The experience behind trekking

Choosing your next (or) first trek

If you have done hikes / treks in the past or you are reading this before your first trek, you have the question of which trek to pick and why? If you have done this in the past perhaps your thinking maybe I will take up a more difficult trek or choose one that has higher altitude. For the first timer you may be confused as to which one to pick from the variety of posts from different social media.

The Why

The whole idea behind trekking as an experience is that you are into the wilderness for a short period where your day is entirely different from the daily life that you hold from your place of residence. While travel in itself feels recharging and allows the mind to wind down, a trek lets you experience wilderness in such a profound way that you hardly recall or go anywhere close to the problems of your daily life be it in education / work. Although very few people can afford treks when in schools/colleges

It is often expressed by people as a very transformative choice that they were able to come back find peace and resolve long pending actions post a trek. This is the outcome most of the times. This is because the wilderness in various forms meadows, valleys, snow peaks, summits etc. are very effective in moving you away from woes and troubles of the daily civilian life and along with it come certain changes in the environment which are challenging both the mind and body.

Similar things happen to people when a major life events happen such as accidents, illness and recovery, many more forms of adversity. What these events and treks have in common is the shift in perspective due to a significant change in environment and the challenges that make it easier to prioritise things all of a sudden which were difficult or unclear all along.

Picking your trek

Do not let the mind or social media in on tricking you to pick a trek that is more challenging than the previous one or the most famous/trending thing that people are raving about on social media. You should pick it based on:

- how relatable to this experience of wilderness(this will change from time to time)
- best suited for your current physical fitness
- one that is also pocket firendly
- most importantly one that is environmentally firendly as well

A few lines for the environment (Heavity Opinionated)

My first trek was Kashmir Great Lakes(KGL) back in August 2016. It was my first himalayan trek and I had chose India Hikes. They not only took me on the trek but also educated on how and why it is important to leave the trek and the camp site in a pristine state. They are an organisation who have been very focused on this front so much so that in the trek both the crew and the paricipants collect trash and bring it back down every single time.

Recently KGL has gotten a lot of popularity and many trekking organisations are organising treks. In 2023 some of my friends went to KGL for the first time it was over crowded and found that people are leaving a lot of trash, almost 50kgs on some days which the India hikes team cleared to the best of their capacity. This is the reason why it is important of how you choose a trek and do not choose it purely from a social media frenzy.

Yes some of these are beautiful treks and are worth the hype, but please keep in mind that your trek should happen with as little environmental damage as possible and it is in your hands as to be clear about why and when your are choosing a trek.

Thanks