Tunganath, Deoriatal, Madhmaheswar

sics66

Five friends and myself are going to Tunganath,Deoriyatal and Madmaheswar in Sept.-Oct. Here is the planned itinerary.Please advise about any modifications that are needed(if any):

27th Sept:Rented car from Haridwar/Rishikesh to Chopta starting at around 6 A.M. Trek to Tunganath.Overnight at Kalikamliwala at Tunganath.(It will be a full-moon night)

28th Sept:Very early morning trek to Chandrashila for sunrise.Back to Chopta.Car to Sari.Trek to Deoriyatal. Overnight at Deoriyatal.

29th Sept:Start early morning to reach Sari. Car from Sari to Uniyana(via Ukhimath).Trek to Bantoli from Uniyana(about 12km).

30th Sept:Trek from Bantoli to Madhmaheswar(about 10km).Overnight at Temple Committee G.H. at Madhmaheswar.

1st Oct:Early morning trek to Buda Madhmaheswar(2km).Enjoy some time there.Trek back to Bantoli/Gaundhar(12/14 km).Overnight at Bantoli/Gaundhar.

2nd Oct:Trek from Bantoli/Gaundhar to Uniyana/Jogasu.Car to Ukhimath.Car to Srinagar/Haridwar.

We have a day to spare.We have to catch the train to Delhi from Haridwar at 11pm on 4th Oct.
In the above schedule,only the Kalikamliwala at Tunganath has been booked.So we have to reach Tunganath on 27th.(the full moon night is an added attraction).

BTW,we hve done a few easy to moderate treks like Valley of flowers+Hemkund Sahib+Tunganath in 2004,Sandakphu-Phalut-Gorkhey-Srikhola in 2005 and Har-ki-dun in 2006.

capt_mahajan

Umm, hectic.

For eg, the drive to Chopta from Haridwar, and Tungnath same day.. its a 4k pretty steep trek , and the drive will take most of the day... 210 km or so at 35kmph = 6 hours

Doable, but I would slow it down.

You also do not have any spare time for exigencies...

sics66

Thank u for ur reply.You are right.I would also have loved to do this at a more leisurely pace.The trek to Tunganath ,however,is not bothering me.We had done it in August 2004 in very bad weather(rain and clouds).Took us about one & a half hours.So ,if we can reach Chopta even around 3pm,we can go up to Tunganath before dark.Can you please suggest another schedule?

guidedeba

I agree with Mr. Mahajan. And I think 29th is also quite optimistic. and 2nd October you can only reach upto Srinagar or a litle beyond to reach haridwar ito would be very late night.

sics66

Yes.I am myself quite doubtful about the plan for 29th Sept.If it seems improbable,we will cancel the nightstay at Deoriyatal.Instead,on 28th,we will come down to Ukhimath(after visiting Deoriyatal)and spend the night there.That way,we can make it to Bantoli on 29th.
As for return to Haridwar,we can delay that till mid-day on 4th Oct.Actually,we have to catch the Delhi-Kolkata flight at 3pm on 5th.We can probably catch it if we start from Haridwar very early in the morning on 5th.But we have decided not to take this risk and so will take an overnight train on 4thOct from Haridwar(the Mussoroie Express) to Delhi.

capt_mahajan

Your Ukhimath/Bantoli plan seems better now. And in light of your earlier post, perhaps stick with your same day Tungnath plan.

The drive from Haridwar to Delhi takes about 6 hours on weekends, with a halt or two. (You are not travelling on a weekend). If by bus may be longer, what time you save on the highway you will spend in Delhi reaching the airport.. but, in any case, you could leave Haridwar very early in the morning (4am?) and make it for your flight with some time to spare.

sics66

Thank u Capt for the encouraging words.Leaving Haridwar at 4am will mean a relatively sleepless night.Much better to spend the night in train(and maybe have some sleep) and reach Delhi in the morning with enough time in hand.And yes,I really want to reach Tunganath on 27th to (hopefully)enjoy the full moon night here.Please do write if you have any more suggestions.

jyotirmoy

It looks ok to me. Btw how did you book accomodation at Kalikamliwala in advance?

sics66

The office was at Manohar Katra(1st floor) near Burrabazar originally.Only recently it has shifted to Stephen House.I did not go personally.One of our group members did it for us.The original phone no. was 22686701.I don't know whether this has changed with change of premises.
@jyotirmoy, can u please refer to my original plan and changed plan and suggest the better option for 29th Sept ?Is overnight stay at Deoriyatal worthwhile?

Dilliwala

Here are some distances (km):

Haridwar-Rishikesh..........25
Rishikesh-Rudraprayag...138
Rudraprayag-Kund..........35
Kund-Chopta.................43

Expect to drive minimum 7 hrs, upto 8. The section from Shivpuri to Byasi is bad, and there have been landslides between Byasi and Devprayag recently. So u definitely need the 1 hr buffer. Other than that it shud be no problem to reach Chopta by 3 pm.

guidedeba is right about the return to Haridwar being very late. In any case the road is closed after 7 pm between Shrinagar and Lakshmanjhula. Meaning if u want to ensure reaching Rksh or HW same day u have to be out of Shrinagar before 7 pm. But night driving is always avoidable in my view, if it's not urgent.
I'd suggest u stay the night at Shrinagar or Shrikot, both have GMVNs.

I also agree that it'll be more comfortable to take the train to Delhi, and maybe cheaper too. But even if u leave HW by 6-7 am, it shudn't take more than 4.5 hrs to drive, plus the time to IGIA.

swamis1971

I have trekked in this region several times.
To me it seems that you are packing too much into the trip.

Keep room for getting late on journey from Haridwar to Chopta.

You would take a minimum of 8 Hours.. nothing less.
And after that long a drive ( and an overnight journey as well ), you would need to be extremly organised to be immediately able to start the trek.

I would recommend the following trek iternary..

Haridwar-Rudraprayag drive
Stay at Rudraprayag in some hotel.. there is a GMVN also.. several hotels of all budgets.

Rudraprayag to Sari village
Trek from Sari to Deoriya tal. Beautiful place. Small lake.

Deoriya tal to a camp near the pass which takes you down to a stream.

From this camp, trek to a place enroute to Tungnath. You would arrive roughly 1 hour distance enroute Chopta-Tungnath..

from here you can plan as your own research work

you can get porters from Sari

Sadanand Kamath

Sics66,

I still feel that your schedule is a bit hectic on your Haridwar-Chopta-Tungnath-Chandrashila-Chopta-Deoriyatal leg. Though doable, it is at the cost of the rest. I would suggest you to consider sacrificing trek to Deoriyatal for the sake of adequate rest. When you are going to get a grand stand view of Chaukhmbha from Budha Madhmaheswar, weather permitting,[ and if there is overnight rain, you may also see reflection of Chaukhmbha on accumulated water on Budha Madhmaheswar top], you may not miss much in sacrificing trek to Deoriyatal.

Also consider returning from Madhmaheswar trek via Kalimath if you have not been to that place and take overnight halt at Guptakashi. I liked the location and ambience of Kalimath.

Happy trekking,

Sadanand

__________________
Sirf ek kadam utha tha galat rahe shauk mein
Manzil tamam umr hame dhunti rahi.

[Just one wrong step on the way of the quest
My destination looked for me all life long]

sics66

Thank you SK.We have managed to squeeze in one more day by getting hold of the cheap air tickets to Delhi.That way we will be reaching Haridwar/Rishikesh on the same day we leave Kolkata. Earlier we were to take the train from Kolkata to Haridwar.Now, I think, we can do this trek in a much more relaxed way.

Dilliwala

Hi Shyamal,

If u do not make it to Chopta by sunset, then Rudraprayag will be ideal for the night. However, ther are also GMVNs at Tilwara, Chandrapuri and Syalsaur which wud be good alternatives. All are right on the river bank.
Distances from Rudraprayag are 9, 24, and 26 km, respectively.

Depending on how much time u have in hand - from Syalsaur to Ukhimath is 15 km/30 min, where the next GMVN is.
Chopta is another 37 km away and will take at least 1 hour from Ukhimath.