Day 2. Syalmi Camp!

Ever since I started to travel around for leisure, by the end of every trip, a certain urge creeps up in me to plan my next trip and mostly by the end of a trip i would have figured out where I want to go for my next trip. The Kashmir Great Lakes Trek is my take away from this trip to Chandrashila and that would probably be my next big trek. This has become a habit now,thankfully.

I have been around and about in Himachal a few times and have done some basic trek/hikes around there, like Triund from Mcleod Ganj, Tandi from Jibhi, Grahan and Khir Ganga from Kasol etc(mostly in search of nirvana ofcourse 💨💨😏😉). Altitude-wise the highest I have been is Khir Ganga in Himachal Pradesh which is approximately 13000 Ft ASL. Chandrashila summit is also at a similar height but the experience is immencely different even though it is inherently similar. Khir Ganga was great ofcourse, but Chandrashila was lifechanging for me. I have never done anything like this before and I am sure I will do many many more like this from now on.

Day 2 -To Syalmi basecamp

We were not punished for being late the next day as I think it was clear to Shachi that we were the lazy bunch. Haha. We were late to all our target times throughout the trek. So no use punishing us anymore. We were warned that day 2 and day 4 were the hardest, day 2 by being the longest and day 4 by being the steepest. We began day 2 after a great breakfast and filling our 2 litre waterbottles as we were also told water sources were scarce and we must use our water carefully. We also had our packed lunches with us.

Shachi wanted to teach us all a lot of things that will help us in future to do treks by ourselves like cooking, Navigating etc. She told us to download the GAIA app to enable us to navigate the trail using GPS. But bacause we were usually late to all the check points we couldnt do any such exercise. But when we set off to the Syalmi camp from Deoriatal, It was DIY time and Mythri and Dhritiman were made Trek leaders and walkie-talkies were handed over to them. GAIA app was used by them to find the trail and we set off on our second day. This shud be interesting i thought. 😬😬.


The trek was in fact long but the terrain was magical. We walked through Forrest and under the shades of Rhodo trees. During our ascent we had good view of our Sari Basecamp down below reminding us how far we have come. I made sure I get as many of my 'signature pose' pictures as possible whenever I saw a good enuf edge/ledge during our walk. 

Everyone were in high spirits and our senoirs were also pushing themselves hard to keep the pace up during the ascent. They were managing it beautifully and made me wonder if I would be doing it like them at that age. One can always dream.

'Jhandi Top' was our first way point on our day 2 and that was where our steep ascent ended for us. After that it was ridge walk through the forrest filled with silver oak and Rhodos. We took a break at Jhandi Top and then walked on over the ridges. After a while over the ridge, Anup our trek guide told us that the next bit is the best part and a thick forrest and we must walk it in silence(Click for a glimpse).This silent walk through nature was by far the highlight of my day, may be second only to the view from Syalmi basecamp. I felt in sync with the nature as we walked the next bit silently. Everytime i stopped the walk to take a breath, the view took my breath away. I have probably said thousands  of 'wow's throughout the trek, on my own and to myself mainly, grateful that I was actually there, in the wild. I was surrounded by surreal landscape and It was nothing like anything.

We had packed lunches for day 2 as it was a long day and we wont reach Syalmi before evening. We were to eat our lunch at Rohini Bugyal, a brilliant beautiful meadow on our way.

But we were late, of course. The trek took its toll on the group and some of us really struggled to get to this point. Finally we all made it and we rested up in the shades of Rhododendron trees and quickly finished our lunch soaking up the view in the meantime. Everyone were tired, hungry and thirsty. We had half of the trek more to finish. We got up finally and started walking and slow and steady, after a while, we got some descent and we picked up the pace and by evening we reached a meadow, also amazing and serene, where we rested for a while and then we were at the last leg for the day....

We reached our beautiful campsite Syalmi at a height of 7710 feet. The walk down to the campsite filled me with excitement as I had a glimpse of the valley even before we reached the camp. The camp was positioned in such a way that the valley beyond was visible in all its glory. This is the camp with the best view according to me. We found our tents. The excellent welcome drink and the exemplary food (although veg) filled our stomachs and restored our spirits and we sat at the dinner area and spoke about many things. It was during this session that Shruthi was unanimously given the title of "Master Story Teller" for her attempt to recite the events involving a fox, Akshay and Kavinaya, IN HINDI. Her enthusiasam to do it in a language she isnt familiar with and her honest attempt at it got the group rooting for her. It was after dinner that Shachi finally delivered on her promise to tell us stories of ghosts that she and her collegues had encountered at the Mountains. Intriguing and mysterious. She also briefed us on our next day which was relatively easier, to Baniyakund, our final camp site. We had an excellent day and we got to our tents and settled in.

Sleep. 6-7-8.

To Banyakund then (Click click)