Conquering The Mountains

A former trade route, Johar Valley in Uttarakhand is quickly becoming a favoured destination among serious trekkers on the lookout for virgin trails in the Himalayas.

- Karn Kowshik

The Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand, where I live, consists largely of the Kumaon Range of Himalayas, stretching for almost 320 kilometers south to north. It starts in the plains, or Terai, with the state of Uttar Pradesh to the south, the Himalayan country of Nepal to the east, and ends in Johar Valley bordering Tibet. My home, at an altitude of 1,400 meters, isn’t far from the plains. The district of Nainital in the foothills of the Kumaon range is a green, ecologically vibrant region, home to tigers, leopards, and elephants of the Jim Corbett National Park.

If one travels north through Kumaon, the land keeps rising. The dense, moist, and deciduous forests gently transform with altitude. Sal and mango give way to pine and deodar. As one travels further in the hill towns of Almora and Ranikhet to reach Bhimtal, birdlife begins to thin. Eventually, the dense coniferous forests, too, thin out, turning into dry alpine meadows.

The road ends in the tiny town of Munsiari on the banks of River Gori Ganga. From here, one enters the Johar Valley. At the head of this valley, where Kumaon meets Garhwal, is the glorious Mt Nanda Devi. Its summit, at an altitude of 7,816 meters, is the highest point of Kumaon. The mountain is the highest one located entirely within the country.