Earlier this year, I decided I'm going to get back to the great outdoors and to hike as much as I can. Starting the year with tracking snow leopard and later sometime camping in front of an active volcano to the recent trek from Spiti to Ladakh, I've had some great moments this year. Well the year is almost ending and I couldn't be happier about all the adventures I've undertaken so far but the best was certainly was kept for the last.

The magnificent Lycian Ruins at Phellos

I'm posting this short blog post from a camping site in Turkey as I prepare to head to the mountains for 3 days. I'm hiking a 430kms waymarked trail called the Lycian Way which is a footpath along the Turkish Coast from Fethiye to Antalya in the ancient Anatolia region. I'm hiking with a friend I met last year and we are carrying all our food, camping gear, water et al with us as we camp half the times and stay in pansyions(Turkish for guesthouses) the other half. The biggest challenge so far has been carrying the heavy backpack which weighs at least 15 kilos and the long distance we cover each day that range from 10 to 20kms at a time.

What excited me about this particular hike is that it's along distance trail. Going on a week long adventure is so different from doing something for a whole month! Besides, I'm hiking just with a friend which makes it all the more exciting and interesting as we both try to find our way, tackle the abundant shepherd dogs, camp in the wild and walk, walk, walk and then some more for all of three weeks. 

I'm already 10 days into the adventure and I have two more weeks of hiking ahead of us to reach Antalya. The first few days were tough getting used to the rigor but looks like I've fallen into the habit of waking up at dawn and walking till dusk or till the feet give away to the exhaustion. On the other hand, the coastal views have been incredibly beautiful, the charming little town along the sea are most amazing, super friendly locals and absolutely stunning ruins of the Lycian that dot the entire trail. I've got some amazing stories and a lot of research to do once I get back, but for now I can only share some pictures and moments I've captured on my mobile. 

I've taken a local sim and there's network connectivity most of the times. This means I can post short updates constantly from my hike. Wish me luck and follow my journey along the trail as I try and post real time updates as often as possible here - http://instagram.com/neelimav/

Also, there's a contest running on the blog where you can win a Himalayan trek, have you participated yet? (CONTEST: Win 2 Himalayan Treks in India with GIO! )

(Contest closed, thanks for the great response!
Results announced.)

UPDATE: Results announced! Congrats to the winners and thank you all for your participation. 



In my seven years of outdoor adventures, I've derived the most joy, exhilaration and anguish from the mighty Himalayas. From being immensely intimidating to feeling like home now, Himalayas have had a very big part to play in what I've become today and what I've chosen to do for a living. An affair with the mountains cannot be a short one, it is a lifelong commitment. Once you're in, there is no way out. They'll be plenty of heartaches along the way but, obviously, all the trouble would be worth it and so much more. And I am so sorry for pushing you towards this agony! ;)

For I have a new contest on the blog, the first one in fact, and it is only fitting that two treks to Himalayas with Great Indian Outdoors(GIO Adventures) are up for grabs on the blog. As many of you might remember, I had recently gone on a trek from Spiti to Ladakh via Parang La with GIO Adventures. And now, I want at least two of you, my lovely and supportive readers, to head out into the outdoors under the safe guidance of experienced guides and with good equipment.
Read: Trekking Along the Ancient Nomadic Trade Route - Spiti to Ladakh across Parang La

About GIO Adventures
GIO Adventures (est. 1999) is an Outdoors Adventure Company with a mission of making Himalayan destinations, not often found on regular maps, accessible to people who love discovering them. True to their mission, they have one of the largest collections I've seen so far, of Himalayan trek departures listed on their site. From something as offbeat as Parang La to something as popular as Hampta Pass, they can take you mostly anywhere in the whole gamut of Indian Himalayas. With their firm belief in keeping groups as small as 12, eco-friendly practices and world-class equipment, I highly recommend GIO Adventures for your next Himalayan adventure!

What do you win?

Now I know that many of you don't prefer to head out on a Himalayan trek alone, so here's something to sweeten the deal! If you win and choose to get a friend along, your friend is eligible to get a 35% discount on the trek fee.

How to Enter?

Using the form below, tell me in less than 300 words why you are enchanted by the Himalayas and you are entered for the contest! I'll look at the entries and announce the results soon.

Things to note:

Last date to enter the contest: November 30, 2015

Results to be announced on: December 7, 2015 December 13, 2015

Despite nearly losing one hiking boot to its flow just minutes before, crossing the thigh-high fast currents of the Pare Chu River at Norbu Sumdo felt strangely exciting. After all, there's only so much walking on river bed that one can take. Walking through dry valleys for days after crossing the high pass, even something as dangerous as a fast flowing river seemed like a welcome obstacle. Parang La is a strange trek, long and monotonous often times but it redeems itself with consistent days at high altitudes of above 4000m and mind-blowing views of Tso Moriri towards the end.

Ancient trek routes connecting remote lands always held a great fascination for me. Ever since I heard of one such historic route that connected Spiti to Ladakh across Parang La, I’ve wanted to get on that trail. The nomadic people of Changthang used this route in the earlier days extensively to attend the La Darcha trade fair in Spiti where the Changspa nomads came mainly to barter wool and barley in exchange for salt. Even today, many locals use this foot trail as the fastest and cheapest way to get across between Spiti and Ladakh. I was more than excited to be experiencing a slice of the local way of life in the mountains. Just like the Chadar becomes the highway for the people of Zanskar to reach Leh during winters, this route connects the people of Spiti and Ladakh during summers.

Arriving at Kibber(4200m) with two other hikers, our guide and his support team of five, I stood in front of the ominous notice board warning hikers that the trek can get very dangerous after September 15th. Unprepared as I was and breathless already after barely a minute’s walk on flat ground (that’s high altitude and low oxygen at work!), I nervously made calculations in my mind if we’d be crossing on time. Thankfully, we were almost 3 weeks early before the open season ended.

Settling into my sweet little yellow Black Diamond tent at a clearing called Dumla, a small village beyond Kibber and our first campsite, I was immensely thankful for two things. One - that there were no other hikers around, as is the case with most of the popular treks in Himalayas these days. And two - that it was waxing moon period, meaning bright moonlit nights were going to keep me company as we camped in secluded locations over the next 10 days. Considering I am not fond of absolute darkness and that I will be bunked alone in the tent, I was more than happy with the big bright silver moon that lit up the skies every night. Except for the slight scare from the braying donkeys and barking shepherd dogs at night, I’m pretty pleased with this new development of camping alone in a tent. (Of course my group was camped next to me, but still!)

Over the next two days, we walked along gradual trails where we came across several fossils belonging to the Tethys Sea and enjoyed clear views of stunning Mt.Kanamo towering above the landscape. When the time came to cross the 5500m high pass, we got down to a deep gorge and climbed along a punishing moraine to reach the basecamp where furious winds ripped apart our tents for an hour before subsiding. Crossing the pass turned out to be a decent affair, the insane cold before sunrise and the oxygen deprived high-altitude being the only deterrents but nothing too unmanageable for an experienced hiker.

The descent towards the other side, however, brought a large swathe of snowfield and plenty of glacial streams. Hiking on top of brittle ice formations over water channels crisscrossing beneath our feet turned out to be quite tiring and often times harrowing but the lure of a distant campsite along the riverbed kept us moving. What we didn’t realize was that much like a mirage in the desert, our campsite would never arrive despite seeming like it’s just around the corner. Looking for greenery so the donkeys could graze, we couldn’t stop just anywhere by the river. We walked and walked on the dry riverbed until we found a small patch of green almost after 9 hours since we started hiking that day. Tired, we collapsed into our tents thinking the worst was behind us. Normally, the toughest days on any trek are the summit or pass-crossing days but not on this one. We would be tested mentally over the next 7 days but for now, we reveled in the glory of safely crossing the 18300ft high Parang La pass, a mighty wall between the two legendary regions.

Over the next few days, we walked endlessly along the riverside in the valley between the mountains. The days were monotonous and mentally taxing for there was little change in scenery apart from more brown mountains and pebble-filled riverbed. The only thing that we were looking forward to, was reaching the shores of beautiful Tso Moriri, one of the world’s highest lakes at an altitude of almost 15000ft! When we reached the shore, I couldn’t resist the temptation to camp an extra day by its verdant shores observing the wildlife and soaking in the greenery around.

The best part of this trek was definitely hiking in the incredibly scenic Changthang region of Ladakh, one of the very few regions in Ladakh with greenery and abundant wildlife. The Bar Headed Geese that fly higher than Mount Everest roosted right next to our campsite and Kiangs, the endemic Tibetan Wild Asses of high Himalayas, strayed close examining the outsiders in their territory. I also enjoyed stalking the curious and very cute Marmots, which are not used to human presence at all in this region. I woke up to gorgeous sunrise views at farthest end of Tso Moriri and warmed myself around a bonfire at moonrise watching the many glacial streams light up even as the milkyway showed bright in the night sky.

On the last day I hiked almost 20kms along the shores of Tso Moriri to reach the village of Korzok on the other end. With this, I had explored the entire length of the two most gorgeous lakes of Ladakh; I had driven 40kms all across the length of Pangong Tso in India and walked across the length of Tso Moriri from one end to the other!

Now having walked, flown and driven to Ladakh on different trips, the only other means of transportation left to reach the roof of the world was cycling. Perhaps, it will be the next adventure that’ll see me arrive in Ladakh for the 7th time! But for that time, I was more than happy to treat my eyes to some greenery after almost 2 weeks of barren landscapes of Spiti and Ladakh. Between the lush greens, however, flashes of those empty landscapes shining bright on moonlit nights will surface every so often and I’ll go running back to the very same strange place that feels like home!

I was invited to join this trek with Great Indian Outdoors (GIO) which happens to be one of the very few companies offering this trek in India at a reasonable price. The equipment provided was excellent and I would even say this was a luxurious trek in terms of facilities and comforts provided when compared to many other treks I have been on in the past.

Two reasons I can highly recommend GIO for your next Himalayan adventure are one - they strongly believe in small group adventures (which means no 30 member teams!) and two - they have plenty of fixed departures which solo hikers and small groups can join to avoid sky high costs.

P.S - There’s a contest coming up next week where two Himalayan treks with GIO will be up for grabs! Watch this space. :)

Struggling toward hope at 16000ft – A trek in remote Himachal Pradesh where we crossed from lush green Chamba into barren brown Lahaul through Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary over the 5000m high Kugti Pass