Dehradun to Deoria Tal

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

In February 2011, I got my bike serviced and wanted to take it for some ride. I was thinking about going to Chitkul after a friend - Abhishek asked me about the ways to reach Shimla, Kasol, Kinnaur. I helped him with his itinerary and he booked his train ticket from Kalka to Shimla and he was supposed to start on 2nd March for Himachal. I kept thinking about Himachal on the 1st March night and next morning I woke up and realized that 2nd March is Maha Shivratri date, so I thought of going to anywhere related to Shiva, a wild idea of going to KedarNath in March stuck my mind and I packed my saddle bag to start from Bidholi, the village where I was staying. It was 8:30 in morning and Abhishek called me to confirm about something, I told him about my sudden plan of Uttarakhand, anywhere I could reach on KedarNath road was fine with me. I asked Abhishek if he wanted to join and he was quick to cancel his Himachal trip and join me. We started at 9 am, straight to mechanic and I had to get my tank cleaned as it rained a lot for last 2-3 days and some water poured inside tank and was giving trouble. We had our tea there and started around 11 am, I wanted to leave the city asap and hit the highway. And we reached Rishikesh from where one could read 2 sign boards, 1 each for Gangotri and Yamunotri.

"Bhaiya KedarNath k liye kahan se jana hai"? I asked a driver and there I got to know that it won't be possible to reach Kedarnath in this season without special permits and guides. So we decided to head straight on the highway, just to have a feel of the place, the weather, the roads, the food and may be to check out the sangam at DevPrayag.

We stopped at a Dhaba on the way to have our food and kept moving. Crossed DevPrayag, then Srinagar and then at Rudraprayag I missed the right turn for Badrinath as I took the bypass road and kept moving ahead. As we moved ahead, clouds started hovering and it started raining. For sometime we could manage but heavy downpour forced us to take a shelter for tea at GMVN resort at this place just before Tilwara.

"We have to go according to the mood of nature", I thought looking at clouds while sipping the tea and eating pakoras. We asked for Bhang there but were told to go to Ukhimath to get some, the mood was upbeat, so was weather and we decided to go to Ukhimath and halt there for the night and decide from there itself about our next place on the route.

For those who don't know - Ukhimath, at an altitude of some 1300 meters is the place, where idols from Kedarnath temple are kept in winters and is on the way to Chopta. It is a small, busy town - somehow reminded me of Rampur in HP but is at a higher altitude than Rampur. We had no plan to go anywhere so we decided to stay at Ukhimath. Arranged Old Monk there to beat the chill as at that moment I couldn't think of anything better. After having our quota full, we were relaxed to an extent that our cold clothes didn't affected us anymore, even mosquitoes were disappointed to disturb our sleep.

Day 2:

I woke up early hoping for some sun, but the clouds mocked at me with no intention of letting me witness the grand peaks around the area. Still after waiting for sometime we braved them, and started for Deoria Tal.

A left turn from Duggalbitta on  Chopta road took us to village Sari from where one can trek for Deoria tal. The best thing about Deoria Tal is the view it offers for surrounding peaks, but we could see clouds all over so half heartedly, we started walking up towards the Tal. Met many guys over there, made them friends and got to know that one can stay overnight at lake side at very cheap rates, arranged by these guys.
After we managed to reach to the Tal in rains, as expected there weren't many good views of the peaks around. Still we walked here and there and spent some time at a small makeshift tea stall. Sipping tea there was so fun and much needed eggs got some energy back in our bodies.
And then we descended back towards Sari, my wish of witnessing some peaks was not fulfilled, so I thought next would be - to stay at some place on banks of river at some peaceful, remote location. And as we sat at a tea stall in Sari, we decided to stay at GMVN guest house in Tilwara. Located at a beautiful location right on the river bank, it has eco friendly cottages for stay. We got a pack of cards with us, so spent some time there and then after having dinner in Tilwara village, we slept. 

DAY3:

Next day, was supposedly our last day as weather was in no mood to improve, so we decided to go back to Dehradun. But not through the usual route, we asked some guys and they told us about an alternate route via Ghansyali>Chamba from a cut right from Tilwara market. That route was very bad, there were lot of bad patches filled with rain water and slowly we cruised towards ghansyali. Time passed and we were going with very few breaks, still time was passing very quickly. We crossed Ghansyali and could see Tehri lake water extended. It was a beautiful view, with clouds, sun, huge lake on one side, huge mountain on the other, and 2 riders on a bullet on a straight road.

I was in love with that road already so we stopped for eating something there at road side.
It rained in between and we continued, then a heavy downpour caused sun to shine again and our clothes were all wet, still we kept going.
Crossed Chamba, new Chamba, then Dhanolti in dark, took Mussorie-Dehradun highway and reached back home in Bidholi at around 10pm.
We ended our cold and rain-full ride and I was happy to raid another new road in Himalayas.

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