Namaste 🙏
It was time to start our journey to the inner Himalayas. We now had to leave our car behind and start our hike to the unknown world that was above and ahead of us. We were three collage friends with a hunger for adventure.
So here we go,
Into a world less explored.
Through the woods and meadows,
To find a story that’s still untold.
As soon as I took my first step on the trail, all my worries just disappeared. I was at peace with existence and the only thing I was focused on was nature.
I walked a few steps to capture a photograph of the parking spot of our car that we parked on the roadside.
One of my friend is a cinematographer and the other one is a drone / UAV pilot. We were all geared up to capture the stunning Himalayan mountains and experience them to the fullest.
We were already at about 3000m of elevation from sea level and our goal for the day was to reach at about 3800m at Bethar Dhar.
After hiking for about 30 minutes, we found another expedition group from Israel. They were going to Raoli Kholi base camp that day (which was at about 4000m elevation) and were planning to summit the mountain the next day.
We also came across some porters who were carrying goods on mules. There were two campsites on this hike namely Bethar Dhar and Raoli Kholi. They were going to Bethar Dhar. We were also going to Bethar Dhar and we found their company.
To our surprise, their hiking speed was twice as fast as ours and we were unable to catch up with them. We were again on our own.
Between the lush green meadows, we found a shepherd with his herd of sheep. We got to know from him that there were about 10-15 shepherds on that mountain presently as it was the perfect time of the year for grass to be ready for sheep to feed on.
As we walked further, we were leaving trees behind. Now all that was ahead of us were vast meadows. The meadows where shepherds spend months with their sheep.
We were so amazed to witness the lives of the shepherds up close. Living in such remote areas with no facilities.
It’s so difficult for me even to imagine giving up all the modern technologies and tools and live here on mountains for months. That’s what those shepherds do every year.
Now the scale of landscape started to look vast. People were looking like tiny dots in these huge meadows. Those people were another group from Rajasthan, India.
While I was hiking, a strong fragrance stopped me. I looked around and found these beautiful flowers. Those were the kind of flowers I’ve never seen before in my life. I took a bunch of those to bring back with me. I wish you guys could smell those flowers.
Amongst those vast landscapes, I saw a little dot that was flying around the mountain. Upon further inspection, I found that it was a paraglider. He was using the mellow mountain breeze to gain elevation.
It was already midday and we needed some rest to continue our journey. We stopped under the shade of some of the last trees that we could see. I handed over my phone to my friend to capture a picture of me.
Now all we needed was a push to reach above the tree line and that rest gave us that energy boost. We were now ready to hike again after a rest of 20 minutes.
When hiking after rest, a dog joined us. We named him Tommy.
After hiking for around 30 minutes with Tommy, we were finally able to see Bethar Dhar. The Israeli group was already there.
As we came close to the camp, we saw a big tent with a few other dome shaped camps. People were having food there and enjoying the views of the mighty mountains while taking the well needed rest.
Here we were!!! We reached Bethar Dhar. We were greeted by Mr. Tot Ram who had a camp here. He provided food and shelter for hikers at nominal charges. We asked him for a tent for three people and he showed us an alpine style tent which we loved.
Mr. Tot Ram was a shepherd all his life. He was from Kothi village and as now he was old, he runs this campsite here in Bethar Dhar. He loves to smoke hukka and tell stories about his life in mountains.
Mr. Tot Ram gave us tea and bread with pickle to eat. We sat outside our tent and enjoyed our well deserved meal.
Other people were also living there in the camps next to us. We befriended them and talked to them about their past trips and also shared ours.
This place is called Bethar Dhar for a reason. Mr. Tot Ram told me that Bethar is a shrub that grows here on the slopes that is used for worship of the local deities and Dhar is a mountain slope. So the name Bethar Dhar means a mountain slope where Bether is found.
In the picture below the dark green coloured shrub is Bethar.
It was already around 4:30 PM and we were super tired. Our stomachs were full and legs were aching so we hopped in our tent for some rest and called it a day.
