Complete Route Map:
End Date: 5th Oct, 2014
Total Kilometers trekked: Little more than 100 Kms
It was the month of March-April, having traveled to Ladakh in 2012, Kailash - Mansarovar in 2013, our minds started aching to see Himalayas again. We started our discussions and deliberations. We had two places in mind. One was Darjeeling-Sikkim-Bhutan and the other was Uttarakhand. We finally chose on Uttarakhand having decided to revisit the other option next year.
Due last years catastrophe, our parents had too many questions on our decision to visit Uttarakhand. This made us decide to go with either GMVN or KMVN as oppose to our earlier decision of roaming "on our own". Before we talk to these tourist bodies, we had to decide on the places we wanted to see/visit. Though we knew some places which we definitely wanted to see, I wanted to understand the feasibility of visiting all of them. So I called up a friend of mine who is from Rishikesh and he was kind enough to give me some advice and suggest some new places as well.
We always wanted to visit Chardham, Gaumukh and VoF. We got to know that all of these places belong to Garhwal region.
So we visited GMVN office in Bangalore and shared our quest. Only problem was we had decided to visit Uttarakhand during Aug. After reading couple of travelogues on BCM, we got know that it rains a lot over there during Aug. Rain won't come alone, it also brings landslide and leeches (as we were planning to trek many miles). So we postponed our plans to late Sep and we settled on below Itinerary.
Sep 18: Reach Dehradun by flight, stay at Mussoorie
Sep 19: Visit Kempty Falls and reach JanakiChatti
Sep 20: Visit Yamunotri by foot (5+5 KMs) and back to JanakiChatti and Stay at Uttarkashi
Sep 21: Reach Gangotri
Sep 22: Visit Gaumukh by foot (18 KMs) and stay at Bhojbasa (5 KM)
Sep 23: Reach Gangotri by foot (14 KMs) and stay at Uttarkashi
Sep 24: Reach Guptkashi
Sep 25: Visit Kedarnath by chopper and stay at Ukhimath
Sep 26: Visit Rudraprayag, karnaprayag, Nandaprayag and stay at Joshimath
Sep 27: Visit Vishnuprayag, Govindghat and trek towards Ghangaria by foot(16 to 18 KMs new route) and stay at Ghangaria
Sep 28: Visit VoF and back to Ghangaria
Sep 29: Visit Hemkund Sahib by foot (6+6 KMs) and back to Ghangaria
Sep 30: Reach Govindghat by foot(16 to 18 KMs new route) and reach Badrinath
Oct 1: Visit Mana-Vyasa gufa, Keshavprayag, Vasudhara(5+5 KMs) and back to Badrinath
Oct 2: Reach Joshimath
Oct 3: Visit Devprayag and reach Rishikesh
Oct 4: Rishikesh and Haridwar sightseeing
Oct 5: Return to Bangalore
Bangalore - Mussoorie - Kempty - Jankichatti (18th-19th-20th Sep):
First day was pretty uneventful and we reached Dehradun airport on scheduled time and our commute was waiting at the airport for us and wasting no time, we headed towards Mussoorie.
We went for an evening stroll in this beautiful hill town and started towards Jankichatti early next morning.
Apart from Kempty, we had to make a stop for our lunch at Barkot and we continued our journey next to comparatively calm and serene Yamuna, but we headed in opposite directions. We reached Jankichatti sometime in the late afternoon. We had couple of hours to spare before the sun sets. So we visited a very old Shanidev temple made out of wood/stone, hidden from the tourist map known only to the local people. Crossing Yamuna, its on the hill opposite to the Jankichatti. We retired for the day early, as we need to start our first trek of this trip early next morning.
Jankichatti is at an altitude of 8448 Ft and Yamunotri is at 10383 Ft. We had bought Diamox pills at a local medical shop in Barkot. We consulted local folks regarding the lack of oxygen in Yamunotri and we were advised not worry about it(turned out be true). At the same time we came to know that the geographical origin of Yamuna is 14KMs ahead of Yamunotri, a place called Saptarishi Kund (alt 14504 Ft).
We started towards Yamunotri at 5:40AM. And because of last year's natural catastrophe in Uttarakhand, There were only countable number of people visiting Chardham this year.
A 5 KM narrow trail on a mountain ridge next to Down flowing Yamuna, took us to the Yamunotri and it took us almost 2 Hrs to complete the journey.
After 5 KMs of walking, one will be welcomed by a hot water pond just below the main temple here at Yamunotri. This pond rescues you from numbing cold air and also possesses curing formula for many skin diseases. Arthi-Puja at a very old hanuman temple next to the main temple was very charming. After spending little more than an hour in this soothing valley -all three sides covered by green mountains, crowned with few layers of ice and with the raise in day temperature, melting ice from these tops trickle down -sometimes visible and mostly invisible- through countless small streams - waterfalls towards fast flowing Yamuna-, we started trekking down towards Jankichatti after having breakfast at a local shop. We took less than 90 mins to reach Jankichatti. After lunch we started towards Uttarkashi. We were welcomed in Uttarkashi with a heavy/noisy rainfall. This made us worry about our next destiny Gangotri and especially Gaumukh. Though we had arranged for the Gaumukh permit well in advance with the help of GMVN folks, there was no confirmation on the same and if this weather continues, even if we have a permit ready it will be overruled.
Uttarkashi - Gangotri - Bhojbasa - Gaumukh (21st-22nd-23rd Sep):
After reaching Uttarkashi on 20th evening, first thing we checked with the GMVN guest house manager was the status on our Gaumukh permit. We were glad to find out that our permit was ready and waiting for our arrival. The next bug which was creeping in the back of our mind was bad weather, since we were welcomed in Uttarkashi with heavy down pour.
Luckily, the weather got cleared over night and we started our journey up towards Gangotri after a quick visit to Vishwanath mandir in Uttarkashi situated on the banks of River Bhagirathi. The road leading up to Gangotri was cut off by Bhagirathi during last year's natural disaster and there is not much improvement in the condition of the road apart from the fact that connectivity has been successfully re-established with Gangotri.
We were still able to see the big broken tree logs lying on the river bed which is shrunk to its original size now. Apart from a quick stop at Ganganani, to visit the hot springs-Harsil to take few snaps from view point, we traveled for most part of the day, skipping from one mountain to the other with Bhagirathi flowing right next to us as if asking who is is mightier - Mountain or the river? - and the mountains covered with Apple-Devdar trees and colorful flowers as if asking who is lovelier - River or the Mountain? We reached Gangotri around 2 in the afternoon.
We needed a porter as we have to stay in Bhojbasa the next night and carry some food/snacks/warm clothes. After a quick meal we needed to search for a porter for the next day - to Gaumukh. We met a porter who settled on 800 Rs per day + his food expenses. With this thing settled, we visited Gangotri temple and requested the goddess to give us an opportunity to see her geographical origin in Gaumukh. We also stopped by Surya Kund, Gauri Kund and returned to our guest house.
Gangotri was certainly very cold especially after the sun set. We had requested the porter we had met earlier to come at 5:30 in the morning as we needed to walk 22 KMs in total(Gangotri-14KM-Bhojbasa-4KM-Gaumukh-4KM-Bhojbasa).
The next morning we got up early and were ready to leave Gangotri at 5:30AM. But the porter didn't show up till 5:45AM. The cook at the GMVN guest house was kind enough to not only prepare breakfast for our journey so early in the morning but also to help us find a porter in the cold-dark of the morning. We owe him a special thanks. We hired a porter for 1000Rs per day + his food expenses. All things sorted out we started our trek to towards Gaumukh at 6AM.
Gangotri is at an altitude of 11,204 ft above sea level. Our immediate destination was Bhojbasa which is at 12385 ft. After witnessing the most beautiful sun rise over Sudarshan peak, we submitted our permits at the forest department check post and officially entered Gangotri National park. We maintained a good stride for initial few KMs, stopping only to take pics and to have break fast. After break fast, we had to cover 9 KMs more to reach Bhojbasa. We struggled to maintain a steady pace as the sun was becoming as much merciless as increasing degree of gradient of the trek route. We could feel the lack of oxygen taking a slight toll on our body. When ever we used to stop to catch a breath, I was able to feel the numbness in my limbs due to the rush of blood to brain. But one has to just look-up and right there is a good distraction to forget about your tiredness - beautiful snow covered peaks such as Sudarshan, Mandakini, Meru-Sumeru (we were lucky to have the clearest sky possible) and below us, fast flowing Bhagirathi will take you to another world. After walking about 9 KMs, one has to register their arrival in second forest check post.
Here onwards we started seeing three more beautiful peaks, our porter introduced them to us as Bhagirathi peak 2,1 and 3 and magnificent Shivling peak also popped up on the clear blue canvas. The last few KMs were pretty tough, we had been walking from past 5 and half hours and needed to cover 3 more KMs and it was as if Bhojbasa is running away from us. Our porter told us, if we were to reach Gaumukh the same day, we have to push on, so we obliged him. 2 KMs from Bhojbasa the trail gets thinner and the ground gets less stable due to land slides. For a stretch of about 200 Mts which is dreaded with land slides, one has to be very careful and should always watch out for any tumbling stone from above. Huffing and Puffing, finally we reached Bhojbasa at 1:30 in the afternoon which looked like an eternity. Apart from GMVN guest house, weather forecasting department and couple of Ashrams, Bhojbasa is pretty much untouched.
After a quick meal, we rested for an hour. At 3PM on the mark, our porter and I started towards Gaumukh, as my friend decided to stay back at Bhojbasa. The route till Gaumukh is made with boulders and one has to be very careful not sprain their ankles. After walking for about 1.5KMs from Bhojbasa, I saw Gaumukh glacier at a very far distance(2.5 KMs to be precise). As it was already 3:45PM, I wanted to know when we would be able to return to Bhojbasa and I was informed - considering our pace till Bhojbasa - that it would be minimum 6:30PM. Though It made me worry a bit, the urge to have a more closer Gaumukh view made me forget about it and I decided to move on. Soon after that I had the privilege to see a herd Mountain goats.
I started pushing my physical limits a bit as I needed to walk faster in order for me return to Bhojbasa before it gets dark. We reached Gaumukh by covering the next 2.5 Kms in just 45mins. Gaumukh glacier is at an altitude of ~13,200 ft at the base of Bhagirathi peaks. One can see the Bhagirathi river melting away from this glacier.
Next Day, we had to reach Gangotri as early as possible as our stay for the night was at Uttarkashi and with last day's experience, we knew it was not a walk in the park though we are loosing altitude today. We started from Bhojbasa at 5:30 AM and kept a steady pace without stopping much. We reached Gangotri at 10:10AM without much difficulty. We started towards Uttarkashi at 12PM and reached our destination around 5 in the evening. Our next destination was Kedarnath via chopper from Guptkashi. Again, we were praying for the good weather to continue for the chopper service to run.
Uttarkashi - Guptkashi - Kedarnath - Ukhimath - Rudraprayag - Karnaprayag - Nandaprayag - Joshimath (24th-25th-26th Sep):
Having walked 36 KMs in last couple of days, we needed a good rest in Uttarkashi. The next morning we started towards, Guptkashi. We decided to see famous Tehri Dam. I was surprised to know that the depth of this dam is approximately 800mts and with this much depth it was beyond my imagination to understand how much of water it can hold.
We stopped at Srinagar for our mid-day meal and continued to towards Guptkashi. The roads were broader here onwards and we had to travel in this road to and fro in the coming days to visit Badrinath and return to Rishikesh. We stopped at Rudraprayag and took couple of aerial pictures of Alaknanda and Mandakini confluence(we decided to visit the sangam on our way from Guptkashi). We deviated from Badrinath route and started traversing Mandakini in opposite direction. One can still witness aftermaths of last year's destruction. Many places roads have been cut into half, many building ceilings doesn't have a floor, standing on only left over walls. Our driver didn't forget to show us the last years flood water level marking(left over on the banks), with lot debris still lying on the river bed. With this we continued towards Guptkashi and weather started to get worse minute by minute. We reached our destination in early evening.
Keeping the safety of the Kedarnath pilgrims in mind, the Uttarakhand govt has mandated every pilgrim to go through a basic medical check and get a medical certificate (done next to Guptkashi GMVN guest house) along with an unique identification number for the easy tracking of the pilgrims (just in case of any emergency). With the medical clearance certificate in pocket, we went for a leisurely stroll in this quite town. But all this while the weather was threatening us to spoil our next day's plan.
We had booked for a chopper ride from Sirsi(few kms prior to Sonprayag) to Kedarnath(approximate distance:30KMs) at 7 in the morning. As we came out of our guest house, the weather didn't look promising. Since it was still 6 in the morning we hoped that the sun would melt away these clouds and make our visit feasible. We waited in "Himalayan Heli Services" office/helipad from 7 in the morning till 9AM probably. The old route to Kedarnath from Sonprayag has completely washed away last year, and there is a new route which is 25 Kms from Sonprayag to Kedarnath as opposed to old route which was 14KMs. With the new route it almost takes three days on foot to and fro, on Horse/Mule it takes a full day at a cost of 3K Rs. Around 9 AM, the weather was clearing up a bit and Chopper went for a test ride and returned with a good news. We were airborne in no time and the scale of destruction was little overwhelming from the aerial view as the big mountains had washed away in the floods. We were dropped in Kedarnath after flying for 10 mins.
Kedarnath is at an altitude of 11,755 ft and having trekked in little higher altitude than this, that too only couple of days back, lack of oxygen didn't affect us here. From where we were dropped off (new Helipad), one can see the Kedarnath town (used to be).
Standing high, firm and alone as witness to last year's anger of nature, is Kedarnath temple. As per the Puranas, this temple was built by Pandavas (of whom, Idols can be found inside the temple) and looks as much old as well. After spending few mins inside the blissful Kedarnath temple, I walked out in the town and literally everything has been washed away by the Mandakini (now a small stream). One of the Helipad ground staff had told us to return as soon as possible as the clouds were closing in on the sun again and all the snow capped peaks were covered in it. They even shared their last years experience during the crisis hours. They had rescued many people by air before the help arrived. We saw the boulder trail left over by Chorabari lake(Gandhi Glacier) which was one of the main cause of last year's destruction along with the torrential rain.We returned to Guptkashi around 1:30 in the afternoon. We didn't fail to notice many deserted Helipads and got to know from the local people, that Himalayan Heli Services is alone providing the service this year as the number of pilgrims shrunk to less than 5% of previous years. We visited Guptkashi Shiva temple. After inquiring the temple priest got know the history/story behind the place name. Belief is that, the lord Shiva disappeared from Pandava's sight here and was only sighted again in Kedarnath and that's how the name "Gupt"Kashi came into use. As soon as we entered our Guptkashi Guest house, rain started. We were felt lucky to have made it to Kedarnath and back with this volatile weather conditions. We had to reach Ukhimath which is on the hill opposite to Guptkashi, just 15 KMs away. Rain was relentless for couple of hours and it was still drizzling when we started towards Ukhimath. After 30 Mins of drive we reached our Ukhimath guesthouse and it started pouring down heavily with bright lightnings, cutting through a canvas of dark sky, followed by loud thunders. It rained for most part of the evening and around 5:30PM it finally stopped. Clearing clouds allowed us to get a good view of Meru-Sumeru peaks from guest house and I had decided to capture the beauty of it in my Camera during dawn.
We visited Ukhimath temple where Kedarnath is worshiped when the main Kedarnath temple takes a winter break. Though the rain was off-on during the nights, the weather was certainly getting better. The next morning, a clear weather allowed us to witness Meru-Sumeru bathing in early sun rays. We didn't fail to capture yet another beautiful sunrise.
Rudraprayag - Sangam of Mandakini and Alakananda
Karnaprayag - Sangam of Alakananda and Pindari
Nandaprayag - Sangam of Alakananda and Nandakini
Thing to notice is that, after each confluence, the name Alakananda is retained till Devprayag (where both Bhagirathi and Alakananda merge their identity to form Ganga). We had to make one more stop in Pipalkoti for our lunch and we reached Joshimath at 4 in the evening. We visited the mutt during the evening, captured Elephant hill in our cameras and were all set to next day's 14 KM trek(which turned to be more than that) from Govindghat to Ghangaria.
Govindghat - Ghangaria - VoF - Hemkund Sahib - Govindghat - Badrinath (27th-28th-29th-30th Sep):
At 6 in the morning we started towards Govindghat which is 15KMs away from Joshimath. On our way we stopped at Vishnu Prayag which is a confluence of Alakananda and Dhauli (Dhauliganga).
Little more about the origin of these rivers:Alakananda - Alkapuri
Bhagirathi - Gaumukh/Tapovan in Gangotri National Park
Nandakini - Nanda Ghunti glacier in Nandadevi Sanctuary
Mandakini - Chorabari Glacier near Kedarnath
Pindari - Pindari Glacier
Dhauliganga - Dhawalgiri
This We reached Govindghat little before 7. Since we were carrying luggage enough for 4 days, we had to hire a porter here as well. We struck a deal for 800Rs with one of the Nepal porter. We started from Govindghat at 7 in the morning, and our destination was Ghangaria which is at a distance of 14KMs(Not really!). Apart from walking and hiring horse, there is a chopper service available from Govindghat to Ghangaria.
There were two bad news, one had the immediate impact on our knees/legs which was the pretty steep gradient of the trek route. And the other one was the huge landslides near VoF. Though the official distance is 14KMs, due to last years landslides, the route has changed a bit and now one has to take a round about route which has easily added up 2-3 KMs to the earlier 14Kms. Though the route was tough, we were walking in shades for most part of the trek and it helped a lot. After 5 Kms, we stopped for breakfast in a very small village. Apart from few more stops to catch our breath, we pushed on and reached Ghangaria at 1:30 in the afternoon. We met many groups of Sikh devotees visiting Hemkund Sahib, which had a good mix of people of all ages(5-80 years), of which some of the elder folks are regular visitors, visiting at least once in a year from last 15-20 years!
Ghangaria (also known as Govind Dham) lies in a nest of mountains at an altitude of 10.5K Ft and in the evening temperature drops to close to 0 degree in here and the day we reached weather was not the best. Having walked not less than 16 KMs we retired for the day.
Due to previous day's cloudy weather, we could see most of the surrounding peaks covered in snow which made them more beautiful.
A trail leading through thick forest lead us to a re-constructed bridge (which had also washed away in June/July), after this we saw a huge landslide and we spotted forest guards just before it. Disappointed, we headed back towards our guest house and our only solace was some the rarest flora-fauna we found en route. We were so close to VoF, that we found almost 10 different types of flowers on our way back. A complete day to spare, we spent couple of hours, capturing these flowers through the eye of our Camera.
In the evening we hired a porter for the next day for our return journey to Govindghat for the same price.
Next day, we called up our driver to request him to be there at Govindghat no later than 12:30 and started our journey back at 7 in the morning. We reached Govindghat around 11:15AM.
We waited for our commute to arrive. We were picked up around 12 and we started towards Badrinath which is at a distance of ~30Kms. We reached Badrinath around 2. After much needed long shower and lunch, we visited Badrinath temple and bought souvenirs to people back home. We only had Badrinath, Mana, Auli, Joshimath(second visit), Rishekesh and Haridwar to be covered in our itinerary.
Badrinath - Mana - Auli - Joshimath - Devprayag - Rishikesh - Haridwar (1st-2nd-3rd-4th Oct):
We were up early on 1st Oct, and though the Badrinath town(altitude 10,800 ft) is surrounded by many beautiful peaks, due to cloudy weather, we were not able to see many of the peaks, Neelkant peak in particular. But this did not stop us from exploring this beautiful town. We visited Nandadevi temple, Hanuman gufa, Mauni baba's ashram. When we inquired about the Charan Paduka we were informed that it is around 1.5 Kms from the main temple towards Neelkant peak. We started climbing this small hill at the bottom of which Badrinath temple is present. After hiking for a distance of little more than half KM, its all plain for another half KM to reach Charan Paduka. It was the most serene place I have been till now next to only Mansarovar! There are numerous caves, sheltering numerous sadhus/yogis/sadhaks for thousands of years. Charna Pauka is very charming place. I enjoyed the solitude here, only thing which I missed was the view of Neelkant peak from here, which was hiding behind the clouds. Kedarnath is just behind Neelakant peak. After spending 30 mins in this undisturbed silence, we headed towards Badrinath and the bird eye view of Badrinath from here is not to miss.
After visiting the Badrinath shrine, around 11:30AM we made move towards Mana which is just 3-4 KMs away from Badrinath. Mana is the last Indiana village in this route which leads to Indo-Tibet border. One can see the influence of the same on the language and ethnicity of the local people here. We visited Ganesh gufa, Vyasa Gufa, Bheem pul, Keshav Prayag (Confluence of Saraswathi and Alakananda rivers, not part of panch-prayag though). Having decided not visit Vasudhara falls which was 5 KMs away from Mana, since we had to be back at the Badrinath temple for the evening aarthi. Having seen so many water falls, some big-some small in last 15 days, we didn't show any special interest in vising Vasudhara. But we didn't forget to take some pics of Vasudhara from Mana.
Early next morning, the weather had cleared up and there were no clouds to be spotted in the early sky. And we saw the Neelkant peak and I spent a whole hour witnessing the sun light showering this beautiful peak.
After witnessing the morning aarthi, we had breakfast and we said good bye to Badrinath and our next destination was Auli. En route, we even visited Yogdaan badri (which is one of Panch-Badri). We reached Auli sometime after 12PM. Not knowing that, Nandadevi peak is visible from Auli, we regretted our decision of making the bookings for night halt at Josimath. A KM ride in Cable Chair took us the hill and we saw Nandadevi about to hide in the clouds. If we had come 10 mins later we wouldn't have even see her. We took as many pics as possible. During this time of the year, Auli not known to receive much tourists. Its in the winter, people visit this place from around the world for winter sports.We reached Joshimath around 2 in the afternoon, which is 15 KMs from Auli. We visited Narasimha temple in the evening and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The next day we had to travel 255KMs to reach Rishikesh. Only attraction for us was Devprayag which is around 70 Kms away from destination for the day. Devprayag is the main of the five-prayag where Alakananda and Bhagirathi merge their identity in forming Ganga.
We reached our Rishikesh guest house around 6:30 in the eveing, after witnessing the setting sun over Ganga.
The next day, we visited Ram-jhula and Lakshman-jhula and headed towards Haridwar town. After spending few hours in Haridwar, we returned to Rishikesh and prepared for our return journey towards Bangalore. An indescribable sadness had set in my heart to return to the life's routine, after spending good part of last 20 day up in these Himalayan meadows!
