Trip Dates: Aug 1st through Aug 6th, 2022

We traveled to Himachal Pradesh for our first real trekking experience, HAMPTA PASS. Coming from Bangalore, getting to basecamp required a flight to Chandigarh followed by an overnight bus to Manali. It became clear we were on our way to a remote part of India that remains largely untouched. This trip lasted six days and included five nights of tent sleeping and five days of active trekking across various terrain; grass, gravel, boulders, waterfalls, rivers, and snow. We booked the trek through India Hikes which became a wonderful experience. This post will summarize the Hampta Pass trek and our thoughts on the pros and cons of booking with India Hikes.

Because India Hikes does a nice job of capturing the entire trek details from elevation gain, campsite locations, and itinerary, I will include the link below instead of repeating all the details. This post will focus on our specific experience on the hike in August.

https://indiahikes.com/hampta-pass

Trek Overview – Our Thoughts

Because this was our first multi-day trekking trip with remote tent sleeping, we may be easy to please, but the Hampta Pass Trek stacks up with the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen. We purposely chose to do this trek in Early August during the rainy season since the flowers are in full bloom and the temperatures are more manageable.
You start the trek through a forest and emerge at the foot of the valley at the first campsite.

Jobra

Stars! This is the first thing that comes to mind when reminiscing about the Jobra campsite. On our first night camping in tents, we had a new moon with a clear sky. The conditions were perfect for a night sky, and some could say “the stars aligned”. Allison had packed a tripod and her camera in case we got this lucky, but because we went during monsoon season, we were not expecting such ideal conditions.
This first night was also when we realized we would eat well on this trip when India Hikes served us the first snack, honey chili potatoes.

Jwara

After the first day of walking through the valley, we realized we were exploring remote terrain. The rains that had been nonstop for three days before our trip had now stopped, and we were welcomed with clear and bright skies illuminating the lush greenery around the valley and surrounding mountains. Upon arriving at Jwara, we felt accomplished by completing the first real day of long trekking while carrying our bags. We found meadows of purple flowers surrounding the tents with a waterfall for a backdrop. A short evening hike to the base of the waterfall made for nice team bonding and cool photos of the entire group.

Balu Ka Ghera

On Day 3, the trek started to get a bit harder with a more gradual incline, and some members of our group started to get affected by altitude sickness causing them to turn back to Manali. This portion of the trek included a few stops, the first to dip our faces in the ice-chilling river water to cool down and another to appreciate the beautiful surrounding valley in silence. The Balu Ka Ghera campsite is known for the black sand (Balu meaning sand) and also acts as the base of the trek the following day through Hampta Pass.

Shea Goru

The most challenging day of trekking through Hampta Pass started with minimal rain (about an hour) and cleared up for the remainder of the trek, making it a perfect day to summit and return to the Shea Goru campsite. Even on our August trek, we traversed snow remnants, but this did not cause any concerns. The hike on this day was rewarding, and the whole group celebrated upon reaching the summit. Getting to the Shea Goru campsite was a huge milestone as we were exhausted. This side of the pass was a lot windier making it colder in the evening.

Chhatru

The most exhilarating part of the entire trek occurs just after you leave Shea Goru on the way to Chattru. This trek starts with crossing an ice-cold river with water flowing from glaciers. Within 15 seconds, I could no longer feel my feet, and it took another 30 minutes to get the feeling back. We would never want to do this again, but we were very proud we completed this river crossing. The remainder of this hike was downhill and covered a lot of distance, so it was a lot of trekking to finish up the trip and make it to Chattru. As we got closer to Chattru, we approached the main road and began to find a lot more trash from more casual campers who didn’t clean up after themselves. Spending time cleaning up the mountains and making them cleaner than we found them was rewarding for us given our personal mission to live more sustainably and keep our planet clean.

Pros and Cons of India Hikes

Pros

-Tents

The India Hikes team has set tents ready for all trekkers. You will avoid carrying the weight of the tents and the time and energy required to set up the tents each day.

-Food

Food is provided and includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon snack with tea. Not only was the food delicious, but it was also nice to relax after trekking and not worry about making our own food or carrying extra food. Having cooked food provided also reduces the waste of all trekkers since we avoid bringing any unnecessary waste.

-Expert Guide

Following a guide who has done the trek many times and knows the route and obstacles/challenges helps the minute-by-minute navigation and helps the mental preparation for what is to come the following day(s).

Shoutout to Faizan (pictured below) for being our irreplaceable trek leader! 

-Mules/Offloading

India Hikes offers Mules to help carry your pack if you cannot for any reason throughout the trek. Offloading is not encouraged, but nice to have a backup option in case of injury or unforeseen issues (Ex. our backpack broke, but we were able to fix it temporarily without needing to offload)

-Green Trails Initiative

India Hikes are pushing hard to keep the trails clean and minimize our impact on these remote areas to preserve the beauty for all to enjoy. The Green Trails Initiative was our favorite aspect of the trek. A garbage pouch was provided for each trekker, and everyone is encouraged to fill their pouch daily with trash they find on the trails. Our group took pride in collecting a massive amount of trash left from others.

Cons

-Move at the pace of the group

You may notice each trek online has a difficulty rating, and India Hikes recommends a certain level of fitness to indicate if you are fit enough to join advanced treks. We had thought this fitness requirement was mandatory, but it is just highly encouraged. Even if you don’t meet the fitness requirements, you are still able to join. This is great for people who are motivated to improve their health and have the mental fortitude to manage a challenging hike without meeting the requirement. Because the goal of India Hikes is to make hiking more accessible, it’s hard to offer a better solution and prevent everyone who wants to trek from joining. During our trek, we found the speed of the group was reduced due to some of the less fit members. In the end, we were all going to the same place, and there was no rush, so it didn’t make a big difference. For a trek that requires certain speed to meet a more demanding schedule this could have led to avoidable complications.