Chopta Tungnath Trek

As the three day long weekend was approaching, we were getting anxious to plan on some short trip. After days of debates and discussions we couldn’t come to a conclusion. It was one day to go and not giving up, I kept searching for places. While googling, I came across the Chopta- Tungnath trek. Reading the reviews and looking at the pictures it seemed like a good option and the decision was made. Without much planning & preparation, we packed our bags. The journey started on 01-10-15 at 2000 hours. Already late as per plan, we headed on NH 24 and met huge traffic. It looked like everyone on this planet was going to that side. It took us more than 2 hours to cross Ghaziabad and our car got in its 4^th gear after 2 hours of travel that evening.

We by-passed the major towns of Meerut & Muzaffarnagar and halted on the way for quick dinner at a dhaba. As we resumed our drive, it got pitch dark at about 2330 and with no streetlights the road was nowhere to be seen. Slowly and slowly we started moving and reached Roorkee at 0030 and it felt like we had an hour session of off-roading.  Finally, at 0130 we reached Haridwar, our 1^st pit stop of the journey. We slept as fast as possible as we had planned to start our journey early the next day. 

Our leaving time got escalated the next day as we left Haridwar at 0800 hours. The traffic in Haridwar was no less than morning rush in Delhi. At times, we were even moving in bumper to bumper traffic. After hard efforts of crossing in so much traffic, we reached Rishikesh. The traffic got segregated after Rishikesh which was a great relief but the road conditions weren’t that good with intermittent rough patches due to landslides. Soon we were driving alongside River Ganga and after sometime reached Devprayag which is the confluence of River Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. Watching the distinct colours of the two rivers merge into one was indeed a beautiful sight. We spent a few minutes there to capture the beauty in our cameras and soon continued with our drive as we had a long way to go.

View of Confluence of River Alaknanda & Bhagirathi

Moving on we crossed Sri Nagar (yes we also have one Srinagar in Uttrakhand) and reached Rudraprayag. This is another confluence of the Alaknanada and the Mandakini rivers. Although we were moving through hilly areas, due to the scorching heat and limited green patches, it felt like any other city in plains. By this time we were tired and hungry. We decided to stop for lunch at Rudraprayag. 

Rudraprayag Confluence side view

It was nearly 3 PM and after travelling for around 7 hours since morning we were hopeful that our destination Chopta would be nearby. However, when we asked some passerby for directions, we were shocked to know that Chopta was still 65 kms away and it can take us more than 2.5 hours from that point. This information and our tiredness broke our hearts at that moment.

There are 2 highways going from Rudraprayag. One is to Badrinath and the other goes to Kedarnath. Chopta is on the way to Kedarnath. As we approached Chopta, after crossing Kund, the ambience, the weather, the air quality everything changed. We saw the sky changing colors with hues of orange and red as the sun was beginning to set. The amazing view of the hills brought a smile to our faces. Our campsite was in Deoriatal, which is on a slightly diverted route from Chopta.
 

Beautiful Entry of Chopta

 After the tiring long journey, we reached to the parking of Deoriya tal at around 5.30 PM with a hope that we would quickly settle into our tents and have the evening to our leisure. However, we got the shocking news that our camps were on the hill top near the lakeside. (tal = lake) and we have to trek 2.3 kms to reach there. With tired bodies, we started our trek at 6 pm but the best part is that there are horses available to take your luggage and we were charged Rs 600 /- for the luggage (up and down in the morning). The trek there is very steep and also the road is fully made of large stones. It got completely dark at around 6.20 pm which made the trek more difficult and added the need of torches there. With the torches on and the difficult turns and twists we reached the top of the hill at around 7.40 pm and found the area fully dark with only 1 LED glowing at the entry of the top. The temperature difference between the trek top and bottom must be nearly 8 degree C. With sudden decrease of temperature and pitch dark environment, there were mixed emotions in all of us. On one side, we were really excited for this adventure and on the other side all of us were too tired to do anything except just sleep. 

At around 8.30 PM, we were all settled in our respective tents and started the bonfire outside the tents. Believe me, bonfire didn’t help us to tackle with the chilly weather. We had our dinner (dal, chawal & veggies) which was not up to the mark and decided to sleep at 10 PM after 2 rounds of antakshari at Bonfire (which was the best part of the evening). 

The Moon from our Camp Site

The next morning welcomed us with sweet chirping of birds and chilly winds. We got up early to experience the morning view and sunrise. The spectacular view of the Himalayas on one side and Deoriatal on the other with cool fresh morning breeze filled our hearts with joy and enthusiasm making us forget our tiredness of the previous day. The images seen on web before reaching here were coming in my mind and the original view was a ditto copy of them. We were now excited to know what more the day has in store for us. After capturing the breathtaking view in our cameras as well as in our minds we started heading back to the parking area. It took us nearly an hour of continuous walking to reach the parking area and then we started driving for Chopta.

Ready for the Sunrise at 545 hours

This is how the Kedarnath looked from Camp site

The front view from our camp site

Mesmerizing Deoria Tal in the morning

The 1 hour drive from Deoriatal to chopta was heavenly beaitiful. The greenery and the view of the hills was amazing with the scenery changing like a slideshow with every turn we took. I never wanted that drive to end because of the beautiful roads as well as the fresh air. We had our breakfast at chopta town and started the Tungnath trek at exactly 10.45 am. 

On the way to Chopta from Deoria Tal

The Trek started with a narrow road made of uneven stones with nearly 15 degree inclination (may be more). We were tired within the first 100 metres of the trek because of its steepness. But the tiredness started decreasing as we moved up because sight was simply awesome. From magnificent snowcapped mountains on one side to green grasslands on the other, the air felt so fresh and we felt like we were breathing pure air after a long time. The huge rocks and the tall trees added highlights to the picture like beautiful ornaments. Those are the most amazing views we had ever seen in any hill station. The views changed with every twist and turns of the trek and it was difficult to decide which view was the best. 

100 mtrs from the start of Chopta Tungnath Trek

View from the trek road

View of the same scenery after 30 minutes 

Resting in the shade

Shortcut taken but took more time than normal route

Half way through, the trek became steeper. At one point we felt quitting the trek but seeing the fellow trekkers moving forward gave us encouragement and the greed to see more breathtaking and amazing views kept us moving upwards. The sun kept playing hide and seek every 5 minutes with sunny and shady patches all along. 

Another view from the edge of the cliff

Sharp steep road in between

Finally, after taking shortcuts through the hills and taking lot of small and big breaks we reached the top of the temple at around 2 PM. That feeling of accomplishment brings your mind and body to a complete peace and you don’t feel tired anymore. The best feeling there after reaching there is to sit at the edge of the temple and see the amazing view of vast mountain range. We stayed there for an hour and after gorging on loads of maggi ( yes to our immense joy  they were serving maggi at the hill top) and hot coffee we started our descend at 3PM. The descent was not as comfortable as we thought. We kept on moving slowly and slowly and reached the parking lot of the temple at around 4 PM. 

From the foots of the temple

Still the temple is too far

5000 Years old Tungnath Temple

I don’t know why I was so energetic that time but all my co travelers were so tired that they wanted to stop and stay for the night in the next hotel. Instead I insisted to drive downhill from Chopta until dark and this insisting led into a decision of me being the driver for the evening and everyone else in the car slept the moment I stepped on the gas. The peace I got from the top of the hill and then the solitude drive of 2 hours gave my soul an internal contentment. I drove for the next 2.5 hours and stopped at Pushpdeep Grand Hotel – Rudraprayag. We decided to start early the next morning to reach Delhi at the earliest and then slept with the memories of the amazing views of the trip. 

We kept on driving the till Haridwar where we had our next pit stop at around for 12.30.Reaching Haridwar in record time made us super happy as we expected to Delhi by the evening. Our expectations were ruined after we reached Roorkee as there was a huge traffic jam and we were stuck up in the outer Roorkee till 5 PM. The road conditions there are very poor and they are making roads in patches due to which intermittently the one way turns into a two way which results in a lot of criss- crossing and massive traffic jams. Every one of us were so pissed from the jam as it spoiled out trip in the end and finally we reached Delhi at 10 PM with tired bodies but fresh and beautiful memories.