Four friends, four kinds of stillness
Turiya Trails began with four friends from the hills around Ranikhet, and a kind of travel we could not find anywhere else.
Somewhere along the way, travel became a race
Cheap packages that fit five viewpoints into a day. Groups of thirty shouting their way up a trail. A summit reached, a photograph posted, and the bus already leaving. We had been on those trips. We came home tired, with full camera rolls and the strange feeling that we had never really arrived.
The hills we grew up in deserved better than that. Kalika forest, the ridges above Ranikhet, the Kumaun sky at night: none of it needed dressing up. It needed someone to slow down enough to actually see it.
“When do you feel most like yourself?”
A walking questionEach of us found it somewhere different
For Nishant and Naveen it was the long walk up a mountain. For Sachin it was the sky after dark. For Ganesh it was a single bird call in the canopy. Different places, the same quiet. We wanted to share it, without the noise.
Something plainer
So we built the kind of travel we were missing, with Nishant's family home at Oakakhi as our base. Small groups. Slow days. Forest walks, birds at dawn, a night under the stars, a trek when you are ready for one. Walk slowly, watch closely, ask real questions, and let the mountains do the rest.
The name comes from Turiya, a word from the Mandukya Upanishad for the awareness beneath waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Always present, rarely noticed. It is the closest word we have for what a slow day in these hills can do.
What Turiya meansNot for everyone. For the right ones.
These journeys are for
- Spiritual seekers and meditators
- Solo travellers looking for depth
- Nature lovers and birdwatchers
- Stargazers, beginners and experienced alike
- People new to trekking but looking for meaning
- Travellers from abroad looking for the real hills
- Those quietly drawn, not just excited
We gently redirect
- Loud adventure tourism
- Party travel and nightlife
- Corporate luxury retreats
- Cheap mass trekking
- Instagram-first experiences
Words we walk by
I will walk with awareness, not just legs.
I will be kind to animals and to the Earth.
I will leave nature better than I found it.
I will stay curious. Ask the harder questions.
I will respect silence and fellow travellers.
I will return not just changed, but clear.
Let’s plan a quieter kind of journey.
Tell us what you are looking for, how many of you there are and roughly when. We will help you find the right walk, sky or forest, and we will be honest if we are not the right fit.