My Happiest Trek Moment – Personal Stories of Will, Grit and Inspiration - Part 8

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!

| High by the side of Rupin Waters

“We reached Dhaula which is the starting point of Rupin pass trek around 9 pm in the evening. We were able to listen to the rhythm of flowing water very close to our camp but it was took dark to be able to see anything. The next day morning the first thing I did was to follow the rhythm of gushing water and reach this point which was just about 100 meters away from where we camped. The beauty of Himalayas cast its spell on me and I was enchanted by its beauty right from DAY 1 of the trek. A friend of mine captured this picture when I was relishing the fresh air, mountains and clear flowing water. ” – Aarthy Chinnaiya

| The day I found my new strength

“I went for my first ever high altitude trek with Indiahikes, for the Deoriatal-Chandrashila trek, this year in March (really feel lucky to have spent the last few days before the lockdown, in the mountains, couldn’t have asked for more ). This trek gave me so many happy moments and I’m sharing one of them here.

The picture was taken on the summit day of our Chandrashila trek, somewhere around the halfway mark. We had already covered several kilometres on each of the previous three days, and just when I was comfortable trekking for next few kilometres, really excited to finally see the world from the summit point, I started having little breathing problem, it turned out to be not as simple as I thought it would be. But then I had these amazing bunch of people trekking along with me, the trek leader, all cheering us to keep moving forward. That day I pushed my limits both mentally and physically only to realize later that we truly are stronger than we think.

It was one of the most beautiful and calming mornings I’ve ever lived; the freshest air I’ve ever smelt. In that moment nothing else really mattered. Looking back at this picture, everything seems so worth it, something I would love to do again and again.” – Shalini Vaibhav

| An adventurous summit day to Rupin Pass!

“Mountains never fail to surprise me. Mysterious peaks, floating clouds, diverse weather and vast peaceful open grounds.

When I started my Rupin Pass journey, they were ready with a bunch of surprises. The first view of the Rupin River was something I had only seen on the internet. Seeing it in real made it even more mesmerizing. The Sewa temple where people of the village have dedicated their achievements was something I awaited! A small bridge that separates Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand was the highlight of the trek. Even blinking of a eye would be wasting time at the Rupin Waterfall. The sky at night was surreal, like galaxy opened just for me to watch. The white out on the Upper Waterfall campsite clouded us, happening to be the best experience on the trek. All these surprises leading to one thing ‘The Summit’. The summit moments are special be it your first or the hundredth one.

I would like to narrate the Summit day of Rupin Pass Trek as it was something I will always remember which brought me joy, happiness and tears at the same time.

This is how it played out..

We had to gain a height of approximately 2000 feet to reach the summit. The level of difficulty was already known so we had prepared ourselves by sleeping early and taking proper rest on the day prior. It was complete darkness at 5am on 8th June,2018, after having a healthy breakfast we started our climb to the summit of Rupin Pass with our head torches and down jackets on. The wind was strong and temperature dropped to as low as 6°C. After trekking for around 3 hours in snow patches and difficult terrain we had to put on our gaiters and prepare ourselves to climb a 75° snow ascent, being the final patch to the summit. After regrouping and regaining our energy for 10 mins, we started our final push to the summit. The final summit push was a complete test of our stamina and with all the encouragement and support from our trek leaders we finally flagged the summit at around 10:15am and finally conquered 15250 feet.

That feeling of achievement after putting in all the hard work and dedication needed to reach the summit was immense. It definitely tested our stamina,strength and mental attitude to climb.

It was a moment of utter happiness and self satisfaction to climb this with the best group of people and it made me realize success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the courage and the will to continue that counts.” – Jinesh Chheda

| My unwinding moment at the pristine Tarsar Lake

“This was the day when had we reached one of the main camping site – Tarsar Lake. We camped on open green grasslands next to the serene Tarsar lake and green mountains with snow patches.

After the tough ascend part of the day, we we had our delicious lunch and were back to our tents for leisure. Afterwards, I and our friends decided to go lake and surroundings of it. Then, we got freshen up and wore causal slippers and went exploring. We went near the lake, played games, captured photos and had a great time. The landscape was beautiful with pastel colors of blue, green and white and seemed like postcard photo. It was so fascinating around, so I decided to sit in a place and enjoy the time, amidst this beauty of nature. It was so peaceful and relaxing, and it was my best time ever. There were no tensions of work load, no sounds of traffic jams and no missing cellphone/connectivity unlike in cities. I realized I was following healthy routine of waking up early, trekking almost half a day, eating nutritious food, breathing fresh air and being close to nature. Nature can heal minds and recharge the soul. The time spent on these green trails was one of my best lifetime memories ever.

And it’s not even a year and already missing this place. I recollect the experience, whenever I come across similar landscape photos. ” – Priyanka Adoni

| From Mukta Top with love 🙂

“Life is like a Bollywood story you are the hero set out to show your love to your family how do I do it.

Rewinding three months before the trek my wife walks up to me and ask ten years of marriage how much you love me ,how are you going to express this Valentine’s Day, I am like well we are still together I get you a gift we go on holidays tell me what gift you want I shall have it ready ,she gives me a awkward look and says okay get me some jewellery. I realized sometimes you assume somebody’s love for you granted ,you have to show them how much you also love them and you cannot buy that by money and gifts.

So I decided on this craziest idea going on a trek holding a placard to express my love on snow capped mountain some thousand feet I knew I will sweep my lady love of her feet that’s the best way of expressing once feeling.

The idea was the easiest part, but how do I execute it , so booked Mukta top trek through Indiahikes.

Well that was the beginning of the story…

First day of the trek as everyone was talking why they came to the trek , some for adventure, see the beauty, seek happiness, for fitness when it came up to me I was like I would be so stupid to stay climbing to express the love to my wife and group was bunch young crowd, so I told them for fun.

As I slept in the tent that tent shivering in the cold I cursed my self I must be crazy to do this sometimes love makes you crazy 🙂

The second day it became more difficult, a lazy chap like me who sits watches Netflix the whole day eating all the lovely food wife cooks life was hell climbing that mountains.

Second day at the Chaithatar I slipped out slowly took the placard took a selfie I will show this to my wife what she will know what is summit just in case I cannot make it to the summit.

I did not realize there was someone behind me, I felt a hand touch behind me wow Karthick how romantic you are hey I wish I had a pen and paper I will do this tomorrow for my girlfriend.

So know there was added pressure. Whatever happens I have to reach the summit because the word had already spread in the camp about my placard idea what if some one sees my photo on Facebook or Instagram and comment something hey this is not the summit.

At the summit Mukta top…

I pick this placard in shivering hand trying to take selfie the fellow trekker walks up I will take it for you, he is like you must be loving your wife allot, I reply Yes I love them to the heavens he wow sir I miss I don’t have a pen and paper as held that placard proudly posing for photo.

There was a smile wow and hush among fellow trekkers.

Within a minute I receive a call from my wife Are you stupid this is crazy where the hell are you I see all snow and huge mountains behind you and then she broke into tears and said come back home safely we love you too don’t do this again, my son was like dad when did you get superman powers and reach there :)) a photo to cherish for lifetime a moment to cherish for life time.

I had smiles emotions filled it was like a Bollywood movie coming to an end as I Looked up the mountains telling in my mind to the mountains you had one idiot climb up there for love :))) Just remember, more to follow. ” – Karthick Rathinavelu

| The day my willpower got me a yummy cake! 🙂

“Me, my husband and our son have completed Kedarkantha trek in May 2016. Our trek leader was Mr. Mohit.

That season, ours was the first batch that could reach summit including all the members and supporting staff. After climbing down, we briefly took rest at Kedarkantha base camp. Rest of the team then climbed down to Hargaon camp to rest for the day. I was very tired. I had fallen in snow near summit a couple of times and was running temperature. So Mohit decided that three of us will stay back at base camp for rest. He gave me some medicines also. After resting for a couple of hours I was feeling better. Other supporting staff suggested that we stay there only. But I had grown attached to my batch mates and felt that if I will not join them at Hargaon their morale will be affected. You know how it is there in a trekking group. So we three climbed down and joined our batch at Hargaon camp site. Every one including Mohit were so elated and they clapped for us. Later Mohit arranged for a cake cutting. We were resting in our tent. A few fellow trekkers came to fetch us. Initially as we were very tired were reluctant to join them in the dinning tent. But they said that there is a surprise for us. So we went. There everybody greeted us and asked both me and Amit to cut the cake as a mark of celebrating first successful summit of the season!! I was so touched. My eyes became moist. I will never forget that warmth, love and respect I got from our team mates and all the members of Indiahikes staff. That was my happiest trek moment.” – Sonal Trivedi

| The moment that got etched in my memory forever

“Sandakphu-Phalut was not just my first Himalayan trek, it was my first trek EVER. For a person like me who has never trekked before and is not even a regular at the gym, there was a lot of skepticism around whether I’d be able to complete the trek or not. To be honest, I was less excited and more apprehensive while signing up for the trek. I spent days reading about AMS, its symptoms and even considered cancelling my trek (which would have been the worst decision I could ever make). But this feeling of nervousness and fear lasted only till I reached our base camp, Jaubhari. There, after meeting my fellow trekkers, local guide and our trek leader, all my worries vanished into thin air (quite literally). From being anxious about the trek- to waking up every day at 5am in subzero temperatures and witnessing the first rays of Sun hitting the mighty Kanchenjunga Range, it was quite a journey for me!

This picture here was taken on Day-6, at Phalut, which was the most memorable day of the trek for me. Right there, with Mount Everest and Mt. Kanchenjunga standing tall in the same frame, I lost myself for a second. For the first time in my life, I was proud of myself and the emotions of bliss and true happiness I felt at that moment cannot be put into words.

Sakshi Singh

| The day me and my brother got bitten by the trekking bug!

“In April,2016 I did my first trek to Deoriatal-Tunganath -Chandrashila along with my elder brother Tarakeswar. It was our first trek with Indiahikes. I was 50 years and my brother was 54 years when we did this trek to Chandrashila. Though now I feel that it was not really a difficult trek but at that time it was quite difficult for us as we were not well prepared physically. I will never forget my experience of climbing Chandrashila, a real mountain peak…I was feeling as if I am Edmond Hillary and have scaled Mount Everest.That was the the moment when my brother and I got bitten by the trekking bug. We did 2 treks every year thereafter… total 7 treks with IH, the latest being Kedartal in October, 2019. But I will forever cherish the memory of reaching the Chandrashila summit and the sense of achievement that we experienced that day. Yes I can say that was the happiest trek moment for me.” – Mousumi Dattachoudhury

| An underprepared adventure that made me trek-ready!

“Valley of Flowers was my first Himalayan trek.

It was way back in August 2015 and valley of flowers treks started from Govindghat, 14 kms and 1000 m gain on first day itself!

As a Himalayan trek novice, I was under prepared 5 years back. Trekked in Woodland shoes and normal cotton clothes!

This pic was taken besides the raging stream as you trek uphill after 7 kms. The first 7 kms were bliss, trekked slowly and that smile will disappear as the next 7 kms were tough on the body. It was so bad that I gave my backpack to the rear sweeper of the Indiahikes and carried his light back on my shoulders.

As a first Himalayan trek, it was unique experience and I was well prepared for future more travels.” – Rohit Talekar

| An overnight gift from Mother Nature 🙂 

“The first time I saw overnight snowfall.

This happened on my 2nd trek. We were group of 4 members who went for Goechala trek during early November last year.

On Day 2 we started very early from Sachen as we have to cover a lot of grounds to reach Dzongri by the end of the day. It was warm and sunny when we started. Right after we crossed Tshoka out of nowhere we are in the middle of clouds and it started raining. We were forced to tent in Phedang as it started raining heavily.

Next morning I saw an amazing view. The entire field was covered in thick layers of snow.

This was one of my happiest trek moments.” – Sutirtha Roy

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.  🙂