We had trekked the hampta pass in Himachal Pradesh, India in July 2017. This trek is a relatively diffiicult trek as it is at a high altitude. But it left us with a life time of memories. Here is the story of the first day of our adventure.
Our trek started from Jobri, which is nearly a 2 hour drive from Manali, It is 2 hours because of the bad roads.
We had hired a freelancer local guide from sherpafeet who had made all the arrangement for the trek. From the camping equipment to the food needed while on the trek.
Our guide name was Ravi Thakur. Ravi had also arranged a cab for us from Manali to Jobri, the point at which the trek starts.
On the first day of the trek we trekked till Jwara which was quiet an adventure and was a trip in which we immersed ourselves in nature!
The trail from Jobri to the Jwara is uphill and slightly tough but the constantly changing views as we ascend the valley took our minds off the difficult terrain.
There were mountains made of vertical rocks all around us. It was a cloudy day and we could see our trail dissapear into the clouds. It was a fantastic sight.
We were trekking in the month of July and it was slightly drizzling, which didn’t bother us much as we had our raincoats handy just in case. The sights around us were so amazing, that even water falling on our heads didn’t make us cringe or hide. We were surrounded by greenery. There were trees and bushes, all made of different shades of green!
Before the Jwara camp, where we were headed to, the trail passes through chikka, another camp site, which also has a small tea shop. The trail till chikka was not clearly marked but it wasn’t a problem as we had Ravi with us. Ravi also made our trek easier by holding hands and helping us cross the few streams on the way.
The trail was quiet rocky, there were rocks of different sizes. We were careful not to make any missteps as a single error could get us hurt badly.
Our trek route was covered with flowers on both sides. I guess that makes July a very good time to attempt the hampta pass trek. We saw flowers of varied sizes and coloured. It was a contrasting feeling to see the fragile flowers in between the hard rocks. There were white, yellow, dark red, pink, blue, purple coloured flowers. And they all looked wonderfully pretty, some big and some small but all of them sculpted to perfection.
There were a couple of streams for us to cross, it wasn’t very difficult for us as I am an experienced trekker and our guide gave us a hand whenver things got tricky. An inexperienced trekker needs to exercise caution as the chances to slip a foot and fall is much higher while crossing a stream.
On the hampta pass trek. the river is mostly on the right hand side and its sounds is a constant companion.
We had to cross a big river crossing just before the Jwara camp. This was a difficult river crossing because the water is icy cold and pretty ferocious. There are rocks on the bed of the river which hurts while crossing. Overall there is a high risk of a fall into the river if not done with caution. We had our guide who helped us cross this without a problem.
Our guide had been telling us that it is best to cross this river crossing before 2 pm, as the flow of the water increases from the melting snow as the day passes.
We reached the Jwara campsite well in time. Jwara is a beautiful campsite surrounded by the beautiful Himalayan flowers of many colours.
Very near to our campsite we had the river flowing and the mountains were behind our tents.
On reaching the campsite we had some nice hot tea along with a conversation about the trek and the beautiful valley we crossed. After that we explored the camp site, climbed some big rocks around. We returned back to the camp at dusk. Totally exhausted and famished. Our guide had made us some hot dinner of rice and dal, which we relished. After which we settled into our sleeping bags in our tents.
Dreaming about the day which just went by. The lush green trees and the pristine white water of the rivers flowing over the dark brown rocks.
For anyone planning any trek in the indian himalayas, I would recommend hiring a guide from sherpafeet. They are a social enterprise and have expert freelancer guides on their platform. And it is completely free for trekkers and local guides.