Har Ki Dun

This is one of the most underrated sections of the trek. In less than five minutes of starting your trek, you find yourself on an undulating trail right beside the Thamsa river. You are constantly under a canopy of fresh green.

Quaint old wooden bridges across the river appear out of nowhere giving you great picture opportunities. You cover miles on this trail without breaking a sweat.

You’ll notice that the coniferous forest gets denser as you go further. The narrow trail snakes through this dense dark forest for a good hour before opening up to the traces of civilization — the ancient village of Gangaad.

I am not used to such leafy starts on treks. It was almost like a walk in a picture-perfect pine tree park. I cherished every minute of it.

You never hear trekkers talk about any campsite on the Har Ki Dun trek. Like everyone else, I assumed Kalkatiyadhar to either be a small settlement or just beside it.

Quite contrary to my expectations, Kalkatiyadhar turned out to be a vast green meadow. What blew me away was the expanse of the valley. We were in the middle of multi-level cricket-field-sized meadows, set at a vantage height.

To my distant left, the trail climbed towards Swargarohini peaks, which were just peeking on the horizon. To my far right were dense jungles with mountains rising behind them. This was the trail to Ruinsara.

To my right across the river was a meadow set amidst a boundary of pine trees. Behind me, I could trace the trail down to Seema and even see the Kedarkantha summit miles away behind Kotgaon.

Such open settings above 10,000 ft in the mountains with trees, meadows, rivers, and big mountains together in a single frame are not settings you experience in every trek.

A lot has been said everywhere about the ancient villages of Har Ki Dun. You spot these villages from a distance, spread out on the mountainside, with houses almost hanging in the air. I could not wait to climb up to them and see what the interiors looked like.

Spending a night in the village home takes you back hundreds of years. The stories of the village elders and the smiles of the youngsters are something that you want to capture and take back with you.

The villages complete the famed Har Ki Dun experience. On our trek, you get to stay in at least two different villages – Gangaad and Osla.

Devsu Thatch turned out to be the best-kept secret of the entire Har Ki Dun trail. You hardly see much of this meadow from anywhere else but when inside it. The secret is indeed well wrapped around by pine trees!

I loved the meadows because they flow down from top to bottom for 600 meters and stretch for almost 2 km in length. Flowering bushes border the meadows throughout while tiny colourful flowers grow from the ground almost everywhere in spring.

Being higher than its counterpart Kalkatiyadhar on the other side of the valley, you get the best views of the triangular valley here.

I remember running from one end of the meadow to another in the evening to capture my sunset shots as every corner seemed to offer a different view.

Har Ki Dun valley is the one this trek celebrates. Very rightfully, the whole valley is very beautiful.

I loved the expanse of the Har Ki Dun valley. The valley has everything going for it. Big snow-clad mountains tower right in front of you. A big river flows right in the middle. Lovely green meadows stretched far and wide. I could sit there and just take in this scene the whole day.