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| From 102_PANA |
For the first few kilometers, we were on a road that got rougher and rougher until at some point we noticed that it was really more of a path and not going to be navigable by vehicles anymore. The path wound its way up the mountain (a total of 1300 m elevation over 9 kms) through a rhododendron forest. Josh found what appeared to be a gold wedding ring and all the way up the trail asked everyone we met if they had lost a ring. We got lots of commanding views of the valley and Mcleod Ganj getting smaller and smaller below us. After a while were following far above a steep dry riverbed, which must, during the wet season, be the multi tiered waterfall that Lonely Planet referred to (way to fail to warn us again that it's only a seasonal waterfall).
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| From Drop Box |
At some point in here we met a couple British women who had been living in Udaipur for the past several months while putting on a production of MacBeth. They were hiking in flip-flops and fairly pathetic looking little canvas shoes, but they were also making slightly better time than we were (at least than Mary's pace), and left us behind.
A little after 1pm, we were so exhausted that we stopped for a nap for a while.
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| From Drop Box |
Around about 2pm we were passing a little hut and starting to think about turning back, as we had no clue how much further we had left and were getting pretty tired, when we met a couple on the way down stopped for chai who assured us it was only another hour and a half, that there was food available, and that it was totally worth it. They pointed out to us a building on the ridge and told us it was our destination. It looked a good deal closer than Mcleod Ganj, so we continued up the mountain. We started getting to small patches of snow, which was at first really cool, but as they got to be larger snowfields they became annoying and a bit challenging to cross.
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| From Drop Box |
We took a lot of breaks because the trail was so steep and were wondering if the 1 and a half hours estimate was how long it took to hike the remaining distance, or if it included breaks. Evidently it included breaks as we just beat the time estimate. Here is Josh pointing at our destination from the hut 1.5 hours away.
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| From Drop Box |
When we got to the top of the ridge we found the two British women, who said they'd been there only 10 minutes and been over to the hut we'd been assuming was the guesthouse described in Lonely Planet, only to find it all locked up. We were impressed that they'd made it at all with their lack of shoes. The guy in the tarp hut they were sitting next to was selling omelets, toast, and chai, and not even for outrageous prices. We enjoyed the view and the company over omelets. We also found out from them that there was a "theater" back in Mcleod Ganj that would be showing "Where the Wild Things Are" at 6pm and then "Sherlock Homes" at 8:30pm. We figured we would have no trouble making it back for either of these. And the idea of a movie from home sounded really good.
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
After snapping some photos and lamenting that the better part of the mountains were in the clouds today, we started back down with the British women around 4pm.
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| From 102_PANA |
Going down was much faster and after not too long we were having a nice long rest outside the shelter where we'd met the couple having chai. When we got up from our rest, Mary discovered that she had a big blister on her 4th toe on the right side. We applied a bandaid from the first aid kit (mole skin is less useful without a pocket knife), and it was okay. We continued to hike down with the British women and followed them down a wrong turn quite a long way, until we got to a rest point where they decided to sit to watch the sunset. We were still hoping to get home by dark and decided not to wait around for sunset. However, the trail didn't look that familiar to us. A little way down we met an Indian man who had passed us coming down and asked if this path went to the town we were trying to reach. He said it was a short cut, but a difficult one. We decided to turn around and go back the way we came to save our ankles. When we got up to the others, they assured us they'd come up this way and it wasn't so bad. So we went back down and met the Indian guy coming back up saying he'd decided this path was too steep and advising that we turn around too. So we did. He stopped and argued with the British women for a while about their route and we didn't see him again. Shortly after we got back on the right path, we saw a rather dramatic sunset, then the lights in the villages down below start to come on. We reached a road just as it was getting dark and asked directions at a guesthouse and got out our headlamp. Since the directions at the guesthouse hadn't been that clear, we asked some people a little further along, and they said the road we were on would work, but on foot in the dark we'd be better off taking that trail over there, and that it would pass through another village where we could get further directions.
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| From Drop Box |
The trail was not at all familiar, but we took it. Eventually we stopped at a house for directions, where we met a guy who said he had just walked up from Mcleod Ganj where he works, and gave us directions again. Soon we were back on a road, and Josh started walking backwards with Mary trying to lead him in a modified ballroom hold to save his knees. We stopped a few time and turned off the light to admire the stars. We got back to our hotel in time to change our clothes before rushing down to the Japanese restaurant for some great vegetarian sushi before rushing to the theater just as "Sherlock Homes" was starting. The theater was less nice than our setup at home, but it was fun anyway. What a great last day in India!
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