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4 great monsoon treks, from the Sahyadris to the Himalaya
Summary
If you want to enjoy the beauty of the mountains during the rainy season, here are four treks that should be on our bucket list
When I started trekking in the Himalaya, over 20 years ago, most of my visits ended up coinciding with the monsoon months. This wasn’t because I had some special affinity for the season—though the monsoon in the range is both awe-inspiringly beautiful as well as scary. It was more a matter of expedience, since the price of organising a trek in the monsoon “off season" is way less.
Enforced they may have been, but my visits engendered a lifelong love for the potent mix of high mountains and the capricious rain and mist, the gorgeous wildflower blooms and the grand cloud banners hanging off high peaks. One should always hike with a sense of geography and culture, as this enriches the experience. For example, know your watersheds, your flowering plants, and climatic difference in regions on either side of the Himalayan divide, and the pleasure becomes infinitely richer.
While half the monsoon is nearly done, there is still all of August and September left to explore the country’s high places, away from the crowds of normal trekking seasons. With this in mind, here’s a list of four amazing treks you can do—one in the trans-Himalaya, one in the southern reaches of the Himalaya, one that crosses over from the rainy side to the rain-shadow side, and one in the Sahyadris. These treks vary in difficulty and duration, but each of them will give you wonderful memories to last a lifetime.
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Shang to Rumbak trek, Ladakh
Ladakh is always a great place for trekking during the monsoon months, especially in August-September, when the weather is at its warmest in the high passes, and the massive bulk of the Himalaya keeps rain-bearing clouds from crossing over.
Since this is Ladakh, or “the land of the high passes", any trek you do will require you to cross a few. However, compared to the southern face of the Himalaya, trans-Himalayan passes, though very high, aren’t necessarily steep. This delightful trek, connecting the villages of Shang Sumdo and Rumbak, passes along the grassy highlands on the north-eastern face of the Stok Range that overlooks the Indus Valley.
The Stok Range is home to 6,000m-plus peaks such as the Matho Kangri and the famous Stok Kangri, and the three high passes you cross along the way afford you some great views of the surrounding peaks and mountains, and also introduce you to Ladakhi culture. The seven-day trek involves just four days of walking, and the three passes of Shang La, Matho La and Stok La are all 4,900m high.
Like most treks in Ladakh, the trail lies on an ancient and well-used overland route, with lovely camping spots along the way. There are far more strenuous treks in Ladakh, but this one is a great way to get your adventure fix if you are a beginner.
When to go: August-September.
How to go: South Col Expedition has a fixed departure on 24 August.
Price: ₹65,000 plus GST per head; this includes trek transports, hotel in Leh (twin- sharing basis), monastery sightseeing around Leh, all meals and costs of guides, porters, ponies. Visit southcol.com
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Hampta Pass Trek, Himachal Pradesh
The monsoon months are a tricky time to trek in the Himalaya. The rains hit the range hard, especially in Eastern Himalaya, where it’s preferable to wait till October for major hikes. While the same holds largely true for Western Himalaya as well, there are some crossings you can still do, especially trails to or from drier rain-shadow regions, like Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh. One such is the Hampta Pass trek.
An old Himalayan classic, this trail charts a high altitude path across the Pir Panjal Range from the Beas Valley to the Chandra Valley in Lahaul, across the Hampta Pass (4,287m). A fun way to view the trek (and therefore feel like an explorer) would be to see it as a major watershed crossing linking headwaters of two of the most important tributaries of the Indus. This trail also gives the heady feeling of traversing two very distinct bio regions, from the lush, rain-drenched Kullu Valley to the dry and arid Lahaul.
To start the trek, you will have to drive from Manali to the trailhead of Jobra in the valley of the Rani Nala, a tributary of the Beas. For the next three days you will follow the stream up to its source in the snowfields under Hampta, through gorgeous forests of pine, maple and silver birch, interspersed with lush green meadows. There are quite a few side streams to cross, so be prepared to get your feet wet. As you get closer to the pass, which is a depression on a dramatically low ridge in the main Pir Panjal Range, the scenery becomes more high alpine, with scree and glacier moraines. As the valley opens up, so do the views.
The pass crossing day is a long one, as you make your way through an extensive boulder field to Hampta. The views here are breathtaking, with the Lahaul Range to the north, and the peaks of Deo Tibba and Indrasan of the Pir Panjal to the north. The descent is a steep one, following the true right of a tributary stream that leads down to the Chandra Valley and your destination, Chatru.
When to go: May to October.
How to go: If you have your own camping gear, you can hire a guide in Manali and do it the old fashioned way. Conversely, India Hikes has fixed departures in August and September that you can avail of.
Price: ₹11,450 plus GST and trek insurance, per head; this includes all trek support and meals, plus any trek permits and camping charges. Visit indiahikes.com.
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Valley of Flowers Trek, Uttarakhand
The classic monsoon trek in the high Himalaya, to experience the wondrous carpet of wildflowers in the Bhyunder Valley in the Garhwal Himalaya, has been somewhat tarnished of late. The landslide-prone Char Dham highway to Govindghat in the Alaknanda Valley, as well as the deluge of pilgrims to Badrinath and to Govindghat makes the approach to the Bhyunder valley an absolute nightmare.
However, once you do get to the valley proper—a Unesco World Heritage Site and protected under the larger Nanda Devi National Park—it is a heavenly experience, one that was made world-famous in the British mountaineer Frank Smythe’s 1938 book, The Valley Of Flowers.
It is a short but strenuous trek, if you’re a beginner. Drive up from Rishikesh to Govindghat, and then a little further up the Bhyunder river to the village of Pulna. The trail through the lower forests of the gorge starts here, following the river all the way up to the village of Ghangaria. The is the base for both the Valley of Flowers, as well as the Hemkund Sahib gurudwara, up another valley. You will need to get your forest permits and national park entry permits here.
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Since you have to return to Ghangaria, start out for the valley, following the Pushpawati stream, as early in the day as you can. The first part of the trail is through a spectacular gorge. Once you traverse through, the river turns to the right (north-east), and the valley opens up. Although you won’t get the views if you’re visiting in the monsoon (for the flowers), the valley is actually ringed by spectacular Himalayan peaks, including Rataban and Hath Parbat. The proliferation of flowers begins once the rolling meadows of the upper valley begin.
Although it is possible to trek far into the valley, as far as the camping ground of Tipra Kharak, be mindful of weather conditions and the fact that you will have to return to Ghangaria before nightfall. It is possible to explore the rest of the valley, as well as cross the famed pass of Byunder Khal at the head of the valley into the rain-shadow area of the Zaskar Range, but this can only be done in the post-monsoon season.
When to go: July to end-August for the flowering season. Post monsoon for trekking in the valley and beyond.
How to go:It is possible to do the trek without any camping gear and guides since the bulk of the route lies on the Hemkund pilgrim trail. Stay overnight at Ghangaria and keep one or two days in hand for visits to the Valley.
Bhimashankar day hike, Maharashtra
As the famed mountaineer and writer Harish Kapadia states in his classic book Trekking In The Sahyadris (1977), while the rainy season is bad news for hikers and climbers in every range around the world, in the Sahyadri range of Maharashtra, it is quite the opposite. This is the best time to scramble around in the 640km-long range, between the Tapi river valley in Gujarat to the Terekhol Creek in Goa—the northernmost section of the Western Ghats.
The western edge of the Deccan Plateau—locally divided into the regions of ghatmatha (the head/edge of the ridge), the forested maval area to its east and then the plateau proper, called desh, further in—the Sahyadris form a spectacular wall when approaching from the Konkan to the west. And the monsoon rains flow off the precipices in the form of myriad waterfalls. As long as you are carrying enough drinking water, have good trekking boots with proper grip and are okay with getting wet, the Sahyadris are perfect.
While there are plenty of longer treks in the region, along with excellent rock climbing and forest rambles, a great introduction to the Sahyadris is the day hike around the medieval temple of Bhimashankar in the Karjat region of the Sahyadris. You can drive up to the Shiva temple from the west, but for maximum fun, hike up from the Konkan, directly up the face of the Sayhadris, from the trailhead near the village of Khandas. There are two trails up to the ridge: the perpendicular climb of Shidi Ghat, and the more gentle one via Ganesh Ghat. They take about 3.5-4 hours to climb the ridge.
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Once on the ridge, walk to the Nagphani cliff viewpoint, or to the Maratha-era fortification of Padargad. You can also hike through the dense forests behind Bhimashankar to the older shrine of Gupt Bhimashankar. These thick deciduous forests offer an excellent chance for wildlife spotting, including spotted deer, the Malabar giant squirrel or the great emperor moth.
When to go: From August-September, and then December-January.
How to go: Start early from the city you’re based in, whether Mumbai or Pune. You can drive up from Mumbai to Khandas via Karjat and Kashele. A little further from Khandas are the two trails leading to the top. Conversely, you can drive all the way up to the Bhimashankar Temple from Pune. You could do a ridge traverse, as well as link up the two trails. Drive back at the end of the day.
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