We reached Bir late at night after travelling on the road the whole day yesterday. While having dinner at night, we planned that tomorrow morning as soon as the market opens, we will buy marking material and set out on the route. I remember last year's marking when we had reached halfway and heavy rain started with a storm. Me and my friend were stuck at 2800 meters. Lightning was flashing above our heads and hail started falling. But the good news is that this time the forecast will be clear.
We are in Bir which is famous for paragliding in the whole of India. Paragliding competitions are held here every year and in 2015, the World Cup of Paragliding was also organized here. This place is situated in Kangra, the most famous valley of Himachal Pradesh. The height here is 1500 meters.
After waking up early in the morning, we had to wait for several hours because the market here does not open before 9 am. Anyway, after 9 am we buy route marking material, after which we have breakfast and set out on the route. Our ex-partner drops us in his car on the way to Bari village from where we have to walk. We three people and a dog will go together to mark the way to Hanumangarh Peak.
Everything was fine for the first one and a half km because the sun was less and there was a forest. Then such a part of the mountain starts where there are no trees at all. Now the sun was shining directly on my head, due to which I started feeling heaviness in my head. We are walking while sipping water and waiting that soon the trees will start and we will get relief from this scorching heat.
In the blue sky above our heads, paragliders are ferrying tourists here and there. We are quite high up on the mountain so we can also hear the conversations of the people talking in the glider. Moving ahead, a paraglider falls in the forest in front of our eyes. I shout and ask about its safety, then the reply comes that I am fine and an emergency landing had to be done. After about 4 km, there is a Shepherd's hut where the Shepherd has taken the goats and sheep to graze in the forest and has left all the goat's kids at his hut.
I click a photo of the kids and look up to where we have to go. Of course, summer has arrived now and the rhododendrons should have finished by now but I am very happy to see rhododendron flowers blooming on some trees. After about a km, the trees start and there is a lot of relief from the sun. Here, wild strawberry flowers have bloomed on the forest floor and in a few days, the entire forest will have sweet strawberries for animals and birds to eat.
After walking 6 km, now only 2 km is left to Hanumangarh. It is 03:30 and clouds have come in the sky. Now the wind is blowing cool and there is a lot of relief from the heat. Slowly, after another hour, we reach above the tree line from where we start seeing Hanumangarh Peak. After crossing huge rocks, we finally stand at Hanumangarh Peak at 04:19 pm, the height here is 3080 meters and seeing the 360 degree view from here, all three of us forget our tiredness.
The view from the top is not clear, still I manage to identify Thamsar, Jalsu and Noharu Pass. We spend about 30 minutes at the top after which we start descending. Now our next stop is Chhina Pass which is 3.5 km from here. Due to continuous walking for about 6 hours, the body is tired and the balance of the legs is not being maintained while descending. Walking slowly, we cross the temple of Satvadini Devi, on the way we find some tents of the locals. Cabbage crop has been sown here.
06:26 We reach Chhina Pass where after drinking tea at the tea shop present there, we start walking towards Billing from here. Billing is 6 km from here which takes one and a quarter hour to cover. This place is the take off site for paragliding and the height here is 2450 meters. If the weather is clear then a very spectacular view of the Dhauladhar mountain range can be seen from here. By now the sun has set and I click a photo of my companions with the red line shining in the sky. From here we take a taxi and come to Bir where it takes us 09:30 in the night.
So this was today's day in which three of us go to Hanumangarh Peak by hiking. I hope you liked this post. Now I am leaving and will meet you in the next post where I explored other places of Bir.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to tranlate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from POCO F1.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 32.08217 lat 76.75594 long Hiking to Hanumangarh Peak (3080meters) d3scr)