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| After seeing this pic I made up my mind to visit this place - Buda Madmaheshwar Since long the mountain bug in me was inspiring me to trek Panch-kedar (5 Kedar shrines) situated in the middle Himalayan range of Garhwal region, and after viewing various photos of the same in the net I made up my mind to convince my husband (Chandra Shekhar Nautiyal) for atleast 7-8 days trek this summer, but I was bit suspicious about our (mine & my husbands's) stamina, so I zeroed down on only 2 kedars + Anusuiya temple trek in one go. He readily agreed to my proposal. But now I think I could have made plan for the all 5 kedars 30 May 2011 ( Mathura - Dehradun ) Started at 8.00 AM and reached Dehradun (My parents place) at 5.00 PM by car. 1 June 2011 (Dehradun) Took rest, purchased necessary things + eatables. |
2 June 2011 ( Dehradun-Gopeshwar)
The sound of rain woke us up from our sleep, I felt sad by seeing the weather outside as I was sure that my mother won't allow us to go on our own by car to our planned trip + trek, as our plan was to reach Gopeshwar by evening, so that we can start our trekking the next day.she said "I am sure the road near sirobagad (Srinagar) will be blocked as there is continuous pre monsoon rains in the whole Garhwal region & at night it was a heavy downpour." I instantly called my cousin near Rudraprayag to know the condition of road at sirobagad. He gave positive response and Yay!!!!! with a smile I looked at my Mom and we started dumping our luggage + necessary things in the car, and started our long cherished journey at 7.30 AM from Dehradun. It was drizzling, but it seemed that weather will be alright with in an hour or two. Enjoying old hindi songs we drove towards Rishikesh. Our 1st stop was at Byasi, we got down to have a cup of tea , as we were sipping the tea we were handed over Amar Ujala ,one of the headlines read "soch samajh kar karain paharon ki yatra." I became worried, but keeping that thought aside we drove towards Devprayag. As we proceeded, my cousin Vinod form Gopeshwar called me and asked me not to start that day as it was raining heavily there, I answered that we are already on the way and will reach Gopeshwar by evening. The feared thought kept aside again started haunting me, I said a small prayer and kept that fear aside, by the time we reached Devprayag the weather improved, I could see black cloudy umbrella being replaced by clear blue sky.
Our next stop was at Devprayag, to view the confluence of river Alaknanda & Bhagirathi. We always look forward to see this site. Garhwal is not merely a Devbhoomi its also been a place of yogic wisdom & spirituality for millions of pilgrims, such sites seem to whisper a message to all those who have ear to hear.
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| Shekhar Admiring the sangam of Bhagirati &Alaknanda |
After crossing "Sirobagad" - landslide prone area, without much inconvenience I heaved a sigh of relief. The rest of the route was quite good, enjoying every bit of surrounding beauty we crossed Rudraprayag- Sangam of Alaknanda & Mandakini, Karnprayag- Sangam of Alaknanda & Pinder , Chamoli and reached Gopeshwar at 5.00 PM, and reached my maternal uncle's house. After tea we went to visit Gopinath temple & attended evening aarti, melodious sanskrit shlokas sung by priests was a boon to ears. Gopinath temple is also known as Rudra temple, it is the winter seat of lord Rudranath (one of the 5 kedars) After that we took stroll in the market and enjoyed the whole evening. After a hurried dinner and long chat with uncle and aunt we went to sleep.
3 June 2011 ( Gopeshwar - Mandal- Anusuiya+Atrimuni - Mandal - Gopeshwar)
As I came out of my room early in the morning I saw clear sky and welcomed the rising sun from the eastern mountain range. Two cups of tea in the chilly morning further infused strength into our system , after breakfast we headed towards our first destination, my cousin Vinod accompanied us, through narrow & damaged road, we reached Mandal (15 KM) at 9.45 AM. We parked our car and prepared ourselves to start our first day's easy trek in order to get acclimatized to hilly terrain. At 10.00 AM we started our 6.5 KM uphill trek to Anusuiya + Atrimuni from a village called Siroli. The route was beautiful, we enjoyed the panoramic view and saw varity of flora in its natural habitat. We walked for 2.5 hrs taking small breaks in between and reached the temple at 12.30 PM. The priest did puja for us .The shape of temple was exactly as the temple of Gopinath. Very old statues dated back to 15-16th century were there, and one huge tree with a huge circumference was center of attraction.
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| Hum dono shor sharaby say bahut door |
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| We at the backside of temple near the huge tree |
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| Shekhar sitting & myself measuring the circumference |
After darshan and puja we had our lunch which we brought with us at a small hotel "Himalayan Shikhar hotel" and later enjoyed tea.
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| Enjoying a hot cup of tea |
At 2.00 PM we proceeded for Atrimuni cave. Through dense forest we descended and reached a small stream , it was a little bit scary also, only the sound of gurgling water was breaking the serenity of the place. As we were searching for trail to go ahead, we found nothing but saw a saint living in a natural cave, inspite of our arrival at such a remotest place he took no notice. I instantly remembered the book "Living with Himalayan Masters" by swami Ram where in I read about such saints and the way they live at such places. I went to him and had a talk ...he seemed to be an intellectual person. On asking, he guided us to reach Atrimuni, for that we had to cross that small stream by jumping on boulders, which we did with lots of fun & enjoyment.
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| Trail through dense forest to Atrimuni (Shekhar &vinod in view) |
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| Myself near the stream-getting ready to cross it |
After crossing the river and ascending another 50 m, a spectacular view amazed us - a huge waterfall, which was beyond explanation. For an instant I remembered the hustle & bustle of city life and thanked god for giving opportunity to witness such a holy, serene & beautiful place.
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| Shekhar trying to climb & locate the trail ahead.........X |
Our next step was to climb the mountain using chain (fixed there) and enter the cave, but nothing was visible from there. Ultimately we decided not to go ahead and took rest there for some time.
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| The Titanic pose |
It is believed that if childless couple visit this place are blessed by goddess Anusuiya. After some time we came back to Mandal walking another 6.5 KM .
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| Myself at the backdrop of Dattatraya (goddess son) Temple |
From there we drove back to Gopeshwar.
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| Hum dono - After completing Anusuiya trek |
4 June 2011( Gopeshwar- Mandal-Chopta-Tungnath-Chopta-Ukhimath)
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| Near Mandal under a beautiful tree |
The narrow road was being asphalted at some places & rose in a series of hairpin bends , moreover the forest cover was becoming dense to denser, during the whole route we had tough time in negotiating curves whenever we encountered vehicles (particularly Buses) from the opposite side .
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| One of the widest part of the road where we could park our car to view the surroundings |
well by 11. 00 AM we were at Chopta. Found place to park our car and took a short halt for tea and we were off again to our destination Tungnath - One of the Panch Kedar
"According to legend, the Pandavas sought the blessing of lord shiva to atone their sins after the battle of Mahabharata for killing their own kith and kins, lord shiva eluded them and took shelter at kedarnath in the form of a Bull, on being found by pandavas he dived into the ground leaving behind his hump ,it is this hump which is worshiped at Kedarnath the 1st kedar at an altitude of 3584mt. Arms of bull (shiva ) appeared at Tungnath - the 2nd kedar (3886 mt) .The face appeared at Rudranath - the 3rd kedar (2286mt.) and worshiped as neelkantha . The stomach is believed to appeared at Madmaheshwar (3289mt.) - the 4th kedar and the hairs (jata) appeared at Kalpeshwar (2134mt.) - the 5th kedar."
As we approached the entrance of Tungnath route, many mule owners approached us ....with all kind of reasons to provide mules for Tungnath darshan which we refused.
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| Initial trail to Tunganath |
When we started walking it was 11.00AM and no one was seen along the path ,we had to trek 3 KM steep uphill route to reach the highest shrine in India . Our plan was to go further to Chandrashila peak (About 4200 metre Altitude). After climbing 1 KM, a picturesque view made us spellbound, a very beautiful Bugyal (meadow) and a herd of sheep grazing here & there was something worth watching, so we took rest for some time. I watched those shepherds, how nicely they have achieved complete harmony with the life's scarcity & limited resources and display wonderful contentment. How different were they from urban men.......
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| Shekhar, viewing the Bugyal |
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| My self enjoying the greenery of bugyal |
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| Panoramic view of mountains (shepherds hut can also be viewed) |
After walking another 200 meter, I became doubtful of my capability and within no time Shekhar also complained about his stomachache .When few more trekker came into our view it gave us little support & courage to proceed with enthusiasm but after covering 2 KM the path became increasingly difficult, we had to stop more frequently to catch our breath .
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| Taking rest |
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| & catching breath.........we kept on walking |
This way of walking helped us and we continued doing this till we reached the mandir, by this time shekhar was totally exhausted more due to his stomach. Reaching mandir premises filled us with great joy of achieving something very great.
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| Entering the premises of highest shrine of lord shiva |
A priest did puja for us, after that we kept on sitting and watching the surroundings for another 45 min. The temple was built of grey stones was a fine model of ancient architecture.
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| We , in front of Tungnath temple |
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| Temple view & Shekhar in front of Temple |
After clicking few photos we went to a dhaba to have something , shekhar refused to eat anything , I had a plate of Maggi. Climbing further to Chandrashila was out of question as we had to buy medicine or if things worsen we had go to see a doctor, for that we had to reach Ukhimath at least by 7.00 PM. My dream to sit at an altitude of more than 4200 metre at Chandrashila with my husband could not be fullfilled. After I finished eating we started coming down. We thought getting down would be easier, but it was just as difficult .
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| Down hill journey - equally difficult |
We reached back Chopta at 6.00 PM. Without wasting a single minute, we headed for Ukhimath, again the road was lonely, the forest on both sides of road was dense, the sun was about to set and on the top of it fuel indicator of car showed alert !! sign. I kept my finger crossed, only newly asphalted Ukhimath-Chopta road was a little hope that it will help us to reach Ukhimath on time. well God was constantly helping us, we reached there on time at 7.00 PM. As we entered the market we inquired about petrol pump, to our dismay we came to know that we had to go back to the diversion from where we have entered the town and go to Kund -another small town 6 KM away, we postponed it for the next day and got down from the car to purchase medicines + ORS . After that we headed to our relatives place .
5 June 2011 (Ukhimath)
Slept till 6.00 AM in the morning.After bath drove towards Omkareshwar temple, but before darshan we went to kund for petrol. It was our 2nd visit to the temple. It is winter seat of Kedarnath and Madmaheshwar. In winters when the portals of these high altitude shrines are closed, deities of Kedarnath & Madmaheshwar are brought to this temple and worshiped here the whole winter.
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| On the roof of Usha-Anirudth temp |
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| We, in front of Omkareshwar temple |
One can also see usha (daughter of Asur Banasur) - Anirudh (son of lord krishna) temple and the mandap where it is believed the wedding of Usha & Anirudh took place. very old statues of 9th -10th century were center of attraction for us. Priest performed puja for us by chanting sanskrit shlokas in a melodious tune. Came back by noon and took rest the whole day.
6 June 2011 ( Ukhimath-Uniyana-Ransi-Gaundar-Bantoli-Nanu )
After watching sunrise on the mountains we set off to reach our next destination another kedar -"Madmaheshwar" at an altitude of 3289 meter, which is 18 +18 KM trek, for that we had to start walking from a place called Uniyana about 16 KM away from Ukhimath. We decided to trek till Nanu by evening. We reached a place called Ghorcanal 2KM away from Uniyana by car and parked it roadside near the only shop there, took our backpacks and started climbing down from that only shop.
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| Initial trail to Madmaheshwar before Ransi |
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| After crossing 5 km trek , myself |
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| After covering another 4 km , total 9 Km |
After walking 4 KM easy trail we reached Ransi and took a break of 5 min. After a sharp descend of about 4 KM we trekked 2 KM steep uphill trail and reached a village called Gaundar at12.30PM As we entered the village covering tortuous path "Ramesh Panwar's Hotel & Lodge" came to our rescue, without even asking the owner we instantly entered the hotel and fell on beds like cut trees, after 5 minutes a boy came to take order for lunch, and within 45 minutes we were served with a simple lunch,but for us it was like ambrosia. After lunch I came out of room to look at the surrounding, below and around me lay the village, quiet and serene in the noon, smoke rising from houses all along the slope, looking down I could see the roaring water of Madhuganga, all the houses were having solar panels on the roofs as electricity has not reached here yet . I felt like staying at Gaundar for a day but our plan was to reach Nanu that day. At about 01.45 PM we were again on the bridle path, we adopted the same strategy as we did in Tungnath trek, took more frequent breaks. Gaundar is the last village in this route. During the time when the portals of Madmaheshwar remain open these villagers serve the pilgrims enroute by making small hut hotels & dhabas or serve as porters /guides. Houses/huts beyond Gaundar are not legal but they do provide services to all trekkers by braving all odd circumstances. As we moved ahead we came to a very picturesque site at Bantoli, confluence of Madhuganga & Makandya ganga which originate from Madmaheshwar & Chaukhamba peak respectively. Both the rivers meet in a gentle embrace, we stopped to view the site and heard the murmur of the union of both as if they were introducing themselves about their origin and destination ahead.
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| I took a halt at Bantoli to hear the murmur of confluence |
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| Shekhar viewing the confluence of 2 rivers from a good height |
After Bantoli the rest of the route was stiff uphill trek through dense forest. After 2 KM we took another break for tea at Khatara.
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| Sipping hot cup of tea at Khatara |
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| Moving on a grassy trail ,after emerging from forest |
As we moved ahead it strarted drizzling, the path covered with thick foliage became little slippery , now instead of pine trees some other trees were there in the forest and variety of ferns were also there which attracted me a lot. In school lab I show single specimen of fern which contain only one leaf to 50 students , here hundreds of ferns were in my view. Moss ,lichens and other herbs, plants were also in abundance. Passing through various gorges, waterfalls and valleys we kept on walking & enjoying the drizzle, at times we tried to wear those funny raincoats (usually worn by farmers while they work in the field) which we purchased from Ukhimath market, but we couldn't.
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| Near a waterfall |
At 4 PM, when we were only 100m away from Nanu chatti I saw a huge cloud ascending up from the valley and started approaching us, as if a giant is about to attack us and within seconds we were in the cloud which reduced our visibility to (I can say) zero, as it was already cloudy, but thank god we had to walk only few steps to our destination. On asking the owner, a room was given to us, two other rooms were already occupied by two different groups.We quickly took possession of that room, a very low roofed room with 2 beds & a kerosene lamp on the shelf. As we were wet we changed our clothes and after a hot cup of tea felt better. The weather became chilly. Till our dinner we took 3 cups of tea,enjoyed the drizzle outside with old hindi songs. The other two groups, after exchanging pleasantries sat with us and we all enjoyed different moods of weather, by night the thick envelope of clouds vanished and the valley in front of us was clearly visible, the sky became clear with millions of twinkling stars.By 7.30 the dinner was served in the room and by 8.30 we were fast asleep.
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| Got tired after trekking 13 km |
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| Standing to catch a breath |
7 June 2011( Nanu - Madmaheshwar)
We woke up at 3.30 AM, but could not muster the courage to go out to washroom which was little far away from the hut, as leopards & bears venture those places at night. We lit the lamp and waited for next 1 hour. After completing our morning rituals we were ready to move further by 5.45AM. The occupants of other 2 rooms were still sleeping. Nanu onwards the route became more steeper, now we had to cover 6 KM to reach Madmaheshwar. After trekking 2 KM we reached Koon Chatti and took a break for tea at Prince Hotel (a very small hut), the owner of that hotel was an old couple, old lady lit the fire and made tea for us while old man made us sit on a tattered mat which he brought from inside after fishing it out from a huge dump of clothes. During my trek I noticed that the people here are kind and hospitable beyond measure. I am in debt of all those who served us during this journey and made it one of my most enjoyable one. After we moved from Koon chatti we met few people coming form the shrine with yellow sandlewood paste on their foreheads, "Jai Madmaheshwar Mahadev" is what they were saying whoever was passing by. I could see the gleam in their eyes as a sign of achievement . After walking 4 KM when suddenly temple came into our view, I felt as if I have reached heaven, and could feel tears rolling down on my cheek, it was 10.00 AM , in the bright sunny (chilly) morning the temple nestled in the meadow was looking splendid.
We met the priest, who took us to Mandir and did puja for us. Inside the mandir various ancient statues were there, one can see the main lingam from outside the garbh griha, priests who are called Rawals are from Karnataka can only enter the garbha-griha.
After puja we took a room in mandir samiti's guest house, and took rest for a while, at 11.30 AM there was Bhog aarti in the temple, we attended that too and got bhog of boiled rice afterwards. After that we took stroll around the temple, from here Nandikund group of peaks can be seen from the right side of the temple and at the left side was a bridle path through the vast meadow to go to Buda-Madmaheshwar, our next destination . few clicks around the temple
After puja we took a room in mandir samiti's guest house, and took rest for a while, at 11.30 AM there was Bhog aarti in the temple, we attended that too and got bhog of boiled rice afterwards. After that we took stroll around the temple, from here Nandikund group of peaks can be seen from the right side of the temple and at the left side was a bridle path through the vast meadow to go to Buda-Madmaheshwar, our next destination . few clicks around the temple
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| Hum Dono -Madmaheshwar mahadev ki sharan mai. |
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| We taking aachman from the saraswati kund on the right side of temple |
After puja I was roaming bare foot near the Mandir, a lady working in canteen came and offered her footwear (chappal) after overhearing what I said to my husband that I have forgotten to bring my slippers, When I asked her weather she is having an extra pair she said she has no problem in walking bare foot but I may hurt my feet while walking on stones, I felt like kissing her for this gesture. Till we departed from that place I was using her chappals. At 12.30 we had our lunch "dal-chawal, roti-sabbji." By the time we finished our lunch two groups who stayed with us at Nanu reached there and took room adjacent to our room. After lunch we slept for 3 hrs and came out of our quilts only when teawala knocked at the door.
Evening aarti was very nice and soul touching experience. I thanked god for giving us opportunity to witness that moment . When we came out of mandir it started drizzling, I became suspicious of my next day's visit to Buda-Madmaheshwar. We came back to our room and eagerly waited for canteenwala's call for dinner.
8 June 2011( Madmaheshwar-Budamadmaheshwar-Madmaheshwar-Nanu-Gaundar-
Ransi- Uniyana- Ukhimath)
Even though we had enough afternoon sleep, still we felt asleep as soon as we hit the bed, we woke up at 3.00 AM and could make out from inside the room that it is raining, after hearing the sound coming from outside, My dream to go further seemed to be cancelled like Chandrashila. After about an hour when we came out of room and found clear sky studded with twinkling stars we were amazed....it wasn't raining, instead it was the sound of water falling in the kund near the temple which made us think that it is raining. Wow!!!! I jumped with joy,and started getting ready for our most cherished dream to see Chaukhamba peaks at sunrise. At 5.00 AM we were ready to climb the bugyal (meadow on mountain). with lots of enthusiasm we started climbing, huffing & puffing we reached at the top at 6.00AM, Sun was still far behind the eastern mountain ranges. We were overwhelmed with the joy when we saw snow peaks of Chaukhamba and we two alone at an altitude of around 3500 meter. There was a small Mandir, where I sat and waited for sunrise and read Ramcharit Manas for sometime. As the first rays of sun touched the peaks they shined and the whole area transformed into a real heaven. Few clicks will tell the rest of the story...
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| As the first rays of sun hit the peaks |
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| I walked around to view every bit of surrrounding |
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| Myself, snow peaks & greenery of bugyal |
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| One of the nice shot |
When we were clicking photos, boys staying adjacent to our room also reached, and commented on our agility,capability & stamina.
This was my last destination of the trek, now we had to walk back to the place (uniyana) where we had parked our car so we started descending quickly, our plan was to reach Gaundar by 1.30 or 2.00 PM. for lunch. When we were about to reach back to Madmaheshwar a very strange & interesting thing happened. There was a herd of sheep (about 80-90 or more) grazing in the bugyal, as they saw us they started bleating in unison, we were amazed that why all of a sudden they stopped grazing and started bleating, 'probably our entry to their territory is not acceptable to them' we thought, but suddenly they started running towards Shekhar . He tried to shoo them away by maintaining his calm ( his characteristic property), but I started shouting and calling the shepherd, who was trying to take control over them....and what next? The whole herd turned and started running towards me, I started shouting more loudly for help and started running too......and slipped but.... could hold myself firmly on the slope to save myself from falling down, I heard my husband's voice " Don't run, just stand and let them see and smell you, that you are not carrying salt for them." I got up and stood still closing my eyes for some time surrounded by sheeps, after a minute or two, shepherd could make them move away from me, I heaved a sigh of relief after finding myself safe and came down safely.
We picked our backpacks from our room, went to temple once again, prayed and thanked god for everything, stood there for some time meanwhile priest applied sandalwood paste on our foreheads .
After paying all the bills we started walking back towards Nanu
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| Breakfast at Nanu (where we stayed the day before) |
We reached Nanu 9.00 AM and had breakfast of biscuit & waffers with tea. By 1.00 PM we were at Gaundar, had our lunch there and started towards Ransi and took few shortcuts, we thoroughly enjoyed our return journey too, the deep glen, rolling mountains and nice weather was making us spell bound.
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| Bye -Bye valleys ,rivers ,jungle & bugyal |
Before commencing this trek I was bit scared about wild animals, thankfully everything went well, we only encountered a good number of large chamelion like lizard moving on boulders near our path. without stopping at Ransi we kept on walking till 5.00 PM in the evening and reached the place near uniyana where our car was parked. That day we continuously walked from morning 5.00 till evening 5.00 and.. said good bye to Uniyana and drove back to Ukhimath.
9 June 2011( Ukhimath-Rudraprayag - Srinagar- Rishikesh - Dehradun)
Started at 8.00 AM from Ukhimath and drove towards Rudraprayag, on reaching Tilwara we were amazed to see that there was huge debris on the road due to heavy rains and subsequent landslide,and BRO's (Boarder road organisation ) bulldozer was clearing it from the road , I again thanked god for keeping weather under control at the places we visited, because during that time the whole district was witnessing incessant rains & cloud bursts. On reaching Rudraprayag we headed for Koteshwar Mahadev Temple at the bank of Alaknanda . It is lord shiva's mandir inside a natural cave.
After darshan we drove towards Srinagar and visited another temple of goddess Dhari Devi.
After Srinagar weather changed drastically, started feeling very hot and sleepy too, as we were descending we kept ourselves awake by playing a game of searching for the same km stone after Devprayag where we had clicked our 1st pic, because none of us could remember the distance mentioned on it, well we could manage to find it......and clicked again at the same spot.
On reaching Kaudiyala camp we took our last halt before reaching Dehradun. Reached back at 9.00 PM.
Trekking along mountain trails in Himalayan region was a marvelous experience. The charm of the place and the people gradually unfolded as we traversed through high mountain trails, meadows full of flowers and sleepy hamlets lost to time. It was my one of the most memorable trip. Now we have to trek rest 3 kedar shrines in order to complete Panch-kedar of Garhwal ...........
9 June 2011( Ukhimath-Rudraprayag - Srinagar- Rishikesh - Dehradun)
Started at 8.00 AM from Ukhimath and drove towards Rudraprayag, on reaching Tilwara we were amazed to see that there was huge debris on the road due to heavy rains and subsequent landslide,and BRO's (Boarder road organisation ) bulldozer was clearing it from the road , I again thanked god for keeping weather under control at the places we visited, because during that time the whole district was witnessing incessant rains & cloud bursts. On reaching Rudraprayag we headed for Koteshwar Mahadev Temple at the bank of Alaknanda . It is lord shiva's mandir inside a natural cave.
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| Koteshwar cave Temple at Rudraprayag |
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| Rudraprayag - Confluence of Alaknanda & Mandakini |
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| In front of Dhari Devi Temple |
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| Shekhar - At the same Km stone near Devprayag |
On reaching Kaudiyala camp we took our last halt before reaching Dehradun. Reached back at 9.00 PM.
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| See U again ....... |
