suggest place (like Chopta) suitable for camping and light treks (for May)

hi friends,

we are a group of friends (families with kids) wanting to be in the himalayas in early may.

because of our kids, we would prefer to have a base at one place and do radial treks (or trails) everyday returning to the campsite.

we did chopta this way. and we loved it.
we also enjoyed our trip to dharamsala (mcleodgunj), where we stayed at dharamkot, went for daily treks or trails around the area. and went to triund for 2 days 3 nights.

i hope this information is sufficient for you to suggest something appropriate.

Hi,
Why don't you try Auli this summer.

dear VSK...
thanks.
we are actively considering auli too. and probably badri from there.

what kind of experience can we expect at auli?

regards
b.

Hi,
From Auli go and camp at Gorson and from there visit Kauri Pass for excellent view of Himalaya and get down to Tapovan. Further on move to Ghangria from Govindghat and visit Hemkund and then Valley of flowers. If still time is there go to badrinath and trek around.
All the best
VSK

dear VSK,
will we be able to fo kuari with kids?
are there ponies/mules available?

Hi,
Yes you can go with kids. You can get all help regarding porters and mules etc from Joshimath. I sugested this place since you did not want long trek. Otherwise trek to Pindari glacier is also good and you have places to stay right till the end. Visit kmvn.org for info about the trek being orginised by them. Pics you can see on himalayancamping.com
VSK

Biren, We're a similar group, 3 families, all with kids and are thinking of going to Chopta, same requirement, radial kids. Please post your experience at the Chopta area. We're planning to go there last week of April.
Thanks much.

Info needed on Chopta

I'm appending below a post of my trip with my 2 year old kid to Chopta/kedarnath/badrinath.

Sure it will help you guys with more info on the route.


We are back ....

----------------------------------------------------------------

We are back from our trip...
It was simply awesome.
A brief outline of the trip is given below:

Hardwar-Sultanpur-Kedarnath
Trek and stay in Kedarnath
Stay in Ukimath
Trek to Deoriyatal
Stay in Chopta
2 days stay in Badrinath
Darshan and Charanpaduka trek
Badrinath-Rudraprayag-Hardwar

Overall the trip went on very well and the biggest experience was my daughter enjoyed the whole trip and was comfortable with heights. We did the best we could do with a small kid.

Kedarnath trek was a beautiful experience with the beauty of waterfalls all through the route.We had an excellent darshan and wonderful view of the snowcapped peaks.My daughter was in a kandi,my wife took a pony midway and i trekked.

Next we stayed in Ukimath GMVN and i went for the Deoriyatal trek.I can never forget the first glance of the chakhambi peak and it’s reflection on the tal.It was simply mindblowing.

Next we went to Chopta and stayed in a hut. The beauty of Chopta got to be seen to believe and calling it mini-switzerland is an understatement.Unfortunately the next day as I got ready at 4:30 in the morning for my Tungnath & Chandrashila trek I found the entire valley engulfed under fog with zero visibility.Everybody including the locals suggested against my going for the trek and thus I had to give it a miss.
BTW in Chopta I had one of the most delicious dinner of my life in the Rajendra Singh Bhandari’s(the hut owner) dhaba.I think it’s the best place to stay in Chopta and his phone no is 01364-268287/234.

From Chopta we straightaway went to Badrinath..We had an excellent darshan and then I did the Charanpaduka trek.It was again a wonderful trek where you reach very close to Neelkanth.The place has some Sadhus living in gufas.Overall a very pleasant experience.
We went to Mana in the evening to do the short walks to Bhimpul.
Again heavy rainfall and fog prevented me to go to Vasudhara falls next morning.

Way back we stayed in Rudraprayag GMVN which is virtually on the prayag.

Just to give an idea on Cost front for other’s benefit.

Scorpio for 8 days – Rs 13000 (approx)
Pony in Kedarnath –Rs1000
Pittu-Rs500
Per day boarding ,lodging & food(we tried staying in the best places with the kid)-Rs1300
Shatabdi tickets (Del to Hardwar)-Rs350 per ticket

we are group of 10 guys planning trip to chopta

can u suggest some good camping site in chopta neat water fall or stream??

You can camp at Deoria Tal.

Hi friends,
We are a group from kerala who are planning to go to chopta and chandrasila by the middle of september. Is that a better time option?. As a big group of 24 people will it be difficult to find a finer staying facility? Otherwise is that better to go for medow camping near Chopta? Plz answer...

Please trek to Dayara bugyal, a nice trek and good for camping at 2500 mts.