The Solo Hike Chronicles

I was reading a book called No More Mr. Nice Guy. Really good book btw if you ever find yourself just trying to please everyone. Often at the expense of yourself. And the book asked if I have ever spent time by myself. With just my own company without my friends and family. And my answer to that was mostly no except for very brief period of time while driving or in the grocery store. The book suggested me to go on a solo trek. I was always fascinated by the idea of solo treks and that was the final push I needed.

So the following weekend I packed a backpack of essentials to the best of my ability and boarded a taxi, a bus and then a train to go to Kheerganga. My first ever solo trek. This was sometime in December so I did expect a lot of snow or atleast icy trails. So I had packed accordingly. I reached the head of the trek and started hiking. The sights were beautiful. It wasnt actively snowing but it was very cold. Kheerganga is one of its kind because there are natural hot springs on the summit and so I was very excited for them.

I didnt want to stretch the solo trek too long so my plan was to try to do most of the trek on the first day then sleep and then wake up the next day, summit and then go back and board a train/bus back to Delhi sometime around 5pm. On the first day the sun started setting around 5pm. I had a reached a camp site. I was in two mind about calling it a day or to continue on to the next camp site and crashing their instead. I decided to push through the do another camp site so that I am not overloaded the following day. I was just following the beaten path (or so did I thought) so I expected to reach the next camp site in another hour or so well before it became pitch dark. After half an hour or so the number of people walking along with me on the trail had dwindled. I could barely see one or two shadows in the distance. After 15 more minutes I reached a fork in the road. I wasnt sure at all which way to continue going. I decided to take the right and keep going. The route suddenly became very slippery. After a few more steps I slipped and fell and slid about 6 to 8 feet on my fores and stopped on a tree. I realised the tree was hanging over a 30 foot cliff. The tree had just saved my life. After a few deep breath I got back up and got away from the cliff. I realised my knees were bleeding, my back was bleeding my fingers were extremely sore. I need to get to the camp site asap. It was pitch dark now. The iPhone that I was using as flashlight (horrible decision) had died too. I had been hiking for about 2 hours since the previous camp site.

I could see the hill end a few steps ahead so I decided to continue going in the hope that from the top of the hill I would see a few lights and the missing camp site. I reached the top of the hill and looked around and it was just darkness. I could see nothing apart from the few feet around me illuminated by the moon light. I sat down on a rock. My whole life flashed in front of my eyes. I wasnt here if I should spend the night there or if I could survive the cold there the whole night. I honestly wasnt sure if I was gonna make it. I was lost. I was thinking about my parents and my friends and their memory helped conjure some energy. I decided to backtrack. I remembered crossing a river on the way there. I could hear a river so I decided to walk in the direction of that sound. About 30 mins later I did indeed reach the river. My goal was to locate the bridge I had crossed so I needed to walk along the river. I decided to take a right. Fortunately this time that was the right direction and eventually found the bridge. Crossed back and reached the previous camp sight I was at at 5pm around 9 or 10 pm. The camp site was very quiet but I was able to knock on someones tent and rent a space from them for the night.

After a much needed sleep and recovery the next day my body will still aching from all the slips and falls. I was sure I didnt want to keep going by myself. So I waited on the trail for someone to pass. I saw a sherpa going up the trail, I asked him If I could go with him and he agreed. Even though the sherpa was carrying a massive load on his back he was still leaps and bounds faster than me and it was incredibly difficult for me to keep up with him and I came so close to giving up so many times. But I knew if I let him go I wont summit so I stuck with him, I gave that ascent my all and I did indeed summit. The views from the top were a dream and the hot water felt unreal. Since I had a bus to catch I couldnt dilly dally for too long and had to get going back down. The way back was much less troublesome and I made it back for my bus in just the knick of time. The bus might have left about 5 mins after I boarded it.

So what did I get from this crazy adventure. So as it turns out the fork in the road was actually a frozen stream meeting the trail. The stream flows during the day and freezes at night. So I turned right onto a frozen stream and tried hiking it up. I was horribly under prepared for this trek and things almost went very south, Winter treks are dangerous even for a group. But beyond all this. I did achieve my goal of spending time by myself and really digging deep into my will power multiple times. But I realised I did not actually do a solo trek. Many points along the way I needed help. A lot of help. I needed directions. I needed a hot cup of chai. The sherpa who paused for me multiple times. The locals who offered me their tent at 10pm at night. And strangers who didnt know who I was or where I came from, helped me and they were nice to me. I didnt mean anything to them and I hadnt done anything for them. But they went out of their way to put me on my way. I realised just by existing I have value. I have some inherent value by being a human that others seem to see in me. I started seeing that in myself in that trek.