How often have you done something like this? How often you decided to visit a place and returned halfway. I have done it. Not only once but several times. The first time I visited Manali, I wasn’t aware of the places to visit there. And I just randomly roamed around. However, those two days in Old Manali turned out to be wonderful. There was no plan in my mind. Still the day I reached Old Manali, I managed to visit Sissu Waterfall. Returning from there, I also spent some time in Solang Valley. The next day, I visited Hadimba Temple. However, Jogini Falls was yet to be covered.
During my recent trip to Old Manali in Feb end, I made up my mind to visit Jogini Falls. Thus, the same day, I took an autorickshaw from the main market of Manali to Jogini Falls and reached there. It was a little cold, for normal people. And it was normal for me. I could see people stuffed up with heavy jackets and sweaters. I had heard a lot about Jogini Falls already. I had read blogs, I had watched YouTube videos and Instagram reels. This all had triggered me a lot and I was just waiting for my day to visit this famous waterfall of Manali.
So, I took a short hike from the main road where I got down from the autorickshaw. It was some village which I don’t remember. Kids playing in the street, ladies doing laundry, boys playing cricket and what not. Crossing all these scenes of daily life, I reached Jogini Falls in some time. Since it was the end of Feb, the terrain had lots of snow which wasn’t too old. This had made the path slipper and soggy which was a risk.
And I couldn’t Reach the Main Jogini Falls
Yes, you got right. I couldn’t reach the main Jogini Falls. So, this is one of the most famous places in Himachal Pradesh and definitely a must visit place in Manali. Located at a distance of nearly 5 KM from Manali, this waterfall is formed by a stream which merges downstream in Beas River. The waterfall can is visible from the main road, distance apart. However, I couldn’t reach the main Jogini Falls.
The waterfall has a height of nearly 160m. The waterfall has multiple levels and the one I visited was the first one. And I thought okay, this was Jogini Falls. However, after coming to the homestay from there, I got to know that this wasn’t the one, though this was the one but I had to reach to the top. I just spent time in the first one only. And I didn’t move to the top. Since it was my first time and I didn’t know about it. When I was trekking to Barshangarh Waterfall, there too I couldn’t reach the main waterfall. I came half way since it had started raining.
I did see many people hiking to the top. But I had no idea why they were going up. I must have spent nearly 3 hours at the waterfall’s first level and for it was the only waterfall. However, the reality was quite different from what I thought. I wish I had known this earlier. However, I have put this thing away for the next time, but I was almost there. Sometimes in our life, we pass through similar situations. We get so close to something and then we give up. But yes, it is true that I will revisit Jogini Falls and will reach the main waterfall.
I had taken off my boots and entered the waterfall. The water felt so cold however, I just sat there with my legs in the water. I left from there when it started to get dark. I took a walk from Jogini Falls to Old Manali. Even though I spent hours at the waterfall, I still missed out on the most iconic place to visit in Maali. Well, that’s one of the reasons for unplanned traveling. You end up doing something like this when you don’t have a proper itinerary or a travel plan.