Hiking to Triund

Last Sunday, I hiked up the local mountain, Triund, with some students and a fellow teacher from San Diego. We left at 7:00 a.m. for the seven hour trek in order to be home before dark. This mountain stands at almost 3,00m. While still on the road to Dharamkot, the next closest hill town, we were met by the many maque monkeys who live on the hillside. They mostly ignore humans except if they feel their young are being threatened. Needless to say, we kept our distance.

As always, I am in awe of the size of what we know as small "critters." Here's a slug found along the road. Check out the size of this guy next to my boot. Apparently, they do not have long life spans, but they make tasty treats for the next generation of offspring. You can often see younger ones feeding on the "expired" elders.


Still down at the bottom of the trail, Renea and I are full of vim and vigor. What we didn't know was how far we still had to go to reach the summit!

The trail was long, steep and very rocky. What you can see here is not even as high as we climbed on that day. I am so glad I had my trekking poles. Although the weather was overcast, it was the perfect day for hiking, not too hot and not too sunny, something most locals don't want when climbing over 1,000m from where we live.

Along the way, we met lots of locals who are out on the trail for a variety of reasons. Some are cutting firewood, others are cutting grass for their livestock, others are leading cows and mules laden with supplies up the mountain. This pesky fellow spent much of his owner's valuable time trying to butt her with his horns as she was cutting branches along the hillside. Eventually, he found some grass to eat and let her get back to work.


As we climbed, we passed these houses on some of the smaller hills below. What you're looking at are the slate roofs of monks' homes who live in this wilderness, a simple but peaceful existence. As you can see, the clouds have already moved in and the town below is invisible.


At our first stop, a cafe where hikers can rest and have a snack and a beverage (notice the crates of Coca Cola at bottom right, delivered to the cafe by mule), we noticed the barn above. This is the typical dwelling for the livestock that the hill people depend on to bring supplies to them each week.

...still we climb...it seemed endless at times, but the views, when the clouds lifted from time to time, exposed such gorgeous views as this one.


Finally we made it to the top. Exhausted but exhilarated, we cheered, stretched, collapsed on the tarps laid out for folks who plan to camp for the night and ate dal and rice to re-energize before the much less strenuous climb back down.
Over the edge of this flat summit were, of course, more cows. Among them was this massive fellow who allowed me to take several picture of him. He did seem a bit unnerved as I attempted to get closer and closer. At the point at which he began to move his legs as if to stand up, I quickly said goodbye and headed back up to the summit cafe where the rest of our group was getting ready to eat lunch.
For those of you who remember Liz Harkes, this shot shows me sending off some of her ashes on the summit of Triund. I'd collected some last fall, a few days after friends and family climbed Vroman's Nose to release her remains, brought them to India with me for the very purpose of spreading her gentle and joyous spirit in yet another place on earth.


After eating lunch, it was time to head down the mountain. It had taken us, thanks to slowpoke Susan, an extra hour to hike up, and we wanted to be down before dark. Two of my English students were our guides that day. Tashi and Balu, a Tibetan and an Indian, are studying yoga and hoping to open their own studio someday. They had the opportunity to practice their English all day and Renea and I had reliable guides to help us find our way.
Balu, above, is from southern India. Tashi, pointing to the mountain, is from Tibet. Tashi escaped from Tibet fifteen years ago. It took forty-nine days to walk to India. He slept overnight on the cold ground with twelve other refugees, having little food and then none when their supplies ran out. He, like so many other Tibetans, is determined to return to his homeland someday and help his family who remains there.




This stone house was entirely handmade . As rocks are for the taking and trees are not plentiful or preferred due to weather conditions and Buddhist belief of not destroying living things.

Gotta go, power's ending. Later!