On a clear day, a panoramic view of the Himalayas— from Nanda Devi to the five snow-capped peaks of Panchachuli—unfurls above Kasar Devi, a small hilltop village near Almora in Uttarakhand. A single road runs along the top of the ridge, with about 200 homes dotting the slopes on either side. I first went there on a school picnic nearly 15 years ago. Everything beyond Kasar Devi temple was deemed out of bounds and we were especially warned to steer clear of “Hippie Hill.” Over time I learned that the area, also known as Crank’s Ridge, used to be a pulsing hub of art, poetry, mysticism, and hippie subculture. This history still brings backpackers to the village where homestays, old general stores, and new cake shops cater to their needs.

I couldn’t wait to discover more, especially once I moved to Binsar, just 30 minutes away. From Swami Vivekananda to Timothy Leary and Bob Dylan, Kasar Devi’s roster of stars and their goings on was the stuff of legend.

A band of hippies populated this tiny ridge during the 1960s. Among them was psychologist Timothy Leary who was fired from Harvard University for advocating the use of psychedelic drugs. President Richard Nixon called him the “most dangerous man in America.” While Leary is most famous for his experiments with LSD and the catchphrase “turn on, tune in, drop out,” he was also a believer in the theory that gaps in the bands of radiation that surround the earth (called the Van Allen Belt) endow certain spots such as Machu Picchu and Stonehenge with a special cosmic energy. He believed Kasar Devi was one such place.