Uttarakhand Chardham Tour (Part I)

Chardham tour (Part I) 

Journey from Dehradun to Yamunotri

Uttarakhand is a renowned tourist destination for Indians and foreigners for its Chardham yatra, Himalayan splendor and originating points for significant rivers Ganga, Yamuna. Char Dham circuit  covers Yamunotri (origin of river Yamuna), Gangotri (origin of river Ganga), Kedarnath (shrine of Lord Shiva) and Badrinath (shrine of Lord Vishnu) in the different locations of Uttarakhand in Himalayan Mountains. Apart from spiritual glory, the region abounds in marvels of nature as well offering immense scope for fun, sightseeing and adventure. The hilly terrain and unpredictable weather conditions make travel  quite difficult and risky. Besides this the reminisces of June 2013 flashfloods, news of forest fires, cloud bursts deters one from planning a tour here ,only those with a strong inclination  to be in Himalaya can go ahead.  A slight assurance from Sri B. Prakash Shenoy -our troupe guide ,prompted  us (me and my husband)  to book  to and fro flight tickets from Mangalore to Dehradun only 20 days in advance.  He convinced us with the tour itinerary of the 11 day journey, fixing of a local driver to steer us through the circuit. Cheerfully looking forward to be in the company of other 10 friends from Sullia and hoping for safer, smoother and shorter yatra , we left for Dehradun from Mangalore on June 18th 2016. We reached Dehradun at 6.00p.m spent that evening strolling and shopping at Pacific Mall near our place of stay  Hotel  Sakoon  .Our group members stayed at Haridwar and would pick us next day morning .

TOUR ITINERARY

Dehradun  -Mussorie- Barkot  Day 1

Prakasheshwar Mahadev Temple on the outskirts of Dehradun

Jai Jai Mahadev

Owing to a traffic snarl our troupe from Haridwar dropped in late to pick us. Haridwar-Dehradun-Mussorie route  has its own traffic woes during weekends to accommodate  the crowding tourists.

En-route we  visited Prakasheshwar Mahadev temple ,no donations are accepted here , ate sweet prasadam . Enjoyed  the beauty of mountains ,scenic  route  with bends as we drove uphill towards Mussorie. We passed through crowded  Mall road in Mussorie, LBS Training Institute for IAS officers  & congested road near Kempty falls .Had first day's  lunch at 3.30 p.m.

Mussorie Centre Point, Towards right Mall road

View of  Kempty falls  

Lakhmandal temple declared as protected monument by Government India

A slight deviation from the circuit route, we stopped at Lakhamandal -a very less traveled town but with a lot of heritage associated with it. Walking through some of the old wood homes covered with stone slabs was a pleasant feeling.A staircase leads to a  beautiful stone carved  Shiva temple.Many Idols said to have been worshipped by the Pandavas were found  during excavation by Archeological Survey of India .

Adhi kedareshwar Temple-This is the place of wax palace where Duryodhana plotted to burn Pandavas 

Shiva Lingams of varying designs : Lakh Mandal means many Lingams

School- boys trained as guides took us around the temple complex . Graphite Lingam(above pic -right one) that provides perfect reflections when water / milk is dropped is the main attraction. Our schedule was to reach Janki chatty on Day 1, but  our driver could manage to  make it  till Barkot. No vehicles are permitted after 8.00p.m in the hilly region

Barkot -view of flowing river  Yamuna

Barkot-  Yamunotri  Day 2

We started early morning at 6.30 towards Janakichatti. 36 Kms journey took 3 hours of steering through lush valleys, tiny hamlets, curvy  roads meandering the  flowing  river Yamuna. As the Owner of Hotel Atithi Niwas was expecting us, the rooms were ready and checking in was smooth. . From Jankichatti where we stayed, its a 6 km trek to Yamunotri, we hired a pony uphill . The elevation of Janaki Chatti is 2,576 meters whereas that of Yamunotri is 3,323 meters. In other words, the average gradient is about 12.5%. This is a fairly steep climb of 747 metres in two and half hours on a pony. Mountains, greenery and waterfalls create a beautiful and breathe taking scene on the route to Yamunotri. According to the legends, Yamuna is the daughter of the Sun God Surya and the twin sister of Yama, the God of Death.  The actual source of River Yamuna is at a fewer distance from the temple, two hot springs can also be seen at Yamunotri Dham out of 2, Surya Kund, has boiling water properties whereas  the Gauri Kund has lukewarm water suitable for bathing. After taking bath in the Kund ,worshipped at Yamunotri temple, watched the beautiful waterfall, immersed our legs in the spine -chilling  river flowing from Kalind mountain.

Pilgrims riding ponies      notice the road width for trekking pilgrims

Spotting the beauty of  Kalinda mountains

Yamunotri temple visible from last bridge.. What a divine energy!!

Temple housing idols of GoddessYamuna &Ganga

I had parota and chole,to be energetic for downhill walk, it tasted delicious,the edible oil used at these places is refined Soya bean oil.We decided to walk downhill ,our earlier experience riding downhill on mule at Maa Vaishnodevi hill was a scary one.it requires more concentration to balance the torso and arms in a sloppy track. . The stunning scenery, the breathtaking views of mountains on both sides (our road itself is part of the hill with acute hair-pin bends), the gushing river Yamuna flowing down, waterfalls from the opposite side mountain, at some places from our side as well ! captivated us.

After a simple lunch at the foot hill ,reached our room at 2.30p.m, very soon it started raining and  weather turned cool. Because of presence of ponies, flies are a nuisance in this area. By now our legs started throbbing, had to apply pain relief oil and lay lazily. Night supper was boiled- rice porridge.Early morning next day we had to get ready for another Dham - Gangotri.