Trekking to Triund Pass in Dharamshala, India

After seeing the sights of Dharamshala, we decided to get in touch with the nature of the local Himalayas and set off on a two-day independent hike, a trek to Triund Pass.

Dharamshala

The Indian town of Dharamshala, or rather its district McLeod Ganj, is the permanent seat of the Tibetan government in exile and the residence of the Dalai Lama. Dharamshala is a peculiar town: noisy, crowded, with lots of Tibetan monks. We can't say we liked it much — the crowds are huge, it's dirty, and there's nothing much to do. The sights all have a religious bent.

Triund Pass, India

But the nature of the Himalayas, untouched by slovenly Indians, is simply beautiful. So we decided to go on an independent hike in the mountains once again — a two-day trek to Triund Pass with an overnight stay at the top, at about 2800 meters.

You can get to the pass and back by a popular tourist trail. But on the map we spotted another route that goes past a waterfall, and decided to take it on the way up. Up to the waterfall it was a busy tourist trail, but the next stretch to the pass we walked along a barely visible path without meeting a single person. Still, this route is definitely more scenic than the main one:

About 2/3 of the way up we were caught in heavy rain. Seeing some stone huts and shepherds nearby, we asked to shelter under their roof; they gave us tea brewed over a fire built right inside the hut, and we had a nice chat in sign language. Once the rain had passed, we moved on toward the pass. The rain kept stopping and starting again, with sharp gusts of wind. We spent a long time choosing the perfect spot for the tent. We started pitching it and felt something snap — the tent's central pole had broken. Whether the strong wind or our haste was to blame is unclear, but one way or another, we were left without a tent. Fixing it on the spot was impossible, so we decided to head back. Luckily, the way back followed a simpler trail and was much easier. All in all, that day we covered about 25 km with an elevation change of about 1 km.

The route of our hike to Triund Pass on the map:

It's a shame, of course, that we didn't get to spend the night on the scenic pass and see the sunset and sunrise, but we still enjoyed it immensely and gave our legs a great workout.