[PointZero]

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog and so much of appreciation.

Originally Posted by DreamsUnlimited

What a lovely travelogue and amazing pictures!

Himachal's beauty is spellbinding and you explored, and captured in camera, some great places. Thanks for sharing!

The ignorant cameraman in me was also wondering how the heck did you capture those videos from underneath the car!. Especially at times there was some slush and mud on the road!

Thanks you DreamsUnlimited,

The camera is a very old JSJCAM-5000 with a waterproof casing. I am using the small camera for more than 7 years and now I think I have extracted almost everything from the camera in last 7 years .

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Amazing travelogue and a brave travel, specially in the low GC Yaris!
Loved every pic along the way!

How did the Yaris fare during the journey - any underbody scraping/any "heart in the mouth" moments/any tips for those who want to undertake such a high-altitude/hilly terrain journey in a sedan (like a Vento, for e.g.)?

Thank you very much JoshMachine,

Fortunately there is no under-body scraping or heart in the mouth. The road to Jalori pass was extremely smooth, We face some mud in Shanghar but not that much. On the Chanshal road it was little difficult in some places, but slowly we were able to manage it. And in the difficult places I was doing the spotter job instead of driving the vehicle.

Originally Posted by megazoid

Beautiful pictures made a virtual travel to those lovely places with you. Though not the easiest car on a mountain pass, happy that you could do all that you wanted to make the trip memorable. Refreshing pictures and writeup. And am certain that the covid energy loss is well and truly behind you

Thank you megazoid,
After 1.5 months of recovery I did a small Sikkim trip, However, this trip was indeed to refill the energy .

Originally Posted by Samba

Lovely pics and narration. It always feel special to see a sedan in these tough terrains. An suv makes things much easier, but a low ground clearance car tests the driver too.

Rated 5*.

Thanks you Samba Da ,

No doubt that the Yaris got the confidence by seeing it's sibling (your Etios) in many such places for last few years.

2ndly - So, Shall I dare to wear the "Live to Drive" t-shirt now ?

Originally Posted by warrioraks

And I felt it was only me who was taking a low GC sedan to such places. Just came back from a trip to Joshimath in my Honda City last week.

I am really curious how was the road to Jalori? I did Jalori pass on my bike 5-6 years back. Can’t imagine Yaris navigating those roads with 4 passenger load when we really struggled despite being on bikes.

Also very nice photography. Nice circuitous route as well. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks warrioraks,

Now the road from Jhibi to Jalori is absolutely sedan friendly. I think I have few video of the road that I will share later. Hope that will help you to get a clear idea.

Originally Posted by //M

Lovely travelogue. I was in Shangarh, Tirthan Valley and Narkanda in March 2021 and I must stay Shangarh is absolutely stunning. Quiet, peaceful and full of beautiful walks and meadows. I have been trying to put up a travelogue on the same but too much work pressure has not allowed me to do so yet !

I was at Chanshal Pass in October 2020, however I didn't get a chance to witness snow en route, might have gone there a couple of weeks too early !

Glad to see some stunning pictures from these pristine valleys, gave me a chance to refresh my memories from the region, specially from Shangarh.

Thank you very much //M,

[PointZero]

Off-topic:

I am not sure whether this is the right way of adding some off-topic picture or not. My Sister and Brother-in-law charged-up after the trip and now they have also started exploring the capabilities of the CVT Yaris . Sharing some picture from a Kashmir, Kargil and Sankoo trip they just covered last week.

[TN20CQ5187]

Lovely Travelogue buddy. The Yaris looks functional but not the best looking machines around, yet the pictures are drool worthy!

[PapaBravo]

Superb travelogue PZ. The pictures are spell-bounding. We are yet to explore this side of Himachal. Will take pointers from you whenever we plan.

[sukhbirST]

Really worth spending days on such trips.
Beautiful photos with varying landscape.
Would be grateful if you could provide the map with route you followed.

[Maverick Avi]

First time I visited Jalori Pass, Parashar was around 17 years ago. I remember that the Qualis that we had hired gave up on the steep slopes just before Jalori pass and we hiked up. There is this amazing small trek of 1.5 kms through dense forest that starts from Jalori pass and takes you to a lake and a temple. That was the highlight of our trip and I was looking forward to some pictures of it in your post but seems like you didn't cover it.

All these places were not tourist attractions back then and we used to be the only visitors most often. Things have changed rapidly during the past 5-7 years with adventurers/fun seekers/YouTubers thronging these places. Their charm is getting diluted with plastics, noise and constructions. It's good that you visited at a time when travelling is not at it's peak and enjoyed the beauty peacefully.

[PointZero]

Originally Posted by TN20CQ5187

Lovely Travelogue buddy. The Yaris looks functional but not the best looking machines around, yet the pictures are drool worthy!

Thanks you TN20CQ5187, Its not only the machine which bring the smile, sometime the spirit outperform the machine .

Originally Posted by PapaBravo

Superb travelogue PZ. The pictures are spell-bounding. We are yet to explore this side of Himachal. Will take pointers from you whenever we plan.

Thanks PapaBravo Da,
I will feel more than happy to give you some pointers.

Originally Posted by sukhbirST

Really worth spending days on such trips.
Beautiful photos with varying landscape.
Would be grateful if you could provide the map with route you followed.

Thanks you very much sukhbirST,

Though I have already provided the route I have taken in text, I can still upload the map for you.

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

First time I visited Jalori Pass, Parashar was around 17 years ago. I remember that the Qualis that we had hired gave up on the steep slopes just before Jalori pass and we hiked up. There is this amazing small trek of 1.5 kms through dense forest that starts from Jalori pass and takes you to a lake and a temple. That was the highlight of our trip and I was looking forward to some pictures of it in your post but seems like you didn't cover it.

All these places were not tourist attractions back then and we used to be the only visitors most often. Things have changed rapidly during the past 5-7 years with adventurers/fun seekers/YouTubers thronging these places. Their charm is getting diluted with plastics, noise and constructions. It's good that you visited at a time when travelling is not at it's peak and enjoyed the beauty peacefully.

Thanks Maverick Avi,
Yes, absolutely right. In fact during my visit also I was little surprised seeing the crowd in Jalori Pass. Though the other places was literally empty. On the hiking part, I always prefer such short hike/trek after a long drive, but after covid I am still strangling with the fitness and avoiding trek/hike in high altitude. Not sure how much time it will take to get my fitness back, many such places are waiting in the list .