As the calendar ticked over the year 2024, and this will be the year where I reach my 50^th birthday, I couldn’t help but begin reflecting on some of those scary, big questions probably no one really wants to face. “How can I get rejuvenated with a sense of true achievement and get the true meaning of life, keeping my need basic and simple?”

Those pushed me to wake up and register myself with a professional hiking organization for a three and a half day’s trekking tour to Beas Kund.

About Beas Kund

Beas Kund is a high-altitude alpine lake situated in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and is steeped in mythology and history. It’s nestled within the mountains at an altitude of 12,772 feet and offers some of the best views in the region.

The name ‘Beas Kund’ itself is believed to be derived from ‘Vyas’, the sage, and ‘Kund’, meaning lake. According to a legend, Rishi Vyas used to take his daily bath in this lake, which is also the source of the Beas River.

Embracing the Divine: My preparation and journey

Beas Kund trek is a moderate difficulty level and need a preparation and fitness as precondition. So, shifting my thoughts towards positive things, I started preparing myself with brisk walks to jog and runs, cycling and some yoga. As this was my first trek, purchasing right gears added another excitement in preparing myself.

The trek starts in a place called Dhundi. This is about 20 Kms from Manali in Himachal Pradesh. We were instructed to report to Manali Beas Bridge on 8^th June 8:30 AM. As a first-time trekker and considering the altitude, I decided to give myself a day and half in Manali to acclimatize myself before the trek.

Accordingly, I left the comfort of my home and family behind to catch early morning Bangalore – Chandigarh flight on 6^th June. From Chandigarh it took me 8+ hours of tiring road trip to reach Manali.

Manali is a popular tourist destination in India and its consistent high footfall is a valuable asset for local business. My hotel was just on the epicenter of town (mall), I was observing the crowd while taking dinner.

Next morning – 7^th June, I took an hour of walk to the famous Hadimba Devi temple that allowed me to absorb some sunlight and acclimatize to the local weather to prepare for next the few days of adventure.

Day 1:  8^th June 2024: The Ascent Begins –

With great excitement, I reached Beas Bridge on time and met few of the team members who came from different parts of the country to participate in the hike. We commuted by a pre-booked vehicle to our base camp at Palchan (few kms away from Manali) and completed the health check-up with other formalities before reaching Dhundi (our starting point for the trek).  As a first-time trekker, I opted for “offloading” of my belongings.

Tips: “Backpack offloading refers to the process where you give your main backpack to a mule or porter to carry it for you on the trek. If you choose to offload your backpack, make sure to carry a smaller daypack (around 15L to 25L) with essentials like water bottles, a medical kit, lunchbox, and a poncho or raincoat.” 

We reached Dhundi around 1 pm and kept our feet on the trail with great excitement. The trail passes through the meadows of Dhundi, offering the trekkers a chance to witness the grandeur of peaks like Hanuman Tibba, Friendship Peak, Shitidhar, and the Seven Sisters.

The distance between Dhundi to the camp 1 at Palchani Thach was approx. 1.5 kms ascent where we gained altitude from 9,317 ft to 10134 ft. It took us around an hour to reach Camp 1. By the time we reached camp our extended team from kitchen and logistic staffs were ready to welcome us with warm and tasty lunch.

In trail, we got very basic freshly made food with a right balance of nutrition. And having such food with our tired body and hungry stomach in a wide-open natural dining area can easily beat any of fine dining experience.

On the first day at camp 1, we learnt some of the important aspects of sustainability / conserving water and usage of bio toilets. Additionally, learned and practiced pitching and un-pitching tents, which helped us in the rest of the tour. I believe all the lessons I learnt throughout the trek, made a significant impact on me and I would like to carry the learning in the rest of my life.

Post lunch, due to tiredness from the first day’s walking, we took some rest at our twin sharing tents before the 5 pm call for tea and joined the dinning tent to get acquainted with other team members. It was a unique experience of meeting 27 team members whom we never met and interacted before.

We completed our dinner by 7:30 pm under thin solar charged lights complemented with our individual head lamps and retired to our tents for sleep. It was a unique experience for me to stay in a tent for the first time in life where outside was pitch-dark and the only light, I had was my head lamp. Another funny thing happened when I went inside the sleeping bag and discovered that the tent was on a slop in the valley, and I needed to re-position myself couple of times in night to stay grounded in the same place.

Tips: “Consider pitching your tent parallel to the slope. This means sleeping with your head uphill. Benefits include avoiding headaches, preventing rolling onto your downhill side, and ensuring you don’t slide out of the tent in the morning. If the slope is gentle, this setup works well. For steeper slopes, place your backpack at the foot end of the tent to prevent sliding.”

Day 2 – Into the Heart of Mythology With each step towards Lohali

By dint of habit, I woke up at 5am, but this time it was in the lap of nature with chirping birds and the sound of Beas River coming far from the valley.

I cannot express the feeling of the breath of fresh air the moment I came out of my tent. Probably that’s the time when I promised myself to come on such treks every year going forward.

We started packing our bags and belongings and un-pitched the tents, which will later be transferred to the next camp site by the mules.

We had warm breakfast and joined the day briefing session. Also, mandatory health checkup and warmup stretching was a must have before starting walk for the next destination.

We started around 9 am with the target of covering the distance of around 4 km with a gain of altitude from 10134 ft to 11050 ft. The aim was to reach Camp 2 (Lohali campsite) before lunch.

The trail begins with a steep ascent, and as we headed deeper into the valley, we crossed tree lines of pine, birch and walnut. We noticed that the trail was well marked with arrows painted on boulders to avoid getting lost in valley.

On our way we crossed a stream and reached a serene place inside the tree line. As we took some rest and made use of our packed snacks and fruits. Our trek leader Rohan described the mythological significance of Manali and Rishi Vyas, where the whispers of mythology blended with crisp mountain air; it was an experience that transcended the ordinary. I felt closer to the divine.

The air grew thinner and the path steeper, but the sight of the majestic peaks like Hanuman Tibba and Friendship Peak fueled my spirit. The stories of sage Vyas seemed to echo off the mountainsides, urging me onward. As we went further, we observed that the tree line had ended, and subalpine bushes have started. The entire valley opened up and we saw the boulder sections and ice walls from where the Beas River flows. Soon, the trail bended towards the right, into the valley. We took a final break of 5 mins and crossed the stream and reached the next campsite Lohali. It was a scenic campsite surrounded by mountains, it made for an ideal camping spot.

We reached camp 2 around 2 pm and the weather started getting cloudy followed by light rainfall. The challenge was to pitch our tents faster as our mules and support team had just reached with all the items at the same time as us. The training we received on pitching and un-pitching tents came handy and we witnessed wonderful teamwork where everyone helped each other in setting up the tents and calling each other by names, all of whom they have met not more than 24 hours ago. That probably is the positive side of camping to survive in a challenging situation where there no external help is available.

Probably by seeing our team spirit, the weather got better, and we managed to finish our warm lunch made in the impromptu kitchen ran by our wonderful kitchen team.

As described earlier, we learnt how to conserve water and use it at minimum to clean our utensils (a single tiffin box and a spoon served multipurpose from breakfast to dinner). I was very pleased to see how enthusiastic the juniors of the team, who came together with parents, using those lessons. I also heard them say that they wanted to share this learning with their friends when they go back. That’s one of the important outcomes of trekking – is to spread the knowledge about conserving natural resources and promote sustainability.  

Day 3: The Summit Day – The final leg of the trek was a test of endurance and faith. We started around 8:00 am as we had to ascend from 11050 ft to 12772 ft, which was roughly 2 kms distance one way. We had a strict 11:30 am turn-around time to avoid adverse weather in the afternoon at that altitude.

The trail was quite relentless, but the view of mountains and valley around kept us company. After around 2 and half hours of ascent, we reached a meadow at an altitude of 12542 ft (3823m), this place is called Lady Leg, which also happens to be the summit camp of Friendship Peak.

Majority of the place was covered with snow. We saw a trail going to the left side of the meadow which went all the way up to the highest point, which was on a ridge. We got ready to climb till there. We left our trek poles and daypack bags to free us of any added baggage. The ridge was very narrow, and we had to climb by holding rock walls with hands.

As we reached the final destination from where we can see Beas Kund, the sight of the tranquil lake, nestled like a sapphire amidst the rugged peaks, took my breath away. It was a moment of profound peace and connection – a realization that some places possess the power to change us forever.

Everyone was emotional with a joy of achievement and before weather started getting cloudy, we took our summit photographs and carefully started descending from ridge.

After descending to Lady lag juniors started playing with snow and we joined them. Everyone was celebrating the success of climbing the summit and greeting each other with emotional and joyful smile.

I was sitting quiet and thinking about the morning before we started. I was not so confident about myself – if I can make the summit. I informed our trek leader Rohan to allow me to stay in campsite instead of going all the way up to the summit. He recommended that I start the journey, put my feet on the trail and see how it goes. Probably that’s the advice that had aided me in making a remarkable memory and achievement in my life forever.

I realized that a lot of times in life, we tend to be too cautious and avoid painful or difficult paths, but it is important to avoid speculation and start the journey with a positive mind and the reward can be gratifying.

Leaving a lasting impression, our final meeting was filled with heartfelt reflections and shared accomplishments.

Around late afternoon we assembled for a small celebration and gratitude to our team for the beautiful time we spent. We exchanged our takeaway and listened to everyone’s perspective. Our trek leader Rohan gave token of appreciation to everyone and special “trekkers for life” badges to children in the team.

That night was our last night on the trail and the kitchen team did not miss the opportunity to treat us with special Gulab Jamun in dinner. It was like an emotional farewell.

Day 4 – Descending to Dhundi and back to Manali – By 8 am we packed our belongings, un-pitched our tents, and finished breakfast. We took packed lunch with us as the walk will be long 5 to 6 hours all the way down to the point from where we started.

It was a relaxed but careful descending throughout. After around 4 hrs. of walk we reached the same place in tree line where we took break on our day 2.

To make the journey and the reflection memorable, our trek leader Rohan gave us post card to write our reflection and requested to post it to our loved once when we reach Manali and find a post box. It was a very vulnerable moment for all of us where we realized about what we have achieved and realized in last 3 days from nature and from our team with whom we met for the first time. It was a moment for silent gratitude to everyone including our support staffs, kitchen team, porters and to the mother nature, who unconditionally took care of us.

I cannot express my entire reflection and few of them do not have words to express, however there are many learnings I collected from the journey which I will preserve and practice in rest of my life.

Ref: The blog constructed based on my personal experience along with collected information and knowledge from learned group with whom I travelled. Also used few pointers from IndiaHikes.com for technical details.