Day 6: Conquer Jalori Pass
We woke up at 5.30 AM for the morning tea and other chores. The morning was cold and the hot tea sips provide some power and motivation to move on. We had our freshly prepared breakfast and got all ready to conquer Jalori Pass, the highest point of our expedition. We didn’t carry much stuff, just one water bottle and some important stuff like sunglasses, medicines, snacks, a camera, etc. We did wear some extra warm clothes as we knew that the temperature would be very low at the top. We were to hike around 5 kilometers from Sojha to Jalori Pass. The natural view was again awesome. We had some really nice photographs on the way.
The road was bad at places, not maintained, and quite narrow as well. Luckily there was no rain to stop us anywhere that morning. There was minimal traffic on the road, thus we were able to walk safely all the way. There was a small patch of ice on the way. We enjoyed snowball fighting over there for a brief moment.
We reached the highest point on the road, where there is a Temple and a snacks shop. There is an uphill and a small pathway that goes all the way up. It was cold in here. Some folks decided to stay there and enjoy the mountain breeze, some decided to go up to the highest point. I followed the latter folks and took a rest after some time around mid-way, where there was plenty of tiny grass over an area to lie down and take rest. It was a euphoric feeling to fill your lungs with the fresh, clean, and cold Himalayan breeze.
The view was fantastic, and the wind was refreshing. One would just stare at the infinite mountains lying ahead. The best thing here is that this place is not quite famous amongst tourists and hence there are very few tourists here. We enjoyed all the open spaces and freedom.
I descended back to where the other folks were taking a rest and having some hot snacks. We had hot onion Pakoda, Maggi, and omelet. We were then waiting for the Himachal Transport Bus to get us back to Shoja. Its scheduled time was 12.30 PM and we had to wait till then.
The bus arrived and we clicked our last group photo near the temple and ran for the bus. The bus gave us a roller coaster ride as the whole road was bumpy. We reached in under 15 minutes to our destination Shoja. Lunch was ready for us by then. After lunch, we packed our bags and got ready with our cycles.
This time we had to descend and hence we had to load our luggage on our shoulders and not on the cycle rack. We were already told that the downhill journey will be tougher than the uphill journey. Mechanics advised us to always use the brakes and never to speed up on a downhill. What made the journey worse was the road conditions from Sojha to Jibhi. All the bumps on the road would try to imbalance our cycle but we were strong and we kept going.
At one spot near a pothole, I used the front brake instead of the rear brake and I fell off my cycle. Since some of us were quite fast and some very slow, the distance between participants became wide and we were not able to find anyone in front or anyone behind. Feeling simply lost, I kept on moving. After we reached Jibhi, road conditions improved and we also encountered the incoming batch that was moving towards the Jibhi camp. They were all beaten down by the arduous journey and we tried our best to motivate them, by mentioning “Today’s journey is all about to end, Jibhi camp is just a few steps away!”. We then moved ahead as our destination was Manglor camp. When we reached Manglore, I saw folks waiting to regroup before heading towards Manglor camp. We waited for all to regroup. A few folks at the very end took their own time to complete the journey safely. Bindu Ji and Tiwari Ji reached the last participant, we then regrouped, congratulated each other, and moved to Manglor Camp to conclude the day’s journey at around 4.30 PM.
We took some rest at the Manglor camp. Leg pain has reduced by now as we got accustomed to the daily cycling routine. We had breakfast there and some of us went to a nearby temple. It was a children’s playing area and we got involved with them. Kids were really innocent and cute there. We returned to the camp for some rest and to pass time with others. We played some indoor games and then we had our dinner on time. We had a good night’s sleep that day as we had accomplished a marvelous feat that morning.
The next day we woke up at around 6.30 AM and got ready with all our gear for the final cycling journey. We were to travel back to Aut. The road was mostly flat with some descent so we were able to cover the distance quickly. The scenic places were again awesome, but we decided not to stop for photos as we had already taken them while moving up. Soon we reached a point where the incoming batch was waiting. There Mithun was waiting for us. He was to lead us back to Aut Base camp and BinduJi and TiwariJi would take the incoming batch to the expedition. We returned to Aut via the 3 km long tunnel safely. It was just 10.30 AM, so we decided to go to Kullu and maybe also do some river rafting. Our plan for river rafting got canceled as it was closed that day for some unknown reason. We went then to Kullu via Himachal State Transport Buses. Kullu is a very nice town, with a great market for shawls and woolen clothes. We booked our return journey tickets to Ambala from Kullu Bus Stand. We had booked the early morning bus to take to Chandigarh the next day. From there we would take a bus to Ambala, where we have our train booked for the return journey to Mumbai.
Conclusion:
Jalori Pass expedition was a very memorable experience as it was my first expedition. Also, the journey was full of Himalayan scenic beauty. Cycling across Himalayan terrain was arduous for the legs but the journey was extremely pleasant. The fellow participants were very nice folks, who made the journey cheerful all the way.