The Jogini Waterfalls hiking quest

June 2022. After the heatwave in Rishikesh, it had been raining for days in a row in Manali when the sun finally broke through, fittingly, on a Sunday. Since we had different interests for what to do on this beautiful day, D and I allowed each other to spend some time on our own. I had an enticing quest carved out for myself: to finally hike to the Jogini Waterfalls in Vashisht, which had eluded us on two previous attempts. The rain had started pouring down one day and made us end the hike prematurely. On another day, we had started too late and did not make it to the end. This time around, I decided I would not be denied.

First attempts

The initial hike that we did, started in the higher part of Old Manali, then brought us into the woods and eventually through an apple orchard – a common sight around Manali. All along, we caught glimpses of the valley to our right, with the Beas river meandering below. In the distance, on the opposite side, we spotted a tall and slender waterfall plunging down along the steep rocky mountain side: the Jogini waterfall, where we were headed.

On our first attempt at the hike, the rain surprised us by the time we reached the orchard, and eventually made us turn back. The second time that we tried, we made it well into the orchard, but then completely lost track of the trail that we were following. In there, every row of apple trees misleadingly looks like some sort of trail. When we finally found the way out, by following a narrow path oscillating down to the bottom of the hill, we arrived into the quaint little village of Goshal. We thought that following the trail would be more straightforward from there, not knowing that a couple of challenges were waiting ahead.

Arrival in a local village

The village of Goshal was charming. Just like in the older parts of Old Manali, the narrow streets lead us through a collection of colorful houses built of stone and wood, reminding me a little bit of chalets. Locals in traditional attire curiously looked at us and smiled. Some children tentatively giggled a couple of words in English. Here and there, a cow was eating hay in a small enclosure next to its respective owner’s house, while the dogs roamed free through the streets.

The dogs of Goshal

As a matter of fact, once we had left the village behind us, one dog started accompanying us on our walk, quickly followed by another. A third one joined in a while later, which was when the fighting started. The first dog did not want to share us with any other, so it seemed, and as we were trying to find the pedestrian bridge over the Beas river, our four-legged companions were running all over the place, chasing each other but also continuously cutting us off.

Finding the bridge

Unfortunately, these loyal but overly enthusiastic troublemakers could not tell us where the elusive bridge was. The spot indicated on the map seemed wrong; a local claimed it was a ten minute walk away. We kept searching, as more dogs joined in, making us feel increasingly uncomfortable. Eventually, after having seriously come to doubt the very existence of it, the modest wooden bridge finally appeared. By that time, the number of dogs following us had grown to almost ten! Luckily, for what was now an actual pack of dogs, the river appeared to be the edge of their territory and crossing it was clearly a step too far. It proved to be the only effective way for us to finally leave them behind. Unfortunately, it had gotten so late by this time that we decided to end the hike here and drive back to Manali by tuktuk.

New attempt

Today, I decided to skip the entire part through the woods and the orchard by using the road next to the Beas river. This way, I could get to the bridge faster. The road was not busy at all and I was happy just to walk under the blue sky, which I had missed so much in the past rainy days. The sun shone bright on the beautiful valley, with the mountains rising triumphantly on both sides. The Jogini waterfall invitingly showed itself on the face of the mountain across the river. Today, I will finally make it there, I told myself.

It was a relatively straightforward hike to get to the bridge and then cross it. On the other side of the busy road was an alley with a sign for the Jogini Waterfalls. Nice and easy, I thought, and I crossed the road, into the narrow street. Even without the sign, I should have had no trouble finding the right way though, I soon realized, as I suddenly noticed I was far from being the only one heading to the waterfall today.

The touristic trail to the Jogini waterfall

Many other people, among which young couples and families with children, were walking in the same direction. Most of them were Indians, who were clearly enjoying a little weekend trip or holiday on the mountainside. The narrow street turned into an easy trail, flanked by temporary food stalls, which consisted of plastic chairs under bright yellow canvases supported by wooden poles. On the menu were simple dishes and snacks like momos (Indian dumplings).

Somehow, I had not expected the place to be so touristic; I had rather imagined a secluded spot in nature where only a handful of hiking enthusiasts would end up at. I wondered if the whole thing might turn out to be a tourist trap. As I walked past the food stalls, a lively mountain river to my right announced the presence of the waterfall ahead. When I finally made it to the end of the trail, there it was: a tall waterfall plunging down amid some big boulders. A lot of people had gathered around it. The crowd was enjoying itself: venturing into the cold water, even onto the boulders higher up, taking pictures and selfies.

Looking for the ‘higher falls’

Despite these people having fun, I couldn’t help feeling slightly underwhelmed. The waterfall magic was somehow missing and disappointment was creeping up on me.  However, this could not be all there was to see. Indeed, on the map I had seen the “lower falls” and the “higher falls”, a little distance apart. So logically, there should be more, but I didn’t see it. I lingered near the water for a while and took some pictures, before sitting down on a rock a bit further to take a rest.

After I had been sitting there for some time, three Indian guys were waving and motioning at me from a distance, shouting something I didn’t quite understand. Something about a picture. Thinking they needed someone to take their picture, I started making my way over there, generating much enthusiasm on their side. When I got to where they were standing, on a big boulder with a view on the waterfall, it turned out that they actually wanted a picture WITH me.

Thinking they needed someone to take their picture, I started making my way over there, generating much enthusiasm on their side.

While making my way over there, it had already started dawning on me that this may be the case, but it was too late to turn back. I honestly didn’t feel like posing for a picture with perfect strangers who had picked me out of the crowd for reasons beyond my control, but wasn’t sure how to talk myself out of the situation.
“Why me?” I asked, as I sometimes do when this happens.
“You look beautiful,” one of them replied, which took me aback a little and unwillingly made me laugh. They took this as a positive sign and since it felt too awkward to back out at this point, I figured I would just get it over with. Eventually, I had to pose three times because apparently a group picture was not enough: they each wanted their own picture with me!

In return, I asked them to take a picture of me with my camera so that at least I would have something to show for myself after this indulgence. I decided to also ask them about the higher falls.
“No, there is only this,” they told me with a lot of confidence, “nothing else.”

Disappointed contemplation

Disappointed, I decided to go and find a nice and quiet spot where I could sit away from the crowd for a while before starting to head back. Higher up on the mountain, I saw some Buddhist prayer flags which would make for some nice pictures, I thought. I climbed up there and sat in that isolated spot for a while, contemplating my day. Well, I certainly had expected more of this excursion, I thought to myself. I won’t have a very exciting story to tell tonight.

Eventually, I came down again so that I could start hiking back to Manali. Suddenly, a trail that I hadn’t noticed before, caught my eye. People were coming down from it and it made me curious. I decided that I should at least check this out before I headed back.

Going up the other trail

The trail took me up the mountain, away from the waterfall. After several minutes of hiking, I came across three Indian guys who were picnicking under a tree. They spontaneously started talking to me and I asked them where the trail lead to.
“It goes to the higher waterfall,” one of them replied, to my surprise. So there were higher falls after all! The three friends, who were clearly better informed than the other three I had met a bit earlier, had just come back from it. One of them showed me some pictures on his phone. It looked spectacular.
“Wow,” I replied enthusiastically, “I have to go and see that!”
“It will take you some 20 minutes of steep, uphill hiking from here,” they told me. “If you start now, you will still be in time to have enough daylight. There are plenty of people on the trail, just stick with somebody and you will be fine.” Their friendliness and willingness to help was heartwarming and gave me all the energy I needed to undertake this new challenge.

It was steep indeed, but with the reward ahead on my mind, I didn’t mind it that much. The trail took a sharp turn after a while, so that I was heading towards the waterfall again, but quite a bit higher up this time. Along with some other people who were taking the same route, I kept gradually walking uphill. The views around me were worth stopping for every once in a while, also allowing me to catch my breath. People coming from the opposite direction would tell us how many minutes we had to go. The last stretch was actually quite level, making it much easier to complete the hike. The Beas valley looked grand in the distance.

The end of the waterfall quest

I came very close to the waterfall, but it wasn’t until I turned around a bend in the mountain, that I finally saw it: a mass of water majestically throwing itself off the flat mountain side in slow motion before crashing down on a pile of rocks in a white cloud of tiny drops, a dark and mossy cavern gaping beyond. My mouth fell open in amazement. This was even more than the waterfall magic I had come to look for.

Several people were gathered at the base of the waterfall, admiring its beauty. I closed in on it by venturing onto the slippery rocks, as I increasingly got blasted by the water cloud.
 “This is a holy place,” a friendly young guy told me, while I was taking it all in. According to what he explained me, a goddess was residing in this water.
“I could see why she would choose this place,” I smiled.

Cleaning up on the way down

With a light tread, extremely satisfied, I eventually started the hike back down. Fueled by this newfound energy, I spontaneously picked up some litter when I discovered a trash bag hanging from a tree. I wasn’t used to these being provided anywhere in India, while I had found many natural areas to unfortunately be very littered. It was no different with this one, sadly, but as soon as I had brought some trash to the bag, a young Indian couple started doing the same thing. Before I knew it, we were a crew of some ten people, industriously cleaning up the entire area around us. Cans, beverage cartons, plastic and aluminum wrappers… within several minutes they had all disappeared into the bag, which was now being carried around by one of these impromptu volunteers.
“Thank you for doing this,” the girl from the couple said to me afterwards.
“Thank YOU for helping!” I replied gratefully.

Of course, we did not manage to clean up the entire site. But I like to believe that several little seeds were planted in those minutes, which will eventually lead to a sum of bigger accomplishments as they snowball their way through the universe. It was the perfect end to a day that was destined to end in a perfect way. Except that I got completely lost in the orchard again on my way back to Manali.

Practical info I used the app maps.me to find the trail. Let it calculate the route from Old Manali to the Jogini Waterfall, then add some extra stops at the waterfall viewpoint between Manali and Goshal (so you will go through the forest and orchard), and north of the falls in Vashisht to add the pedestrian bridge that lies right between Goshal and Vashisht. From the waterfalls, you can continue to the hot springs (which I didn’t do) or head back to Manali by tuktuk or taxi. In Manali, we stayed at hostel Orchards House – The Hidden Tribe and on a later stay, at Keekoo Manali. Both warmly recommended!

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