Churah Valley - An Untouched, Beautiful place in the Himalayas

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”― Mark Twain

I would like to highlight the trek to Churah Valley and the things that happened there. It is an amazing place that you should most definitely visit.

Although the trek was arduous, the thing that fueled us was what was coming up in front of us. And when we reached the summit, the view was breathtaking and totally worth it.

Day 1

The day started with us reaching Pathankot early in the morning, and having a short stay in the guesthouse, where we freshened up, had delicious parathas, tea and then started off in the bus towards Bhanjraru. The journey there was fun, with the company of friends and beautiful views that opened up before our eyes with every turn that the bus took around the mountain.

We continued the journey and reached our destination, the rest house by nightfall.

Day 2

We got up early in the morning and did some light stretching exercises to loosen up our muscles for the long trek ahead of us. We left the road pretty quickly within the first ten minutes. We took the first fork out of the road and started the steep climb on the mountain.

After sometime, we reached a helipad atop the mountain. It was a refreshing sight as it meant that we were near a village. Soon after, we stopped for our breakfast. We continued our trek, and soon were climbing the mountain and gained altitude. Soon we were getting tired easily as the oxygen content was low at higher levels.

We trekked along the path, and every new turn in the mountain opened up new vistas to our eyes.

Day 3

Around 10, we decided to start again and trudged along the mountain side. After a climb uphill, we reached a beautiful meadow. I don’t know if the arrangement was man-made, but the breathtaking untouched beauty of the place was a sight to behold.

We continued onwards and continued on terrain that was breathtakingly beautiful. We soon started climbing downhill. We routinely came across aquifiers, whose water we were initally hesitant to drink from, but the locals told us that it was perfectly safe to drink from. We kept drinking from them, filling up or bottles every few hours.

We crossed over a mountain and climbed it for another half hour or so and visited another school from where we met another bright set of kids. We had our lunch, climbed down and continued onwards on the road for our next stop - Devikothi

Day 4

From the school, we trekked higher up and reached a guesthouse. Here we had our lunch and had many group activities. We passed by many schools on the way one thing the stood out was the creativity of the children, their inquisitive nature and drive to succeed..

Day 5

We woke up refreshed in Mangli and had a meditation session and started on our way back. It was a different experience to be in an area that does not have cellular network coverage. The previous night's interaction where the village folk showcased their musical instruments was really good as was the experience to interact with them and understand their day to day lives.

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” – Robert Frost

I cannot stress enough about the beauty of the place. One should most definitely visit the valley once. It is an untouched beauty that you will sorely miss after you leave.

“A ship in a harbor is safe, but it not what ships are built for.” -John A. Shedd

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