The Night Trek That Turned Into Nightmare

The pumping sound of music was deafening , the heavy bass can be felt around the complete periphery of the village, it was the last day of the year 2017 in katagla(village in himachal pradesh). We were a group of five friends spending the last minutes of the year partying after a long tired journey from delhi.We needed to wake up early the next morning for our trek to prashar lake which was from baggi village in mandi district of himachal pradesh.

We got up a little late and as per our plan, we took the fastest possible way to reach baggi. We reached mandi at around 4 in the evening due to heavy rush and traffic.We were already behind our schedule but we stuck to our plan and hired a taxi to take us to baggi village, meanwhile the chilliness was continuously increasing and night and rain added to adverse situations. We reached baggi at around 7 pm in the evening, the rain stopped but the hill spotting the prashar lake was completely enveloped in dense fogs.

It was a full moon night and the charm of the place just blinded our mind to reach the spot that we planned and we started our trek at 7:10 in the night. It was a five to six hours trek and planned to reach the top till quater past eleven or early.Trekking in night was a whole new experience for us, we were walking through the dark woods and the eeriness of the place was increased by the sudden voices that resounded in the forest. We trekked for around three hours complete without any major halts until our footsteps stopped to admire the plethora of beauty created by the fresh snow on a down valley. Trees were completely covered in snow and the moonlight washing the tip of the leaves just created the place a complete paradise.The iciness of the place was increased with temperatures dropping to negatives, we didn't wasted too much time there and kept on moving for around an hour until we were lost.

The white sheet completely engulfed the mountain with no sign of trail leading to our destination, all our efforts to find the way were just going in vain. We tried collecting some wood and igniting the fire to keep us warm but to our disappointment, the cold wave just froze everything including our hopes.We were stranded nowhere till we saw a light coming from downhill, we went there instantly and saw a room with nobody in there. That light came as a ray of hope to brighten our fortune in this pitch black darkness, the room was locked and we had no other option than to break in to save our lives from the extreme weather.

That room in that queer place was perfect for all of us, it had firewood,1000 w heater,five blankets,three mattress and some grains to fill our hungry bowels. We were rejoiced to get in there and spent the night eating plain rice with no salt. It was a very long day for all of us, but as we all say "All is well that ends well". We got up the next morning and started our trek agian in the bright sunny day,we directly struck the trail without any futher problems. In the meantime, we met the caretaker of the room and explained him our circumstances and paid for the damage.We completed our trek in next one hour and returned to our regular lives after two days but the night created a great impression teaching us a lesson for life.