Trek to Benog Tibba

Benog hill is a squat hill 2104 metres in elevation located 9 km west of Mussoorie. From the academy it appears like a cute, fat, shy, distant school going cousin who has come visiting your home during his vacation. You would want to pinch his chubby cheeks, muss his hair and be the patronizing all India or group A service elder brother/sister. Only when the squat fellow gets comfortable and fast loses his inhibitions does he show his true colours. He would kick you, punch you, pinch you, mess up your neat system, bite your calf muscles, sit his heavy self on your thighs, make you sweat buckets in order to catch him. Benog hill is that exact cousin.

The 89th FC batch trekked to Benog hill this week. Unlike the underwhelming trek to Kempty falls, this one was a pleasure. The initial 6 odd kilometres were no trek at all, having only to walk on undulating road till the Clouds End, a holiday resort which was constructed in 1838. 1838! Mussoorie is steeped in antiquity and one discovers it everyday. Convent of Jesus and Mary, 1845, Clouds End, 1838. The trek starts to mean business from then on, a steady climb to the top would take around two hours. One gets beautiful vistas of Hathi Paon, Aglar river valley, Dehradun valley and other peaks of the Mussoorie range from atop Benog Hill. There is a temple, Jwalaji Devi temple at the top. The descent from the apex to Rabbit Farm point was the most memorable part. The trail was non existent at few places, very steep and slippery at other places. At these places, the OTs descended with the help of a rope. It was a pretty sight watching the unlikely mountain goats. We passed by the Murray Pumping House, built in 1907. The colonial era building houses a still functioning pump and remnants of another one of another era. The pump house supplies water to the Mussoorie town.

The supremely difficult part of the trek was the final leg that involved a steep ascent from the pump house to the Tibetan Homes Foundation complex. It took a good two hours. However, that does not capture the burning in the legs, the feeling that one's lungs would burst from the effort of breathing, the protest of body that has not been pushed like this in a long, long, long time. Push we did, clawing at the air, slipping, skidding but somehow climbing, pushing against gravity.

Photos from the trek can be seen by clicking on this link.