Tungnath - A date with Mahadev!!!

About Tungnath : Tungnath is claimed to be the highest Shiva temple in the world and is one of the five and highest Panch Kedar temples located in Rudraprayag district of Uttrakhand.

We in a group of 4 started from Delhi at 10:00 PM by road and our aim was to reach Rishikesh by 6:00 in the morning but as it was a night drive and almost zero traffic, we were in Rishikesh  by 4:45 AM. We had tea somewhere in Byasi and our next stop was Devprayag where we stopped for breakfast. Roads are well maintained by the Uttrakhand government, so driving is not an issue. Depending on driving style one can reach Chopta in 10-15 hours. For trekking to Tungnath and Chandrashila, one has to stay in camps in Chopta.

One piece of advice: There are 2 places with the name of Chopta and for Tungnath and Chandrashila trekking one has to reach the less popular Chopta near Ukhimath.

The route we followed to reach Chopta was New Delhi - Rishikesh - Devprayag - Srinagar - Rudraprayag - Agustmuni - Ukhimath -Chopta. Its took us around 11 hours to reach chopta. Please note that these are no hotels in Chopta. One has to stay in camps. Finding camps to stay is not a problem as there are plenty of them. They charge from INR 1000 to 1500 per head for a day that included food too. Chopta is not so well known place and hence a very limited crowd visits this place.

Trek Details: Tungnath is at a distance of 4 KMs from Chopta and 1 KM further trek takes you to Chandrashila peak. Path from Chopta to Tungnath is well defined with proper pavements made. Visitors are charged a nominal fee by forest department. While trekking to Tungnath one can easily see prominent peaks like Kedarnath Peak, Chaukhambha Peak etc. Tungnath remains opened only till October end. Chandrashila trek is quite difficult when compared to trek till Tungnath. Paths are not at all well defined, but the view you get once you reach Chandrashila is worth the pain. Nanda Devi peaks are visible from Chandrashila and the view is breathtaking.