AN ESCAPE TO UTTARAKHAND #CHANDRASHILA-DEVARIYATAL

It was a long awaited trip that we when in our college planned, though when the actual planning was done the number of people was around 6 which finally settled down to 3 on the day of happening. Yet we decided to go for it as all of us knew that we will hardly get any time later. We decided to keep it short and our starting point to be Dehradun as it was the place where we all spent the 4 most beautiful years of our life yet(college life!).

The destination that we all decided came down to Chandrashila though Devariyatal was a later add on to it. So the route map that we followed was actually Dehradun-Rudraprayag-Aukhimath-Chopta-Tungnath Chandrashila-Chopta-Sari-Devariyatal-Sari-Rudraprayag-Dehradun. Pheww!! too much for a 3 days trip yet we managed it well. :)

So, day 1 began from Dehradun, we boarded the bus early in the morning at 7 am directly upto Rudraprayag and it took us 8 hours to reach there.(due to some construction work in the way,it took us 2 hours extra). The journey was quite a bumpy ride which was expected as we were travelling on state government bus but the mesmerizing views on the way did compensated for it. From Rudraprayag, we then took a shared cab to Ukhimath and then a personal cab upto Chopta. We reached Chopta at around 7 pm, a 12 journey till now in total and we were all exhausted. There were a few shops in chopta and that too were closing. Electricity was not available there and they had to rely on solar power. The room that we took for our stay was also a tiny one and we could hardly adjust there but the tiredness took away that thought. Although, upto Rudraprayag, the temperature was quite high and we were feeling comfortable in our t-shirts but as soon as we reached Chopta, we had to get our jackets on as the temperature was already very low(2-3'c) and we were told by a shopkeeper that it will reach below zero at night.(chilling!!!!). Day 1 ended here and we did a little planning for the consecutive days of our journey and finally bid a farewell to the night.

(there are only 2-3 buses from dehradun directly to rudraprayag and that too in the morning so start early if you are planning from Dehradun. You can board the bus either from railway station or bus terminal however you will find plenty of buses from Rishikesh. Bus ticket from Dehradun to Rudraprayag- rs. 305/person, rudraprayag to aukhimath- rs. 80/person, aukhimath to chopta- rs. 300/person. Overnight stay and one time meal at chopta cost us around rs.300/person)

Next morning, we got ready by 7 am, had our breakfast, took blessings of Lord Shiva and started our trek. We took all our luggage with us, 3 backpacks actually(one of our biggest mistakes!) as we planned to leave for Devariyatal the same day. We were also accompanied by 2 Argentinian travellers who were travelling now for a month long in India. The trail was well defined with beautiful views of the forests and mountains right in front of us. The beauty of mount Chaumkhamba was a marvel to witness yet the snowy trail left us awestruck. We continued on it taking pictures along the way and talking to our Argentinian buddies( the common Messi effect did came along as well! :)). We reached Tungnath Mahadev temple by around 11 am(some 4 km trek from Chopta) and now we were at an altitude of some 12,073 ft which we could actually feel. The temple had a soothing atmosphere around it and we decided to stay there for sometime. We could not pray as the temple was closed but the aura of the place is hard to explain in words. As we were short of time, we decided to move towards Chandrashila Peak after clicking a few pictures there. One of my friends decided to stay back at Tungnath only and wait for two of us till we come back(backpacks did take their toll plus he was not comfortable with his shoes as well :o ).

Now, the trek from Tungnath Mahadev temple to Chandrashila was a completely different one as the trail was completely under snow and we were even told by a few people coming back from the peak to do the trek a little carefully yet both of us knew that this might be once in a lifetime and thus we decided to continue.( that Adrenaline pump which forbade us to do it,i tell you!!). We were just following the footmarks of the people and even faced difficulty to walk as the trail was slippery. Even a few times we thought of giving up yet the mere picture of reaching at the top made us keep going. Finally after trekking for another 2 hours we finally made it to the Chandrashila peak. 2 kms of a difficult trek, mutliple times slipping along the way and a few scratches did paid off. At a height of 13,123 ft we actually felt like conquering Mount Everest though I actually do not know how it will feel like doing that since i have not done that yet but still the joy was fulfulling to the body, mind and soul. The tranquility and peace offered there is something people(atleast someone like me) wander for and yet I found it at the most deserted of the places. I had some of the most peaceful moments of my life there.

We took 5 hours in total to return back to Chopta and soon started moving to Devariyatal. To reach there, we had to go back from Chopta to Sari where we reached by 6 pm. As, it had already started getting dark,so we immediately began our trek as we were told that it is a around 1.5 km trek and will take some 2-3 hours since the trail is completely different from that of Tungnath. We booked our tents from Sari only and if you guys are also planning make sure to do that as the place gets a little crowdy but that too depends on when you are planning to go. You can take your own camping material as well but you need permission from some local authority to do camping on your own there. Upon reaching Devariyatal, we were completely exhausted and without any second thought, took our dinner and headed to our tents for a nice, comfy sleep.

Next morning, we woke up early and took a good nice view of the place. The place was clustered with foreign visitors and each of them was admiring the beauty of the place in their own way. We spent 2-3 hours there before heading back to our hometown.

From wherever I have travelled so far, I realized that each place had something different to offer maybe in terms of people you meet on your journey or the places you visit. I believe it is important to admire each and every lot of them as you never know what impact they might leave on you in the long run.

Happy travelling!! :)