[tsk1979]

Nope, NH22 goes to Kaza etc, There is a Sainj on NH22, but its a different Sainj

I took NH21(manali highway) till aut, and state roads after that.

This is the area in question
OpenStreetMap

[addyhemmige]

Now this is one place where I need to trek!!! Lovely pictures Tanveer. How far did you trek btw?

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

This is Incredible India, Thanks for letting us know all these places Tanveer. Deep inside me , i feel, "will i ever be able to see all this places" But no problem the Awesome Twosome have given us enough insight into these places for us to be happy for the timebeing.

+1 Pavan

[tsk1979]

The meadow was big. Bigger than Khajjar.
And there were no tourists. just us








i decided to play around with Ir, did not have a proper tripod(left in the car due to weight issues). so all I had was a gorillapod






It was around 1pm when we started our journey back
A lot of time was spent in the meadow lying down on the grass!


A local told us that there is a PWD rest house connected with a motorable road not too far away, but recent rains have washed away the road. But in the next one month or so, the PWD guys may clear the road.

since the downhill is always easier, I decided to hang the cams around my neck

corn being dried


The mode of transport in these parts


Himachal has very good A.S.S.


A zoom shot of the valley down below


A flower in the high reaches


See the mobile phone towers? We were almost has high as these up there.


The thick forest


At this point my neck started complaining again. A DSLR with a 10-24 lens is not really an ideal trekking gear.
Moreover, downhill was not so easy, and slippage was possible due to steep slopes.

So the cams went in the bag, and we did the rest of the trek literally crawling on all 4s downhill.


A few locals passed us, jumping like legolas over the rocks. I wonder how do they have such wonderful sense of balance and grip even wearing chappals!

It was early afternoon when we reached neuli, and had a light lunch.

The drive to Tirthan valley from here should not take more than 2 hours. So with daylight still remaining, we should be there.

At this point, we did not know, that we had merely completed our first trek! Another one was waiting!

[tsk1979]

As I mentioned before, from Larji to Sainj, the entire mountainside is in a mess due to dam construction.
But after the dam area, things do get better.

On the way to neuli, we had passed waterfall on the road. It was too much to miss. We had time on our hands, so we stopped for a while and enjoyed the fall.

A view of the river


The waterfall


The lush green environs around. The recent rains had surely helped!


I tried to get closer, but only ended up with water on the lens



A cow decided to investigate what I was upto


The view of the waterfall and the "road"


And finally, the white elephant, now grey due to mud and dust


It was little pass three as we passed the dam site


Goodbye Sainj, you fell short of expectations!


Near Tirthan we crossed a Dusshera convoy. The local villages take their local deities to Kullu to see the slaying of Ravan.
Rich temples hire vehicles, and not so rich walk on foot. From distant villages some people walk for days to take their local deity to watch the slaying of evil.

one blurry shot



Finally, before sunset we reached our resort.
We were tired and yet rejuvanted. Exercise is good for the heart, they say!

Night was falling, and the river was flowing. Time for more photography I guess?

TO BE CONT......

[unoczar]

hi

the waterfall shot is really nice, but could we please have a normal view? If you have shot one? Thanks.

-uno

[noopster]

Excellent travelogue tsk. I loved the pics. Some more information on these paces would help, especially for us non_Northies!

BTW, I saw repeated references to "white elephant" which I assume is what you call you Safari. Sincerely hope it's not a white elephant as the phrase is normally used!

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by unoczar

hi

the waterfall shot is really nice, but could we please have a normal view? If you have shot one? Thanks.

-uno

Normal view? this is normal view. No filters or PP used except contrast enhacement in this pic!

Originally Posted by noopster

Excellent travelogue tsk. I loved the pics. Some more information on these paces would help, especially for us non_Northies!

BTW, I saw repeated references to "white elephant" which I assume is what you call you Safari. Sincerely hope it's not a white elephant as the phrase is normally used!

Well you obviously haven't seen my ownership thread
Its the longest thread in LTOR section!

As for the places, I will put up a map after finishing the travelogue

[tsk1979]

The moon went behind the mountain, giving the sky a bluish tinge. It was quite full, so not many stars were visible, anyways, I took a few night shots
Most of these shots are 500 second + exposures.
If there had been no moon, I would have gotten more starts. Polaris was almost behind the mountain, so not much luck there also.

[wanderernomad]

Tanveer, could you please elaborate the route. You went trekking in the Nirmund hills? The Guesthouse you went to, was it near Luhri? What was your alighting point or the road head.

[TaureanBull]

Excellent pics! Another new place explored.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Normal view? this is normal view. No filters or PP used except contrast enhacement in this pic!

What probably Unoczar wants to say is a pic clicked with less exposure time. The pic without the water flowing effect.

[abhinav.s]

Stunning pics... Specially the night shots are just too good!!

Great write up as well but the pics take all the glory and hence aptly named as a photolog

[MX6]

Stunning pics. What were the exposure details for those night shots of the stars? Especially the last photo? Can you share the details if you don't mind?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Tanveer, could you please elaborate the route. You went trekking in the Nirmund hills? The Guesthouse you went to, was it near Luhri? What was your alighting point or the road head.

Nope, the trail head was Neuli.

Directions to reach Neuli are as follows
1. Follow Manali road till Aut tunnel when coming from Mandi side
2. At Aut tunnel beginning, do not take the tunnel, but take right fork.
3. Continue straight, and reach a place called Larji - This is where Sainj and Tirthan rivers confluence. Left from here goes to Sainj (15kms approx), while right goes to Banjar/Tirthan etc,.(30 kms approx)
4. We stayed the first night at sainj, and next morning drove 16kms to Neuli, further upriver. that was the trail head.

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Excellent pics! Another new place explored.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Stunning pics... Specially the night shots are just too good!!

Great write up as well but the pics take all the glory and hence aptly named as a photolog

thanks guys

Originally Posted by MX6

Stunning pics. What were the exposure details for those night shots of the stars? Especially the last photo? Can you share the details if you don't mind?

Thanks!
The star photos were around 600 seconds exposure at F4.5 kind of aperture, with ISO 100

[tsk1979]

The morning was spent with FZ-35, and clicking birds and bees

A shot of the river first


Flowers, and birds








Lazing around, I also tried some IR photography. An exercise in weirdness.

You have never seen such a crazy colored river I guess












Since your eyes are probably hurting by now, normal daytime shot of the river


The resort and the resort dogs


The morning was spent lazing around. Most probably we would start from here and reach ldh by late afternoon.

But then plans got made... There was a second trek.........

[lordofgondor]

Wow man, the river shots are real psychedelic!

Still awaiting details of the second trek.