Reflections in Deoria Tal | Revisiting Uttarakhand

The Journey so far-

It was an extremely cold and spine chilling last night but I was awake before the first light of the sun to capture the vistas. In order to beat the cold we opted for single tent and squeeze between each other but it was too tight and my friend Neeraj was not able to sleep properly. Finally when I went out, the other three were able to sleep properly as they were least bothered of the views. I packed myself with lots of clothes and went out of the tent. Wow, the cold breeze was still freezing my nose but the views of Chaukhamba range from Deoria Tal made it very pleasant 🙂 …

Reflections to die for…

The idea of sacrificing the sleep was very simple… just click as many pictures as I can with different intensity of light… No one was awake and I was roaming alone around the woods of Deoria Tal complex just to find the right spot. Finally, I managed to get one and setup my tripod. The tripod had given a pain while trekking upto Deoria Tal from Sari Village but now it was time for it to pay me back… It indeed paid me heavily 😀 as you will witness in some of the pictures below… It was a bit scary as lemurs were creating all sought of havoc in the trees behind me and I was worried if few of them jump at me from behind 😆 … However, I kept my nerve and captured one of the most beautiful sunrise ever in my life…

As the sun starts to rise at Deoria Tal…

Reflections to die for… Chaukhamba Range visible in Deoria Tal…

Framing the peak naturally…

Chaukhamba Range… A Closer Look…

After wrapping up from that end I started to explore the complex more and more. There are quite a number of benches in the complex of Deoria Tal from where one can ogle the views eternally. Soon I went on to the other side of the Deoria Tal and captured few clicks. The place was so calm and serene that I sat there for about half an hour to enjoy that moment of peace. It made me felt as if I was in some other world… After one of the best 30 minutes of my life, I went back to Dhabha where Hira Chand ji was awake. He prepared a cup of tea for me and asked about the breakfast. I asked him to prepare some aloo paranthas and Maggie… Meanwhile I enjoyed the Yoga including the Surya Namaskar being carried out by a young foreigner couple. They looked very sweet together. It was about 9 AM by then and everyone was awake to enjoy the views…

Path leads to the other side…

Tents are far away from here…

A small temple on the other side…

The other side…

The tent of the foreign couple…

Closer look at our tents …

Reflections to die for… Again…Chaukhamba Range visible in Deoria Tal…

The sky was clear and sun was shining brightly but unfortunately the battery of my camera had exhausted. Thanked god, as we had a spare P&S camera which would be used to capture the pictures on trekking down towards Sari Village though I was disappointed a bit… Breakfast was ready for us and it had a decent taste too… We had it in a relaxing manner and enjoyed every bite of it. In between, there came a direction crew of some south Indian film to explore the Deoria Tal complex for a scene in their next film. They worked under some director named Shankar who produced a south Indian fil called Robot… We wondered how come the heroine will trek to Deoria Tal and they told us that they will hire porters to carry her on a bed :lol:… They usually do it in the same fashion whenever there is a need… They wanted a flat meadow but Deario Tal had hilly patches, so most probably they won’t go for it… Nevertheless, it was also time for us to roll back towards Sari Village. We finally paid Hira Chand ji Rs 2000 (Rs 500 per person) which included meals for two times, some water bottles, tea, one night stay and his help :)… We know it was too much and he was refraining to take that much as well but since we really enjoyed up there, we forced him to take what we considered as worthy… I guess, about 500 bucks extra would mean a lot to the old fellow… Also, keep in mind that you need to pay a entry fees to FRH for visiting Deoria Tal complex but you can give the caretaker a tip as well if you don’t like to take the FRH bill with you :D… Finally, it was time to bid adieus to Hira Chand ji and Deoria Tal complex…

All of us together…

That’s Mr. Hira Chand Negi…

A Partial view of the complex as we leave…

The last view of the lake…

The Journey ahead-