Almost Unseen Series

There are three trekking routes by now under “Almost Unseen” series but for certain reasons we are describing only one on our site. These are adventure routes we have self experienced with a cause to offer something almost unseen to our clients.

Almost Unseen 1: Kibber to Tsemoriri Trekking with climbing a peak on the way
Almost Unseen 2: Kangla Pass Trekking with climbing a peak on the way
Almost Unseen 3: Trekking over Kugti Pass

We request you to kindly mail us if you need details of rest two "almost unseen" programs. We guarantee for the best personalized details.

Trekking over Kugti pass- the real Gaddi's trail

In 1995, when I was wandering in the university campus at Shimla, I got a message from my mother that a group of devotees is moving to Manimahesh through Kugti Pass and if I wish to join them, I must rush to Lahoul immediately. I packed up and same evening started to Manali by night bus. I reached Manali at 4 AM early in the morning and slept for 3 hours at my home and again taken a bus to Lahoul at 8 AM. It was going to be a long journey but I was so exited and young that I hardly realized the tiredness. I reached my native house in Lahoul in the evening and surprised to see the arrangements and sentiments of people for the devotees leaving for this trek next morning.

My mother’s elder brother is the most respected and known saint in Lahoul valley who is known as the living human image of Lord Shiva. Right from the ancient period, the people of Lahoul are frequently reaching Manimahesh through Kugti pass to eliminate their worldly problems and to get the blessings for prosperity, children and peace in families. My mom’s brother is 95 years old and it has become a tradition in Lahoul valley to take his blessings and permission before each and every visit to Manimahesh dedicated by the people of Lahoul. It is now about 70 years of his spiritual leadership and during this long period, he has helped hundreds of Lahouli families suffering from unknown diseases, troubled by the dogmas and seeking children etc.

Location: Kugti pass in the Pir Panjal range of Central Himalayas. Crossing Kugti Pass, we trek over snow, ice and a glacier for three to four hours- physically demanding. From Kugti Pass it is possible to see the snow capped mountains beyond Lahoul valley on one side and Mount Kailash and Manimahesh Dhar on the other. Rapey, the first village after Kugti pass provides an open view of Pattan, the green valley of Lahoul. We visit Hindu temples and tribal villages on the way

Program:

Day 01: WARI- at home: The evening at my home in Lahoul was a memorable moment for me. The GURU of my village has completed the POOJA and the villagers have celebrated the evening as a ritual function. Morning was more glorious when all travelers where offered with traditional caps, flowers on caps and KHATAGS (white cloth mostly used in the monasteries). After the morning POOJA, with sky touching slogans of lord Shiva, music on local instruments and drums, the villagers departed us till next village. It was amazing watching the respect the entire valley was offering to this group of ours which was having all together 14 people and about 12 sheep. The people working in the fields have joined and met to our procession and given their gifts for Lord Shiva with prayers. All the villages we were passing through were aware about our journey and ready to receive us with tea, local wine, flowers and Khatags. In the evening we reached JOBRANG village after crossing the bridge at RAPE and stayed little ahead of the village in open meadows.

Day 02: Wari to Khodi Dev Paddhar: Since it was not a commercial trekking but absolutely a religious devotion towards Lord Shiva for various individual reasons, so we were supposed to spend our nights in caves or under the open sky, no cameras were allowed, no tents, no porters and sleeping bags were allowed. So we started early in the morning, made the PRASAD (the sweets we offer to the God during POOJA) and after Pooja, we raised slogans of Lord Shiva and started our journey. This day was not a long day and we stayed at Alyas (Alyas is a term in GADDI language for a place which offers a shelter). This was a small cave, quite impossible for 14 persons to sleep in, so we made it our kitchen. In front of our eyes was the mighty Kugti Pass which was our next day’s mission. The place is called KHODI DEV PADDHAR.

Day 03: Khodi Dev Paddar to Camp over Kugti Pass: Following the same practice of Pooja, we started early in the morning at 6AM. We were told by the elder travelers that this valley has some sounds of drums, flutes and slogans. So we kept walking silently and witnessed the various unclear sounds. May be this was the sounds of musical instruments, raised by travelers from ancient period and still sustained in the valley covered by mountains on both sides. We were having one person who used to find oracles in his mind and body or can be said that he was becoming a medium of some super natural power, may be a representative of any deity, and this was troubling him any time. He used to get shakes in body and it was quite painful. Though this impression was under his sub conscious state of mind but still it was painful and frustrating. I knew two things about it, whenever he gets the shake (may be some force entering in his body) lift him up from the earth, he will become normal and the another thing was, at KALING TEMPLE the priest (PUJARI= POOJA (religious ceremony) + AARI (the man doing Pooja.) would identify that which deity is entering in his body. There the Pujari will give him the initiation with one rope and one cap. After that the person will become and behave normal. This day, we had to lift this man lot of times from soil to keep him normal. This was the most exciting and tiring day of the whole trekking.
High altitude nature opens it more secrets in front of your eyes Once you keep gaining altitude. Depending on the season, but when I was climbing this height, I found almost after half of the distance the Kugti Pass was covered with fresh snow. Watching down was the most exciting experience from half the way. One feels glad seeing the open valley and the huge distance he has covered and the height he has gained. AT the left side of Kugti Pass, we saw a mountain range of same height with various white and black lining, running for kilometers of distance. It is believed that this was the foot impression of the marriage of Lord Shiva when he traveled to Kailash with his wife and followers.
The top of Kugti Pass is a flat room size area with the small temple of Goddess KALI. Having an open temple (not made of walls but placed only TRISHULS, flags etc.) here creates a divine feeling. On of the devotee sacrificed the first sheep here to KALI and the local wine was offered to all us as the blessings. Magnificent views of Mount Kailash to the south and the peaks of Lahoul valley to the north is just in front of eyes from the top of Kugti Pass. Then we started walking down to the other side of Kugti Pass. A good care is required here. It is a small path down side where group needs to walk one after one and loose stones are in abandon which can be slipped with one’s mistake. After few of the minutes we had crevasses with hundred meters of depth. Again a good care is required. It is told that the SADHUS jump in these crevasses to leave their bodies once they find that now this body can not be powerfully used to move towards God. Some of the places the Saffron dresses along the crevasses can be seen. It was absolutely the wonderful day; we reached to green section after ending the descent and stayed at a beautiful place with a cave close by, which was again used as kitchen.

Day 04: Over Kugti Pass Camp to lush green camp: Morning after routine worships, we started our journey. We were told that this day was the easy day and the distance too is not much. We met one old Gaddi couple this day; their positive attitude towards life was impressive. Really the GADDIS are the real image or reflection of mountains. They are honest, very simple and tough like mountains. People say that Lord Shiva too speaks in the language of Gaddis. This proves that how Gaddis are close to the God. The whole day was spent with the beautiful nature, green meadows, shepherds, sheep, goats, various streams coming from distant mountain glaciers and the clean sky and mild sun made all pleasant. We crossed one river and stayed for overnight in a beautiful place.

Day 05: Green Camp to Kaling Bazir temple: We had a miracle this day. The walk went through green meadows and mountains. It was so beautiful and open all around that mind was forcing to leave all fellow trekkers and rush towards any of one side for miles. All corners were inviting us to get deep into their secrets. Anyway, we kept moving with slogans in praise of Lord Shiva, our target for the day was KALING TEMPLE. Lord Shiva has two sons, GANESGA and KARTIKAY. Kartikay is known as KELING BAZIR in Lahoul and remote areas of Bharmaour regions. On the way, almost half of the distance, we found a roaring river coming from the heights of one corner of valley and it was difficult to cross with remaining of sheep. So we started searching for a flat section to cross it easily. It took about 2 hours here to find a suitable patch and finally we selected a place and started putting boulders at one end of the river. It was extremely time consuming but there was no other go. Suddenly we found a GADDI coming towards us with a tree on his shoulders. He greeted us and placed the tree on two fixed stones in the river and helped us to cross it. We offered him some toffees and started further leaving him there. After this river, we had little up hill walk but not tiring as we were reaching closer to the Kaling Temple, the greenery was increasing and curiosity to see the temple too was raising. Finally we reached Kaling Temple. It is a big temple in complete isolation with the main God inside the Lord Kaling or locally called “KEKING BAZIR” There are hundreds of chains hanging on all four walls of the temple and the silence is mesmerizing. I personally feel that these chains indicate the various god and goddesses and few might have TANTRIC value too. Suddenly a PUJARI (Priest) appeared in front of us and we started chatting with him. As earlier mentioned that all 14 of us were belonging to Lahoul and the elder members of team were familiar with route and language of GADDIS. So we had no language problem here. Then we started POOJA under his supervision. One pair of drum was also hanging on one wall (This drum is called NISHAN in Lahouli language and it can be resembled with TABLA –one popular musical instrument of Indian classical music) Two of our team members started beating (playing) the drums and one played on flute. Hopefully the music produced was BAT WAN (the music on which Lord Shiva does TANDAV DANCE- the dominating dance position of NATRAJA). During the music, priest had opened his turban and we could see his long hairs, he was about 6 feet, very healthy and graceful, bearing the traditional dress of a Gaddi. Then he started asking the reasons of our arrival and blessed for all our wishes. Temple has a big room to spend a night and the place to cook food also. Sorry to mention that here one of our team member who was suffering with the entry of some unknown power in his body had sacrificed 2 sheep and the PUJARI had identified the power as Goddess KALI. He was given with the brief initiation and declared as the representative of Goddess Kali.

Day 06: Excursion of Kugti village- This day we decided to visit to Kugti village and spend full day there and come back to temple. My father has traveled twice on this route and when I was a school going, once he was telling us the stories of his traveling. During his talks, he explained Kugti in a way that I could never forget it. He said when he reached Kugti, he saw children bearing the white woolen dresses in the village and they were running here and there like the herds of young and infant sheep. He further said that he had never ever seen ladies as beautiful as he could see in Kugti Village. While walking in the village hopefully I was most excited and curious to see the beautiful children in white woolen dresses and the ladies. We spent few hours at the village and turned back to Kaling Temple.

Day 07: Kaling Bazir temple to Camp: A trekker could have two options from Kaling Temple. He can spend the day 06 in Kugti and on day 07 he can reach Kugti Nalla for overnight. We continued our trek towards Manimahesh Lake from Kaling temple. The beginning of the trek was good and the scenic beauty was amazing. But for the last 2 hours, the trek goes little tough, as one has to climb uphill. After trekking for about 6-7 hours, we stopped at a suitable place for the night.

Day 08: Camp to Manimahesh Lake: The trekkers who spend their night at Kugti Nalla can reach Hadsar today and from here they can be transferred to Bharmaour (12 Kms) for the overnight. Bharmaour is a tribal village, popular for it 84 temples at one single campus. And if you are following our personal experiences, then you have to start in the morning from last campsite to Manimahesh Lake. The day has combination of all experiences. Beginning is good though beautiful landscape and later it becomes tougher when we start gaining altitude and walking over the small pebbles. From the base of last pass till the top is little tough because of these small stones and the top is again beautiful surrounded by another snow- covered peaks all around. After spending couple of minutes here, we started getting down to our final destination. This was remarkably tough and technical as the decent is steep and snow covered (probably the ice). I slipped for few hundred meters down and stopped at a flat section, it was quite risky. Further is the long walk on crevasses and ice, at one place a sheep had fallen into a crevasse and we had to work hard to get that out by sending down in dark hole the knotted rope. Finally we pulled out the sheep and continued. Right to us was the most sacred and popular mountain of MANIMAHESH – a range of KAILASH in Chamba and we slowly walked towards the target on flat and down way route. We reached Manimahesh Lake at about 04 PM and the event was memorable experience forever. There were few GADDIS from Hadsar village and may be one or two pilgrims, when they saw us reaching down to the lake, they exclaimed with joy and greeted us with utmost warmth and happiness. After POOJA, we relaxed for the night.

Day 09: Lake to Bharmaur and further to Chamba: The trekkers who reached Bharmaour previous day can drive to Chamba today in the morning. Bharmaour to Chamba is 72 Kms. whereas; we started moving down to Hadsar in the morning after having the DARSHAN (witnessing the SHIVA LINGA at top of the mountain) This LINGA remains covered for most of the time with a circle of clouds and one can see it for few minutes if he is lucky enough. MANI is Jewel in Hindi language. It is believed that in this mountain of Manimahesh (Jewel +Shiva), lord Shiva exists in the form of shining Jewel. It is rare to see the shining jewel in the mountain. I saw this jewel on my 4th visit. It appears from nowhere in the mountain, which is just in front of the huge lake and shines like SUN. After few minutes it disappears. Some of the time people see lots of jewels and some of the times; the jewels form a garland under the Shiv Linga. From Manimahesh, Hadsar is 13 Kms and total way is ascending downwards. This patch has various tea stalls (temporary) during the festival in August. From Hadsar, Bharmaour is 12 Kms. We see the 84 temples and drive to Chamba for overnight.

Day 10: Chamba to Dharamsala: Drive to Dharamsala (220Kms). Evening is free to explore the local markets and experience Tibetan dominance in upper Dharamsala. Mc leodganj, the upper portion of Dharamsala is the capital of Tibetan Government in Exile and once you reach here, you can feel yourself in any town of Tibet. (Free Tibet)

Day 11: Full day Dharamsala. There are various places to visit. Namgyal Monastery, Residence of HH The Dalai Lama, (a meeting with HH, if he is available), Tibetan Medical center, Tibetan Library, Tibetan Children Village, Tibetan Handicraft Center, Norbulinga Institute etc. are lot of places one can visit this day.

Day 12: We came back to Manali but a client can drive to Pathankot and board train to Delhi

Day 17: Fly home

Itinerary for you

Day 01: Arrive Delhi and transfer to Hotel

Day 02: Nalagarh- Morning train (Shatabdi) to Chandigarh and transfer to Nalagarh fort resort.

Day 03: Drive Manali/ Hotel

Day 04: Drive over Rohtang Pass and reach Lahoul/ overnight at Udaipur hotel.

Day 05: Morning visit Mrikula Devi temple and Trilokinath Bihar at Udaipur and transfer to Jobrang Village/ Camp.

The Markula Devi temple goes back to Ajayvarman's reign in Kashmir, though no original work of so early a date survives. But part of the Markula temple has been copied during repairs in the 11/12th and 16th C. The phase of Kashmiri art in the 11th and 12th C in its transition to the Lamaistic art of Western Tibet is represented by the inner facade of the temple; main characteristic of this transitional phase being three headed Vishnu images.
Markula's wood carvings belong to two different periods, the earlier one consisting of the facade of the sanctum sanctorum and the ceiling and four main pillars of the mandapa; arid the later one consisting of two additional pillars, the dwarpala statues on both sides of the facade, window panels and the architraves supporting the ceiling. The exterior of the temple is most ordinary as it had to be renewed time and again because of vagaries of nature. The temple is the usual structure of timber-bonded stone. The temple is covered with a steep gable roof of wooden shingles in a steep pyramid looking like the Shikhara temples in the plains. The interior, however, is rich in artistic quality.

Local population believes this temple to be the work of the master craftsman who built the famous Hidimba Temple at Manali for Bahadur Singh of Kullu. Historically this theory sounds plausible because Pratap Singh was the son-in-law and close fried and ally of Bahadur Singh. There is striking similarity between many figures and other details of the later wood carvings to the reliefs of the Hidimba Devi Temple. This unique shrine is the last wooden temple built fundamentally in the tradition of the early 8th C. This is a must-visit place.

Trilokinath temple is representative of the Kashmiri-Kannauj style of, Lalitaditya of Kashmir (725-756). Most of the Trilokinath temple is of much later period, but the column bases of the original porch of the sanctuary are of a very special type characteristic of the reign of Lalitaditya. This Shiva temple was transformed into a Buddhist shrine by Padma Sambhava. However, according to Goetz its present Lamaistic image of Avalokiteshvara-Trilokinath cannot be earlier than the 12th C. This temple continues to attract both the Hindu and the Buddhist pilgrims. In the centre of the compound one can still see the Nandi Bull of Lord Shiva. There is also a drain in a wall of the temple at the level of the platform in the sanctorum which was probably built at the time of construction to drain out the water or milk which was poured over the Shiva.
The temple is built in the classical style introduced in the hills in the 7th and 8th C. As is typical to the style this temple consists of a curvilinear stone tower (shikhara) crowned with the characteristic 'amalka' (imitating a segmented gourd). Like plains there is no pillared hall (mandapa) in the hills perhaps owing to non-availability of clear ground. Every SADHU in Himalayas, once reaches Trilokinath.
Every year in the month of August a festival named Pauri is held there for three days when followers of both religions gather to offer prayers.

Your day 06 will be my day 02

OM MANI PADME HUM