We all love doing treks. Isn't? Well I never knew how much I love it until I experienced this less explored trek in Himachal Pradesh called Kareri Lake Trek.
In the summer of 2019, a random forwarded itinerary dropped in my inbox and the name of the trek itself was so pleasing that I shared the same with my group of friends. Everyone seemed so excited to read it and here we started off with the plan. After multiple discussions, back offs, calculations and cancellations, we finally decided to go for it. Destiny again, isn't? Because this was going to be the first time that I decided to travel with friends. I was earlier not allowed to go with friends, but somehow it turned out to be quite in my favor this time.
We started off with an overnight journey in a Volvo bus from Delhi, and it took almost 12 hours for us to reach to the destination where the Volvo dropped us off. After getting off, the first sight (aadhi neend me) was the Dharamshala Mall, which was next to the petrol pump. The mall was closed since it was somewhat 8 in the morning and I remember my friend, who wanted to pee, rushed to the ladies' washroom of the petrol pump, only to be waiting outside because it was already occupied. She was in huge discomfort while waiting there, until she found out a male coming out of the ladies' washroom which made her even more angry. She shouted at him because she had to wait for someone who wasn't even a girl 😂 The more embarrassing fact was when we found out later, that this guy was from our group only, and would be joining us on the trek.
Thereafter, we started in a cab as we were still about an hour away from our homestay. I am always scared of road travels in general, but this fear suddenly comes up to my throat when it comes to travelling in mountains. Despite this, I often go to mountains because travelling ka keeda hai, uska kya karu? This one hour of journey in the cab was hell scary, because we were on such a narrow road, I couldn't literally see the edge of the road. At that moment, I was literally like "mere ko toh bada dhak dhak horela hai" 😰 My friend then suggested me to sleep to avoid the anxiety and she was right, mai phir so gayi 😴
When I woke up, we were already at our destination. It was a 15 mins small trek from there, with our luggage, before we reached to this beautiful homestay in between the mountains which was our place for the next two days.
It was a complete old school feeling. Such exquisite rooms, mattresses on the floor, beautiful art on the walls, low ceilings and finally having had the lunch on the floor after ages. It was such a soul satisfying experience, that I usually wonder why can't we do this often? Life in metropolitan is so different than life in such cities.
Now, it was almost 5-5:30 in the evening and we were all set to trek down to the riverside. The outflow out there is famously known as Nyund stream, which I also got to know very recently. We trekked down, enjoyed being at the riverside, clicked pictures, had fun, until we realized that it's already dark and we don't have a direction to our way back to the homestay. Mai thoda darr gayi thi, because I was being told that wild animals are often seen in this forest (mazak tha). Jaise taise we managed to find way back to our homestay (Thanks to our Guide), and it took almost double the time that we took while going to the riverside, but it was indeed adventurous.
We were supposed to get a bonfire that night, but somehow it couldn't happen as there was no electricity to find anything. Completely dark! So, we decided to go to our rooms and play cards with our mobile torches. From all those ghost stories to fun challenges, we Indeed had a great time together.
Next morning, imagine waking up to this view 😊
And then playing cards along with morning tea like this ❤️
After having breakfast, we left for the most memorable trek of our life till date. We jumped the rocks, made fun of each other, went through the dead cold water in the lowest temperature, clicked pictures, competed, sung songs horribly and laughed till our stomach ached.
And finally, after 6 long hours of trekking (first time ever), we could see our camps. The moment we saw them, the urge to reach there became even more stronger.
Annnndddd... look at this 😍
We had lunch, were dead tired, wanted to take rest but aag itni thi, we went ahead for snow trekking to explore the famous Lord Shiva temple. After this was done, we came back, and sat for the bonfire. Thake hare, we sang gande gaane, itne that the travelers from the another group were literally laughing at it 😂 The more the temperature was going down, the more shiver within us and the more creepy songs started to hit us.
Later in the night, after having few fun games in the camp, we slept in our sleeping bags in almost 1 degree, completely dark, no electricity, no washrooms, and with fear of any wild creature hitting during the night. But hua kya.. "Baarish". Just Wow ❤️ No, now our shoes were all wet and we had to trek down tomorrow 😟 Each one of us in the middle of the night was like "ab kya karenge?" Anyway, we woke up early the next morning, created some more beautiful memories before we finally trekked down to our homestay, from where we headed back to delhi.
Just before starting our trek down 😉
And the trip ended here.
Oh Wait! One important update:
The owners of the Homestay used to take care of a stray dog. When I asked them for her name, they said "Naam toh kuch rakha nai".
Toh, mai rakh aayi thi uska naam. Her name is "MILLI" now (Inspired from the name of a friend's pet), and she loved it 😊 Only if you can spot her in the next image 😜
Yes, that furry friend I am trying talking to ❤️
This trip has taught me that once in a while, you should stop being scared and just go for it. It might not go as planned, but in fact better than the plan 😍 and in the end, c, and if that makes you proud of yourself and your choices, then you've already won half the battle, because it is all that matters 😊
