Stargazing Treks At Indiahikes

I have always been fascinated with the night sky and stargazing but did not have any knowledge about the stars or constellations before the trek. My expectation from the trek was that I would be able to witness clear night sky with Milky way and many shooting stars. Indiahikes exceeded my expectations in every way, especially our trek leader Ravi Ranjan. When the night fell, what I witnessed is beyond which can be expressed in words, it can only be felt through your presence there. The Milky way was cutting the night sky with its beautiful colours, the numerous twinkling stars, shooting stars. Remembering the moment still gives me goosebumps. On the night we had our camping by Brahmatal lake, we were made to visit the lake at night to see the reflection of the stars on the still Brahmatal lake. Oh! That moment was completely magical. Having able to witness it was seriously a blessing. Was it very different from a regular trek experience? It is a complete trek with add-on of knowledge of our space and the yearning night sky sessions. We were acknowledged with most of the constellations from the stories of Greek mythology because of which it is so easy to remember most of the constellations taught to us till date, about the shooting stars, different galaxies, the reasons for colours of the stars, about planets. They even had binoculars with the help of which we saw Andromeda, Betelgeuse, Jupiter and 4 of its moon, Sirius, Mars and others. Not only the night sky, we were even taught about the Sun, the reasons for occurrence of seasons with live demonstration, learned how to make sun clock and there were many other small discussions continuing throughout the trek regarding formation and ending of world and several other topics. Overall it is a lifetime experience. I feel now I do have a little knowledge about things related to the night sky and that is all because of Ravi, his crystal clear understanding and passion towards these has made me intrigued to know more about it. Whether the experience was worth it? If you can bear the cold at night, outside of the tent, then it will be the real-life magical experience of Disney animated movies, where you cannot sleep because your reality is better than your dreams. It is a trek worth experiencing with Indiahikes.

I am very new to Stargazing. Along with the trek I thought I can have the benefit of stargazing and hence I booked for the Stargazing trek. This was amazing for me. We got an amazing and well-read team leader, Ravi Ranjan. Not just the stars are beautiful but the amount of knowledge about stars shared by Ravi and fellow trekkers is more beautiful. At every break, we had a Geography session. The Asst. TL Kevin is also a photographer. The IH had set up a good photo session at the end, capturing the stars and us together. An awesome opportunity for anyone interested with Stargazing and that too from the Himalayas.

The stargazing trek with the trek leader Ravi was absolutely spectacular. The personal touch and bonding created during the trek taking care of even the smallest nitty - gritty was heartening. Watching the constellations by the lake in the middle of a cold October night was a magical experience with Ravi weaving the mythological and astronomical stories together !