The best part of growing in the hills is that they become a part of you. It was the month of December 2023, when we had gone to Mussoorie to visit Wynberg Allen School , our alma mater.
The invigorating mountain air and the nostalgia of the past beckoned us to undertake an adventurous trek to the Nag tibba summit, a popular trekking destination with mesmerising views.Nag tibba can be categorised as a medium difficulty trek with 9900 ft summit and a trek of around 16 km . We were a group of five, 3 adults ( age 45+ ) and 2 youngsters ( age 15 ). We started on an omnious beginning from Mussoorie with a strong gust of hail waving us goodbye , on our way to a small peaceful village called Pantwari.
Pantwari is a valley beyond Mussoorie at a height of 4700 ft. The village market has shops which have any and everything you may require for a trek from where we bought and hired some essntials like torch , cap , eatables etc . We had booked a package with guides, food camp , tents for overnight stay at a base camp which was around 6000ft.
We started late in the evening and the road to the base camp soon became dark forcing us to tread with caution in the torchlight. The base camps had tents and the night was spent amongst the cold shivering wind with the solace of a burning bonfire. We slept for few hours and started our journey at around 4 in the morning. The trek although categorised as medium wss significantly difficult with winds bringing the temp close 0 deg. The cold wind and the height took the breaths of the elder people away in the first 15 minutes itself. We were left gasping for air and definitely delayed the group to miss the sunrise. With great efforts we reached the Nag temple base at around 6am , post which there was a steep rise of another 1500 ft to the summit.
The journey ahead was treacherous oozing every ounce of oxygen from our lungs . After pushing ourselves and stopping for photography breaks as excuse , we managed to reach the summit some 45 minutes after the young bloods.
Nag tibba stands tall at almost 10,000 ft with 180 degree view of the snow clad Himalayan peaks. Standing tall, the cold gush of winds amidst the glint of sunshine brought a fresh breath of air into our hearts and lungs . The view in front was pure enigma wrapped in shades of white. The cold winds brought warmth once it wss eneveloped in the heat from the rising sun. We all sat there on a tree trunk soaking in the sun and watching the beautiful landscape in front of us. We walked around the plateau witnessing a small open temple with a trishul ( trident )on top and an India flag flying high. We scrambled together for a group photograph and after an hour decided to come down to offer prayers to the Nag devta temple hughly reverred by the locals.
The way down gleamed in the basking sunlight. We made our way to the base for a sumptous lunch and post that to Pantwari with an aching back and leg but a satisfaction of moving out of comfort zone and ( although with difficultyr ) were able to master the summit.
A new location beyond Shimla , a city called Theog awaited as our next destination.
