Walk in Clouds @ NagTibba with Nandita Saini

Nandita with her kids

About our Guest Author: Nandita is an adventure junkie with hobbies ranging from motorbiking, trekking, cycling and skiing to photography & writing. She works with an IT company and balances her life amazingly between work, activities and her kids. Nandita is introducing adventure sports and active life to her children. She has taken six trips with GoMissing and in this blog, she recounts her latest trek to Nag Tibba with us.

Saurabh has this amazing ability to get us moving on some wonderful trails. In March he threw an interesting tidbit my way and before we knew it, my children and I were on our way zooming on a cool early morning towards Dehradun. Remember the unusual spell of rains in March that extended cool weather? Yes…that was when we were heading to Nag Tibba for a trek.

Nag Tibba: Here we come

Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand is no longer just about Indian Military Academy, Defense establishments, research institutes and retirement. It is fast exploding into a modern metropolis with all the trappings of urban city with traffic snarls and glass & chrome constructions. Our stay was away from all this at lovely and homely Sree Krishna Guest House opposite Sakya Monastery on the leafy Rajpur Road.

Refreshed from our stay at Dehradun, we were ready for the trek to Nag Tibba peak which is about 10000 ft above the sea level and is the highest peak in lesser Himalayan region in Uttarakhand. Compared to the Himachal trekking trails, it may not seem very demanding, but Nag Tibba is quite a hike and offers stunning views of forests, mountains and valleys. ‘Nag’ or Snake and ‘Tibba’ or Peak gets its name from a legend that calls the region the abode of ‘Nag Devata’ or Snake God. On the trail there is a small temple dedicated to the Nag Devata.

Our Trek Begins

The trek started a little ahead of a small hamlet called Pantwari. The first day we hiked about 5 km and camped in meadows half way to the peak. The next day we hiked about 4.5 Km to reach the peak.

The children were thrilled to have scaled a mountain peak and decided to mark the moment by fluttering a flag on a dried branch. Without losing a moment, the kids were throwing snowballs at each other from patches of un-melted snow.

An impromptu snowball fight

Magical clouds envelop us

The weather was magical and surprisingly cold! We were literally “walking in the clouds” as they rolled in and out of our camp through our entire stay. For a moment sunlight would break through, and before we could sigh at the warmth, we would be floating in the clouds again. The sensation of watching them cloak everything in a beautiful whiteness and then magically reveal the beautiful vistas of mountains and forests was simply mind-blowing.

The forest around us was blooming with Rhododendrons. They were everywhere, in the trees, strewn all over the soft spongy forest floor. It was as if someone had liberally splashed red all over the place. Many other trees were in bloom. We felt as though we had walked straight into some fable from another time and space.

Hello hardworking friend!

That ‘Poornima’ (Full moon) night, when the moon rose up from behind the mountain, and the valley lit up in silver light creating mysterious silhouettes and gentle highlights, it felt as though there could not be a more perfect night or time than this. It was hard to leave those two days behind and walk back into the chaotic madness of routine life.

We will be back, Nag Tibba

Even today, I close my eyes and I am there again in that blissful moment. I am walking through that soft forest floor strewn with red Rhododendrons with sounds of the wind in the leaves, insects and birds and the sweet watered streams. I extend my hands, and feel tiny solid bits of hail falling into my hands like a confetti and melting as they touch my palm.

Thanks GoMissing for wonderful memories! We are all looking forward to our next adventure!