My Story of the Triund Trek With Friends

Planning the Triund Trek from Dharamshala? This is my real experience a student trip on almost no budget that became one of the most unforgettable adventures of my life.

The bus groaned to a stop somewhere in the hills at four in the morning. When the doors folded open, the cold came in first, sharp, clean, nothing like the stale Punjab air we had left behind the night before.

My friends and I stepped out with our backpacks and stood there for a moment, blinking in the dark, our stomachs empty, our wallets nearly empty too. Somehow, none of that seemed to matter.

It had started casually, the way most good things do. Exam prep holidays, a little too much free time, and someone, I think it was Arjun, saying, “What if we just go to Triund?” Within an hour, four of us had decided. We pooled whatever money we had, threw clothes into bags, and reached the Ludhiana bus station by 8 PM.

We skipped dinner to save money. On the overnight bus, we talked about mountains the whole way instead as if talking about them was its own kind of nourishment.

By the time we reached Dharamshala, the sun was just beginning to stretch over the hills. We found a tiny tea shop where the owner was still setting up for the day. We wrapped both hands around hot clay cups and watched the street slowly come alive a dog stretching on the steps, a vendor arranging marigolds, the distant sound of a river.

That river led us off the main trail. We spotted a waterfall tucked between two hillsides and took the path through the riverbed itself instead of the road. The water was ice cold. Rajan slipped on a mossy rock and went down laughing. We were filthy within minutes and completely happy.

When the real trekking began, we were given a choice: the easy path or the steep mountain trail through the forest. We didn’t even discuss it we took the harder one. The trees there were tall enough to block out the sky in patches, and the air had that particular smell of wet earth and pine that I still associate with that day.

We had still not eaten. Our legs started to protest somewhere around the halfway point. But every time one of us slowed down, someone else cracked a joke or pointed at something on the horizon, and we kept moving.

“At the viewpoint, the clouds sat below us not above, below. I had never seen that before.”

After hours of climbing, we reached the Triund viewpoint. The mountains spread out in every direction, enormous and unhurried. We sat on the grass without speaking for a while, just looking.

Then Deepak said he didn’t want to camp. We debated for a while, but eventually agreed — we would go back down the same day. That decision hit us hard around kilometer six of the descent, when our knees were trembling, and no one had the energy for conversation anymore. At one point, all four of us simply sat on stones by the trail, staring at the sky in silence. We didn’t need to say anything. We were all thinking the same thing.

We reached Dharamshala around 8 PM, nine kilometres later.

The best meal

There was a small restaurant near the bus stand. We ordered dal, rice, and roti the cheapest things on the menu and spent nearly everything we had left. I don’t remember exactly what it tasted like, only that it was the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. Hunger and exhaustion made it that way.

A night on the floor

We missed the last bus home. So we slept at the bus station bags as pillows, jackets as blankets, the cold floor beneath us. The fluorescent lights buzzed all night. At some point I woke up and looked at my friends stretched out nearby, already asleep, and felt something I still have trouble naming. Gratitude, maybe. Or just the particular joy of being young and tired and exactly where you are.

The 4 AM bus came, and we went home.

We went with almost no money, no real plan, and no comfort. We came back with tired legs, empty pockets, and a story we have retold a hundred times since. Triund was never really the destination it was just the excuse. The real thing was the four of us, figuring it out together, one cold and beautiful step at a time.

Every traveller carries a story some filled with adventure, some with struggle, and some with unforgettable memories that stay forever. My journey to Triund was one of those experiences, and I believe many of you have similar stories too.

Have you ever gone on an unplanned trip with friends? Trekked through the mountains on a small budget? Slept at bus stations, travelled without comfort, or experienced a journey that changed you forever?

If yes, we would love to hear your story.

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