|
Pabbar Valley trail |
It was 7 in the morning. I opened the windows of my room at Hotel Peach Blossom,
Fagu, a beautiful small hamlet, 6 km from Shimla at the height of 2500 meters and my eyes feasted on an incredible sight of high mountains with distant snow peaks. Below at north eastern side I could see the serpentine Old Hindustan Tibet road now christened as National Highway 22 and some traffic heading towards Theog. Suddenly I heard a laughter and some shouts. I looked down and saw a row of children on a narrow path on a ridge dressed in white and blue going to the village school. It was an amazing sight in the valley. I finished my tea and came out of my room into a narrow corridor running parallel to rooms. The large glass window on the western side gives you a view of the hills and the ground as a lawn of the hotel below. As a matter of fact Fagu is one of those rare places in Himachal Pradesh from where you can have 360 degree view of the Himalayan range!
And then I saw her. She was skipping with a rope, perhaps a morning workout. Her shoulder length straight black hair rising and falling gracefully with each jump, rhythmically with her breast. failing to resist, curiously I walked down the stairs to the ground. A sharp cool breeze caressed my cheeks and I shivered. As I reached nearer to that jumping figure my heart skipped beats! I froze! My goodness! What a beauty, I thought. Her cheeks had turned pink with the workout. She looked at me and stopped. With each heavy breathing it looked as if her voluptuous breasts will tear apart her blouse and seek freedom to be touched and played upon. A strand of hair fell on her face covering part of her right eye making her a ' take me, now' beauty! I was dumbfounded.
The momentary silence was broken.
"I am Neeta from Jaipur", she introduced herself with, I thought, a mischievous smile.
I cleared my throat and was about to speak when she said again, this time pointing a finger beyond me, "and that's my younger brothers and my parents"
I looked back over my shoulders and saw two young lads and an old couple walking towards us.
We introduced ourselves and settled down on the lawn for an another round of tea. Neeta's father was Anil Arora and the kid brothers were Avi and Anan (Avinash and Anant)
"We have come on
The Pabbar Valley Trail", announced Anil Arora while filling his pipe for a smoke. "The higher reaches of Spiti and Lahaul though heavenly are too cold for us at this time of the year and we usually like to visit undiscovered places so we settled for Pabbar Valley Exploration!"
He continued, "by the way, Kiran, do you know about The Pabbar valley Trail?"
"I have passed Theog while going to Narkanda and Rampur but to be honest, don't know much about it" I replied rather embarrassingly as I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable on Himachal.
"It's like this", Anil now encouraged continued. "If you recollect the map of this region, the river Pabbar rises in the Chanshal range of the great mountains from south of picturesque Kinnaur region passing, creating a wonderful valley and finally merging with another great river in the south east called
Tons near the town of
Tuni bordering the state of
Uttarakhand. This entire valley along river Pabbar is called The Pabbar Valley Trail', a relatively undiscovered path".
"Now why and who should visit The Pabbar Valley Trail?" questioned Anil Arora looking up in the sky.
"Those who are searching road less traveled, if legends, trekking and fishing set your pulse racing, if ancient temples stimulates your spirituality and centuries old architecture charms you, if you are longing for serenity, picturesque hamlets, fruit laden orchards cradled by thick woods with passing swift musical streams, where you want to be one with nature-The Pabbar Valley Trail is the right place for you", concluded Anil triumphantly.
That was enough for me, a travel freak, to set my pulse racing. Instantly I decided to accompany them, made necessary changes, phoned for reservations through HPTDC and soon were on the move-
THE PABBAR VALLEY TRAIL
The entire route was motor able
|
Pabbar valley trail |
CHOPAL (2328 meters; 13 kms from Theog)
|
Chopal |
A beautiful hamlet on the another junction at place called Chhalia. I was amazed at the wood and stone houses of the village with slate roofs. The village was nestled in the thick deadar forest inhabited by smiling people blessed with snow covered majestic peaks! Further ahead we visited another lovely place called Sarain, near Chopal set against magnificent backdrop of a great mountain peak of CHARUDHAR at 3647 meters, also called as "Choor Chandni" which poetically means as the "Mountain of Silver Bangle". Visiting Sarain and its Bijjat temple was an unforgettable experience!KOTKHAI (1525 meters, 19 km from Chopal)
|
Kotkhai |
Soon we started our descend towards 1525 meters into the " Apple Land", an important horticulture area of apple, cherry and appricot orchards! Driving down the twisted road and passing through musical streams we crossed herds of sheeps on the bridges. At
Kotkhai we were lying down and running around the fields of roses, gladioli, carnations and liliums! Wow! It was an amazing floriculture development! And this all was along the river Giri racing along with a backdrop of Kupar peaks- a dream world!
We spent night at
Khara Patthar where there was a hptdc hotel Giri ganga resort, 24 km from Kotkhai.
We left
Khara Patthar early in the morning to see the land mark of the town-a free standing egg shaped smooth huge rock at the ridge, a remarkable natural wonder. From there we were on a steady descent to the Pabbar Valley.
JUBBAL (1892 meters, 9 km from Khara Patthar)
|
Jubbal Palace |
We went straight to the magnificent palace "The Jubbal Palace". My god, what a palace!It was an architectural wonder. Designed by a French arshitect in 1930, it was an outstanding mix of European and local style. The palace rose dramatically above the banks of the "Bishkulti Stream". Later we had a spiritual orientation at some splendid temples around Jubbal with wonderful local craftsmanship.
HATKOTI (1400 meters, 20 km from Jubbal)
|
Hatkoti temple |
But a true spiritual destination in the Pabbar valley was in Hatkoti where amazing pagodial design was seen, spread over an area of 5 km, dating back to 7th-8th centuary and a central image of moulded brass. The visit had a profound effect on all of us, especially on Neeta who sat in silence for quite some time meditating.
ROHRU (1550 meters, 11km from Hatkoti)
|
Rohru Pabbar Valley |
As soon as we entered Rohru, a small but bustling town, one thing struck us like a bolt-Women!
They were real beauties! There was a natural attractiveness! An inseparable part of nature, I believe. And the second?
And are you an angler? A fishing freak? Then come to Rohru!
We spent more than 2 hours with our rods fishing for trouts! Trouts were introduced in the river Pabbar in 1938-39 and now it's an anglers paradise!
We had a night halt at Rohru. Next day we had planned to visit other scenic places and fishing paradise in Chirgaon
CHIRGAON (15 km from Rohru)
|
Chirgaon |
This was one of the best scenically enchanting place on the entire trail. We went to see the trout hatchery. Lazily spent time enjoying the great views and good fishing in the near by areas of Seema, Dhamvari with it's white waterfalls, Mandil and not to forget Sandhsu and finally to see nature's wonder called Larot
One of the most scenic and adventurous treks to Dodra Kwar and Sangla Valley originates from here. Wish we had time and the right season!
The snow clad
Chanshal range rises above the Pabbar Valley. At 4220 meters, the
Chanshal Pass and the snow range is like a beautiful crown on a noble face. The words fail to express it's splendor. The Chanshal Pass remains open only between May to October and is a link to many treks. It also has some beautiful ski slopes!
Wow!From here, you can proceed to NARKANDA, a skiing wonder in this region!Distances:Shimla to Jubbal-100 km
Shimala to Hatkoti-120 km
Shimla to Chirgaon-146 km
Hotels of HPTDC:Khara Patthar
Hatkoti
Rohru
Rest Houses and log huts at other places
web site :
http://hptdc.gov.in/
Suggested Itinerary
day 1-Shimal/ Fagu/ Kufri
day 2-Chopal
day 3- Kotkhai, Jubbal
day 4-Hatkoti, Rohru
day 5-Chirgaon,Sandhasu, Larot
day 6- back to Shimla
Related postA PIECE OF HEAVEN GIFTED BY GOD: SANGLA VALLEY Himachal