Trek to Nagtibba..

( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)

              

Travelling in the state of Uttarakhand is a bliss for any nature lover. We were looking for ideal place in mountains to spend 2 days so as to escape work and peer pressure. That’s when the idea of going for trek to Nagtibba struck our minds.  Nagtibba being very close to Dehradun, was an ideal place for such an escapade. This time we had huge group of 12 people, all friends who joined together to trek this small but beautiful snow covered mountain.Nagtibba lies in at distance of 85 Kms from Dehradun, in state of Uttarakhand. It is located at an altitude of about 3000 Meters above MSL.  There are 3 routes to start the trek. We started trekking from a tiny village called Panthwari. From Panthwari, the trek is oddly around 8-9kms and it takes 4-5 hours one way. It is an easy trek, and being so easily accessible the place is naturally crowded. From the peak, we can see chain of mountains around 360 degrees. The famous Bandar Poonch range is also visible from the top. At peak there is a small temple dedicated to local deity. You can reach the peak and come down same day, provided you start early. We decided to halt for a night and come down the next day. We did this trekking in the month of January, which is receding limb of winters. However, mountains are always cold as usual. Needless to say about warm clothes that are required to be carried along, especially when you are going to place that would be covered in snow. The place is accessible throughout the year, unlike other peaks which are closed during winters. There are plenty of tent camps available at the top, which you can pre book. Else you can get your own tents and pitch them. But in cold times it will be challenge to find fire. Since we were big group so we decided to pre book tents along with food and fire.
Thus, 12 of us left Dehradun in a private tempo traveller at 6.30 am. Public transport till Panthwari Village are also available, but are not frequent.  The route is via mussoorie and since road being zig zag, it took us more time to cover the distance. We reached Panthwari by 12.30 in noon. We had already booked guide. He arranged our stay at the peak. So after having sumptuous breakfast in village itself, we started climbing at 1.30 pm.  

Start of Trek @ Panthwari Village

Trek Route

Being winters, the climate was already cold. However as we started ascending our internal warming systems kicked in. Initially you ascending is via small settlements and villages. It did consume most of our time because it was intense climbing. However after 2 hours of trek the ascending started becoming gradual. Post entering canopy via deodar forests, you can see snow covered flat land at a distance, which is the destination for the day. Our plan was to only reach and halt for the day, so we proceeded at slow pace. Once you set your foot in snow the cold starts, and all our sweaters, jackets were taken out of bag again. In between of our trek we could see a small pond which was literally frozen. So water is a problem from halfway if you are going in winters as most of waters here turn to either snow or ice. So carry sufficient amount of water, both for drinking and utilization purpose, especially during winter times. As it was group of 12, so stopping at regular intervals for selfies, photos etc.  Doing all those, we reached our tents at 5pm. The entire landscape was covered with thick sheet of pure white snow. It felt as if the snow was made for us. It was totally undisturbed, when we asked why it isn’t disturbed we learnt that it has snowed previous night. Hoping that it snows even that evening, we played around in snow. When you go in such big group the excitement level also rises and we went in exploration of nearby areas. The sun had already started sinking, and more cold kicked in, so came out more and more warmers.

We all made ourselves comfortable in front of camp fire. The place has become little commercialized, and we all know what exploitation any natural places undergo post commercialization. Since we had gone there during weekdays, the crowd was far less. Camp fires are always fun. Hot dinner was served to us at 9pm. Since temperatures were too cold for us to be outside, we all went inside tents to sleep on mattress and sleeping bags post dinner. The temperatures at night fall to -8 to - 11 degrees. So please prepare yourself with warm clothes accordingly. Else cold can severely affect one’s health condition and help is at least 3-4 hours away. 

                           Tents for stay

                       Beautiful Sunset

Morning we woke up early, temperature was between 0 to 4 degrees. Though washrooms are constructed, but they are not of much help due to poor conditions, so you need to relieve yourself in the open. Post having morning tea, we set out to go to temple, which is  at the peak, 3kms from our tent sites. However we couldn't go much further and had to abandon our temple visit plans due to heavy snow cover which almost touched our knees, and it started becoming risky placing every foot. Hence we decided to abandoned idea of going to peak and returned midway to explore other places. The place falls under forest area hence don't venture too far alone. We spent a lot of time in open snow, climbing small small hillocks nearby and  of course throwing snow balls at each other is always a fun task. Thus we returned to our base camp, packed all our stuff, had our breakfast and started climbing down at 12.30Pm. All of us being professionally associated with wildlife study and conservation, we stopped at many places for birding- identifying and photographing them. We reached halfway, the pond that was frozen yesterday still remained same. We crossed it and climbed down to reached Panthwari village at 4Pm.

       

        

Thus a beautiful escapade of 2 days from routine life, came to end. The feeling of being covered by snow and sleeping on snow in tents, was amazing.  Despite being commercialized, the place is still low on plastic pollution. And it becomes your and my responsibility to keep it same. One of our teammate collected 2 bags of littered plastic waste while his way down, which was promptly appreciated by all of us. We promised him that we all would do same in our next outing.

Thus, we sat in our vehicle and reached back Dehradun at 7pm, to report to our office at 9 am from next day.

                                                                -----X----THE END----X-----