TREKKING AROUND SARAHAN

TREKKING AROUND SARAHAN

SARAHAN – WANGTU TREK

This is an easy  and pleasant trek of 4 to 5 days along the old Hindustan – Tibet road. According to mrs. Penelope chetwode,  it is one of the most beautiful walks in the world ; from sarahan  the trail leads through the typical villages of sungra and nechar where a few ancient temples are located. There are several rest  houses along the route, some dating back to 1890; they have been providing shelter to travellers and eplorers on their way to Tibet during all these years. One of the main attractions of this trail is the local colour and the traditional way of life of the inhabitants.

Best period ; april to june and august 15 to October 15^th

1^st day ;- sarahan 1920,mts – chora 1638,mts …..16kms

The trail follows the metalled road down to jeori for about 1kms. After a sharp bend in the road, the trail branches off to the right and continues north –east  along the Hindustan – Tibet road. The path leads through forests of pine, horse –chestnut, oak and rhododendron. The trail is fairly level to start with but after a few kilometres it descends and crosses two streams; it continues down gently to the chora forest rest house. An ancient temple of hirma devi is located 300mts below the rest house.

2^nd day ;- chora – tranda 1800mts ……8kms

Again , this path is a fairly level walk for the first 6kms after which it climbs steeply for 2kms to reach the forest rest house of tranda, situated on the top of a ridge.

3^rd day ;- tranda – paunda 1830mts ……….10kms

This is a pleasant walk through thick pine forests.the trail goes along the edge of a precipice as far as solding nala, which is crossed by a bridge. The trail then crosses another stream before climbing gradually to meet a metalled road that links the new Hindustan – Tibet road with the villages of sungra and nechar. The p.w.d. rest house at paunda was built in 1890.

4^th day ;- paunda – nechar 1950mts……12kms

Nechar is an easy walk of 12kms the paunda rest house. After 3kms , one comes to the ancient temple of sungra, which is built in pagoda style and stands amidst dense pine forests. The rest house at nechar is 6kms further on . the villages and temple of nechar are situated 3kms beyond the rest house. The temple is dedicated to the goddess ukha or usha

5^th day ;- nechar – wangtu 1830mts ……5kms

The trail descends from the temple site for about 4hrs to join the new Hindustan – Tibet road at wangtu 31’ 32n, 78’ 01e . from there one  can take a bus and return to Shimla or to sarahan .

WANGTU – PIN PARVATI PASS TREK

AN ADVENTUROUS  and almost unexplored trail

 commences from wangtu,  1830mts, 31’ 32 n, 78’ 01 e ;

 after crossing  shakarof pass 5022mts, and the pin

 parvati pass 5319mts, it reaches kullu.

Best period; august 1 to September 30

The trail heads northwards from chora 31’ 34 n, 77’51 e , about 10kms further down the valley from wangtu, goes down to the Sutlej river, crosses it by a ropeway and climbs up to the village of bara khamba, situated in the rupi valley. From there the path follows the shorang gad along its left bank for a few kms, climbs steeply away from the river and enters a side valley to the north – east;it reaches the secluded village of kumrang. From there onwards the route is very strenuous. It leads over moraines and small glaciers, crosses the high snow covered kamba khango pass and the kalang setal glacier. The trail then climbs up to the shakarof pass 5022mts and descends to the ghurguru camping ground, situated on the south bank of the pin river, ghurguru stands on the main southwards trail coming from kaza. The route from the camping ground to kullu over pin parvati pass is the same as in the kaza – pin parvati trek.