A hike with incredibly beautiful views from Lohajung

The previous day was a fearful drive from Kathgodam railway station to Lohajung right next to the river in a landslide-prone area. The route is winding through pine trees, with hairpin twists and ascents. It was a whole different experience. As of this writing, there is no public transportation, and the only method to get to Lohajung is to take a shared cab.

Lohajung - Roopkund trek Bedni bugyal trek
View from Lohajung. Deep in the valley is the Neel Ganga river.

Lohajung Basecamp

If you arrive early on a preceding day, you may tour this lovely tiny community. Simply go for a longer stroll to explore the area and eat some local food and evening munchies. There are also a few businesses where you can rent as well as buy all of your hiking gear. We purchased head masks that were made locally and at a modest cost. The natives use it and are really warm. The trip from Lohajung is not just for Roopkund (which is presently prohibited), but the same hiking trail may also be used for the Bedni Bugyal trek today.

Hike from Lohajung

Day two dawned bright and beautiful, and we were eager to go after a quick breakfast at our base camp, Lohajung. This is the start of the actual trip. The trip from Lohajung to Didina is 8 kilometers long and takes 5 hours. The first half of the trip (approximately two hours) is all downhill that crosses a few village huts, storehouses, cultivated agricultural areas, followed by more downhill hikes till you reach the Neel Ganga river.

Neel Ganga river

Crossing Neel Ganga

It’s a lot of fun to cross the Neel Ganga because there are wooden planks balanced on top of stones and you have to cross the river while balancing on top of them. There was hardly any water and was easy to cross. But the place is known for landslides and flash floods and the water level may rise when there is heavy rain. The best guide would be someone local to this place who will hike to Didina village, taking the same route. It’s a three-hour tough climb from here to Didina village camp.

Didina village campsite

Didina village campground is a lovely location, and we slept at a guesthouse. There is enough area in front for us to play cricket, and in the evening we explored Didina village. We had an early dinner and most of them went back to sleep because we had to start walking to the next campground early the next day. I remained outside late one night by myself and shot a few low-light shots. The photograph above is our homestay at night. There is no charging station at this location, and there is just one solar bulb as of this writing.

Low light photography

Didina Campsite at Roopkund
Camera Settings: Nikon D600, f 2.8, 20 sec, ISO 2500, 14mm, Tripod, Torch Light.

To capture this photograph, I utilized a tripod to keep the camera stationary and a remote wireless trigger. It was dark outside, there was no noise pollution, it was chilly, and we were warned not to walk outside at night since this area is notorious for wild animals (snow leopard).

I was able to capture a couple of long-exposure photos. During the 30-second camera exposure, a torchlight (or an external flash) was used for a few seconds. This made the building seem excellent in the front, while the night sky is in the backdrop. An exposure of more than 30 seconds would have resulted in the blur of the beginning as they moved. The exposure settings should be kept between 20 and 25 seconds.

Managed to capture a few shots and videos while hiking. Also, check Roopkund Trek – Day 3 – Didina village to Bedni Bugyal. Check the complete details of my weeklong Roopkund trekking expedition. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

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