Bharmor. There we reached by 8:00 am and had our breakfast and again we started to our destination. We reached Hadsar by 11:00 am where we left our car because that is the last point with vehicle where we can go.

We had our lunch there and started trekking. That was the rainy season and there are so many falls coming down that I fell in love of that place at first sight. First few meters the road made of concrete then it starts only on rock. Walking on rocks in rainy season is also critical. But this is the time when the State government gives permission to everybody for trekking to Mani Mahesh for one month only. Government and private parties arranged tents and food for pilgrims at this time. After 1.5 or 2 Km our legs started paining and I fete like I will be not able to reach the point because that is 11km from Hadsar. One of my friends also facing problems to walk. An old woman who was coming back from Mani Mahesh saw him and give him her walking stick and said that this stick will only help us to walk. Then we also collected walking sticks from side of the jungles and later we felt the benefit of that stick.

Slowly-slowly we trek 6 km and we reached Dhancho at 06:30 pm. There we took some rest, had tea and again started to walk. We are also enjoying beautiful sight of wild flowers, herbs and trees. When we crossed the river via a wooden bridge, we saw waterfall - it's beautiful! After 2km from Dhancho somebody shouted out, "Kesar is here!". We also rushed to that place and found really lot of Kessar plants were there. We also picked up some from there. After that, the way was too hard to cross. After every 5 steps we take 2 minutes rest to get better breath due to lack of oxygen. We are inside the clouds it seems and we were covering ourselves with a thin raincoat bought from Dhancho. This feeling to walk through clouds was amazing. Place from where 5 streams are coming out and meet to create Ravi River was also a breath-taking sight. We were speechless!

At 9:00 pm we reached Gauri Kund and decide to take a halt for that night in a tent. After getting dinner we slept deeply. That was approx 2:30 at midnight we heard so many people are crying out "Har Har Mahadeo". We all woke up immediately and ran outside the tent. After that what we see that was unbelievable - a huge light lightens up all the darkness from the far away hill top which is named as Mani Mahesh Hill. Yes, this is the Mani for which darkness has gone. It glows for 10-12 minutes and then vanishes.

That rest of night we spent in cold and in morning 6:30 am we came out from the tent. We never thought that yet another surprise was waiting for us. We look to that hill top where we see that Mani last night. There we saw ice was accumulated in some places of that hill and there was automatically art like Half face of Lord Shiva, Om symbol and inside Om Trishul drawn. Our eyes were stuck on that. Really I did not believe on rituals of god but when I saw these I was stunned!

After that we visit Gauri kund where only ladies can take bath & then we reach our final destination Mani Mahesh Jhil. We take bath in that Icy cold pond and some of us worship to Lord Shiva. We ate our food and came back with lots of wonderful memory with us.

Required items for Trekking

Walking Stick

Blanket

Rain-coat

These few item only are required if you trek only between month of August and September.

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