This series of posts is about my trip to Lahaul Spiti in September 2015. People who have read the previous Spiti travelogue will find only a few things new and a lot more of rants and other less interesting walls of text. This post will have the general information and background about the events, people and purpose of the trip.

It was a great trip and I enjoyed it immensely. There were a couple of things planned which didn’t happen but experienced a lot of awesome stuff as well.  Unlike last time, this wasn’t a solo trip. My wife and her cousin Achin Bhai (ACB from now on ) were my companions. Neither one had been to the region before and had limited experience of trekking and camping.

Our plan in beginning was to trek to Samudri Tapu and spend about 8-10 days in the area. But there were some changes and the actual journey was a bit less adventurous but enjoyable nonetheless. We bought most of our travel stuff from Delhi except stove, gas which we got from Manali. Only ACB was carrying a tent and we were getting rest of the camping stuff from Jamaica’s camp site near Chandrataal.
Just for the sake of record and in hope that some one finds it useful, following is the list of stuff me and wifey carried:

1) Rucksacks, 70 ltr and 50 ltr. Small backpacks.

2) Waterproof and windproof clothing like jacket, trousers. 2-3 change of clothes.
3) Trekking shoes and socks.
4) Ready to eat meal packets, biscuits, chocolates, snacks, dry fruits.
5) Medicine pack with pills for altitude sickness, pain, stomach upset and other general stuff.
6) Trekking sticks (one each).
7) Propane gas and stove, from Manali.
8) Tents, sleeping bags, ground mats from Jamaica’s camp site.
9) Hats, shatter resistant sunglasses, bandanas, high SPF sunscreen to protect against the sun.
10) A portable water filter bottle and a lightweight plastic water bottle.
11) Lightweight metal pot, mugs.
12) Tape, multi-tool, torch,  and a couple of other utility items.

Much later, when it was too late to do anything about it, we realised that each one of us was carrying too much stuff. In my last trip, I was carrying all that gear in my rucksack plus camping gear and still had some space to spare. But in this one, I didn’t have any camping equipment, but my rucksack was still bursting at it’s seams and was too heavy for any kind of long walk in the mountains. We had overstocked on food and clothes in particular. More on that later.

Following was our planned itinerary :

DAY 1: Leave Delhi for Manali by Volvo in evening.

Day 2 and/or Day 3: Morning arrival in Manali.
WORK: Hiring Sumo for journey till Kunzum La.

Day 3: Early morning departure from Manali at 4 am.
Reach Kunzum La by 12 noon.
Start trek towards Chandrataal. Approximate 4-5 hours. Night in campsite.

Day 4: Rest and sightseeing near Chandrataal

Day 5: Trek towards Samudri Taapu. 
2 routes, one the long way around covering both sources of Chandra river.
2nd route by crossing river by a trolley. Preferences for 1st. Night in Samudri Tapu.

Day 6: Day in Samudri Tapu camping. 

Day 7: Trek back to Chandrataal.

Day 8: Two options:  Get a lift  to Manali  and go back to Delhi on Day 9.

Option 2
Day 9: Get a lift to Kibber or Kaza.

Spend 3-4 days in region before going back through Shimla route.

Actual itinerary was much different though.

As mentioned earlier, I had visited Spiti in 2012 on a solo trip. That time, I had hiked from Kunzum La to campsite near ChandraTaal and spent a few days exploring the area. I had seen Samudri Tapu then from a distance and it was on my mind ever since.  Back then, I didn’t have enough time for the trip. Then 2013 and 2014 went by too fast and I couldn’t visit. I My initial plan for 2015 was to visit Lahaul Spiti and trek to Samudri Tapu solo. But then wifey and ACB joined in and the plan was changed accordingly. The preparations and shopping were done over the course of a month as we worked out schedule and other details for the trip. But like every time, there were moments of last minute running around looking for some stuff we had forgotten.

 Anyhow, after all being said and done, our bags were packed and we caught a bus to Manali on 30th August. We chose HPTDC Volvo bus over private bus operators even though the ticket price was twice as much. The boarding point is convenient,  buses are clean, on time and unlike private bus operators, are not staffed by semi-feral humanoids who only know how to look at their list of seats and snarl randomly. These days, the staff of HPTDC buses and the department in general is much more helpful and polite than private sector.

After a journey of about 14 hours, we reached Manali at about 11:00 am and were immediately accosted by touts offering us rooms for Rs 250. Feeling insulted and a bit amused, we started walking towards Old Manali to get a hotel. ACB had his one favourite place, but it is 5 km away from the city. We found a good enough hotel near the bridge and checked in. After some rest, we walked around Manali buying stuff we couldn’t get in Delhi. Old Manali had not changed much from 2012 apart from a few old restaurants closing down and new places coming up in their place. We thought about doing some sightseeing, but dropped the idea as we had tentative plans of coming back from Lahaul Spiti the same way and staying there for 1-2 days. 

During our time out in the city, we also booked a shared taxi to take us to Kunzum La from where we planned to start walking towards the lake. These taxis are absolutely stuffed and the drivers try to cram in 10 people inside 1 Tata Sumo or similar vehicle. So we bought 4 seats to keep some breathing space. Rest of the day was spent walking around in Old Manali and eating in whatever place looked right. Unlike last time, when the taxis were leaving at 5 am or earlier, this time the boarding time was 6 am. I didn’t like it as I wanted to have enough day light for the hike, but the driver promised that we’d be at Kunzum La by 12:30 pm. He overshot the target by 2 hours and almost ruined the whole thing for us, but that’s for the next post.