Chopta Tungnath Trek
Did the Chopta Tungnath Trek long back in April of 2007. The memories are however still very fresh, and the photographs fresher!
Enjoy!
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Did the Chopta Tungnath Trek long back in April of 2007. The memories are however still very fresh, and the photographs fresher!
Enjoy!
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Early 2010, I had taken this club membership which entitled me to be a guest for some 15 odd parties in and around delhi throughout the year, not a single of which I attended! AND, it gave me a couple of nights free stay by Country Club Resorts! Honestly what I was interested in the free stay, which was not really so free, as I realised later!
Before the US trip, my travel plans were getting changed every week and I just could not go! When I was in the US, mom dad for some reason did not go either! So we decided that we could go as soon as I am back!
We did!
I reached Noida on Saturday and left for Badrinath on Monday afternoon. We took a long break in Meerut where I met Naani after a while. She is not doing well at all these days. Not even able to speak 🙁 I hope she recovers soon! The improvement in her voice and movement was seen after we were back from our trip, so that makes me feel good and better!
The drive was very long and mostly uneventful except the extremely bad roads at a lot of places, 4 pit stops and a forced break at Rishikesh. We had reached Rishikesh at 0300 hrs and there is a restriction on driving ahead on the hilly area between 2030 hrs and 0500 hrs, hence we had to wait before we could move ahead! This forced break was kind of good as it gave our cabbie, Kamal a couple of hours to catch his nap and prepare him for the long 12-14 hour drive ahead!
I have always respected the hill drivers for their discipline and decent driving, but this time it was very different. All the local cabs seems to be in a rush to catch a train which they had already missed, and were almost breathing down our necks with continuous honking and idiotic over takes ! This was the first time that I have seen such reckless driving on the hills. And I could not help but notice the laaaarge number of cabs as well on the route… The last time when I went to Govindghat with Arobindo, we did not find many cabs on the way, but this time around there was one every five minutes!!!
Thankfully on the way there were no fresh landslides to stop the traffic and we kept moving slowly but with ease. The road condition really got worse after Chamoli, and after Joshimath till Badrinath, it was practically no roads for at least 80% of the 44 kms. This was the toughest part of the entire drive, for us and I am sure for Kamal as well, because even at on single lane paths, we had the assoholotic local cabbies making our lives tough with constant honking and overtaking. We had to stop for the gate system at Joshimath and then there was another forced stop at Pandukeshwar (another gate system for the same reasons as Joshimath)
Our second forced pit stop was at Joshimath, where you have to pass through a gate system. The traffic ahead of Joshimath usually travels one way, because of the narrow roads and the tough and dangerous terrain. We waited there for about 90 minutes before the last gate for the day open at 1630 hrs. This is when I finally took my camera out and made an effort to take a few pictures. Rest of the time I was more than happy just enjoying the views and breathing deep, with a few clicks here and there!
It took us a good 2.5 hours before we reached the holy town of Shri Badrinath. It was freaking cold already, and I had to brave the chill in my shorts and a shawl (was just too lazy to take out my lowers). We checked into a cheap hotel with the bare minimum facilities. Changed and rushed to the temple for darshan before the doors were closed for the night. It had started drizzling, and it just made it colder! Brrrrr!!!
Papa was the last and lucky one to enter the main temple door after much requests to the priest, while the rest of us (ME, Mom, my two cousins) waiting outside in the compound. The priest then closed the main door of the temple giving Pa and Uncle God some decent time together! He came out after a few minutes and we rushed back to our hotel with wet and freezing feet. The next action item was to have dinner. Shops close early in the small town; however we did manage to eat well at a restaurant nearby. I was very tired and sleepy with the long day and almost slept on the dinner table itself: P I was not even sure of the menu the next morning!!! : P We rushed back to our rooms after dinner and it took me two quilts, my shawl, and 2 minutes to take off to my dreamland.
I was the first one to get up the next morning and this was around 0230 hrs, only to sleep again and wake up around 0500 hrs. I got up and went out of the hotel only to see one of the best views I had seen in my entire life! A majestic mountain with snow all around, overlooking the town in that dark blue morning sky!!! I just could not take my eyes off it. Went back in, took the camera out and just waited for the light to be good enough to take a few pictures. I roaming around in that freezing temperature loving the entire feel of the Indian cold, and the view of the majestic Mt. Neelkanth in front of me. The town was also getting up with people walking around the streets, the tea stalls warming up milk and preparing vegetables, the cabbies trying to start, jump start and fire start (See one of the pictures in the Badrinath set on Flickr) their vehicles.
Mount Neelkanth after a while with the sun shining bright on it !
Bhagwan Singh, our hotel attendent. Very prompt and quick!
One of the many segregated dustbins for organic/ inorganic waste in the town !
We finally got ready to go to the temple around 0700 hrs. The skies were clear and the temperature was getting better every minute. Had a lovely walk around the temple with the sun shining all nice and bright. I took a few pictures and we were ready to head back home by 0900 hrs.
We left the town around 0930 hrs (There is a gate system for vehicles going back as well and we had missed the gate by some 30 minutes and the next gate was at 1130 hrs). We were still allowed to pass through I guess because the traffic from the other side would take sometime before they bump into us. The rest of the drive was pretty bumpy as expected till Chamoli and got slightly better post that.
We visited another temple called the Dhara Devi Mandir just before RudraPrayag on our way back, and were at my Mama’s place near Meerut around 0300 hrs after a long drive of approximately 18 hours. Kudos to our driver Kamal who managed to drive for this long, and saved us at least two night halts which I had earlier planned. All in all a wonderful trip.
Time for some objective information:
Route : New Delhi – Meerut – Haridwar – Rishikesh(No traffic allowed before 0500 hrs or after 2030 hrs) – DevPrayag (Another check post for night traffic) – Srinagar – RudraPrayag – KarnaPrayag – Chamoli – Nand Prayag – Joshimath(Gate System; Last Gate 1603 hrs) – (Govindghat/Vishnu Prayag/Pandukeshwar) – Badrinath
Distance to Badrinath from Haridwar: Approx 350 kms
Time: Minimum 12 hrs ex. Haridwar (Add buffer for landslides and pit stops and the total off-road experience after Joshimath)
Transport: Many buses from Haridwar around 0400 hrs/ Local taxies run at 11.50-12.50 Rs/Km (plains/hills)
Food on the way: Carry your own biscuits and snacks and water. Decent road side stalls and small restaurants at all major towns enroute
Route very prone to Landslides to plan your journey in non-rainy times
Link to : Badrinath Set on Flickr
Hope you enjoyed ! Please excuse any grammer or other silly english mistakes. The small blogger editing window takes a lot more patience than I have to ensure everything is good in the post ! Relook at a picture you like, when you find an english mistake and let me know of it too, so that I can correct it 😛
And now let me talk about my experience…
I was kinda scared that I would not be able to make the June Trip… and I was not sure where I wanted to go… I was discussing getting out of Delhi on the ODM day too… and looked like it would be just fine… we decided on the 25th wala weekend and it looked doable… Asked a couple of people… Aseem was ready… Deepak was game… Akash also was keen, though he dropped out at the last minute…
We tried hard to take Rohit along… but there were things that he could not run away from and go with us… so he stay put at his place over the weekend… too bad he missed it…
Aseem and Deepak were at my place by 2100 hours on Friday night, we had thought of sleeping for a few hours before we start an early morning drive… had a nice dinner at the Vishal’s kitchen and managed to sleep only by 0000 hours… rather go to bed around that time… kept talking and managed a sleep of only about a couple of hours… I was the last to sleep and the first to get up… which meant that I was awake at 0230 hours… got ready and woke the rest of the gang up @ 0300 hours… we managed to leave at 0325 hrs from my place and then went to the ATM… and managed to officially start our journey at 0341 hours…
Zoomed past the lesser mortals, took the right turns after asking the policemen about the route on BegumPul in Meerut… I could not believe the kind of road I was driving on the entire way… I was hoping for a much worse experience… actually was prepared for it… but could not really get out of the surprise till we reached Kotdwar… I was comfortably driving at 90-100 km/hr most of the time… oh… we almost hit a lot of stupid crows… who were not ready to fly off the middle of the road till the car was about 50 metres away from them… and we almost hit a few donkeys because they strayed on the wrong side of the road…phew.. that was a close shave… I do not care if the donkey had died on the spot… but a scratch on the car would have been a good enough reason for me to kill the rest of the donkeys and bury the owner alive with all of them!!!
Anyway… I was not really surprised after completing the first 210 kms in about 3 hours… we reached Lansdowne around 0730 hours… and then spent time looking for a place for ourselves… GMVN was booked… Fairydale was booked… we had breakfast there… had read about the kinda paranthas that place makes… but it was just average… I have had better stuff and more then once… so once our stomachs were full, we decided to find another place to stay… tried two very shady hotels in the main market but both of them were full too… so we were not stuck with just one option, the Anand Retreat !!! we talked to the guy there and got a room, a semi deluxe room, in 750 bucks… while driving to the place, it started raining pretty heavily and we reached there in about 30 odd minutes in the middle of a heavy downpour… driving on a mud-stone track in the kind of rain is definitely not one of the best things I have done to Radha… but she was there with me right through and we were safe… checked into the room… and were kinda stunned to see the number of bugs in the toilet… this is not what we had planned ? but there was li’il we could do now… it was raining cats and dogs outside… and we three were stuck in a room in the middle of nowhere… anyway…I decided to take a nap… and quickly fell asleep while watching the TV… got up fresh in two hours… It had stopped raining and Deepak had checked out most of the surroundings… Aseem gave us the idea of getting out of there for good.. and staying somewhere else… we bought it right away and decided to first drive around the place and see whatever we could and then decide what we really wanted to do and where we could stay in the night… went back to the Town, drove to a so called Lake, did not bother to get out of the car, took a u-turn and went to see the St. John’s church, The St. Mary’s Church ( I think I am messing up the name here) and the Tip-n-Top Point… went to snow-view point… and then rushed straight outside Lansdowne to Tarkeshwar Mahadev temple a good 45 kms away… reached there in good time but realised that the last 5.6 kms were mud-stone road… and I was not keen on taking the car there… Deepak and Aseem were not too sure either… so we took a u-turn… parked the car there for a while, had tea from a local shop and started back to Kotdwar… the plan was to reach Haridwar ASAP !!! I was expecting to reach there by 2100 hours… but we made it in good time this time too… Deepak slept on the back seat while me and Aseem talked our way throughout the drive back and managed to reach Haridwar around 2000 hours… nice roads again… beautiful sunset… and also a good 2 hours of conversation… I missed out on atleast a thousand shots because I was driving… I wish to capture them sometime when someone else is driving…
Haridwar was full of people… most of them from Delhi… ?… and that ensured that we did not get a room in Haridwar as well… so a quick decision to go to Rishikesh was taken… and we reached Rishikesh in about an hours time… got a room in the Maduban… this is where we eat most of the time… and this time managed to get a room there for 350 bucks… extra bed for 150 bucks… in all 500 bucks for the night…
Went to Chotiwala for Dinner but it had already closed, checked out a few more places to eat but no luck… and at the end we ate at a small road-side restaurant near the parking for Ram Jhula… not bad eh !!!
Walked back to Maduban, and crashed on the beds… I had opted for the floor… so I managed to enjoy the sleep on the floor… got up at 0400 hours on Sunday… and rushed to Haridwar to catch the Morning Atari… it seemed we were late and we decided to have a bath before going to the Har Ki Pauri… I had the holy bath after a long time… and I loved it… it happened to be some auspicious occasion too which I came to know after I reached home… so I am sure it helped me wash away some of the deadly sins committed by me in the last few months… we went to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale, to have the poories, but they had not started serving… so we had to be content with some Khasta Kachauri and some Halwa and some Gulab Jamuns… moved out of Haridwar and reached Roorkee to have the Lassi there, but the shop again was closed.. and this time to keep us company, Aseem bought some Mazaa, some chips, Appy Fizz, and Little Hearts… nice… thereon the struggle to overtake started… there was a bumper to bumper traffic on the opposite side… to over a vehicle I was like waiting for atleast 5 minutes on an average… things became better once we reached the Meerut Bypass… it had started raining too…
We stopped at Kadrabad to have the famous Jain Shikanji… this time it was better then the last 4-5 times I had it… because of less crowd I guess…
By the time we reached Modinagar it had started raining very heavily… and I drove with the left tyres in water throughout the town… the other side of the road was flooded as well with water… rain stopped after Muradnagar… and it was nice drive back home from there… dropped Deepak at the NOIDA Mode… and Aseem drove back to his place in his car which was parked at my place…
So this was the trip!!! I enjoyed writing as much about it as the drive itself… it was nice to know Deepak a li’il more… Aseem was nothing unusual, he has been with me for a number of years now and I more or less know him!!!
And for people who missed out this trip!!! Well I cannot say much but tell them that they missed out on one of the best drives I have ever been to!!!
Oh!!! And Next month, I want to go to Bhakra Nangal… anyone Game?
I was back from office by 1400 hrs to attend myclass.. and back home by 1700 hrs after my class… Aro was not yet in.. coz the bus he was coming had a flat tyre.. and that delayed his arrival to my place… he finally managed to reach by 1800 hrs… and then we started packing our stuff… two huge bags… and about 50 line items needed to be packed for this long 8 day trip…. we were still not sure about that plan.. about when and where we would be except that we have to move out of home asap and reach the Lal Quila to catch our bus…
we left around 1900 hrs and took an auto to reach the Chandni Chawk Red light… i felt that the 5 rolls i was carrying were not good enough and i needed more.. so we went to the market there and grabbed another 5 pack of the Fuji 100 rolls… the shopkeeper gladly gave them to me for 220 bucks.. a good Rs. 2 more then the price in the market… next stop the travel agent’s counters.. and we found out that the first bus to Rishikesh would not leave before 2200 hrs… we were not ready to wait for that kinda time and move to ISBT to catch a bus…
We managed to get good seats in a faily decent 2X2 UP Roadways bus.. called the Pawan Gold… and took our seats at 2100 hours… at that time there are loads and loads of buses to Rishikesh… actually every 2 minutes you will see a bus moving into that direction… this bus looked like the most comfy of all.. and we took our tickets… cost of the tickets… 312 bucks for two… the bus finaly moved at 2145 hours after we had two big cups of the Mother Daily Mango Delight Icecream… we were expecting to reach Rishikesh by 0330 hrs in the morning… but a traffic jam after Muzaffar nagar increased the travel time by over 90 mintues…
~ UP roadways bus we took from Delhi to Rishikesh, seen here parked at the hotel near Khatauli… we had to push this bus to start it here.. making it a true 2X2 Pushback 🙂
Saturday, 9-July
We managed to reach Rishikesh only around 0530 hours… thanks to Traffic Jam.. and quickly rushed to the Srinagar Bas Stand.. this is where we had to take the next bus from… We were planning to go to Badrinath… we were told that we could take a bus run by GMOU Ltd. stands for the Garwal Motor Owners Union Ltd… infact most of the buses on this route are associated with this body…
when we reached there… we got to know that there was no way we could reach Badrinath by night.. as the bus was scheduled to move only at 0630 hours and it would reach Joshimath in about 12 hours… late enough to skip the last Gate from Joshimath… we had no other option but to board the bus… it was a small… actually reach small bus.. and we managed to get the first seats from the back on the gate’s side… i could hardly manged my legs between the two seats.. and was wondering how i would manage to be there in that bus for about 12 hours… trust me it was not a very nice thought… anyway.. the bus moved at 0630 hours for a destination about 300 kms and 12 hours away…..
we stopped for a quick breakfast after about an hour.. and had some Aaloo Paranthaas with Curd…
~Our first break after Rishikesh.. what you see in the foto is the bus which took us to Joshimath…
Long travel that was.. and the view outside the windows was really beautiful.. most of the time was spent sleeping and the rest looking outside the window…. we passed through.. Srinagar ( in Garhwal), RudraPrayag, KaranPrayag, Nand Prayag, PipalKoti etc to reach Joshimath in the evening…
We got stuck in a Jam caused by a landslide and had to waste about 45 minutes waiting for it to get cleared… and once it was done.. we moved ahead…
~ The road being cleared… Border Roads Organisation has done a great job with the roads on this route…
One thing which i noticed here in the jam was the disclipline with parking… reminded me of the reason why we got late on our way to Rishikesh.. the traffic from one side of the road would try and take as much space as they can.. and then block all the lanes that the traffic from the other side can use to cross.. but here it was different… the vehicles were nicely parked at one side of the road… and ensured that there was enough space forthe vehicles from the other side to cross when the road clears up…
~ Notice the way vehicles have been parked… rare sight in a jam if this was in Delhi…
We manged to reach Joshimath earlier then expected.. it was 1700hrs… and we got to know that we had missed the last gate only by 30 minutes… if we had not been caught in that Jam.. we would have reached Badrinath in the night itself… anyway… li’il that we could do about it… we searched for the GMVN ( Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) Guest house… and did not find it upto the mark… the room rent was 350 bucks for a night.. and it was not in the best shape either.. so we decided to look for something cheaper and better.. and then checked in a hotel called Hotel Sriram right next to the Guest house.. for a room which was for Rs. 250 a night.. definitely better then the guest house.. and the owner of the hotel was a very nice fella himself.. we spent about 30 minutes talking to him before we moved into the room… the view from the room was very beautiful… the air pure and the feeling great…
~ The view from our room at Joshimath…
Took a back with freezing cold water… and had a quick dinner before sleeping… did not take much time for our tired bodies to get to sleep… we had decided that instead of the going to Badrinath we would go to Govindghat.. and then to Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers before we move to Badrinath…
Sunday, 10-July
We got up early… around 0500 hours… managed to reach the gate by 0545 hours.. this is where we could get a bus to Govindghat…. managed to get the seats in a decent bus which moved at 0600 hrs… and we were in Govindghat by 0645 hours….
~The Gate system at Joshimath… to avoid any jams on the small road ahead !!!
We just could not stop looking at the mountains when we reached Govindghat.. the view was magical.. clouds all over.. huge majestic mountains… lovely wind…
~ Got down of the bus at Govindghat… the view was too beautiful to move from there…
and then we received a shock !!!!
we had thought that we could take a cab/taxi something to Ghangria… but this is where we realised that we had to walk 13 kms to reach Ghangria also known as Govinddham… anyway… li’il we could do about it… so we starting walking… and realised it in the first 500 metres that it was not going to be easy… though the weather was good.. there was no sun.. and it was kinda cool too… we were still all in sweat… and we had bags which weighed over 10 kgs each… it was going to be one challanging journey…
~ Rafting anyone 🙂 the sound of the waters could tell you about its might too…
I just could not take it anymore after about 6 kms.. and had to hire a pony… no no.. not for myself.. but the bag… talking about ponies… this entire path had a never ending smell of horse shit…
so basically you would breath air.. walk on stones.. listen to a small but very mighty river and smell horst shit on this way from Govindghat to Ghangria… there are plenty of small shops all along the path where you can get cold drinks (the 500 ml bottles) for 25 bucks… glucose buiscit packets for about 10 bucks… and anything to eat… and if it is packed… it is going to be awefully expensive.. and the prices would increase as the altitude increases….
We reached Ghangria around 1500 hours… very tired.. and very hungry.. and it had also started raining a li’il… and we did not have our raingear with us.. it was in the bag.. and the bags with the TattoWalla… who had already reached about 30 minutes before us…
we had a quick afternoon meal… well.. for a meal we had some noodles… and then we checked into this small but decent hotel called the Hotel Pritam…
We were too tired and it did not take us more then 30 minutes to fall asleep… which means were already in deep sleep by 1600 hours….
We woke up around 2000 hrs… i guess we were hungry.. and then had a nice walk around the place… and some bad dinner… and some great Gulab Jamuns ( tat too at a price of just 5 bucks each)… now with everything so bloddy expensive there.. this treat was more then wat we could ask for… anyway…after having the sweets we headed back to our hotel… applied some move on the legs… they were in real bad pain.. and then went off to sleep to get up early next morning…
Monday, 11-Jul
Woke up at 0430 hours.. thanks to the alarm in my mobile… an alarm clock was all it could have been used for.. coz there were no signals i could catchafter rishikesh.. anyway.. that was something that i really liked… no one could call me up… away from the world….
so by 0530 hours were out of the hotel.. had some biscuits and some tea at a tea stall and then started our trek for Hemkund Sahib…. had no clue what were heading for… we thought what we had experienced in the last three kms to Ghangria was the worst that could happen.. it was a climb at 45 degs.. and we were walking on stones… had to look at every stone we were stepping on… otherwise would end up having some strained muscles.. and fractures…
anyway.. we knew it was going to be tough… 6 kms… and moving from 3049 m to Hemkund Sahib @ 4329 m.
~ 100s of Ponies are there in the morning… costs about150 bucks to reach the Glacieron the pony and then walk from there…
We were walking on a path which was not one of the best laid.. i remember looking at every stone that i kept my feet on…
~ The kinda path we were walking on.. this is a better part of the entire way…
But trust me.. it was worth it… the views that we had from the way…. the air that we were breathing.. the faith that we witnessed… it made it all worth it… people of all ages.. kids, women, men.. old or young… everyone was determined to climb up and reach the Gurudwara…
~ Look at the steep climb… some determination it takes to do this trek…
~ What a view… made all the pain worth it…
Finally after walking for over 4 hours… crossing a Glacier.. and climbing up over 1200 steps ( there were two ways to the Gurudwara after the glacier.. we could take the stairs or the slope.. we chose to walk on the steps… knowing that it is tougher to climb up the steps.. we still took’em… wanted to reach faster actually)
~ The Glacier we had to cross to reach Hemkund Sahib… looks scary.. and was too..
~Ice on my hand… and me on a Glacier…
The view at the Guru Dwara was breathtaking… it was just too beautiful to be described in words… i do not know enough adjectives to describe what i saw… so will just stick to some pics…
~ The lake near Hemkund Sahib…can’t believe i actually dip my feet in it…
I managed to gather enough courage to dip my legs in the lake near the GuruDwara and wash my face with the water.. it was freezing cold… can’t tell u how bad i was shivering after i did that dare.. and there were ppl who were taking a dip in there.. .phew.. how did they manage it.. is something that they only know… to make things worse.. it started raining.. which dipped the temprature to sub-zero level and then the only pair of socks that i was wearing got wet… man !!! i was not in a good situation there…
went inside the GuruDwara…
came back…
had some hot and really tasty Khichdi and Tea at the Langar.. and then started walking back…
which turned out to be more painful and long then we expected.. every time i was keeping myfoot down on a stone.. the entire leg used to cry out loud in pain.. from my ankles to my knees… it seemed that i just could not take it any longer.. but still there was no other option but to carry on… and so we did…
and reached Ghangria at 1500 hours… with almost broken bones.. had managed to save myself from slipping a couple of times as well… the knees and the ankles were in pain like hell… and yet there was a satisfaction of achieving something that a lot of ppl do not…
~ Ghangria when we came back from Hemkund Sahib…
before we could sit down for lunch in our hotel.. there was a huge sound of stones falling.. and it was just behind ourhotel… we had to run hard to save ourself… the sound made us feel that a stone could hit us any moment.. but we were lucky.. though the noises were scary… the landslide was at a distance… so no harm done to anyone…
had a good lunch…. and then were off to sleep by 1630hours… not before applying lot of Move to our legs… this is were we realised how soothing these lotions can be…
got up around 2000 hrs for dinner… had a quick bite.. and then our favorite Gulab Jamuns and went off to sleep again by 2200 hrs… tmrw was going to be a long day… we had to go to the Valley of Flowers.. and then back to Govindghat….
Tuesday, 12-Jul
Woke up early morning… but coz we were so damn tired.. justcould not get out of our beds… managed to somehow get moving at 0530 hrs… the legs were still in a bad shape..lots of pain still.. but we had to do it…
so packed our biscuits.. and some peanuts… and started for the VOF….
~ a bridge that we had to cross on our way to the Valley…
soon after we entered the gate.. we realised we were in a different world… i could only hear a small river flowing nearby.. and could listen to the insects… even breating heavily would be considered noise there…
it was just to beautiful.. and right now.. i hate my vocab.. i just cannot find enough words to write what i felt… just cannot 🙁
anyway… the pics might just help…
~ Though this was not the peak time for flowers… we still managed to catch up with a lot of them…
We were again walking on some steep paths.. though the pain was there… the beauty of the surroundings.. kept the thoughts of the pain away…
~The trek is too beautiful… steep but beautiful… tiring and relaxing…
Crossed two small glaciers.. and two landslide areas with complete care… and got stuck at a glacier about 500 metres from the Valley… it looked too dangerous to move ahead on that.. though i had a stick with me.. i was not sure i should move ahead… i was scared.. coz there were no one around to help… and a minor mistake there could have meant… death… that too in cold waters… just could not take that risk…. so stayed there for sometime.. enjoyed the view.. and headed back to the hotel.. so that we could start our journey to Govindghat from there…
~ This is what the Valley of Flowers looks like…
~The Valley of Flowers… all nature.. pure as pure can be…
~ The glacier we could not cross… Aro became too sad after this… though i was kinda content with watever we managed…
We were back in Govinddham (Ghanngria) by 0930 hrs.. had some heavy breakfast, hired a pony to carry our bags and then moved started for Govindghat by 1015 hours… Had to walk for another 13 kms… we knew its going to be a tough walk ahead… and were determined to make it through…
so we started…
~ Some camp just before Gangria… probably was an Army camp… also had a helipad there..
~ Walking in the middle of the nature with almost dead feet… pain and pleasure together…
We reached Govindghat by 1500hrs…
~ These shoes were brand new when i moved out on friday.. and look at them now 🙂
this where i saw remains of a tragedy which struck the small town a few days back.. a flash flood… about 11 people lost there lives…. and about 230 vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition… 200 two wheelers and about 4-wheelers… the area was still being cleared and the scooters and the bikes were being dumped at the sides… it was scary to see the state of these….
~ A bike as good as waste in GovindGhat… reminds me of the power of Nature…
had to wait till 1715 hours before we got a bus for Badrinath…. we had again missed the previous gate by just about 15 minutes…
what we landed into was another jam.. because of a landslide… waited for an hour for that to clear up… and then decided to go back to Govindghat for the night… we were already too tired to take it any longer…. and then God knows that came to our minds… both of us decided to get back home…
the decision was quick and was not questioned by anyone of the two.. so we took at jeep to Joshimath and landed at the same hotel… where the owner was really glad to see us…
Talked to him for a good 45 minutes before we went to the room… then i rushed to get the tickets for the first bus out of Joshimath to Haridwar…
had a great dinner after a nice warm bath… and slept after repacking the entire stuff by 2200 hours…
Wednesday, 13-jul
Got up at 0330 hrs… and move out by 0400 hrs to take the Himgiri Express to Haridwar…. the drive back also involved a lot of sleep… beautiful sceneries around… some fotografs…
~ The Himgiri Express parked at a place called Teen Dhara…
~ Notice the small white car being pulled up…please drive very carefully always…
~C the Earth Movers in action again…
We were in haridwar by 1600 hrs.. looked for a place to keep our bags… and then moved to the Har ki Paudi… stayed there for while.. before going to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale.. to stuff our tummies with Poories, Halwa, Kachories, and Gulab Jamuns… then had some good Lassi… followed by a fantabolous pan….
bak to the Bus stand by 1715 hours.. and took the first bus to Delhi…. a failry decent bus.. the front seats again.. so that we could get enough leg room…. though we were expecting to reach delhi by 2200 hours… a Jam struck again.. and this time near Khatauli… just before Sakauti… spent a good 2.5 hours there before we reached the ISBT late night around 0100 hours…
it was a trip well done… too muchhard work.. and surroundings that i had never seen before… i would like to go again to the same places… but then this time i would act a li’il more intelligent…
we managed the entire trip in somewhere around 2500 bucks per head… and here are a few learnings from the trip :
– Start working out atleast a month in advance when you are planning such long treks…
– Stop smoking for this time period at least….
– Always carry a pair of socks with you 😉
– A stick always helps when you are climbing up or down…
– Always look before you step forward… make sure that you do not step on the wrong side of the stones…
– Carry along with you loads of will power and mental strength….
waiting for another trip already… well.. thats what i am …..
~Weather back home was great as well… took this foto after some good showers on Thursday