Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India
After a long, 10 hr private bus ride, past countless trucks spewing deisel exhaust, and roadside piles of burning tar and garbage, we arrived at the beautiful hill station town of Manali. The town is surrounded by snow covered peaks, and cooled by glacial mountain air. Although we didn’t get to continue on further on this trip, Manali is the gateway to Ladakh, the mountainous state to the North of Himachal Pradesh.
With our free day in Manali, Grant and I trecked the first segment of the Bara Bhangal multi-day trail. Starting on the edge of town, at the 500 year old Dungri Temple, the trail took us up through the Manali Sanctuary, past unofficial cattle grazing land, and up to a 2920m high meadow called Lama Dug. 6 hours of hiking with 900m of elevation gain was just was just what the doctor ordered, after a couple of weeks of sitting in buses and tuk-tuks. The trail was clean, incredibly well maintained, and perfectly graded for a comfortable, moderately challenging, hike (the more challenging terrain is near the top) yet we only encountered one other human soul on the entire day long hike.
Along the trail, we had good views of the rugged snow capped peaks around, and enjoyed the shade of lush vegetation all the way. On the way up, we passed a man who was resting, while his dozen or so cattle grazed in the hill side. Further on up, we heard some more rustling in the trees, which turned out to be an entire colony of Langur Monkeys. They were so gorgeous, but we couldn’t get close enough to really capture their beauty on film. We sat in awe for quite some time, while we watched some of them running and swinging away to gain a safe distance from us, while others just sat and stared back.
