Woooooo!!! We just reached Mussoorie again after a 10-day hiking trek in the Himalayas. We have been through so much as a group, and we have come out closer and more versatile than ever. Along with our personal and group growth, we got to wake up and go to sleep looking at breathtaking views, watch herders shuttle their sheep from one area to another, and learn more about the wilderness and wildlife within it.
Summarize your thoughts and experience on the trek:
At the start of the trek, spirits were high, and we were full of energy, which soon left us. We quickly noticed that the backpacks were extremely heavy (mine was 60-70lbs at the start), and this extra weight really took a toll on our bodies. Many of us were bruised from the weight after only two days of hiking, and our group realized that our lack of physical preparation was truly affecting the group. Because of this and our gain in elevation, we took a much-needed rest day. We were in an absolutely beautiful spot, and we spent most of the day in “alone-time”, journaling about how we feel, making letters to loved ones, and watching the wildlife. After this day, we could feel the lowered weight in the backpacks from all of the food we had eaten. We continued on a little longer, getting rain once we reached camp everyday around 2-4pm, and took two more rest days. As the hike progressed, the site seeing got better and better until there were +15,000 meter, white-top mountains on every side of us. The landscape almost looked fake at time, like I was looking at postcards instead of actual mountains. Once we started our descent, we all felt a longing for more time in the wilderness, even those who wanted to be flown out of the mountains just a few days ago.
The experiences we all felt on the trek were up and down constantly as well. Our group was going through different stages, making progress then losing it the next day, growing close together then falling away constantly. The uncomfortable stench and constant presence of each other put us all to our limits. The first few days of the trek, we all stuck to our own groups, but I will not forget the first time our group really came together as a team. It happened a few times, and for me, this was my favorite part of the trip. We were around three or four days into the trek when the rain started before we could setup camp, so we were all running around collecting water, setting up a tarp, and cooking food. This was the first time we did not only use our own rations or stoves, we all decided to just work together as a collective. This happened again later on with rain, and two of us went over half a mile to get water for the group while everyone else stayed back to set up camp and cook food. We returned with the water to see people around one stove, sharing ingredients and making quesadillas. I do not know if I was happy just because I was hungry and the quesadillas were amazing, or if I could just see our team starting to become one rather than three different groups. Now, this all sounds great, but there were many times where our team struggled and fell backwards too. There were countless miscommunications that caused a spiral within the group back to the previous day’s atmosphere as well as times where we just were not taking care of ourselves, and thus, negatively affected the group dynamic. Most of the time, we were able to talk through our issues and become a tighter family.
What challenges arose on the trek and how did you overcome them?:
There were so many challenges on the trek including deciding who would carry extra for others, who was willing to go get water, and who would do the dishes (nasty). Most of the issues we faced were relational, and the only way to overcome them was to talk through them, which did not happen until the 8th day of the trek. For the first few days, when challenges arose like needing water, carrying weight, or doing the dishes, there was a small subset of the group that would just do it all themselves. This caused its own issues as some felt that they were doing too much, or some were not allowing others to grow in leadership as they always took the “doing extra” role. Eventually, after our evaluations and reflections with the mentors, we all started to even out the workload and do our own parts within the community.
Another very large challenge was the weather, as seen in my summary, rain and storms often caused chaos within the camp. We were scrambling to get shelter up as well as water, so we did not have to hike and sleep in wet clothes. To overcome this issue, we all had to play a part and play it well. We had to truly work as a team, and every time we were confronted with this issue, we completed every task in time and stayed dry and mostly happy.
There was so much more, and I could write for days about this trek, but I will leave some more fun experiences for the next few blogs. I am so blessed to be able to be on this trip, and I could not be happier with how things have gone.
