My Happiest Trek Moment – Personal Stories of Fright, Spirituality And Thrill – Part 4

What is the My Happiest Trek Moment campaign?

Frankly, we’re tired of all the negative news around us. You must be too.

We are cooped up at home, not meeting people dear to us. All we get is bad news about Coronavirus spreading its devilish arms. Almost any conversation becomes about Coronavirus. It’s become quite frustrating.

So we have created a space that takes us as far away from Coronavirus as possible — to the trekking world where we all yearn to be.

As a trekker, we’re sure you relive moments from your trek every now and then — it could be that euphoric moment when you finally reached the summit! It could be that moment you were moved to tears by a beautiful sunrise. It could be the reflective time you spent by yourself at a campsite.

You’re welcome to share your stories! We’d be happy to feature them! Find all the steps to send it here.

With no further ado, here are some fantastic stories that trekkers sent to us! 🙂

Btw, make sure you share these stories further, to help more people beat the lockdown blues!

| The Magical moment!

“I have seen this spot on the Kedarkantha trek (the one at which my photo has been taken) on the internet several times. And probably it was the reason behind choosing this trek. From the day one I had this goal in mind and not for a second i had doubts about making it. On the summit day, I was very eager to make it to the top as early as possible, though the entire trek was beautiful and full of scenic beauty, when you make it to the summit it was MAGICAL All you feel is the sense of achievement! ” – Pallav Shah

| A day in Wonderland

“What a day we had with the start of the Har Ki Dun trek along the river & the wonderful home stay in the beautiful and secluded mountain village, ‘Dhaatmeer’!

The best moment of the day came when we were spending quiet time on the picturesque bridge just on the outskirts of the village with waterfall on one side and flowering mustard fields and the beautiful village below. What a day it was!

Today in these difficult times I am missing my trek mates and the trek very much.” – Ajay Gokhale

| The day when I lost and found my husband!

“The summit image is really special since our’s was the first batch to complete the summit on the Kedartal trek – thanks to the awesome guides and leader and of course the weather.

For me, the trek holds a special place in my heart due to an incident that happened during our descend. We had started our onward descend from Kedarkharak campsite, all excited to head back, chill and most importantly, it was the day of election results and we were looking forward to catch some action in-time.

The fun conversations however soon turned into a nightmare for a bit. The group was crossing a glacier and a few of us were yet to cross it. I was moving ahead and my husband (the guy in the picture) was following my footsteps. Unfortunately, his snow spikes got entangled while he was midway and he slipped into 300-400 meter deep valley.

I had absolutely no clue about his slip since even I was yet to reach the end and wasn’t looking behind for obvious reasons. Tanmay, our trek leader came forward to hold my hand quickly and I assumed he was just doing out of concern so I obliged.

After the crossover, I could sense some commotion among the group since we had halted there but couldn’t make out what happened until a guy told me, “he fell”. I looked forward to take a peek in the valley and I was shook to death. For a minute I thought my husband is no more since he was lying against a huge boulder. My world was shaken that minute and I started crying and became numb. My trek mates offered me water and told me he was fine and he had waved to everyone after the fall, signalling things were okay.

I was a bit relieved but still disturbed. The technical guides and team had taken a plunge into the valley to rescue Deepak (my husband, the survivor). In about 5 minutes, I could see him walk along with the technical guides and come back to us. I was the happiest that moment. After he reached back to our spot, the entire group hugged him, Tanmay gave him some Relispray and I just broke down while hugging him.

That was one of the most important moments of my life. In just a fraction of a second, I learnt that Life can slip through your fingers and we may lose the ones we love, without any guarantee, anytime. I was also the happiest that moment when I saw Deepak emerge back and join us back on his feet for entire 5 hour descend.

It was that day I realized the true meaning of “Make every day count… Even when you think it’s the worst day of your life; for you never know when it’ll be your last.”” – Pooja Drubra

| The moment of gratitude and love

“Last year during the month of October I trekked to Milam Glacier with my dearest partner my wife and after a long trek of an about 65 KM when we reached near the glacier and holding our national flag in front of it, my eyes were filled with tears, that after such a long and tough trek I am sharing this glory, holding our national flag with my dearest one. Thinking that this is one of the happiest moment of my life also.” – Amitabha Nandi

| The moment of spirituality and elation

“I had taken a friend along for a short sojourn in Uttarakhand – primarily to revisit Kedarnath and if possible, Vasuki Tal. We walked to Kedarnath but the weather turned spoilsport so Vasuki tal was out. I decided to go to Madhyamaheshwar – so we walked down from Kedar to Sonprayag and went to Ransi via a jeep and then walked to Goundar village by evening. We walked up to Madhyamaheshwar next morning to the temple set amidst beautiful meadows.

Dawn had not yet broken the next morning when my and my friend stepped out to walk the short distance above the temple to Buda Madhyamaheshwar. As we reached the top in a short time, faint fingers of light started to show and slowly bring the features to light. As the sun rose, the shafts of light grew brighter as the sun slowly rose and bathed the the Chaukhamba and Mandani peaks in an ethereal light. The few limpid poos of water were absolutely still and reflected the majestic peaks in absolute perfection. To me, it was a glorious moment – standing there looking at the amazing sight with the temple below was almost spiritual and the cares of the entire world seemed elsewhere. As we strolled back down to reality that day, that moment was frozen in my memory as pure undiluted joy.

I’ve been on quite a few treks (far higher and more spectacular like EBC, Gokyo, Kili etc) but somehow this moment to me crystallized an essence of the happiness I feel while wandering among the mountains.” – Swapnesh Banerjee

| When tears of joy flowed on the beautiful meadow

“We had trekked almost through half of the day and then the forest ended and we entered the Gorson Bugyal Meadows. My friend and I were arguing about who would get to eat the last of the toffee Mango Bite we had and we were laughing as others were asking for some from us too and it was very sudden that lush green meadows pierced our eyes.

The beauty was scenic and such elegance was showered upon us by nature that we stood there breathless, unable to take in so much beauty together. Acclimatized to only city lights, our eyes fumbled around like a child with a new toy.

My friend said to me that he may cry any moment with joy over the wrenching beauty of the place. I stopped listening to his raving as my eyes watered up and I could feel my breathing. We were standing there and trying to take the wide expanse that stretched in front of us when one of our mates called from the back for a photo.

He had already taken a photo before that and though our eyes were so magnetized by the beauty we turned and smiled. I have had so many emotions take over me in my life but never had I felt to just let go, fall to the ground and cry so hard with happiness. That was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life where joy and sorrow somehow came together for me.” – Anurag V

| Prayer in the purest form

“This is a picture of ‘Om Parvat’ taken during my trek to Om Parvat and Adi Kailash in July 2002. After six days of trekking, and savoring the beautiful visuals all along, we had reached Nabhidang the earlier evening. The returning trekkers and yatris we had met on our way, as well as the ITBP jawans at Gunji and Kalapani (our previous stops) had informed us of there being heavy cloud cover over ‘Om Parvat’ since the last four days and that they weren’t able to get the darshan. Like all trekkers, we were optimistic. After all, we had trekked for so many days to reach here; we could not return without the darshan. With our spirits high, we waited patiently till sunset for the clouds to give way, but in vain.

The next morning we woke up before dawn and perched ourselves atop a hillock right behind our tents. (That’s the place from where this photo was taken.) With a light breeze giving us a chill, we sat there facing ‘Om Parvat’ and started chanting ‘Om Namah Shivay’. With our eyes fixed on the cloud covered ‘Om Parvat’ and the collective chants ringing in our ears, the atmosphere felt holy and divine; pure and straight from the heart- something I had never experienced before! As we continued chanting for more than 40 minutes and as the sun was about to rise, to our surprise, the clouds slowly started drifting. And lo!!! There was ‘Om Parvat’, crisp and clear, right in front of us! We all cried tears of gratitude… gratitude to Mother Nature, to the Supreme Almighty! It was the purest form of prayer and connection with the Almighty that I experienced that day and have never got that close ever after.” – Niki Dedhia

| A shooting star, freezing hands and the Himalayas!

“Technically, it was the first day of our ascent towards Mukta Top. The moment we reached our first camp site Shiladuni, I was flattered by its natural setup of valleys and mountains. I started thinking about the star gazing at night which by then I had seen only in pictures.

I was confident enough to step out of the tents at night as we were far from snow and I didn’t think that the temperature would fall below anything that I am afraid of. But as soon as the sun took shelter behind the mountains, I took shelter in my thermals around 4 PM.

I was not in a mood to step out of the tent for anything even dinner. But my tummy was operating in a different department altogether. So, I stepped out with my tiffin box and looked around. All I could see were stars including the ones that trekked with me all along. I was standing there like an amused child cuddled by sky and land.

I badly wanted to capture my star gazing experience so that I can brag how much ever I want. I have tried my hand with camera. Thanks to the absence of tripod, the picture didn’t even look decent. I switched to my mobile which was not responding to my hands with gloves on. With my shivering bare hands in assistance of a rock, this picture got materialized. All I could feel was beauty of the shooting star in the picture but not my hands. Special mention to the light in the tents of my fellow trek mates which topped up this moment like a cherry.

Throughout the trek, we saw the different faces of Himalayas like calm, difficult, beautiful and much more. But this particular moment displayed the romantic face of Himalayas which was soulfully in love with stars and wind. ” – Loges R

| Moments that matter

“Honestly, I have many pictures with more breathtaking backdrops. However, unknowingly this real candid (not planned candid) picture captured everything that defines friendship. It proves time and again how treks foster a deep and unbreakable bond between people.

The picture on a first glance would just seem to be a decent candid. But look close again and I will tell you what you missed.

So, it was the last day of Sandakphu trek. The bridge in the picture is Srikhola bridge. This bridge was the final milestone for natural terrain, post which there was a concrete road suggesting a concrete yet beautiful end to the breathtaking Sandakphu journey. A regular trekker would understand that everyone wants their picture being clicked at such a memorable spot and we were no different. We clicked pictures in permutation and combination with all trek mates.

Now, it was time for the three of us who always trek every year together to take a memorable click. Now, me (center) and Devansh Parikh (right) had glares on and Rushabh Kothari didn’t. Note that we three would be the last to be so fussy and self conscious when it comes to taking pictures. However, Rushabh Kothari at that moment would’ve wanted to get some fun out of the situation. So he started with his drama on how unfair the picture would look if only two friends out of the three would look cool. So instead of looking for his glares, he “made” us take out ours. You can see them in our hands. Now again a regular trekker would know that be it anytime or anywhere, person clicking a picture for us would always be impatient. Our case was no different. But no, now it was a question of fun & pride and so now Devansh had to start the drama on how unfair it would look if only one of the three friends has gloves on. So now he “made” me remove my gloves. You can see how one of the gloves fell while I was taking it out and how the other two of my brothers are laughing about it. This is the exact moment where this picture was taken. The story does not end here. Now it was question of my pride and just when I tried to figure out the difference and said that it would be unfair for two of us if only of them has a cap on, the person clicking our picture lost his patience and handed us the phone. We laughed crazily about it. So here is the “unfair” picture with only Devansh wearing a cap 🙂

You must be thinking that this was dumb and kiddish. Trust me, I too would have felt the same. But sometimes being a child and being kiddish is what we “adults” miss and mountains sure do bring it out in all of us. It is never the big things that deepens a bond. The same metro talks on work, financials, money, sports and business could not have made the three of us the friends we are today. It’s always the small and childish tantrums, leg pulling and “unfair pictures” that forge a bond meant to last forever.” – Rushabh Deliwala

| Our prized possession – The High Altitude Trek tee 🙂

“It was our first trek and our excitement was on the peak of the Himalayas. Not just one moment but every step of the way was counting on our excitement while we trekked upward. We, the HYDERABADIS lived and loved every bit of the time we spent on the “Tarsar Marsar Trek“.

The happiest and the proudest moment was after we completed the trek, we got to flaunt a handsome t-shirt, marking the successful completion of the trek. We had trekked down but still we were flying up the mountains with pride. So we decided to go back home hoarding the same t-shirt which grabbed attention of every passerby at the airport of both Chandigarh & Hyderabad. The pilot of our flight complimented our team saying you guys look great with this tee on, congrats on your successful hike. Our hearts were filled with emotions and pride of an experience of the wonderful journey we had.” – Abdul Qadir Zakir

This just the beginning…

We have so many more beautiful stories shared by trekkers. We’ll be sharing all of them in this space. Stay tuned to our website!

If you’d like to contribute your photo and story, send them to tws@indiahikes.com

Use the subject line: My Happiest Trek Moment

We’ll be featuring the best of entries that we get.

Meanwhile, stay home, stay safe. While we’re locked down physically, let’s allow our minds to wander and feel the joys of trekking.  🙂