A drive to Deoria Tal | Revisiting Uttarakhand

People who knows me says that the “Uneventful Trips” and “Discover With Dheeraj” do not go hand in hand 😆 … But, this time it was a unique experience after all sought of eventful trips in my life.

Ever since we had a big turnoff at Auli in 2009 due to lack of snow (Delhi to Auli, Uttranchal | Land of Ski), I always wanted to visit the place Chopta but somehow the Himachal always kept me busy with its unavoidable beauty. Finally, the day came when we left for this lovely place named Chopta, present in a region named “abode of gods”, Uttrakhand. The idea of the trip was simple, SNOW and to trek in snow… The Deoria Tal famous for its reflections was the topping of the trip…

The Golden Glow of the Brightest Star…

Night 1 | 8th March, 2011 | Delhi to Haridwar

I still remember the mis-happenings of Chandratal (Delhi to Chandratal | Adventurism or Craziness), hence this time we were prepared for Snow trek. I had bought new trekking shoes and arranged all the required stuff to trek, right from walking stick to water proof clothes, we had them all. We were ready to leave the home and I got a call from one of my friends who pulled out of the trip at the last moment. Reason was very simple, his wife was not ready to let him go. Although I knew, he would be missing some stunning vistas but I guess that was the best call at that point of time. After trying out fews things we finally gave up and I picked up rest of my friends from their homes and dropped my lovely wife at in-laws place. Finally, after bidding adieus to them we were cruising towards Delhi – Haridwar highway. The plan was to reach Haridwar midnight to stay for few hours and resume the journey next morning. The ultimate target of the next evening was to reach Sari Village and trek to Deoria Tal and spend overnight at Deoria Tal…

We were running late already which meant we need to skip the dinner and had to satisfy our tummies with the wafers and the coke. I met my friend Himanshu after a long time and we were busy discussing all the things happened in between, so time was flying for us. Soon we reached Meerut bypass where it was a pleasant surprise to see the expressway running smoothly. We made quick progress and finally at Mujjafar Nagar, the highway turns to double lane. The traffic was at its height in the middle of the night as well so the progress was slow due to the beam of lights making you blind from the other side. It got worse and our progress was painfully slow by then. Finally came Roorkee, where we were stopped by local cops but unluckily they had nothing much for us and finally let us go without any trouble. After rookie the traffic eased up and we accelerated. At one moment, I had to pull sudden brakes due to a speed breaker ahead. The car running behind us almost crashed into us from behind but luckily the driver managed to escape us from the right side and crashed in the speed breaker. It was indeed a close shave in the middle of the night but all is well that ends well :)… We reached Haridwar around 2.30 AM and the place where we had to stay. After that it was a good night sleep :)…

Day 1 | 9th March, 2011 | Haridwar to Deoria Tal

It was 7 AM in the morning and we were all set to leave for Deoria Tal from Haridwar. But, since we skipped dinner so we had to quickly find a place and flood our tummies 😀 … We stopped at a restaurant near Rishikesh and I must tell you that the breakfast was quite decent in taste. The four hungry souls were feeling refreshed and ready to escape into the higher hills. We were not much interested into the vistas as we had already been here so kept up the tempo. There is nothing much interesting until you reach Dev Prayag which is one of the five confluences in Uttrakhand. We missed the point from where confluence can be seen, so we ended up having some portraits…

Our Breakfast Stop…

A Smiling Face… Friend Neeraj…

Not sure what I wanted to click ;)…

Another Smiling Face… Friend Himanshu…

That is Dev Prayag…

I suppose you know the name of the River…

The Roads of Uttrakhand…

Bending through Himalayas…Alaknanda River…

After a brief stop, we marched ahead towards Srinagar where we were supposed to tank up the fuel. The roads started to get bad after Dev Prayag and soon it became a dusty track. The mud was flying all over by the local taxis and trucks, making visibility difficult at times. It is not a good experience driving through such roads. We reached Srinagar around 2 PM and got the fuel. The town was extremely overcrowded and hot too, as sun was burning like anything. We immediately left as one of the guy at Petrol Pump told us it will take another 4-5 hours to reach Ukhimath. We were worried though but I felt we can surely reach within 3 hours from now. We made decent progress but road conditions were still the same. Then came Rudraprayag, the second confluence, from where left goes towards Ukhimath and right goes to Joshimath. We were interested in left and for the first time in the trip, the vistas were new to us. The river Mandakini gave us company besides the road and we were making good progress now. In the meantime, we got a call from Mr. Hira Chand Negi () who was supposed to arrange the shelter and food for us at Deoria Tal. He asked us to get some vegetables which we ultimately forgot in the rush to reach the place 😀 …

After Agyastamuni, the road conditions improved drastically. We speeded up to reach Ukhimath at 4.45 PM and confirmed the direction towards Sari Village, from where the trek to Deoria Tal starts. We stopped for a cup of tea at a local village after Ukhimath and bought Maggie+Eggs to make up for the vegetables :D… We reached Sari Village at 5.30 PM where Hira Chand ji was waiting for us near BSNL tower. Without wasting much time, we parked the car at a secure place, collected the necessary belongings and started the trek to Deoria Tal amidst light drizzle.

Soon it will be green…

Separated Apart… Neeraj and Himanshu my friends…

Three Spectacles ;)… Me and My Cousin, Dhruv enters the frame…

He never misses such opportunity to sit on road ;)…

The Curvy Road…

The trek to Deoria Tal from Sari Village is about 2 KM and is a paved path till the top. The trek looked easy upfront but soon I started to lose my breath and even my heart was pounding with lots of decibel. The luggage has started to feel pain and for the first time I was abusing my Tripod :D… Slowly, steadily and with lost breath I made progress with the others and finally we reached the top with decent amount of sunlight left for the day. It was still drizzling and cold breeze was making the cold conditions severe now. Without even exploring the place we went right inside Mr. Hira Chand’s dhabha who immediately prepared a cup of tea. Soon he lit the fire for us which provided definitive warmth and all of us were pretty relaxed as body had adapted to the conditions. It was time to take out the vodka and start the shots 😀 but the trouble was soft drinks were out of stock and there was water only. Somehow Hira Chand ji arranged some concentrated orange flavored syrup which we diluted with vodka and water to carry out the shots 😆 … We had boiled eggs followed by a tasty dinner of dal and rice… My cousin was high by that time and he was speaking all kinds of dreams 😀 …

A view from the hike to Deoria Tal…

Relaxing a bit…

The Track…

Tunganath and Chandrashilla can be seen far away…

We reached the point where there is only snow…

Gulping the purest part…

The Golden Glow of the Brightest Star… A Different View…

Meantime as the weather cleared for some time, the stars were visible and to be very frank I had never seen so many stars before in my life. The feeling was awesome and none of us could have asked more after a toiling day. It was an opportunity to take some star trails for the first time and below is what I shot… Soon after that we were into our tents which had lots of quilts and proper folding bed with mattresses on top. Within no time we all were snoring like anything…

The Star Trails…

Some ad-hoc useful info about Deoria Tal and Tunganath:

The Journey ahead-