Uttarakhand: The rouses of Rudraprayag, Chopta and Chandrashila

Uttarakhand also known as Devbhoomi has long been known for its places of worship. Over years, it has been a congregation of devotees and adventure seekers alike. This blog is an attempt to throw a light on both of these aspects of the Himalayan state as we explore the Rudraprayag district. Our destinations would be Deoriatal, Chopta, Chandrashila.
Date Start 11 Oct 2020
Om namah shivay 🙏🕉️

Being a direct bus, it departed from the holy town at 9:00 am. There were earlier buses but only went till Rudraprayag and not further.
Snaking its way through the mountains, our bus rested at an unnamed spot for lunch.

Post lunch, the journey resumed towards Ukhimath. Despite an hour delay due to a highway project, we managed to reach our destination by 7pm.
The night was spent at Shivalik Guest House owned by Mr Negi. It is a well maintained facility with clean and seperate bathrooms and washrooms. We slept soundly that night owing to the lack of sleep for 24 hrs.

Woke up to some spell binding views of Garhwal Himalayas! The weather was cold but the air and views were crisp. Definitely was worth it, getting up early and seeing a magical sunrise.

After having a hearty breakfast of bread and omelette, we decided to move towards Sari, the basecamp for today's destination; Deoriatal, an alpine lake situated at an elevation of 2438 mtr.
Luckily for us, we found two guys headed to Chopta in a car and after requesting them, hitchhiked in their vehicle for a scenic ride ahead.
The road to Sari falls on a diversion on the way to Chopta. We were very fortunate that we hiked the remaining 4 km uphill.

The hike to Sari is a treat to your eyes as you get to see valleys, mountains, giant boulders and waterfalls. We walked at a leisurely pace, soaking in the Himalayan ambience that surrounded us.

Reached Sari sometime around 1:30 pm and explored the tiny hamlet. After exploring the area around a bit we decided to relax in a restaurant and spend some time before beginning our way to Deoriatal, a gentle 2.5 km uphill trek. It was around 3:30 pm that we began our journey towards Deoriatal.

Slowly but surely we made our way upwards taking a few breaks in between. Meanwhile the views...

By early evening, we were there at the lake, searching for a spot to spend the night at.
After settling for a reasonable amount with a homestay owner, a package which included both dinner and breakfast, we left our baggage in our rooms and headed for the alpine lake.

Although the Deoriatal was beautiful, we couldn't spend much time there as it quickly turned dark (being Autumn). After having a hot dinner under a starry sky, we retired for the night to rest ourselves.

The vegetation was struck by the morning rays, throwing a golden hue to everything. A forest guard told us that there is a meadow known as Rohini Bugyal which connects Deoriatal to Chopta, but the permission to use that route depends on a guide. So we just decided to circumnavigate the lake. We also found the spot which features prominently on all trekking companies' travelogue for Deoriatal.

Breakfast was delicious consisting of aloo parathas. Famished as we were, we ate to our fill. After paying our due for food and lodging, we walked down the same path of the day before and reached Sari in 45 minutes flat.

After a couple of hours, our first stop had arrived; Tungnath temple. However, the temple was closed due to the pandemic and we decided to relax in the endless Bugyal that lay in front of us; simply magic.

The views were so good and the gentle breeze so soothing that we did not feel like moving from there. A full half an hour was spent laying in the grassland.
It was after some effort that we finally pulled ourselves up and began hiking towards Chandrashila, our final destination for the day. This final stretch of the journey is on a steep incline at 2 km from Tungnath.

The night was spent in Chopta.