Dream Visit to the divine Deoria Tal (Part 1) - Feb 2014

Dream Visit to the divine Deoria Tal

 

(This write up is about a trip to Deoria Tal, situated near Ukhimath (Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary) in the Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand. The journey was in the month of February 2014 and this post was written in March 2014. Please read the post in this light, since things now have significantly changed compared to 2014 !)

 

How it all began:

It had been nearly two months of relentless, hard work without a proper weekend break. Adding to the routine, I was posted in Delhi on work rather than at my usual office in Bangalore. But whenever I find myself in Delhi, there is always that irresistible urge: extend the trip by 3–4 days, escape to the Himalayas, and then fly back south. Work frustration combined with that mountain bug made the decision easy. It ended up being a short trip, but an incredibly exciting and memorable one😊

Last time around, I had been to Himachal. Since I hadn’t set foot yet in Uttarakhand (UK), I decided that this trip belonged to the Devbhoomi, UK. Initial suggestions leaned toward popular spots like Nainital or Almora etc., but then I stumbled upon a captivating lake featured on Dheeraj’s Devil on Wheels (DoW) blog (sans DoW, I would have never  known that such a lake existed!! Thanks to DoW for that). A conversation with Samar from DoW confirmed that it was entirely doable via public transport within 3–4 days, depending on what places I’d want to cover. A quick conversation with few travel enthusiasts during a mini meet (DoW has 'Mini meets' where fellow travelers get together to discuss their travel plans, experiences alike), and I was all sold for this plan. 

If I did get some time after finishing the office work at Delhi, Deoria Tal would be the place to visit… In the end, as things turned out, I got about two full days – Friday and Saturday. The plan was set: leave Thursday night, squeeze every bit out of the weekend, and return to Delhi by Sunday morning to catch my flight back to Bangalore.

Thursday arrived with its usual uncertainty regarding when work would wrap up, though I knew it would finish that evening. So, that morning, I booked a ticket for the 11:00 PM Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) Volvo bus to Rishikesh (UTC runs daily Volvos at 9PM and 11PM to Rishikesh which can be booked online. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation [UPSRTC] runs Volvos on this route too, but timings              are unclear and online reservation is not available). I booked the 11PM Volvo to be on the safer side, so that it wouldn’t be risky if work got extended.

 

Then, there was the problem of extra luggage – I had carried lot of luggage with formal shoes, clothes etc because of my office work and I needed to leave my suitcase behind and carry just a backpack. Friends I met at Delhi were more than obliging to keep my suitcase at their home, but thankfully, the hotel I stayed agreed to keep it for two days, not before  throwing some initial tantrums of their policies and rules and regulations, and what not !!

 

All set

 

So, now I was ‘really set’ – I reached the Kashmiri Gate ISBT by around 9:45pm. The ISBT is a good    facility, with nice waiting rooms and booking counters, all marked by clear signs. The restrooms are also maintained well. I had a Cup noodles for dinner and topped it up with a Lassi. I was also carrying some apples and biscuits, for those emergency hunger pangs. The Volvo to Rishikesh cost me 675/- (I also noticed that there were a number of ordinary buses within a frequency of 10minutes that were departing to Rishikesh, so if you are ok with the medium comfort for an approximately 250/- , 6 hour journey, you could take these buses too. The UPSRTC buses cost less than the UTC buses). The bus left on time, it was an AC bus, but not a Volvo (and definitely the Volvos we have  in Karnataka KSRTC are a class apart !!) Cheers.. my trip has just begun 😊😊  

 

* * *

 

 

Day 1 (Friday) : Of a long journey and a few delays

 

The Volvo was supposed to drop me off at Rishikesh at 5AM in the morning – but then, the driver stopped midway for about 1 ½ hours (to catch up on his sleep?) and ultimately arrived at Rishikesh at 6AM only. An hour behind schedule right at the start!!

 

Rishikesh bus stand (ISBT) has a Sulabh complex that is very clean and maintained well (probably because it is new). There are also facilities for a shower. I freshened up here, then had a chai and some bun, when local bus (mini bus) drivers called out for passengers to Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag etc. I got into the bus around 6:30AM, and took a seat (far from being comfortable, the seats are all cramped up and have little or no leg space, so brace yourself up!). It was ultimately 7AM when the bus left Rishikesh. We stopped in between at Devprayag for a breakfast at around 845AM, crossed Srinagar (Garhwal) by around 10:30 AM and reached Rudraprayag by around 12:30pm. But in between, one of the tyres of the bus got punctured and that took a good one hour or so to fix!! Since I was in public transport, couldn’t take many pictures enroute, but when the bus did stop to fix the puncture, I got down and got some shots 😊

 

Moving bus shots—mostly failed attempts!

 

 

 

 

 

The amazing Alaknanda river after Srinagar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was a bit hungry and anyway, it was getting close to lunch time. Had some rice, dal and curd and came out in search of transport to Ukhimath. There was a bus that was almost full (which meant it would leave soon) and I got into the bus. It was around 1:15 pm by the time we left Rudraprayag. While the road from Rishikesh to Rudraprayag was excellent (save the minor patches here and there), the roads Rudraprayag onwards were very bad – still showing severe damage from the previous year's floods. The stretches between Agastmuni and Kund were the worst and the BRO guys were in full swing trying to restore them. So it took me almost 3 ½ hrs to reach Ukhimath.

 

 

Road clearance in progress

 

 

 

 

 

I had gotten in touch with a guide, Rakesh, a day before, to inform him that I would be coming. I called him again today when I was close to Ukhimath, to confirm. While initially we'd planned to meet at Ukhimath itself, because I was late, he asked me to come to Saari village directly. So from Ukhimath, I took a shared taxi to Saari, and reached Saari at about 5:30pm. The small village that Saari is, everyone knew who Rakesh was and the taxi dropped me right in front of his home

 

Onto the top now

 

While Rakesh was preparing some chai for me, I was busy clicking pictures of the views from here.

 

 

 

 

The Chopta area, and the Chandrashila peak, as seen from Saari village.

 

 

Rakesh’s kids:

 

 

 

Rakesh then asked me if I would like to climb to the lake that evening itself or the next morning – "Of course, now!" I replied. When I double-checked if a late hike was feasible, he smiled: "Kyun nahi?" (Why not?) That was all the encouragement needed get me going 😁. A cook, Umeid, would also be. He asked Umeid to accompany me to the top, and sometime later, Rakesh also joined. (That Umeid became more of a friend later on is another story, reserved for another day!)

The hike to Deoria Tal is about 3kms from Saari Village. Initially it is a mild gradient, but then, in between, it becomes steep at some patches. All along, the route is paved with stones, so there’s no way you can lose the route (unless, of course, you stray out of the paved path!)

Initially when Rakesh offered to carry my backpack, I politely refused out of pride... but then, after some time, I realized it would be difficult for me to do that and so I asked him to carry the backpack. Thank God.. The hike to the top took around 1hr 15minutes and I was exhausted 😀 The lazy bum that I am, even the 3km hike felt like forever!!

In the meanwhile, the moon was already shining – it was almost a full moon. The sun then started to set and the sky turned into a wonderful canvas. Enroute I clicked a few pics, and once the light receded a bit, the best was to put the camera in the bag and capture them with my eyes.

The Chopta-Tungnath-Chandershila as seen from the way to Deoria Tal 

 

The village below (Saari)

 

Close up view of Chandrashila peak

 

 

Some Agriculture: 

 

Sunset time begins..

 

 

Rakesh and Umeid walking ahead, and me behind, trying to keep pace !

We reached the Dhaba on top. Rakesh pitched a tent for me on the lake shores. With the full moon day being near, it was a wonderful sight. Rakesh quickly explained to me the various peaks we could see from Deoria tal and also the tale of Yaksha putting forth many intelligible questions to Dharmaraja [Yudishtir]. 

For dinner, Umeid whipped up a fresh meal of aloo gobi and rotis while we chatted by the cookstove. By 9:30 PM, I retired to my tent. Though the night was relatively mild, Rakesh provided two sleeping bags just in case. Layered in a sweatshirt, vest, windcheater, and fleece pants, I crawled in and drifted off to sleep almost immediately 😁

The next day would be the day to soak in the beauty of the lake