Cycling in Shivalik Hills - Nangal to Shri Naina Devi Temple via Bhakhra Dam

Manali to Leh on a bicycle has always been a dream (it still is). In fact it sounds like a crazy dream..!! And to test ourselves, if it is a practical dream for us, we decided to test our endurance taking up the smallest possible elevated route. After a lot of research it was decided that Nangal to Shri Naina Devi Temple via Bhakhra Dam would be the best option. Covering ~800 meters of elevation in about 30 kilometers is a challenging task when your regular cycle rides do only ~50 meters of elevation in about 30 kilometers in Delhi NCR. It is like you have to cover the same distance but uphill task is 7 times of your regular elevation.

We decided to ride from Nangal to Naina Devi temple on a weekday, it being a busy route with too many vehicles over the weekends. Monday it was..!! We reached Nangal by 7.30am in car and were ready for the ride by 8am. One has to register with Bhakhra Dam Visitors office in Nangal and get an entry pass to ride on the trail. After completing formalities, we were on our MTBs by 8.15am.

Part 1: Nangal to Bhakhra Dam - (12 kilometers, 300 Meters elevation)
The 12 km road is as clean as possible, as wide as it could be. I am sure the route will put shame to many roads in national capital Delhi. First 3.5 kms are more like little up and little down and that's a confidence booster as you can cover those 3.5 kms in less than 18 minutes. The battle is half won, when you get into confidence zone as early as possible. We were quite happy covering 25% of the route in 18 minutes.


The next 1 km was quite steep for us, perhaps because it was the first real test in hills.

After a total of 4.5 kms, we reached a HP police check post, which ensures that visitors had registered with Bhakhra Dam authorities in Nangal. Anyone without a pass is not allowed to go beyond that check post, what ever the reason it is. We were bombarded with questions from HP police - Why riding a bicycle there? Coming from where? Where is the entry pass? Why reflective clothes? What is the agenda for the day? Will we come back on this route the same day? After satisfying their queries, we headed towards the largest concrete dam in the world, the Bhakhra Dam.


Covering another 1 km uphill, you enter into a range that marks the beginning of Bhakhra Dam region. All of sudden, the environment is different. You will see roads as they were constructed just half an hour ago. There is hardly a patch where you don't see the white lines on both sides of road. By this time you have covered about 110 meters of elevation reaching an altitude level of ~470 meters. Next 2.5 kilometers trail is downhill. It was relaxing moment for us. By the time next uphill starts you are back at an altitude of ~350 meters.


The last 4kms that take you right in front of  bhakhra dam, demands continuous padelling to cover ~200 meters of elevation with small downhill patches. One can see River Sutlej along with the half of the trail. Riding along Green/Blue calm water was a perfect start of the day.


We reached Bhakhra Dam around 10am. No photography is allowed near bhakhra dam and you are under CCTV surveillance. One can see sign boards stating "Photography Prohibited" in last 2kms of the Nangal-Bhakhra trail. Entry inside the dam is allowed only for "Red Pass" holders for which one needs to file application in Chandigarh about 45 days prior to visit. After spending couple of minutes there and having our chocolates as a mini celebration, we decided to move forward to Shri Naina Devi Temple, which is about 18kms from Bhakhra Dam.

"Situated on the border of Indian states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the Bhakra Dam is the highest straight gravity Dam in the world. The view of this vast dam and the surrounding jungles is absolutely stunning and so, a lot of tourist visits this amazing place to take the glimpse of this engineering marvel. The dam is visited by more than 2-3 Lakh visitors every year from all over the world. Bhakhra Dam forms India's 3rd largest water reservoir, known as Gobind Sagar. The reservoir stores upto 9.34 billion cubic meters of water which is enough to drain the whole of Chandigarh, parts of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. There is a canteen near the dam, where visitors can park their vehicles and enjoy some snacks."

Part 2: Bhakhra Dam to Shri Naina Devi Temple Ropeway (20 kilometers,  500 Meters elevation)

After reaching the first milestone within time, we were confident that if we keep on going at the same pace, we would reach Naina Devi Ji by 1pm. Crossing the last check post, we started our journey towards the World Famous Pilgrimage in Lower Shivalik Hills. The road became narrower compared to Bhakhra Dam Road. Just a few 100 meters from the dam, we found many eating joints/Dhabas serving delicious food. We enjoyed a cup of tea at one of Dhabas and quickly decided to move ahead as it was a long journey.


Around 11am, after covering around 7.5 kilometers, gaining ~160 meters of elevation and completing a few photo sessions covering Gobind Sagar, we reached a small village called Makri where a few street dogs welcomed as ensuring that we don't break in the village even for one minute. The village has about 100-120 houses with a population of less than 800 people.



Next 7.5 Kilometers ensure that you enjoy the bike ride as you gain same elevation as in last 7 kilometers. We saw people soaking sun in fresh air under the blue sky, students in open schools, children playing on roads, women working near their homes, women collecting wooden pieces for bonfire and men at their shops. From Kanfra, the steep uphill trail starts where you cover about 300 meters in 4 kilometers. The distance was halved and elevation was doubled. The good part was that road was newly constructed and had the same width and quality as Bhakhra Dam Road. I don't know from where the energy was coming that was motivating us. Finally we reached in front of Naina-Devi Rope way entry gate at 12.15pm, which was way earlier than our expectations.


We were missing the bike locks as it was not safe to park the bikes at Dhaba or in open parking area. Hence, we could not visit the temple. After having another cup of hot tea, we decided to start our return journey to Nangal and by 1pm we were on our mountain bikes.


The journey back  was relatively easy as most part of the trail was downhill. I just let cycle roar on road carefully with both my hands on breaks. I always consider downhill as a risky affair as you need to maintain the balance and breaks play an important role. You cannot take your eyes off the road, even for a nano second.




By 3pm we were back to the place from where our bike journey started in the morning. And by 3.30pm we were in our car on our way back to home. We were proud of what we achieved (though we could not visit the pilgrimage temple) on our bikes and the happiness overwhelmed our tiredness of last 7 hours. Initially, when we started our journey we had many apprehensions about the track and our ability to reach to rope-way entry point. But what turned out was beyond our imagination and we were satisfied completing our first mountain bicycle ride. 

Total distance we pedaled was about 62 kilometers in about 6.5 hours in the beautiful weather under the clear sky.

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One thing we noticed while riding on this route was that every one crossing through us gave a strange look towards us and our cycles as if we were doing something strange or as if we were coming from some other planet. (It is perhaps because very few people take this route for riding a mountain bike in hills.). There were people who were more than willing to be a part of our memorable ride and joined us in our photography sessions. Here are some pics -





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Signing off-
The sheer joy of riding a bicycle up to an altitude of  867 meters (First ride in hills) was a memorable and confidence boosting experience. The route offers some challenging slopes as it takes you from an altitude of 350 meters to 867 meters in about 30 kilometers. Pedaling on trail surrounded by green mountains on one side and Sutlej River (till bhakhra dam) or Gobind Sagar Reservoir (from bhakhra dam to Shri Naina Devi Rope-way) on the other side gives you a thrill and also freshness. We ended our trip remembering the famous quote "When was the last time you did something for the first time." For us it was Feb 2018 - Riding a cycle to an altitude of 867 meters from 350 meters.

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