An evening in Harsil

"Aah.. here is one unspoiled village...finally" was my first thought as I looked down from the road towards the village. Harsil is a village in Uttarakhand having an army cantonment area and is surrounded by mighty Himalayas.

It is 70kms ahead of Uttarkashi and 28kms before Gangotri, standing tall at an altitude of 2620 meters asl on the Uttarkashi - Gangotri road. Dense Deodar forests, apple trees, chirping birds, river Bhagirathi under the bridge connecting Harsil with cantonment area, Harsil has every reason a traveler needs to be at a picturesque, beautiful and peaceful place. The climate of Harsil is very pleasant, with cold nights during summers, in March it was cold and I could sense   it to be even colder in the months of December, January, February.

It took me no time to decide that I want to stay in this village. I was with a friend and we took a room in 

Harsil and then went to Gangotri temple. In the month of March, temple was closed and the idols were locked in some other village before Bhairon ghati. After BhaironGhati, road was full of snow and we had to be careful while riding. I even had a slip at one place as the snow was not fresh and it was hard. 

Back to Harsil in a couple of hours, we went out to reach a few locals. They belonged to ethnic group - Bhotiyas and they speak a language similar to Tibetan, besides Hindi. We were told that September is the best month to visit Harsil if you want to eat fresh apples.

Harsil is a beautiful town, hidden secretely in the lap of Himalayas, on the banks of river Bhagirathi and sleeps from October to April. For the rest of months, pilgrims heading for Gangotri throng the village and it becomes a crowded one.

A few pics below on the way to Harsil from Dehradun- Barkot- Dharasu - Utarkashi route, and while on our way back we took Harsil - Uttarkashi - Dharasu - Chamba - Rishikesh - Dehradun

Barkot village

I really liked the pristine beauty of Harsil and can go there any no. of times. A must visit place in off season.

Day 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28: Kaza – Gramphoo – Manali - Delhi

Day 23: Sunday, 16th june'2009: Kaza - Gramphoo

I left Kaza and reached another unexplored land, after crossing Rangrik landscape changed. Wind was flowing at its pace and I moved at mine.

 I reached Losar (59 kms from Kaza) where you need to enter your details in a register. I read names of Vaibhav and Shamik registered there a day before. After having soup and some rice there I moved ahead. At that time crossing Kunzum was the only thing in my mind.

Kunzum pass is a high altitude pass (4551 m asl) connecting  Lahaul and Spiti valleys. It is 19 kms from Losar and covering those 19kms was so good with some rocks, water from melting snow and ascends at places. At Kunzum pass I stayed for 5 minutes and then descended towards Batal.

Batal has 2 makeshift Dhabas set up only for 5-6 months; one is run by Kunzum aunty, a famous old lady from Koksar and his husband. I stopped there, and had a chat with them.

Batal

 They suggested me to stay in Batal and trek to Chander Taal, but then started raining. So I decided to go ahead as I was able to see a clear sky in the direction of flow of river. And here I did a mistake, I missed a big attraction of this route - Chander Taal and may be made the Devtaas angry. A few kms were good and then came the storm; sound of cloud bursts was so high that it almost scared me. I had no other option but to keep moving, crossed Chotta Dara first. I inquired about a room in pwd guest house but it was booked, the guy told me to go to Chatdu and find something there, I reached Chatdu braving the rains and found a guest house with no caretaker. I tried breaking into it but lock was very big, old and strong. I changed my clothes there and waited for rains to get slower, it eventually did, giving me a way to move Chatdu. Just at the bridge, I saw tented accommodation, wanted to stay there but the place wasn’t clean as the stretch opened just a couple of days back.


 I continued moving towards Gramphoo, and witnessed rain play hide n seek with sun. And just before Gramphoo again it started raining, eliminating my desire of crossing Rohtang in night, last time we crossed Rohtang back from Pangi valley, we crossed it in the late evening.

So I stopped at Chander Dhaba in Gramphoo, people were very friendly and suggested me to stay there itself. They showed me a separate room, a stone house and I agreed to spend that night there.

Day 24: Monday, 15^th June’2009: Gramphoo – Manali

I slept hearing cloudbursts only to wake up to a quiet and fresh, sunny morning. I had no reason to stay there anymore and I left for Manali. Reached Manali after crossing Rohtang Pass and headed straight to Old Manali, got myself a decent room in Anand guest house to stay there for next 4 days.

 I roamed around Manali, Vashisht, Naggar areas; acquainted myself with a few backpackers and locals; attended a party at Johnson’s café, which later turned into a rave party.  Same Old Manali, full of tourists and honeymoon couples, I stayed there to make Bholenath happy J

And on Friday, 28^th Day on 19^th June I left for Chandigarh at 11:30 a.m. Reached Delhi in 11 hours, wanted to stop in Chandigarh but then had to go to Chennai on 22^nd June and tickets were booked so skipped Chandigarh and reached Delhi. I was in home after 30 days, with lot of memories, some may fade but some will be young forever.




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