Meeting with Himalayan shepherds

Yesterday I fell asleep so soundly that I fell asleep at 10 o'clock in the night. After a warm sleep, I woke up at 7 in the morning. When I came out, I saw that it was sunny, there were clouds in the sky but few, the mountains were shining in the sunlight and steam was flowing on the windows inside. After freshening up, the first thing we do is have breakfast.

I have paratha and tea for breakfast, after breakfast I cut ribbon and reflective tape for marking and keep it in the bag. At 10 in the morning we were ready to complete our today's task. One of our friends drops us in his car at Vashishtha Temple, our walking route started from here. Today we have to go to Mori Dug from Vasistha Temple, from Mori Dug we have to get down to Palchan village.

10:30 Ankur and I start route marking. This segment is known as the Death Climb, so named because this segment has an elevation gain of 800 meters in just 3 km. We too, drenched in sweat, slowly set out for our work. I am marking with pants and Ankur is tying reflectors and ribbons.

The first two km is completed in 01:15 hours. After stopping, we first take a break, drink water and take a short rest. Very beautiful views of Manali Valley are visible from here. Dhauladhar and Pir villages situated in the middle of Punjab range are shining like diamonds in the sunlight. The cold wind is drying the sweat on my neck. The clouds floating in the sky are sometimes allowing sunlight to reach the earth and sometimes blocking it.

From here we reach Mori Dug, where Shepard is sitting in a tent with his sheep and goats. Here Shepard will stay for 10 more days and nowadays he is busy shearing the sheep and goats. He will sell this hair in the market and will support his family with the money received from it. I talk to Shepards for a while and then leave again towards my destination.

After walking for two and a half hours, we have reached Mori Dug, the altitude here is 300 meters and till now our elevation gain has reached 800 meters, the distance till here is only 3 km. Now the climb is over and tall grass has grown, crossing the segments of tall grass we start moving towards Palchan village. After about 3 hours we take another break, eat the dry fruits we brought with us and start walking back to the trail after about 15 minutes.

The mountains visible through the deodar and pine forests look very exciting. In the distance I can see Shikhar Baha Peak whose height is 6400 meters, along with it Hanuman Tibba is visible whose height is 5950 meters. These snow covered mountains attract me like everyone else.

Now we have to descend, so we start walking at speed and at 4 pm we reach Palchan village. Today we marked 11km with an elevation gain of 1350m. From here we call our friend and go to the hotel in his car, where we eat tea and sandwiches, after eating I take a bath and now I am sitting in the quilt and writing this post for Hive.

Tomorrow we have to go to Kothi Top for marking, information about which will be given tomorrow. I hope you liked this post.