On Saturday, a group of six of us went for a trek up the mountain above McLeod to a scenic spot called Triund. It was a nine kilometer hike which brought us up from 1900 meters here in town up to 2800 meters. The group consisted of three German women, two Americans Raj and Lee. We met for breakfast early in the morning. It was quite cold still, and we were all bundled up. Luckily the day was sunny and warm by the time we started out from town.

After the first three kilometers we left the road, and started up a trail. About another 3 kilometers into the hike, we came to a tea stand called the “Half-Way Cafe.” It was perched above the trail, and offered refreshment and a comfortable deck from which to enjoy the view.
We continued up the trail, and finally made it to the top of the ridge at around 2:00 P.M. Cresting our mountain, we were presented with a spectacular view of the high range of mountains beyond — the mountains here are much more steep and craggy than those in the States. We also found a broad meadow, with soft mossy grass. We stripped off our shoes, and lay down to bask in the sun and enjoy the view. Despite being miles in distance and thousands of feet in altitude from the nearest road, there were several tea stalls and a small guest lodge here.
Lee and Raj spent the next hour debating whether or not to stay the night. In the end, they started back down the mountain with us. About five minutes down the trail, we met a friend of theirs who was going up to spend the night. This brought on another round of debate, and finally I was asked to flip a coin. It seemed obvious to me that they wanted to stay, so when the coin said they should go down, I lied and told them it said to stay. I then spent the next day worrying about them getting back okay. The next night they actually had to be rescued from the cold by some friends.