Himachal
Trekking
Fungani Top Trek: Explore The Unexplored
There are many beautiful mountain treks in the Western Himalayas of Kullu-Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Some are extremely popular like the Kheerganga trek in the Parvati valley and others are known for the challenging terrains like the Deo Tibba or Pin Parvati Pass treks.
But there are some charming treks, which are little known and even less travelled by and meant for especially those who want to leave their footprints on virgin lands and explore the unexplored.
Fungani Top is one such trek in the Kullu valley not many know of and even fewer have put their feet on. I had been wanting to challenge myself on a virgin trek for quite some time and last week I finally got the opportunity and headed straightway to Kullu.
Trek starting point
For the Fungani Top trek, first you have to reach Raison, a scenic small village situated along the river Beas. It is around 14 kms from Kullu on the national highway towards Manali and is mostly known for river rafting and camping sites. From Raison, an hour’s drive on a link road takes you to Jallohra village, which is the starting point of the trek.
To reach Jallohra, you can either hire a cab from Raison or take a bus as I did and reached there early morning. It was a beautiful day. The morning Sun shone brightly over my head as I passed by the village and entered the forest of Deodar trees.
Under the morning dew, the grass land of the forest glistened everywhere and the reflected sunrays created a magical wonderland of multi-colored light. I walked on in the deep forest and an hour later emerged on a beautiful meadow.
Kufri
Locals call this place Kufri and it’s an ideal ground for camping after a relatively short trek. I sat on the ground and rested for a while in the company of peacefully grazing horses and cows.
As I moved up from Kufri and attained further height, I spotted Beasar, one of the oldest villages of Kullu, which is located on the bank of a glacier water stream. I kept on moving up alone and the only people I saw on my way were a couple of local shepherds.
Maleeng Top
After around two hours, I reached the Maleeng Top. It’s another vast stretch of a mountain meadow. The only inhabitants of this place are the horses released here by the residents of nearby villages due to the huge chunks of grasslands present here. It’s another ideal point for camping as the place gives you a mesmerizing view of the snow-capped mountains.
I was a little tired by this time and needed rest before the final push for the Fungani Top.
Goddess Fungani
After resting for a while and loading myself up with some food, I resumed for the top. Locals have named this mountain as Fungani top as they believe that the spirit of goddess Fungani resides here. Every year during monsoons, locals come here to pay their obeisance to the goddess Fungani.
The last stretch of this trek is a little difficult one. After around an hour of walking on steep terrain, the tree line disappeared and taking steps forward started becoming more difficult. I stopped grasping for air many times.
There was still some old snow left here even in May end. The top looked so near but still so far as I struggled to move on, breathing heavily and stopping for air every few steps.
Fungani Top
Finally, after around two hours I finally saw the holy flags and stones of Fungani goddess and knew I was almost there.
I inched closer and in the next ten minutes or so I was standing where the land ends. I held my breath as I looked around. I saw countless mountains as far as I could see spread over a horizon that seemed limitless.
In front of me was the Dhauladhar range, behind me was the Pir Panjal range as I looked around, completely hypnotized by the mighty mountains.
I felt a kind of joy in my heart I had not known before. I also became aware that most of my thoughts were gone on my way up to the top and I was not thinking anything in particular. The noise of my thoughts had ended and I was calm and at peace.
I wanted to stand there forever but then I saw the fading twilight and knew it would get dark soon. I had to reach Maleeng Top, where I had pitched my tent for spending the night before it got too dark to walk.
I turned around and started to walk down.
