A Scenic Hike to Balbhadra Peak with Friends and Stories

Hello friends, I hope you all are fine and having fun. Today I will take you to a historical mountain near my house where a great war took place in 1814 and a monument has also been built here in memory of this. Today three of us are going for a hike to the top of a small mountain near Dehradun city and will make noodles on the top of the mountain for lunch. So friends, let's go on this hike where we will go to Balbhadra Peak.

Uttarakhand is known as Devbhoomi in North India and Dehradun is the winter capital of Uttarakhand. This monument is about 9 km from Dehradun city where many people go for a walk every day. Because there is a dense forest here, people also go out to enjoy picnics amidst nature. We also leave home thinking the same and go with a dream that we will make noodles for ourselves after reaching the top of the mountain.

There are 3 ways to reach Balbhadra mountain, the first is by road, it takes 9 km from here if you go by your car. Let me tell you that to reach here you will either have to hire a taxi or go by your own vehicle because there is no public transport facility to reach here. The second route is also connected by road, this route will bring you here from Mal Devta temple, the distance of this route is also 9 km.

We chose the third route, the distance on foot is only 1.4 km and in this short walk we reach far away from the city and in the middle of the forest. The height here is 740 meters which is not a very high height but after reaching here one gets the feeling of being in the midst of nature which tourists come here to experience every day. Because I have a problem with noise and crowd, so we will go to a small peak before Balbhadra Top and come back from there.

We leave at around 11 in the morning, with 2 liters of water in the bag and some packets of noodles, we set out, avoiding the sun and walking fast. We are three people out of which 2 are very happy whereas our youngest friend Chaman is not happy at all. His family forced him to come with us because he plays games on his mobile phone all day. Perhaps today he is walking after a long time, that is why he is having difficulty in walking.

Sara is allergic to sunlight, so she has taken a very good coloured umbrella. Orange colour is shining very well on the jungle trail. I am walking behind everyone and clicking photos with my camera. Chaman is walking with a sad heart, stamping his feet. He has walked after a long time and has come out in the sun, that is why his face has turned red. Despite my telling him, he is not able to see the butterflies flying around us.

The Dhak tree seen on the way has orange coloured flowers in bloom, which are looking very beautiful. Because I do not like plucking flowers, I click a photo and move ahead. At the base of the mountain are the Shepherds' houses, all of which are made of mud and stone. Here the Shepherds have goats, cows and buffaloes. Since we did this trip in the summer, all the buffaloes are sitting in the water coming from the mountain to escape the heat.

After entering the mountain forest, we turn back and see the city, seeing the city from behind the trees is like looking at some backward place from the window of nature where there is no greenery at all. Chaman's shoes have got dirty so he is getting irritated and saying all sorts of things. I stop and give him water to drink which he drinks quietly. I put both of them ahead again and start walking behind me.

To make Chaman happy, I give him another camera of mine so that he remains busy and does not get irritated. I can understand that it is very difficult to get out of the world of mobile and games. We cover 1.4 km in about 40 minutes. On reaching the top, I collect wood and quickly make a small stone stove on which I put a frying pan for the next 2 minutes.

Put 6 cups of water in the pan and let it boil, after which we add noodles and start eating our lunch in the next 5 minutes. Sitting in the forest and on the top of the mountain, when the cold breeze is falling on our sweat-soaked t-shirts, it feels very good. I give some extra noodles to Chaman, which he happily starts eating. After eating, I give him water, after drinking which he says that sometimes I can come with you on such a trek.

After eating and drinking, we keep the utensils in my bag, I fill all the plastic wrappers in a bag and keep it in my bag. I wait till the burning stove extinguishes and when the fire does not extinguish, I put some water on the fire and extinguish it. After the fire is extinguished properly, we decide to descend. Chaman says that do not give me the camera while descending, otherwise the camera may also break along with me.

On the way back, the three of us descend very slowly because the leaves of the trees are breaking and falling on the ground due to which our shoes are slipping. Sara and I are wearing trail running shoes, so we are able to walk properly, whereas Chaman slips and falls many times because he came wearing sports shoes. When he falls, I don't know what he thinks and says that this is my style of sitting. He slides down on the trail while sitting. I like his style and both of us descend about 200 meters in this new style, sliding.

We descend by 4 o'clock, after descending, only a little way remains to reach home, where we reach in the next 20 minutes. Some children are seen riding bicycles on the way, at a distance stands the mountain of Mussoorie whose height is 2000 meters. After reaching home, Chaman tells his parents that sometimes I will go hiking. I also suggest him camping for which he says that he will first watch the video and then think about it.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Sony a7iii camera & Canon 77D and edited in lightroom, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.