Visiting George Everest house (Park House) and museum of Cartography near Mussoorie.
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Namaste 🙏
Hope you all are doing great!!!
In this blog I’m gonna write about my journey to the Park House, Sir George Everest’s house near Mussoorie. He was a British Geographer, Cartographer and Surveyor who also was Surveyor General in times of British India. Mount Everest was named after him but the fact is, he doesn’t had much link to the mountain that was named after him!!! 😅
It was Andrew Waugh who was Surveyor General of India after him and he paid tribute to his predecessor Sir George Everest by naming the mountain that was difficult to pronounce in English after him.
The area where his house is situated is now acquired by a private company and they maintain and take care of the whole area of the mountain. You need to buy ticket of Rupees 200 to enter the area and visit there.
Taking tickets and starting our journey—
The house is less than a kilometre from the starting point and the road is moterable but only the cars of the organisation are allowed. Most people hike upto the house but a few get chance of going there in the the private organisation’s car after paying 100 Rupees more.
After buying the tickets, we were told to keep it with us as there are multiple points where the tickets are rechecked. Also, the network coverage is not available at the check-post so it’s better to carry cash. We didn’t had cash with us but we managed to get it from someone and returned him once we came in network coverage area!!!
There was also a cafe on the way to the George Everest house that was looking really nice. It was named The Everest Basecamp and we were stoked to read that on the board.
Toyota Hilux (Car of our choice)-
As already mentioned, we took the ticket to get there on car and we’re super exited to see that a Toyota Hilux was there to drop us there. This is my favourite truck and I couldn’t wait to get on it. We decided to sit on the back of the truck rather than sitting inside of it.
The road was narrow but good. It was just enough for a Toyota Hilux to drive comfortably as there is no traffic coming down before the confirmation over the Radio. The road was a little elevated but it was fun to sit on the back of the truck on it.
The road led us through the Jungle and we were gaining elevation very quickly. We could notice the change in vegetation only after 5 minutes of drive as the road was very steep.
Although the road was very narrow, it was fully fenced to ensure safety. The private organisation was charging quite a good amount for the ticket price but upon visiting, we noticed that it was also taking a good care of the area.
Everest Base Camp cafe—
Another thing that you’ll notice is this amazing looking cafe on the way to the house. It was made midway considering the hike that people usually take. It’s a rest point for the hikers and it attracts people a lot.
I have to say it again that the organisation was taking a good care of the area after looking at the cafe. As we were on the truck, we couldn’t get in the cafe but we decided to get there on our way back.
Reaching George Everest house—
After a short 15 minutes ride, we reached the Park House. It was a great experience reaching here in 15 minutes while other people took about an hour. This spared us more time for exploration above of the George Everest Peak.
We said goodbye to my beloved truck and looked around this beautiful place we were standing at. Now I realised why he must’ve choosen this place to live.
There also was a big ground there with many stalls on the side. It was a great picnic spot. But for us the real picnic spot was the actual peak of this mountain from where we surveyed the vast Himalayas in 19th century.
The George Everest Cartography Museum—
His house was now converted to a cartography museum that contains the instruments that he used. I came to know about his relation with Mount Everest. Previously I thought that he didn’t had any connection with the mountain as I read that somewhere while I was planning my journey of coming here. But outside the museum, I got to know that he hired and guided the man who measured the exact height of the Mt. Everest from the George Everest peak.
I wondered he had two mountains named after him. One after his sir name Mt. Everest and one after his full name The George Everest peak. 😅 We were going to the George Everest Peak!!!
The journey beyond—
We wanted to go to the George Everest peak now. It was a short hike of about a km and we were super exited for it. The hike started from Park House and at the start of the hike you are greeted by a beautiful statue of Sir George Everest.
We sat there for a while and looked around. There were clouds gathering towards the peak and they were looking mesmerising. We couldn’t wait to start our trek…!.!.!
I’m gonna write about this hike in the next blog. That’s all for today. Thanks for passing by.
Peace ☮️
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