Bir to Leh

Kugti Pass trek is one of the lesser known treks in Himachal, which makes it more exciting. This was out of the ordinary.  Trek gradient; Difficult Terrain; Pass crossing at 5050 meteres Day 1 Kugti to Duggi Caves (3350 metres) After a small snack at the guest house we were finally ready to leave Kugti. The cook cum watchman suddenly was in good health and turned up in the morning on time to collect the money. The cost of the guesthouse was Rs. 350 per room per day.  Our guides were to start late. As per them they would catch up with us in no time 😐 Beautiful Budhil river. Trail on the right.  Our guides behind us we start at about 7.30 am. The first stop on our way was the Kelang temple (Kartikey Temple). Trail till the temple is pretty straight forward. There are couple of chai shops on the way to the temple, these are closer to village though. Little ahead the trail bifurcates towards Mani Mahesh. Mani Mahesh trail heads down, for Duggi cave...

Trek gradient; Moderate Terrain; Pass crossing at about 3400 metres Day 1; Bir to Utrala to Khotdru Dhar We all planned an early morning start with the cab picking us up one by one and we were on our way. The weather changed today to thick cloud cover, it was all set to rain after a break of 1 week. We decided not to wait for weather to clear up as being peak monsoon you never know when the next dry spell would start. It was a good decision as rain continued to wreck havoc in Himachal but we were able to maintain our lead. So off we were.... Our cab driver took us ahead of Binwa power station and reservoir too. The road ahead from reservoir is not paved but decent for a Sumo to take you little ahead. Our goal for the day was Prei. By the time we were out of the cab it started to rain. We got ready with our rain jackets, covered our backpacks with rain covers and decided to take rains head on. Somehow we were all geared up with the attitude to not stop for rains. ...