Travel can leave imprints not just in terms of memories but also in terms of what one sees away from the world that he comes from. That is exactly what I experienced. After the end of a tiring academic year, my friends and I planned a roadtrip to backpack and travel around Mcleodgunj and Triund without any special guide of any sort. We decided to explore in our own way.
Starting from Delhi, we ended up taking a train to Chandigarh from where we took a cab to Mcleodgunj. This place is located near Dharamshala and is a home to a lot of Tibetan people and thus is a beautiful place that has wonderful monasteries. It from here itself that you see the snow peaked Dhauladhar and seeing the mountains so close to you, watching the sunrise over the white snow, the clear skies with numerous stars is beauty in itself. But the adventure here began for us when we decide to trek to the Triund Valley in the Dhauladhar range.
Triund is this valley located at the top of one of the side ranges of the Dhauladhar from where one can view the Lakka glacier, the Dhaluladhar range and can touch the snow in thepalm of one's hand. Trekking to Triund takes a minimum of 3 hours and there are checkpoints for snacks and beverages on the way. The whole trek just keeps opening up pockets of nature that is overwhelming in itself and one gets the biggest surprise when they reach the top to see the majestic snow capped mountains standing so close to you that it takes your breath away. Here we camped in tents, provided by the Forest Department of this area for 3 days. In these three days we lived like campers eating food from the stalls available, trekking randomly around, exploring the turf and finding our way to the Lakka glacier. We made new friends, trekked our way upwards through the snow and saw everything that we could have hoped to see. The whole experience was just beautiful. Right from the trek, to the camping in tents with the wind blowing, a hailstorm coming down, seeing the clouds closer than ever was just a different experience in itself. I felt free.
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