Kalpeshwar ; Tranquility Redefined

Unlike other shrines of Panchkedar Kalpeshwar is not situated on top of a hill with spectacular view of dazzling snow-peaks. But what it offers is a peaceful environment to spend a few days which is priceless if you are in the season of Chardham Yatra. Generally the pre-monsoon season in Uttarakhand is crowded like anything. So after you finish visiting your place of interest you can visit this place and stay for a few days.

Natural-Gate-way To Devagram

Season: Post monsoon seems to be the better season to visit this place (September -November). Pre monsoon is good too.

 

How to Reach: From anywhere in India first you have to reach Haridwar which is half a days journey from the capital Delhi. From Haridwar you have to reach Joshimath ,which is an important town in the Badrinath route. From there one can get shared cars to Urgam. Previously cars could only go to Helong and a full 10Km trek was to be done through jungles and hills. Now fortunately or unfortunately the road is extended to Urgam. By 2014-2015 it is expected that the motorable road will go upto Kalpeswar.

On the Way to Devgram

From Urgam it is like 2.5 km walk to Devgram. This walk is quite refreshing as the entire route is through wheat and vegetable fields and there is no climb so far as altitude is concerned. The following pictures will give you an idea.

Indian house sparrow

Stunning cactus blossom

Fertile lands of Devgram

Pathik Rest House

Before going to the temple its best if you leave your luggage at the lodge. There may be others but this one surely catches the eye. Pathik Rest house is really a nice cozy place to stay. The people are
very caring and nice.

Dahlia & Dragonfly

After a little rest and much needed lunch I started for the Kalpeshwar temple. On the way you can find many things that will grab your attention and spark your curiosity .

Jungle blue-berries

On the way I found these berries,according to the locals theses are favourite food for local bears. But as you can see there are so many left for the bears means that its not edible for us.

This bridge connected the temple to Devgram,(but sadly right after the catastrophe of Uttarakhand in 2013 this bridge was destroyed).

Kalpeshwar Temple

Photography inside the temple is prohibited

There are some other temples in the village. The shrine of "Dhyan Badri " is probably the most popular of them.

Snake lily

The bottom line is that its the perfect place for relaxing after a tough trek or hectic traveling.

The waterfall above is situated near the temple of Kalpeshwar. You can ask the locals for directions. Its a perfect little place for taking a bath without any danger of being washed away by the river. We have spent nearly two hours just sitting there and enjoying the pristine beauty.

The people of Devgram like most other villages of Himalayas have a honest pride in what they are and how they live. Their hospitality is unmatched.

Stunning sun-set at Devgram

Badrinath

Badrinath is perhaps the most popular of the Chardham. Badrinath is an avatar of Lord Vishnu and also known as Badri-vishal ,Badri-Narayan etc.The average elevation is 3100 mtrs and the entire region is surroundede by mountains and glaciers.As it is accessible by road more people come here every year.

Badrinath Temple

Season : Same as Kedarnath. June-July & September -October.
Route  :  From Haridwar direct buses are available (refer to Kedarnath post ).Distance from Rishikesh is 301 km. One can take buses to Chamoli, Joshimath as well. From Joshimath direct car-service is available to Badrinath on share or reserve basis.
                  
Most people goes to Badrinath from Kedarnath (distance from Gaurikund 233km) but unless you have a reserved car you will not have any direct transport.From Guptakashi there are many transports going down to Rudraprayag, from where one can go to Badrinath via Joshimath. The best option is via mountain road through Ukhimath.This road is of spectacular view and takes much less time to traverse.


               

We followed the following route from Guptkashi. First we went to Gopeshwar by the mountain road. On the way you can see two very popular trekking /pilgrimage routes. Chopta is from where trek to Tunganath starts. Then you will pass through the village of Mandal and Sagar which are popular starting points for the trek to Rudranath. Then we reached the town of Gopeshwar (9 Km from Mandal).
If you visit Gopeshwar do not miss the temple of Gopinath. It is the temple where Rudranath resides in the winter.

From Gopeshwar we took shared jeep to the district town of Chamoli. From there we went to Joshimath and from there started the final phase of our journey.

The Majority of the road goes along Alakananda river. On the way you will see Govindghat from where the trek to Hemkund Saheb starts.

The temple town of Badrinath is much bigger and crowded than our anticipation.Thousands of people gather here everyday. The temple itself is spectacular ,standing tall with its gold-glit roof.It is one of the most colourful temples that I have seen.

Do not forget to take free coupon from counter before enetering the temple premises and standing in the long queue. The queue can be very long and it can take you anywhere between three to six hours to do Darshana. Keep your belongings and shoes near the temple within your line of sight ,preferably in a paid counter.

 

To enter the main temple where the deity is and perform "special' puja you have to get special permission and maybe some amount of money is involved. Anyway after Darshana look for a place to stay that suits you because  it can prove to be quite a task.

Kedarnath ,the pristine and the holy

Kedarnath (3583 mtrs )is the main shrine of the Panchkedar.According to the legends the Pandavas from the Mahabharata built these shrines.The hump of Shiva fell here when he disguised himself as an ox and Bheem tore him apart in an attempt to catch him.Well,enough of the legend now lets get down to business.

Kedarnath Shrine

 Kedarnath is one of the holiest places in India and one of the Chardham (THE 4 holy places) .So like it or not thousands of people will accompany you in this journey.It is a 14 Km trek from Gaurikund.The other means of transport are mules ,Pittu and Doli .

• Mules are hybrid between horses and donkeys ,and can carry heavy loads through tough terrains. (1500-2000 Rs).
• A Pittu is a small basket carried by one man on his back ,used only for children ,elderly and luggages.
• A doli or Palki is carried by 4 to 6 men on their shoulders sort of like a wooden stretcher .
• Helicopters are available from Phata (7500-8000 Rs).

You will have clear idea when you see some of my pictures.The scenery is spectacular as usual but if you want solitude ,quiet then I am afraid Kedarnath is not going to fulfill your need.But ,yeah there is another but,from Kedar there are many places like Vasuki tal,Chorabari tal (Gandhi Sarovar) etc which are only trekking destinations ,pilgrims do no bother to go there.

Season : Generally speaking you can go to Kedarnath before or after the Monsoon in India.

• Pre-monsoon : May & June (I wouldn't suggest July)
• Post-monsoon : Spetember & October

To Whom It May Concern :   If you have gone through my previous posts you will realize that I try to give only the facts and mostly skip my personal feelings and first hand accounts.This keeps my blog short and to the point,but some of my readers complained and stated that they would like to read about my personal experiences as well .Some of my friends remarked that my way of narrating my tours are interesting .So from now on I will give my day by day accounts and obviously details in two

 separate parts.

Day 1: 

Haridwar/Rishikesh  ------ Guptakashi/Gaurikund.

 Start early from Haridwar .There are loads of busses from Delhi and other cities. From almost any part of India you can come to Haridwar via train directly or indirectly.Personally I availed the Doon Express from Howrah .(Kumbha Exp and Upasana Exp are much better options if you are coming from Bengal)

 Now as I was saying the destination is Gaurikund.Gaurikund is the place from where trek to Kedarnath starts.The options for the journey is as follows:

1. Busses of GMOU (Gahrwal Motor Owner's Union) goes directly to Gaurikund from Haridwar and Rishikesh.
2. State transport has buses too.

  Note: These direct buses leave very early (between 5 am to 6 am). After that there are no direct buses,you will have to break you journey into many parts.There are no proper timings for the buses so make sure you reach the bus-stand early and inquire about the buses,and book/occupy tickets/seats in advance.

     3. If you are a large group or can afford to book a car that will be good.
     4. For some reason if you miss the direct bus from Haridwar, take any bus to Rishikesh (31 Km) because there you may be able to find other buses.If that fails take any bus to Srinagar or Rudraprayag.
From Srinagar there are buses and shared vehicle to Rudraprayag.From Rudraprayag you will be able to get to Guptakashi.
Guptakahi is 36 Kms away from Gaurikund.This place is quiter and much cheaper than Gaurikund so you can stay the night here and start for Gaurikund the next morning.

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Now I am going to tell my story. Me and my friend Justice started from Howrah on 3rd June (2013) .Doon exp was supposesd to reach Haridwar on 5th June 4.35 am . But it was 3 hours late and we reached Haridwar at 7.35 am.By then all direct buses from have left and we were adviced to go to Rishikesh(bus fare 32 Rs *). After one and half hour we learnt that there are no direct bus from Rishikesh to Gaurikund as well.There were a bus to Srinagar and we boarded that (140Rs) .From Srinagar we got another bus to Rudraprayag (52 Rs).From Rudraprayag we go a share Jeep to Gupatakashi (60 Rs).
Up to this everything went smoothly .Now the road ahead is narrow and hence only one way traffic is allowed,so we could not go up to Gaurikund and had to stay at Guptkashi.
*All fares and prices are given on per-head basis.As in 2013 June.

Day 2: Guptakashi/Gaurikund----- Kedarnath

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The next morning we started early for Gaurikund ,which is 36 Kms from Guptkashi.

Gaurikund

We were stranded in traffic jam 2-3 times and the traffic was moving painfully slow.On the way we saw the heliport of Phata. Near Sonprayag (5 Km from Gaurikund) the traffic came to a complete halt and we came to know that the cars wont go uphill until the downhill traffic is cleared.It would take atleast 2 hours for that to happen.We thought that we will go those 5 kms on foot.Fortunately for us few paces ahead of Sonprayag checkpoint we found a local vehicle going up and boarded that.
We reached Gaurikund at 8.30 am and after some light breakfast started walking.
Initially it felt like we have entered some sort of carnival ,thousands of people wearing different kinds of dresses ,horses ,all formed a giant queue.

There were stables and the path was all murky and smelt of Ammonia.We quickened our pace to get out of this place as soon as possible.After 15 minutes came the sight that we were waiting for.The path is serpentine and quite steep,steeper than my expectation.From time to time we sat in front of makeshift shops beside the path. The mules were quite irritating at times ,pushing us against the railings on the side.Apart from all that it was just splendid.

With time our pace slowed down and rucksacks felt heavier than ever ,so I tried to relieve one shoulder at a time.
Finally we reached Ram bara ,a town midway between Gaurikund and Kedarnath. So we have traveled 7 Km and it took us three and half hours.So we thought that we would reach Kedar by 3.30 pm. But the rain literally put cold water on our plans.We took shelter in a small shop and ordered maggi (noodles) and tea.We took out our umbrella and continued to walk after the rain subsided a bit.

 Rambara looks more like a slum than a town.The road is covered in mud and horse-shit and the rain maid it worse.We walked as fast as we could to get out of there.rain started to pour down again after 30 minutes or so and made our ascend much slower.

Now we tried to use the shortcuts as much as we could.After exhausting last two kilometers we reached the temple town of Kedarnath at 5.15 pm. Here are some pictures of the journey up.

  

We never expected that the cost of staying there will be so high(1000-1800 Rs double bedded room).In most places there were no rooms available at all.We arranged to spend the night in a small stall (225 Rs).

After waiting for nearly 90 minutes in a never-ending queue we finally had our "darshana." Then we returned to the stall.For viewing pleasure here are some more pictures of Kedarnath.

 

 

Day 3:   Kedarnath------Gandhi Sarovar-----------Guptakashi

Gandhi Sarovar  (Sarovar = lake) is 3.5 kilometers uphill from the temple town of Kedarnath.Its a welcome relief from all the hustle and bustle.Hardly any pilgrims go there. Let me describe in details.

 

Gandhi Sarovar

Gandhi Sarovar is at an elevation of 3900 mtrs from sea level (approx). From the path one can have spectacular view of the entire temple town of Kedarnath.

 Temple town of Kedarnath

The way to Gandhi Sarovar is full with spectacular views and its not exactly tough.There is a waterfall that flows over the path and then there is a sheer drop.

Apart from that the rest of the way is pretty straight forward.

The waterfall

It is a small lake,smaller than what I expected but beautiful nonetheless.

Gandhi Sarovar

Chorabari Tal

After spending a decent amount of time there we climbed down.We had a long downward journey ahead of us.

After reaching Kedarnath we took some breakfast and started descending.

Pilgrims gathered in front of the shrine

 

After a long and tiring downhill journey we reached Gaurikund exhasuted but happy.Yes ! we have done Kedarnath and returned safely.

Helicopter service

Reaching Gaurikund was not the end of our plight.We could not find any car that is going downwards to Guptakashi because of the one way rule mentioned earlier.

Sleeping Innocence

We found a bus which was  going to Sonprayag (5 km downhill ) and took it.We were stranded there for nearly 2-3 hours after which we got lift in a reserved bus.The bus conductor took 100 Rs and we reached Guptakashi.

 Warning: Monsson in India is pretty unpredictable and in the monsoons the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand and nearby states is very unstable.Flash-floods and landslides are common in the monsoon in theses areas and in winter Kedar is covered in snow and hence is closed.

           As of now (June 19th 2013 ) there are more than 70000 people stranded in different parts of Uttarakhand because of havoc triggered by surprise cloudbursts and heavy torrential rain.I myself was lucky that I came back two days before the disaster.I pray to God that all the stranded pilgrims return back home safely .

Flood at Uttarkashi

Submerged 12 foot idol at Rishikesh

 Devastation at Kedarnath

Disclaimer: None of the above pictures belong to me ,they are taken from different media sites.

If you have any questions regarding any of my posts,feel free to ask.