Jon's Adventure in Triund
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2009
1
14
20
Trip End
Jul 29, 2009
Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
So I'm going to post a few shorter blogs, as we've been travelling around a bit and that way each place will show up on the map. The last time we left you we were in our last 2 days up in beautiful Dharamsala and I assumed that I had summed up all that we did and anything that could have happened. However, in true Indian spirit, the most exciting events happened in those last two days and on our way back from the mountains. We had told you of our hike up to Triund, the last, or first peak before the snowy himalayas. Unfortunately Jonathan couldn't make it with us as he was stuck in bed with some traveller's sickness. After we returned and expressed how beautiful it was, in words and pictures, he committed himself to making the trek, by himself. Jonathan left the next day at about 8am, to give himself enough time to summit and plenty of time to return back down the rocky path. The rest of us spent the day in town, doing some last minute shopping and dining at our favourite restaurants. The plan was to meet, all of us at 7pm at Jimmy's Italian restaurant. About an hour before Shayna, who was worried about Jon and his whereabouts, decided to head up the first part of the path and wait fom Jon to come down. We all expected that he would make it back well before our scheduled meeting time. However when we met at 7:30 at the restaurant, Jon had just arrived and looked frustrated, frazzled, and totally exhausted. He went on to tell us his adventure and we listened with our mouths wide open and hand over our eyes. It went a little something like this:
Jon made it from the cottage to McLeodGanj in no time and after asking some men for directions, proceeded up the streets toward the forest paths. Unfortunately, even with the map, he was misguided and ended up taking a route that led him down, instead of up, and into a town, instead of out of town. He said there was some extremely rocky and tough paths, but after persevering he made it out and up to the Chai stop that was his marker to head on up to the summit. So it was a frustrating and hard start, but he made it good time and still had a couple hours before noon to make it up to Triund. Despite his sickness in the past couple days, Jonathan hiked hard and steady, passing many groups of people and monks. When he was almost at the top, he stopped at the lookout chai stop and bought a walking stick, not really knowing that it was a tool that would save his life. He went hard and strong and made it to Triund and the summit just after noon and I'm sure felt the amazing feeling of accomplishment that we all felt after the difficult trek. The beauty and wonder that is seen from Triund is almost indescribable and the pictures we took are only memories of what it was like up there.
Knowing that he had 7 hours to make it back to our meeting spot, Jonathan spent over 3 hours at the summit; resting, reading, meditating, sleeping and gaining strength for the journey home. Speaking for the rest of our group, we were all exhausted after making it to the top, and after spending out time up there, the only thing we wanted was to get down and rest. We just jumped on the same path down and make it back in no time. Along the way we were surprised at how steep and jagged some other sections were; we didn't quite remember hiking up them, and we glad that it was easier to come down. Of course in true Jonathan style, after consulting with a man at the top in Triund, he decided that it would be a better idea to take a different route down. He figured that he would make it in good time and with the confidence of the directions of the chai man, he headed out down the other ridge that led down into the valley. He ran into problems almost immediately as the path that was supposedly very clear and well used, was no where in sight. He figured it must be there, so he went on, scrambling down narrow paths that were made my wild goats. The tiny paths, if you even want to call them that, led him numerous times to cliffs that were either almost impossible to climb down or completely impossible to climb down, which led him back to other paths that led him to similar situations. He was making progress, but had many moments filled with feelings of fear, panic, lostness, and frustration. He kept on working his way down the mountain side, when he finally made it to a larger path and a small village where he met a villager who led him in the right direction down into the valley. Jon actually got lost again, but found his way and made it down in to a village a bit lower than McLeodGanj. He then had to hike his way back up to town, where he met us at 7:30 or so. Another issue he faced was the fact that his watch is broken and was 1 hour behind. So he assumed he had more time that he though.
I think Jon learnt a pretty good lesson in decision making, and when to listen to the advice of the locals. We've all experienced misguided advice and have always checked with 3-5 people before deciding on a route. He definitely learnt the hard way, but I'm sure grew in many ways from his Journey to Triund and back. We ate a great meal of Italian dishes; pastas of all sorts, pizzas, and baked breads we've found nowhere in India.
The next day was our last day and we spent it packing and cleaning the cottage. We had booked a jeep for 4:30pm to take us down to Pathankot, where we would catch our train that night. This is where our next adventure begins. I'll leave you with the last story and bring you next in a day or so.
Namaste,
Andrew, Jonathan, Justin, Shayna & Natalie
