Har Ki Doon trek, Uttarakhand: heading into paradise

After the long journey to the village of Sankri we finally geared up for our 9 day long trek to Har Ki Doon and Bali Pass. Our plan was to explore the popular trek route to Har Ki Doon (literally meaning ‘’the valley of gods”) in Govind Prashu National Park. After that we would head towards Ruinsara Lake and proceed to cross the Bali Pass. The descend towards Yamunotri region was through the Damini valley.

We packed all our gear into a jeep which would take us to the Taluka village, 8 km from Sankri. There was a landslide near a stream which made us change to a second jeep after crossing it on foot. We reached Taluka at around 10 am. After early lunch with mushroom curry and rice,we started the 14 km long walk towards Seema, our camp for the night. The trail was right along the edge of the Supin river towards our left and provided spectacular view of the mountains on the way. After a few hours on the trail we stopped for tea at a small shack where locals from the nearby village had also gathered for a chitchat. The weather had turned bad and it had started raining.

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I wore the waterproof jacket and topped it up with the pink poncho which I had brought from Thailand way back in 2016. It had given an additional protection to my camera gear which I could not soak at any cost. In another hour the rain stopped and we found a rest room on the way and took off all the rain gear. We reached Seema village at around 4 pm in the afternoon.

The Rainbasera (public restroom) where we were supposed to stay for the night was closed due to some unknown reason. So we headed to the GMVN’s shabby rest house and took a common room which had 5 beds for all of us. Another group from Bengal was already staying there. They were heading to Borasu Pass and had an Everester (Toolika Rani) with them. We had a great time in the evening listening to her mountaineering stories.

Har Ki Doon Bali Pass Trek Uttarakhand India Wandererdoc — A local was heading towards Osla village with us

Day 2: Heading to Har Ki Doon

After a good night’s sleep in proper beds with moist smelly blanket we started our journey towards Har Ki Doon valley. We crossed the bridge on the Supin river and climbed a steep section of the mountain to reach its top. We were breathless at the start of the day itself. In around 40 minutes we climbed to the top of the steep section. It had a panoramic view of the landscape with the Seema rest house amidst the forest. The trail on the other end headed towards Osla village. We were trekking on the north with Supin river to our right.

In an hour we could spot the Debsu Bugiyal campsite on the other side of Supin. After crossing two steep sections in an hour, we stopped at the waterfall for a quick lunch. At around 4.00 pm we reached the lower campsite of Har Ki Doon valley. We started setting our tent just beside the river. The landscape looked surreal with a mountain towering just in front of us. Sipping on cup of tea with Bhujias seemed paradise after a day of hard work.

After a short break I headed towards the GMVN rest house after crossing the log bridge on the stream. There was a small temple on the hill top. The Doon valley on the other side of the hill with lush green fields was mostly cloud covered. There was a flock of small birds with beautiful brown wings. I tried to capture them for quite some time. Since it was mostly cloudy we did not expect to capture the sunset. We discussed that since we were staying just on the edge of the river we should carefully come out of the tent at night or else might end up in the swiftly flowing stream and reach Sankri in a flash. After a sumptuous dinner it was time to rest for the night.