Dhanaulti, Kanatal, Tehri: Exploring The Mountains With My Little One For The First Time

There are two routes to reach Dhanaulti from Gurgaon, one is via Dehradun and the other one is via Rishikesh. The road from Rishikesh to Dhanaulti is more prone to landslides. So, the resort owner (we were staying at The Hillside Cottages) suggested us to take the Dehradun route. After some initial hiccups, we started from home around 4.30 pm on Friday and reached Dehradun around 11.30 with a couple of breaks in between for snacks and dinner. Ayan was very co-operative in the entire drive and kept on asking when are we going to reach the mountains. We stayed overnight in Dehradun at a friend's place and decided to start the next morning for Dhanaulti after breakfast.

We started from Dehradun at around 10am in the morning. The wide roads in Dehradun quickly gave way for the serpentine mountain roads. After going a little up the hide and seek between the clouds and the mountains started. There is an unending charm to observe the clouds flowing on the hills and to drive through them. It's like an old classic and you never get tired of watching these scenes. It took around 2.5 hours to reach Dhanaulti. Our resort was a little ahead in Jwarna. Though Dhanaulti was totally covered in cloud, there was bright sunshine at our resort and the sight of the valley and mountains overlooking the resort was beautiful. We immediately had lunch and then after some rest checked the places around the resort.

Then around 4pm, we went to the Amber eco park. There was cloud covered here the entire time. The eco park is an enclosed pine forest with trail going to the hilltop and also there are few adventure activities available as well. The tall pine trees gave eerie effect among the clouds and there was very less visibility.

I wish I could have seen the view from the hill top without the clouds, but it was still a beautiful walk. After the walk we had some snacks outside and then returned to our resort when it started getting dark. Back in the resort, we had a good time sitting around the bonfire with the cold settling down after sunset. The best part was, when I asked Ayan if he liked the mountains, his reply was "I love the Mountains". This just made my day.

Next morning we woke up with the clouds surrounding us all around. A walk around inside the property , observing the clouds passing by and the changing colours of the mountains as the sun rose was soul soothing and refreshing. After breakfast, we started for Tehri Dam. The dam is around 45 kms from our place and took us nearly 2 hrs to reach there. We first went towards new Tehri to view the dam from top and then came back to the Tehri lakeside. There are a few boating and water sports activity you can take up at the lake. The lake has a very pretty setup, almost comparable to Nainital but not as crowded and touristy. We took a motor boat ride for 1.5 hours, which cost us 4.5K for 4 adults and 3 children. There are actual two options , 1st is 30 min ride and the other was this 1.5 hrs ride. As we had time on our side, we decided to take the later one.

BTW, they would say, in the 1.5 hrs ride, they would take around the floating restaurant, floating hotel and the bridge. But there is no floating restaurant, its just an abandoned ferry, maybe was planned to be a restaurant. When we started the ride, the sun was over our head and too bright, but gradually as the cool breeze caressed our face, the heat was forgotten. The views were beautiful, so was the water and we didn't realise how the time went by, and best thing was Ayan was enjoying it a lot, even though he was a bit sleepy when we started for the boating. One thing to take care is that, there are no good options for food nearby the dam, except for few snacks stall, so it's better to plan accordingly.

Next in our agenda was to just get back to the resort and relax. But as we were passing through Kanatal, we had slowed down looking for a place to have snacks, a couple of locals approached us to ask if we want to go on a ride inside Kaudia forest. While planning for Dhanaulti, we wanted to include a hike inside Kaudia forest, but with a toddler around, dropped the plan. But I think anybody coming here should plan for it. It's a beautiful forest and the hike is of around 8 kms back and forth and the entry fee is just Rs20 per head, if you want to go on a walk. It's open from morning 6 to evening 6. So when we heard of the Jeep Safari, we agreed for it without thinking twice. The cost was 1800 for an open jeep Safari.

After a quick refreshment we started for the ride, without knowing what to expect. But most of the times, the unplanned activities are the best ones, and this one was no different. The tall pine tress, the springs, the mountains , clouds , valley and the moon all added up to provide a magical experience. Best part was the walk at the end of the trail. On every trip there is a moment when you feel the happiest and most free. In this trip this was the time, the small walk on the hill, my happy place. Ayan had his own problem though, to him the bugyal looked like grassland and he started looking for zebras (as he had learnt a few days back that zebras live in grassland), but nevertheless he enjoyed the walk. While returning the clouds had come down and the drive till our car parking with the clouds kissing us was just awesome, just pure happiness.

After a snacks break in kanatal we returned to our resort. The moon and the clouds were playing hide and seek and the weather was turning romantic. Ayan was tired, and went to sleep early . We adults settled down around the bonfire for some drinks and music, with dinner and chit chat going on till midnight. The day turned out to be perfect.