To the Land of Ganga-Yamuna

It's May and Kolkata is reeling under excessive heat. Why not beat the heat by visiting the mountains! And our destination is Gangotri and Yamunotri at Uttarakhand, India. The tour plan is to reach Dehradun by train and from there take the road to Yamunotri first followed by Gangotri and then return through Haridwar. Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath are the Four Dhams of Uttarakhand. These Dhams open for tourists on Akshay Tritiya and closes on Diwali every year.

It's a hot summer afternoon on May 10, 2019 and the journey begins. We are a big group this time, thirteen in total. I'm the youngest one at 30 years and the senior-most is lively at 82. My parents are accompanying me in this trip and the others are friends of my father. Stuffy weather and we've got to take a long train journey to Dehradun from Howrah by Upasana Express. Reeling under the heat, we wait impatiently for the oncoming cool days to give a brief respite. A tremendously tiring journey comes to an end on May 11 when we finally reach Dehradun at 11:30 pm after a delay of around 6 hours, thanks to Indian Railways. Fortunately enough, we have our rooms booked in the Dehradun station retiring room so that we do not have to wander for getting hotels at that time of the night. We are all hungry but our tired bodies want rest as a priority. We have a light dinner and are all drop dead in slumber despite the loud railway announcements near our ears.

May 12 welcomes us with a sunny weather after a much needed refreshing sleep and we are all ready by 8 am for our first destination Yamunotri. For reaching Yamunotri, motorable road is till Janki Chatti from where we need to take a 5 km trek to Yamunotri. Dehradun to Janki Chatti is a 180 km drive. The

Kempty Falls

route bypasses Mussourie and our first halt is at Kempty Falls (around 50 km from Dehradun) where we have our breakfast of hot alu-paratha. Breakfast over and we quickly spend some time at the Kempty Falls. Artificial pools have been created amidst the falls and you can enjoy your time there having a splash in the cool water. We come to know from our fellow travelers that the Kempty Falls used to be a much picturesque spot earlier. The view has degraded now with more man-made recreations taking over the natural raw beauty. We have a long way to go and after spending some time taking photos of the waterfalls, we are back in our car. The road trip continues and from Barkot, the road bifurcates

Colourful flowers on our way to Janki Chatti

-- Yamunotri towards the left and Gangotri towards the right. Our destination being Yamunotri at first, it's left that we take. The road winds up and down from one mountain to another with trees having different colorful flowers on the sides. We reach Janki Chatti at around 5 pm. In the mean time it has started raining also. Afternoon rains is quite a common thing in mountainous areas and accordingly precautions are to be taken whenever you are on your way. We have our room bookings at the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) Annexe-Tourist Rest House. The location of the rest house is superb as it looks towards the beautiful snowy white peaks with the Yamuna flowing down through the boulders. If you are lucky, you can experience a beautiful sunset with a clear blue sky from the roof of the rest house. We experience one but not the best because of the cloudy sky.

Sunset from Janki Chatti

Dinner of roti/rice, daal and paneer curry or mixed vegetables is all that you get here. Fish, eggs and meat are not found in this entire trip. Fellow travelers who plan for this trip in the near future need to keep this in mind. A long day through the mountains and all of us are tired. The next day we are going to Yamunotri temple which is up above the mountains. We need rest to replenish ourselves for the tough day ahead.

May 13, 2019 and I get up early to enjoy the early morning beauty around.

The Yamuna flowing with all its strength.

The peaks, the red sky (sunrise can not be observed from here) and the flowing Yamuna create a beautiful ambiance for inner peace and photography. We are all ready by 6:30 and start our journey to Yamunotri at 7 am sharp. The earlier you start, the better it is. That we realised later while returning from Yamunotri. You can walk all the way or take horse from Janki Chatti to Yamunotri. Palanquins are also available as an alternate option. You can take the horse ride to Yamunotri or back. Horses can be obtained on the way also, so that you can start walking and in case you feel uncomfortable, you may take a horse uphill.

The road from Janki Chatti to Yamunotri is very narrow, about 2 metres wide and is quite populated with people who are walking, horses 

Trail from Janki Chatti to Yamunotri

and palanquins. Walking indeed becomes difficult sometimes and many a time you may get hurt by the bamboos of the palanquins and the speeding horses. However, these difficulties are nothing compared to the beauty all around. 

View on the way to Yamunotri

Snow capped peaks in the front, the Yamuna below and the sweet morning sun make walking a pleasure. Take as much less luggage as possible for this trek. Water bottle, emergency medicines and umbrella are a must though. There are shacks every after around 500 metres where you can take rest, get hot drinks and also food like biscuits and maggi (though at a relatively high rate). The beginning of the route is relatively smooth but who knew what is waiting ahead.

Road near Yamunotri

We cross an iron bridge at 2 km from Janki Chatti and then the road becomes steep with high stairs. The last part of the trek becomes tiring and you wait eagerly to reach the destination. The ascent from Janki Chatti

Yamunotri Temple

to Yamunotri takes around 2-4 hours depending on the walking speed of the individual. While walking, do not hurry and each one should follow his/her own pace and continue enjoying the beauty around. We reach Yamunotri at around 11:30 am. There is a hot spring inside the temple where you can have a refreshing bath after the tiring journey. Photography

Yamunotri glacier

is prohibited inside the temple and it abodes Goddess Yamuna, Goddess Ganga and Goddess Lakshmi. After the darshan of the deities, we go towards the back of the temple and reach the Yamunotri glacier. Spending around 1 hour in the temple and on the glacier, we start our way back to Janki Chatti. There are many food stalls at Yamunotri and you can have some snacks before starting the descent. On our way back, it starts raining at around around 1:30 pm and we had to take shelter. Though the rain stopped soon, it made the road slippery and more difficult to walk. So, it is the best if you can start from Janki Chatti as early as possible (maybe at around 5 am) and return by 1 pm for a safe trek.

May 14 and we bid adieu to Janki Chatti. Our next destination is Gangotri, 222 km away from Janki Chatti. The road is the same till Barkot and then it is different. Shortly after we start our journey at 8 am, we are welcomed by a long traffic congestion and we are stuck for around 1.5 hours at a stretch. The roads are narrow but traffic has increased a lot and with inclusion of large tourist buses, the congestion increases.

Towards Gangotri with river Bhagirathi below

The road from Barkot takes us to Uttarkashi where we have our lunch. At Uttarkashi, the road bifurcates again into two routes -- one towards Gangotri and the other towards Badrinath. We take the route towards Gangotri and move by the flowing river Bhagirathi. There is the Loharinag Pala Hydel Power Project on river Bhagirathi at Uttarkashi. The roads in this part are being widened and some parts are complete as well. However, there are narrow pockets and one such pocket at a distance of around 50 kms from Gangotri has resulted in yet another congestion. We

Roadside wild flowers

remain stuck over here for 2 long hours and it is already 7 pm when the congestion clears. It's already too late and we don't have any hotel booked for that night. In fact it was pre-planned for not booking any hotel for that night as the road journey is too long and we had anticipated some such instances to happen. The plan worked well and we stopped at Dharali in Harsil, 20 kms away from Gangotri. We checked into a hotel and post dinner fell flat on bed for a much needed sleep.

The next morning we woke up a bit late (5:45 am though)

A late sunrise from Dharali

and realized what we could have experienced had we woken up earlier. Better late than never, we enjoyed a late sunrise on the snow-capped mountain peaks from our hotel balcony. Dharali is a valley on the banks of river Bhagirathi. It is surrounded by snow capped mountains on all sides and is indeed a beautiful place to stay.

Sun-kissed Bhagirathi at Dharali

It had rained the earlier night and all the peaks covered with fresh snow adding to the beauty. There is a Shiva temple at Dharali. It is known as Kalpa

Kalpa Kedar

Kedar, a beautiful temple with the peaks at the background and Bhagirathi flowing beside it. We come to know from the localites that earlier there used to be three temples out of which two were flown away by the raging Bhagirath. Only one temple stands till date and there is a crystal Shiva lingam at the base of the temple, about 15-20 feet below the ground. The Shiva lingam remains immersed in water throughout the year except for certain days in the year when the water is cleared, the lingam worshiped and it's festival time then at Dharali. There is also a trek to Sattal (seven lakes) from Dharali, which unfortunately we could not do for the lack of time.

After a morning stroll on the Bhagirathi banks and some photography

View from the road towards Gangotri

of the beauty around, it was time to visit Gangotri. In the mean time, it has been decided to continue staying at Dharali for the second night as well, cancelling our stay in the already booked GMVN rest house at Gangotri, which we later found out to be a wise decision. A 20 km drive from Dharali, the road over here is wide and smooth, carving through pine and cedar forests. We find a narrow patch of glacier coming along the mountain walls to the roadside and then going downwards to the Bhagirathi bank. And then, we are welcomed on the way by scenic beauty of snow capped peaks. Time seems to stop as you stand in awe on the road enjoying the beauty of nature. A few kilometers drive and we reach Gangotri. This place is highly populated by people and shops.

Gangotri temple

I later realized the reason of so many people over here, being that you can reach here directly by transport. Gangotri temple is very crowded with pilgrims from all over the country. There are two lines for entering the temple-- a general line and a "VIP" line. In the VIP line the pilgrims need to donate INR 300 per head for a fast entrance, but don't think that you need not wait in the VIP line. We had to wait for more than an hour in the VIP line and then you get just a few seconds to stand and pray in front of Goddess Ganga. It is already afternoon and we have some lunch from the shops outside the temple. Next, we go to the river side and some of us bathe in the ice-cold waters of Bhagirathi. We also bought some cans from the local shops and filled them up, to be used for worship purposes back at home. Next, we walked for some distance on the trail

Aerial view of Gangotri temple

from Gangotri to Gomukh.

Trekking trail to Gomukh

The trekking from Gangotri to Gomukh is of 19 km it takes usually 2-3 days for return. It was out of our tour plan because of shortage of time. From here you can get a beautiful view of the Gangotri temple with the Bhagirathi river flowing beside. There's one more

Suryakund waterfalls

viewing point at Gangotri. It is the Suryakund waterfall. It is about 500 meters before Gangotri temple. You need to climb down a set of stairs, cross an iron bridge and to the left is the Suryakund. According to mythology, the water falls on a Shiva lingam which remains submerged. The eroded rocks, the raging falls and the light and shadow by the sunlight create a beautiful scenery over here. That's all for the day and we are heading back to our hotel at Dharali. Our trip is nearing to end and the following day we shall descend to Haridwar. 

May 16, 2019 and we start our journey to Haridwar at 6:30 am. It's our plan to

Tehri Dam reservoir

visit Chandrabadani temple and then reach Haridwar through Devprayag.  The distance for the entire journey is around 350 km. However, our driver loses the route in the middle and that causes a lot of delay,

Devprayag

excess travelling and we aren't able to reach Chandrabadani temple. We pass by the Tehri dam and then we reach Devprayag. Devprayag is the place of confluence of two rivers-- Bhagirathi (from the left) and Alakananda (from the top). These two rivers merge and form the Ganga (to the right). Finally we reach Haridwar at around 8:30 pm after a long and tedious journey. We have our hotel pre-booked and after some Bengali dinner from Dada-Boudir Hotel we are deep in sleep.

The next morning we visit Har Ki Pauri after breakfast and

Har Ki Pauri

have some wonderful time standing in the cool waters of the Ganga. You can bathe over here also but keep in mind that the water flow is very strong and so, you need to be alert. We return to Har Ki Pauri

Ganga aarti at Har Ki Pauri

in the evening to watch the Ganga Aarti. Thousands of people throng at Har Ki Pauri every evening for watching this aarti. Aarti over, and so does our trip. It's time for getting the luggage packed for our return train to Howrah. It starts late from Haridwar by 1.5 hours at the dead of the night and we are there in Howrah on 19th morning, back to our sweet home. A beautiful journey comes to an end.

The group for this lovely trip with me behind the lens. Photo taken at Janki Chatti.