How to reach
A 2.5 km trek will lead you to the serene lake in the middle of the mountains, Deoriatal. It is a beautiful lake with its pristine waters captivating the eternal beauty of Chaukamba, Kedar, and Neelkanth peaks. The trek is generally combined with the Tungnath-Chandrashila peak. But let us focus on the Deoria Tal trek for now. The trek starts from a village called Sari. It is around 435 kms from Delhi by road. You can switch a couple of local buses and taxis to reach there, or take your own car/taxi.
The trail is not very steep but it is scenic for sure. Even if you take breaks at regular intervals, you will be able to reach the lake in 3 hrs.
What to look for:
We reached the top around sunset time and we were welcomed by the sight of huge Mt. Chaukhamba covered with the golden light from the sun and its reflection in the still waters of the Deoria Tal. I have always been a fan of gigantic snow-covered peaks and that moment was like a “Paisa vasool” moment for me. And seeing all the surrounding peaks colored with the orange, red colours was too overwhelming for me. We walked around the lake for some time and as it was getting dark and cold, we decided to move towards our camps. The lake is surrounded by barren ground where you can rest and get some amazing pictures clicked. We just lay there in sun the next day forgetting even if the world outside of that place exists. There is a small tower where you can climb to click some amazing pictures as the surrounding trees won't be obstructing the views. Also a piece of advice, please take a complete round of the lake. It's big and it can take time, but the actual beauty of the place can only be seen from the opposite side of the main view where everyone stops.
Fun Incident:
As usual, we were covering most of the path with the help of shortcuts, which were basically a straight route from point A to B, instead of the pathway. They were surely steeper than the original route but took less time and tbh, they were fun. While returning from the lake, we decided to take a shortcut which we were not really sure of, but still, we took it. Since we were descending, it didn't take much time to go downhill. In next 15-20 mins we were a little worried since we didn't merge into the original pathway. In search of that pathway, we kept descending just left or right down the hill. Now here is the catch, we have to switch mountains during this trek at one point and we were now pretty confident that we had missed that point. We were descending down the first mountain and was very near the end of the hill but there was no sign of anyone. The time was almost 4 and our underwear was almost wet. Our condition escalated from ‘this is so fun!’ to ‘are we even on the right track?’ to ‘Look, there is an abandoned house where we could spend the night’, very quickly. We couldn't have climbed back now as we didn't really remember which way we came so the only option was to climb back up. After a lot of struggle and almost 60-degree angle climbs we finally saw a human being and then finally our pathway. It was one of those “Aaahhh” moments of life where u thank god for being alive.
Where to stay:
It is generally a one-day trek where trekkers would ascend and descend in a single day. But we decided to stay the night somewhere around the Deoria Tal to witness the beauty of the peaks on a full moon night. There are camps around 800 mts above the lake. You can pre-book them or book them on the spot as well. I will surely recommend staying the night in the camps and trek back the next day. You won't be getting a 5 star treatment, rather you will be getting the 5 billion star treatment instead. You will get a home-cooked meal which was surely mouth watering.
All about the night:
One of the major reasons we opted to stay the night in the camps was to witness the sky filled with stars and the gigantic snow-covered peaks which were being lit up by the moonlight. The place was too crowded as it was a Christmas night but me being me, I started scouting the place here and there to find a silent spot where I could sit in peace and witness what the place had to offer me. I finally found a place from where I could get a peek of the Kedar range shinning in the night and with tiny twinkling stars in the background. It was one of the most peaceful moments of the night. After capturing the astonishing details of the range with my eyes, it was now time to get my camera out. I had a beautiful frame in my mind and wanted to see how it would turn out.
Getting the shot:
As soon as my camera was set, I knew it is going to be a tricky shot. The first task was framing through the camera. Due to the darkness in the scene, I had to take 30-sec shots(for max exposure) each time so that I could adjust the frame accordingly. Once the frame was set, now it was time to adjust the exposure triangle(shutter speed, aperture & ISO). As I was only caring a telephoto lens with an average aperture, bumping up the shutter speed with such a lens would start motion blur in the stars. And since the moon was about to set, the light from the moon was not as strong it was a little while ago. So with the aperture going to a minimum 5.6, and keeping shutter speed in control, I had no choice but to start bumping up ISO. I couldn't push the ISO much higher as it will start introducing noise in the frame. So there was no way I was getting the shot(with large focal length) I had imagined without the motion blur in the stars or introducing noise in the image. So I pulled back the focal length and ISO a bit and pushed up the shutter speed a tad to get this final shot. Motion blur is still visible in the stars if you zoom it up. But I was quite satisfied with the shot as the snow on the peaks was beautifully lit giving depth in the shot and the sky was filled with the stars giving the background a soothing texture.
