Khaliya Top Trek – The Best One-Day Trek in Munsyari

Planning for the Khaliya Top Trek? From altitude to weather, from itinerary to Zero Point – know everything about the trek!

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About Khaliya Top

Khaliya Top is the most celebrated trek around Munsyari in the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand. Perched on top of Khaliya Bugyal, Khaliya Top marks every trekker’s promised land. Considered an easy trek (grade-wise), the base, also known as Balanti Bend, is at a distance of 7 km from Munsyari. But…

I was stuck in paradise. That’s how I wanted to start this piece: ‘I was stuck in paradise’. How does it feel to be ‘stuck’ in Munsyari, the most animated and breathtaking place in all of Uttarakhand? Despite being a budget traveller, I will forever be indebted to myself for taking the commercial taxi from Bageshwar on the cusp of lockdown.

Before the Khaliya Top Trek, I was living in Munsyari. The glass wall in my room facing the Panchachuli Peaks in the north took a magnetic toll on me. Watching the peaks every single day revising their first drafts with more colours, less colours; with or without the foggy curtains; with sunset or without it, grounded me in this enigmatic suburban town, Munsyari.

One can easily opt for shared jeeps from Munsyari to Khaliya Top Base. As an avid hiker, I took to the mercy of the roads on foot and hiked for one and a half hours to reach the base. For all the hiking enthusiasts out there: hike the stretch. It would be a nice way of warming yourself up for the 8-km uphill journey ahead.

Situated at an elevation of 3500 meters and 8 km away from the base, the Khaliya Top trek moves upwards through an easily navigated trail amid the forest. There’re four marking points all the way up to the top: the base itself, the KMVN Rest House midway, and two more points after that (one of them being the ‘Zero Point’). The KMVN Rest House can be reached within two hours, depending on your pace. That first stretch of two hours would meander through a thick and opaque forest, home to various species of birds and animals. The bird callings would only aggravate with the aggravation of your pace.

Ghurar, yellow-fronted marten, Monal, Kakar (Barking Deer) are frequent. A man from the forest department, whom I met later at the rest house near Khaliya Top, told me that bears are in the spontaneous habit of making guest appearances near the rest house. On my way back, a herd of sheep with green horns slowed me down in the rain. Bharal, known as the blue sheep, is a common breed in the Upper Himalayas. The natives consider them mountain goats, but they are not really goats.

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Lost in the patches of green, awe-struck by the expanse of the peaks all around you and silent in the silence of nature, you will know why you had to be there, at that moment, before it fleets away.

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Also read – Panchachuli Base Camp Trek – Camping in the Rain

How Many Days For Khaliya Top Trek

Khaliya Top trek can be done in a single day if you have a decent walking pace and start early in the morning. Some people break the trek in two days, which is also plausible since there’s a rest house midway (after trekking for the first two hours). This is the resting spot before you hit the trail for another two hours.

Being a solo independent trekker, I could finish the trek in one day and return to Munsyari just before it got dark. It was a marked day for me, as I hiked for 30 km in a day; eight-plus-eight kilometers at Khaliya and seven-plus-seven kilometers from Munsyari to Khaliya Base and vice versa. But, if you choose to cherish the sunrise from the top, it’s more promising to spend the night at the rest house. The rooms cost Rs. 1200 (three-bedded rooms) and the tents cost Rs. 600. You can pitch your own tent in the valley near the rest house, but it is not allowed to camp at the top. Yet the guy from the forest department informed me that one can pitch tents at Khaliya Top with prior permission from the forest department’s office in Munsyari. The permit doesn’t cost a buck.

Khaliya Top Trek Itinerary

Day 1: To Munsyari

If you are coming from Delhi or any other city for the trek, you need to reach Munsyari first. The distance from Delhi to Munsyari by road is 616 km, almost a 15-hour drive. The nearest airport is Pantnagar Airport, from where you can easily reach Munsyari via local bus or taxi. If the train is your choice of transportation, there’re two railway stations nearby, Tanakpur and Kathgodam. From both stations, any vehicle can take you to Munsyari. Additionally, local buses run from Bageshwar to Munsyari at 9 am every morning. And you are good to go for Khaliya Top Trek!

Plenty of lodges and guest houses are available in Munsyari for overnight stays. Pandey Lodge (Rs. 300-1000, for different kinds of rooms), Sahara Homestay (Rs. 500), and Snow View Homestay (Rs. 500) are a few of the cheapest options. Also, if you want to stay for a month (like I did), the monthly rates vary from Rs. 5000-7000. I rented a room at Pandey Lodge for Rs. 4000 (due to lockdown, there was a significant drop in the prices) with a spectacular view of the Panchachuli Peaks both from the comfort of my room and the balcony.

Day 2: From Munsyari to Khaliya Top

As mentioned earlier, the base for the Khaliya Top trek is 7 km away from Munsyari. The top is 8 km further. Shared jeeps will take you to the base from near the Munsyari bus station.

There’s no way you can miss the base, as it’s written ‘Khaliya Dwar’ (‘Khaliya Gate’) in big white letters on a curvy green gate on the main road. There’s generally a meager entry fee (Rs. 10-20). But I did the trek during the lockdown, the main office at the base was closed officially, so they let me pass without any charges.

The next two hours uphill is an unvarnished trail cruising through the condensed forest. There’s a well-marked path pointed towards one direction only, so there’s no need for a guide for Khaliya Top Trek. Sudden flashes of the Himalayan Peaks, mostly on your right, will keep startling you through the little spaces between pine and deodar trees. The more and more skywards you move (some bends literally feel like leading to the blue of the sky nearby), the more and more rhododendron trees will be discerned, especially while climbing the last stretch on the forestry path.

With the approach of the first valley, you will catch sight of the KMVN Rest House, and the open and outspread revelation of the peaks; Panchachuli, Nanda Kot, Rajrambha, and Hardeol Peaks. You may choose to rest for a while there and have a meal. This is the second resting point of Khaliya Top Trek (the first being the base itself).

The next hour is dotted with a receding jungle with more rhododendrons and the giant hiss of long grasses. Some branches have turned pink in places. This stretch is easy to climb and before your eyes can expect it, green valleys will wide open at the conclusion of the confined trail of oaks and pines. Tossed all around are fractal structures, the only distractions in the tracts of greenery.

There you will find the third point of Khaliya Top Trek, a rock formation with the delicacies of religious stance. Trishuls, aromatic agarbattis, or a piece of red cloth hither and thither. From here on, the valley stretches up to another valley, then another. Lost in the patches of green, awe-struck by the expanse of the peaks all around you and silent in the silence of nature, you will know why you had to be there, at that moment, before it fleets away. Take your time exploring the valleys before heading towards the ‘Zero Point’. A few locals live in the depths of the valleys, on the coast of a thin clay lake and rocks and boulders. There are clouds explicitly touching the valleys. There’s secrecy among the bees. This is Khaliya Top.

The final ascent starts from here, towards the ulterior goal of climbing the ‘Zero Point’ of the trek. As you wander around the valleys, the dark hill would draw itself out around your eyesight. You can climb the hill from another side, which is more strenuous, but also more fun. You need to climb the boulders from the right side and the ‘Zero Point’ would be at your fist. Although I did not climb up to the exact point (the temperature dropped all of a sudden and there was thunder, and I had no raincoat or tent), I was only five-minutes’ climb away. At the sound of the thunder, I decided to climb down the final height and returned back to Munsyari. It started raining on my way back from the Khaliya Top Trek.

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On my way back, a herd of sheep with green horns slowed me down in the rain. Bharal, known as the blue sheep, is a common breed in the Upper Himalayas. The natives consider them mountain goats, but they are not really goats.

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Also read – How to Spend the Best Time in Munsyari

Best Time for Khaliya Top Trek

The best time to visit Khaliya Top is March to April if you want to embark on a snow-capped winter trek. Monsoon is never recommended for a high-altitude trek. But you can try out the month of May if the sky is clear (I did it in May). Also, September to December is a pleasant set of months to savour the trek.

Cost of Trekking To Khaliya Top

In my case, the cost for the Khaliya Top trek was zero, as I was already living in Munsyari and hiked all the way from there. In general, the probable means of costing falls on the shared jeep up to the base of the Khaliya Top trek and the stay at KMVN midway (if you choose to). The shared jeep won’t charge a huge amount; it’s around Rs. 100 per person. There’s an entry fee of Rs. 10-20 at the base. The KMVN stay for a three-bedded room would cost Rs. 1200, or a tent would cost you Rs. 600. If you choose to carry your own tent, you have to pay Rs. 300 at the base. And staying in Munsyari for one night would cost Rs. 500. Now you do the math.

(You can refer to an article by TOI where the trekkers got stranded somewhere near Khaliya top!)

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Moreover, Khaliya Top is an astounding one-day or two-day trek for beginners. This could be a nice warm-up for longer treks in Uttarakhand. Also recommended for beginners, along with the Khaliya Top Trek, is the Chopta-Chandrashilla Trek.

Have you ever been on this trek?

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