Posted by Shivam Singh
On 23rd Jan, 2021
***Kinnaur Roadtrip***
Date: 22nd November 2020
Our eyes opened to a bright and sunny morning but it was still very cold. Sharad being the most energetic among us, was the first one to get ready. While I and Prabal were still inside our blankets and the time was 8:00 AM, Sharad decided to prepare Maggie secretly inside hotel room on the camping stove (butane gas) which we were carrying.
Soon we arranged the set up near the window, I and Sharad got busy in preparation and Prabal was taking bath.
Suddenly we heard a sound “Dhammmmmm”, we looked at each other and thought some heavy stuff has fallen at the floor just above us.
But soon, Prabal opened the door with a pain on his face, rubbing his back and slowly whispered, “I fell down..!”, ironically, we started laughing loudly making jokes on him.
Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt much but it definitely gave us a point to make fun of him for rest of the trip (still unaware what was waiting at the Hatu temple trek). After eating our self-made Maggie, ordered full breakfast from the hotel and checked out at 9 AM.
Our plan for today was to visit Hatu Mata Temple first and then proceed towards Reckong Peo (165 km from here).
Then came the first expected problem of the day: our car was not starting due to overnight cold weather. We heard about it in blogs but now were experiencing it. In such conditions, you should avoid taking too many self as it will drain down the battery, rather we started pushing the vehicle from both the sides to give a jerk on the diesel tank. After this, it started in 2-3 self easily and this technique helped us everywhere.
**Trek to Hatu Mata Temple & Hatu Peak
Hatu Mata Temple was the only thing listed in our plan at Narkanda. This town is famous for scenic beauty away from busy Shimla (some do prefer this city for trekking opportunities, skiing and other winter sports). The temple is situated atop Hatu Peak at an elevation of 3400 meters which is second highest peak in Shimla district and is dedicated to Goddess Kali.
Built in typical Himachali architecture, it is also believed that Pandavas cooked food here during their exile (agyat-vaas).
The temple was showing 10 km on GPS from hotel, view along the road was getting magnificent as we were moving ahead with snow clad road-sides and mountain slopes. We were told by hotel staff that Hatu Peak received a huge amount of snow and you cannot take your car till the temple.
After 3 km, a narrow off-road was going towards the temple, the distance left was still 7 km. Looking at the size & climb of the road and knowing that there will be snow ahead on the road itself, all 3 of us thought for once not to take the risk of taking our car uphill.
Asked few locals standing there who offered us a round trip to the temple in 600 rupees (still last 3 km we had to trek). Thinking for a while, I turned my car on that road. Narrow, single road leading to the temple left us scared and enchanted at the same time. On one side were the deep and steep valleys with tall deodar trees and on the other side we can see rock solid mountains almost pushing us into the valley. With every turn of the road, we felt the sharp ascent and the scenery around us completely changing.
Finally, after 4 km we parked our vehicle on the roadside and started walking for the last 3 km.
Trust me it was very difficult to drive on this dangerous road. Think well before you enter with your vehicle.
While walking, a Maruti Swift car with Chandigarh number plate crossed us and went uphill into the snowy road (brave guy I must say).
A group of college students from Haryana sitting there suggested us to take a shortcut bypassing the long road. Thinking it will cut short our distance & time, we started literally climbing mountains but soon understood it was a mistake.
At one point all 3 of us slipped on the snow, had Sharad not got hold of a tree branch, we would have gone down from where we started the climb with lots of injuries.
But after an exhausting 30 mins try, we finally reached the road. Now the funny part, we saw tourists from that Chandigarh swift car struggling to keep their car on the road from slipping. One of them was holding it from back and other two were covering the road with stones and soil so that they can take the car back. Upon asking, they said no one stopped them so they kept driving uphill (silly people). Anyways, we offered help and turned their car 360 degrees with just few pushes to go back.
Do remember and be careful, post snowfall the leftover water on the road becomes ice (generally termed as black ice owing to its color due to dirt on road) which is extremely slippery. You can not even walk on it properly, forget driving.
Finally, after slipping & falling multiple times in snow, we completed the 3 km snow road-trek in 1 hour and reached the Hatu Temple at the top. The sheer beauty of the temple and the scenery around it left us speechless. There were hardly 5-10 people in and around making it extremely peaceful site.
Though. it is an ancient temple but the present structure is relatively new. Made in typical Himachali architecture, this temple has exquisite woodcarvings all around it. It looked like the traditional auspicious symbols from both Hinduism and Buddhism were carved here.
After darshan, we walked towards Hatu Peak (a spot just 50 meters from the temple). The view from the peak makes you realize at what height you are. There was nothing more higher than us in the vicinity (of course except the mighty snow laden Himalayas visible far away).
We spent around 30-40 minutes here and decided to go down as we wanted to reach Reckong Peo by evening, which was looking impossible now. The time was already 1:30 PM by now.
Once again, we started downhill walk slipping and falling multiple times. Surprisingly, only me and Sharad were slipping, Prabal seemed like walking with spiked shoes (not a single fall) or he was being extra cautious after morning bathroom fall. He was still in some pain.
Soon we reached our parked car and once again driving was risky but I was confident this time. Two cars came from the opposite direction during our 4 km downhill drive. Prabal had to get down to guide me to manoeuvre as we were on the risky side of steep slope.
Please don’t drive on the Hatu Temple road unless you have a good mountain driving experience.
**Narkanda to Reckong Peo
As we headed towards Reckong Peo, at a distance of 165 km from here, the snow laden mountains were making the scenery picture perfect. But, sun sets early in mountains and we thought of covering good distance before sunset and cross treacherous Kinnaur cliff-hanging drive, hence kept on driving. Road condition was superb except few rough patches till Rampur, which was 65 KM from Narkanda. We stopped only for a tea break and refueling our car.
We were currently driving on National Highway-5 which runs from West to East in India, connecting Firozpur in Punjab to the Tibet border at Shipki La. It passes through Chandigarh border near Zirakpur where we entered on it, then via Haryana enters Himachal Pradesh and continues along the Sutlej River till its terminates near the Tibet border.
Kinnaur is one of the twelve administrative districts of Himachal Pradesh, located in the south-eastern part of the state, and borders Tibet on its eastern end. The old Hindustan-Tibet Road passes through the Kinnaur valley along the bank of river Sutlej and finally enters Tibet at Shipki La pass. In order to link Kinnaur to rest of the country, hard rocky mountains were cut to make roads. Some of the roads in Kinnaur are considered as one of the most dangerous. As you enter Kinnaur, suddenly road becomes narrower and deadly with sharp and uneven mountain edges.
Our plan was to stay at Reckong Peo for 1 night and then visit Kalpa, Sangla and Chitkul during the days ahead. Another planned stop was Sarahan (which falls in Shimla district just before Kinnaur).
As we crossed Rampur, sun was going down and our plan to cross the beautiful cliff-hanging roads during day time seemed impossible. We reached Jeori around 5 PM, and then stopped our vehicle on roadside. From Jeori, there is a diversion to go 17 km uphill towards Sarahan. We were thinking whether to continue on NH5 for Kinnaur in dark which was still 80 km (2 and half hours) or stay at Sarahan tonight and leave next morning after visiting famous and beautiful Shri Bhima Kali Ji Temple.
But since the weather forecast was showing heavy snowfall after 1 day in Sangla and Chitkul, we would have missed Chitkul (our ultimate destination) due to road closures. Hence, we decided to proceed on NH5 towards Reckong Peo. Roads and view are very beautiful from here, I strongly suggest to cover this distance during daytime. We too covered the same route & spot again after 4 days, details of which in next blogs.
During that non-stop 80 km journey we narrowly escaped a head-on collision with a truck on a sharp curve, had multiple arguments within us on our plans, crossed all beautiful Kinnaur roads in dark.
Sutlej River was continuously following us alongside the road with many dams/hydro-plants. As we reached a small village called Karcham, we saw the sign-board with Reckong Peo straight on NH5 (24 kms) and Sangla right (19 km). Remember that is the only turn and route to go towards Sangla.
Around 16 km later we had to exit NH5 and take Kwangi Road for the last 7-8 kms which was very steep and had multiple sharp hairpin bends. Finally we reached and checked-in to a very basic hotel named Khunu Dhon-Khang at around 8 PM. You can skip staying at Reckong Peo and directly go 8 km further uphill to stay at Kalpa which has more options for stay. We had dinner and slept early as we were extremely tired after today’s Hatu Peak adventure.
Tomorrow’s plan was to start early towards Kalpa (8 Km) for some site-seeing (Kinnar Kailash & Suicide Point) and then towards Sangla (50 km from Kalpa) for 3 nights stay.
See you in the next blog, till then Happy Travelling.
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