Across the lushness of Kullu, across the (now underestimated but nevertheless dangerous) Rohtang pass, across the greater Himalayan range, across even the Chandra-bhaga river lies the valley of Miyar. You know a place is special when a gaddi shepherd walks for 22 days with his flock to get there. Its remarkable how green this valley is, more so coz its not supposed to be. Its the trans-himalaya after all. The rain-shadow area. The lee side of the mountain. (The adjacent valleys are rugged and stark).

Ok, try to imagine this. You are walking on a flat grassland which stretches in all directions and is dotted with small yellow, white and blue flowers. Sheep are grazing merrily. Long way down your left, there is a sudden drop from the flat ground straight to a raging stream across which as abruptly rises a mountain with vertical rocky walls. Cut to the right side now and some way ahead there is moraine from the glacier spilling down a long chain of mountains with snow packed on their top. You meander along checking out the reflectionof the spotless blue sky and the mountains in a small glacial tarn. The day seem to go on forever and you have all the time in the world to chill on a flat stone nearby and watch the yaks watching you.

Now picture this. Its 8:30 p.m. You are camped on one of those meadows and are standing outside your tent. The near full moon has risen above the mountain chain on the right. There is so much light around that someone coming out of the tent can mistake it for dawn. The snow at the top is shining. Everything is still and the only sound is of the bells around the neck of the camp horses. The chill in the air is increasing but you want to savor this for as long as possible. Just staring away.

Is this what you imagination looked like?















And like this?















For more pics from our recent Miyar valley trek, check here
And a video shot at night, here