Off the road in Esteem VXi

This weekend, having nothing much to do, I started on a drive. With a tiring week behind, I wanted to get away from the maddening crowd.

My village, near Anandpur Sahib, is a very peaceful place that offers the seclusion I wanted, so the wheels turned that way and driving from Chandigarh via Mullanpur, Kurali, Ropar and Ghanauli I reached the Nakkian barrage on the SYL and NHC canals. Here, I turned right to cross the two canals and carried on on the far bank of the SYL. While travelling on this road, there is a diversion towards the right that goes into the arrid land of hillocks, seasonal rivers and Kikar forests, called the Kandi belt. This belt forms a border between Punjab and Himachal, and beyond this belt, the hills start rising and on the top of these hills stands the holy temple or Mata Naina Devi Ji. Having travelled on that road hundreds of times, I had seen that road and thought that it would be nice to bring a 4x4 vehicle and explore this area. Some pictures of the terrain.



The playground

I decided that I will explore this area. But I was driving a 2x4 vehicle, that too a front wheel drive, so I decided to stick to the road, or at least a trail and keep the off roading for a later time, with a more equipped vehicle. Not that I haven't taken my 2003 Esteem, lovingly called 'Black Magic', offroad before. It has gone off the beaten track on numerous occasions earlier. However, this time I was alone, while in previous outings, I had friends along, and on many occasions, at least another vehicle was there to help in case of any breakdowns or getting stuck. Blackie is also getting old and has seen a lot of battering and neglect.

The Black Magic

Initially, the road was good, even great.

However, the black tarmac soon changed to a gravel road and then a dirt track full or stones and deep ruts.

However, very soon even this track ended and I could only make out a faint trail ahead. This is where the road ended and I had to decide if I wanted to press ahead or turn back and head for the road.

The immense confidence that I have in my car made me shift into the forward gear. I decided to try a bit of it and not to try anything fancy. So much for the first decesion to stick to a road.

On a river bed

Can you see the Grin?

 I spent a couple of hours. However, could not capture much of the action as I was busy driving. Had to park and get out of the car to click a photo. I wish I had a better camera that could capture video. My mobile camera can record videos of upto 20 secs only, so had to be content with just pictures. The actual experience was amazing. Blackie got bogged down once, which caused some worry, and some very sharp self critisizm at not being able to stick to logical decisions.

 

Here I would like to make the usual disclaimer that I have a fair experience of such conditions and have full confidence in my vehicle. As my village was only 8-10 kilometers away and I was only a couple of miles out of a mobile network, I also had the option to call for help in case of any eventuality. That is why I decided to go ahead with the adventure. Otherwise, I would never try this alone nor suggest anyone else to do it. In such settings, things can go wrong and turn ugly pretty soon.

On a river bed full of sand, a front wheel drive is the worst kind of vehicle that you can have, and thus the most challanging. The extra weight of the engine makes the front sink in the soft sand and harder you rev to get out, the deeper you sink.

There are a few tricks I have learned for such scenarios. Easiest is to reduce the pressure of air in front tyres. This will give more surface area and better traction. However, I could not do that, as my way back to civilization lay through some miles of dirt track and under inflated tyres would have been a new problem on the way back. Therefore, I decided to try the 'Rocks and Foot Mats' way. In this you just place some stones in front of the tyres, to make the way a bit hard, then lay foot mats of the car on top of the rcks in front of the tyres, like a track. Then slowly rock the car back and forth and once it is little free from the sand, crawl over the mat, stop,  remove the mat and place it at the front again. You repeat this till you sail through to solid ground.

 

 

It took me a good part of an hour to get out of the river bed. I then rested for about 30 minutes, to watch the Sun set and allow the car to cool down a bit. The I headed back home after promising myself to return soon with Blackie and a 4x4 Jeep. The off roading will still be done by Blackie. The 4x4 would just be the recovery vehicle.

Summer vacations..

This summer, my very kind manager gave me a week off work. 2 friends, who are also colleagues, also managed leaves in the same week and it being May, and consequently very hot in Chandigarh, it was soon decided that we should spend the week amongst the hills.

Day 1- Chandigarh- Solan- Simla- Fagu- Theog- Narkanda - Rampur - Sarahan.

After working the night of 24/5/2012 (was doing a 1830-0330 shift), we (myself, Arjun Aukta and Kuldeep Malta) set out in Arjun's Swift and left Chandigarh at around 5:00 AM on 25th.

We had no major plans, however, we had in mind to visit the Sarahan temple and as Arjun had to visit his native place at Hatkoti (near Rohru), we decided we would visit Maa Hateshwari Devi temple at Hatkoti as well. This temple was built by the Pandavas. The rest was left to be decided as we move.

Soon we were at Kuldeep's house in Solan, having hot, delicious prathas that only mothers can prepare. After fortifying ourselves, we made for Simla. After spending most of morning in Simla, we set for Fagu around noon. By now the effects of having worked through the night and a great breakfast had kicked in and we decided to take a break at Fagu. The temperature had gone down considerably with the gain of altitude and a fresh breeze was blowing, promising a good whether. It was still hot in the sun, but we were comfortable in the shade. In Chandigarh, even nights were unbearably hot without coolers and AC. After resting for an hour, we made for Theog and then Narkanda.



Solan

Arjun, taking a nap at Fagu.

We next stopped at Narkanda to photograph the Deodar jungles. These expanses of giant trees, measuring up to 100-150 feet, are a sight to watch and one wonders about the hidden world that these jungles hold. However, they are shrinking fast and getting limited to higher altitudes due to global warming and deforestation.



Narkanda

These sights are a pleasure that cannot be defined by words, or by a photograph for that matter. You have to be there to feel the actual enormity of the mountains, trees and the jungle and see the beauty of it. It causes me a lot of pain to think that these might not be as magnificent, or worse, not there at all for my children to see when they grow up.

Kuldeep & Arjun

The ride

After spending about an hour or so, we were on the move again. We took the road to left just after the bazaar at Narkanda, going to Rampur Bushair. Took a quick stop at Shilaroo to see the International Hockey Stadium and then for the first view of Sutlej (also called Satluj) from the top of the ridge, where descent starts for Rampur.

Hockey stadium, Shilaroo.



First view of Sutlej river.

At Rampur, stopped to view the majestic but a little lean looking Sutlej, due to the summers having just started and enough snow not having melt yet. It was decided that we will move to Sarahan for night's stop.




Sutlej at Rampur.



Jeori to Sarahan

It drizzled for a while after Rampur and temperature dropped. Turning right at Jeori, we reached Sarahan at around dusk. Rented a room with 3 beds and not having slept for more than 24 hours, we slept peacefully.

Next morning was sunny and showed the beauty of Sarahan.




Sarahan in the morning

Day 2: Sarahan - Bhawanagar - Karcham - Sangla.

We woke up early and got ready in record time. After darshan at the temple, we found a nice homely dhaba and breakfasted. The food was great and the people awesome. Sarahan is a beautiful place, with a rich history, friendly locals and great climate.

 

The ancient temple.

Painting at the hotel room. Gives a great message- If chicks, cat and a dog can stay together in harmony, then why not humans?

Me- Arjun - Kuldeep

We left Sarahan after noon and headed for Bhawanagar. Kuldeep had stayed there for a while in the past. He arranged for an entry to the Bhawanagar hydro-electric power house. The project has been setup inside the mountain side by digging a cave. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to click any pictures of inside.



Just before Taranda dhank, Arjun was checking the zoom of D-SLR. He saw something at the bottom of the gorge and we found that it was an ill fated jeep that had rolled down. A scary reminder of how careful you need to be on these roads.

 

The famous precipitous road, Taranda dhank.

 

The power house, cut into the mountain side, on the far side of river Sutlej.

 

At the entrence

After visiting the power plant, we moved on to Sangla via Karcham. By the time we reached Sangla, it was evening. We quickly found accommodation at Baspa guest house and managed to get a suite with 2 rooms and 3 beds. After that, we did some local sightseeing and went to sleep.



Karchham Dam

Sangla bazaar.

 Day 3- Sangla-Chitkul-Sangla.


Next morning, we drove to Chitkul. The day was cold, but the Sun was out at Sangla. However, as we ascended, the clouds gathered and the whether turned misty.