July – September
Monsoon
Cloud moves into the valley and stays. Waterfalls appear overnight, the green turns electric, frogs and fireflies own the dark — and the mountain, soft with rain, lets the roads slip and the trails fill with leeches. Beautiful to witness; honestly, best from afar.
All seasonsMonsoon
Then the cloud moves into the valley and stays, and out come the umbrellas, the raincoats and the gum boots. Some days the rain falls gently; on others nature shows no mercy at all — non-stop rain and thunder, the odd cloudburst — and you simply stay in and let it pass.
What it gives in return is green. The whole valley turns lush and dripping, as though nature had painted it over slowly, and with great love, in every shade of green there is. Waterfalls appear overnight and the springs and water sources fill again — though we have never gone in much for rainwater harvesting on our side of the hills — while the terraces race with new crops and the wet nights come alive with frogs and fireflies.
Indoors it becomes a season for the window and the fire, rain drumming on the tin roof, with wild mushrooms and fern greens — lingude — coming to the plate. It is not without its trials: the leeches on the wet trails, yuck, are the rain's own doing. But Harela opens the season and, a month on, Ghee Sankranti puts ghee on every plate. For all the mud and the merciless downpours, the monsoon is the hills at their most alive — gorgeous to witness; honestly, best witnessed from close to home.
From the family
When the rains came, the pinalu and arbi unfurled their great green leaves across the terraces, and the rainwater would gather and roll over them like beads of mercury. As children we'd tip the leaves to chase the drops, catch them and spill them, soaked through and not minding it one bit. The monsoon was mud and mischief and green — and we loved every drenched minute of it.
Manohar NegiOwner & host
Before you decide
Our honest take
Skip the deep monsoon if you can — washed-out roads, leeches on the trails, and a mountain best left to rest. Come just before the rains break, or once they have passed.
Jhadd
/ jhuhd /झड़
the long rains — the unbroken monsoon downpour that greens the hills and washes out the roads.
Look closer
The monsoon, uncovered
The same season pulled apart — what's in flower, what's on the table, what's in the fields, and the honest catches. Tap anything to follow it further.
In nature
What the wild around the home is doing, season to season — the forest, the birds, the light.
Fruits & flowers
What's blooming and what's ripening on the slopes through the turning year.
On the table
What the season puts on the plate — grown and cooked the Kumaoni way.
Mornings, evenings & nights
How a day feels in each season — from first light to the cold of night.
Grey misty mornings
Cloud sitting low in the valley.
Sudden bright spells
The sun breaks through between showers.
Heavy evening rain
And cool, damp nights.
Rain, snow & sun
An honest read of the weather, season by season — what to pack for, and what to expect.
Heavy rain
Persistent and soaking through the deep monsoon.
Leeches on the trails
The wet woods crawl with them.
Landslides & washouts
Roads to us can close for hours.
How busy it gets
How much rush to expect from one season to the next — the peaks, and the quiet.
The quietest months
Almost no one comes — the valley to yourself.
There's a reason
The quiet is the weather's doing.
What to watch for
The honest challenges each season can bring — so nothing catches you out.
Road washouts
Landslides can close the roads in.
Leeches & damp
The trails are wet and leech-ridden.
Power & signal cuts
Expect the odd outage.
Unreliable travel
The honest reason we say wait.
Don't miss
The one thing worth catching in each season, if you only catch one.
Cloud filling the valley
If you do brave it — the mist rolling in.
Rain on a tin roof
By the fire, while it drums overhead.
Festivals
The festivals that come round with the seasons in these hills.
What people try
What guests tend to do in each season — and what suits the weather.
Reading by the window
Watching the rain come down.
Fireside days
Slow, warm, indoors.
In the farms — and what's next
What's growing in the terraces each season, and what's sown next.