Planning Kedarnath - Badrinath -Joshimath in Late October'12 - NEED HELP & SUGGESTION

After reading almost all the threads, I have made the following Itinerary, Please suggest & advice. We do not want hectic travelling.

Tour Members : 4 Aged Members( 50 - 60), Rest Young (18-35). My father was an asthma patient. Please suggest whether there will be any problem in late October.

D1 - 21.10.12 : Ranchi (17:55) – Delhi (10:50 next day) by Rajdhani
D2 - 22.10.12 : Reach Delhi at 11:00 am. Delhi (15:25) – Haridwar (19:32) By Dehradun Jansatabdi. Night Stay at Haridwar
D3 - 23.10.12 : Haridwar / Dehradun sight seeing
D4 - 24.10.12 : Haridwar – Rudraprayag (By Road 160 km ~ 5 hrs.) – Night Stay at Rudraprayag
D5 - 25.10.12 : Rudraprayag – Gaurikund (75 km By Car) – Kedarnath (By Trek / Horseback / Dandi – as suitable) – Night Stay at Kedarnath
D6 - 26.10.12 : Kedarnath to Gaurikund – Chopta (79 km)– Night Stay
D7 - 27.10.12 : Chopta – Badrinath (~ 140 km) , Night Stay at Badrinath, Is Tunganath trek possible before we start for Badrinath????
D8 - 28.10.12 : Badrinath Sight Seeing
D9 - 29.10.12 : Badrinath – Joshimath (44 km / 3 hrs) – Auli (By Ropeway) and back to Joshimath, Night Stay at Joshimath
D10- 30.10.12 : Joshimath to Haridwar, (276 km) - Night Stay
D11-extra / buffer day
D12- 01.11.12 : Haridwar (06:22) – Delhi (11:10) by Dehradun Jansatabdi
We have one day excess as Ticket could be booked for 01.11.2012. Please suggest whether above planning is possible or not?

I'd be there just one day behind you ........before criticizing your itinerary, need to know are you hiring car or depend on public transport

Thanks Mr. P. Kanti for reply. I will be hiring a car from Haridwar.....we are 10-11 person in our group....Thinking about hiring TATA Winger......Looking forward to your post.....

As you intend to hire a vehicle for the trip, go to Gaurikund on 24th Oct on day4. This will save you a day, which can be utilized for Tungnath/ Chandrashila trek.

I shall be covering the same starting 21st Oct but with some speed.

My program is:

D1: Start from Delhi at night
D2: Drive to Gaurikund and reach Kedarnath using mule.
D3. Back to Gaurikund & drive up to Badrinath.
D4. Visit Badrinath/ Mana & reach Joshimath for Auli visit
D5. Trek to Bhavishya Badri & stay at Joshimath
D6. Start from Joshimath & back to Delhi by night.

Good to see many gr8 IMians visiting UK in Oct.

Me too starting from Delhi on 22nd Oct morning and planning to cover Badrinath, Kedarnath, Chopta etc, in 6 days in hired car with my aged parents. Will post my itinerary in few days. Will be delighted to bump with other friends.

Dear Mr. Dixit,
The first question is as to how you intend to travel, driving self or hired vehicle. Whatever, it may be - driving from Delhi to Kedarnath is a 468 Kms., so where do you intend to break in between? Even if you break at Rishikesh, you will need at least 6-8 hours drive (depending upon road conditions) to reach Gaurikund and therefrom, another 2.5-3 hrs. trek to Kedarnath. After darshan, even if you start at 11.00 AM from Kedarnath, you will reach Gaurikund only by 1.00 P.M. and therefrom, Badrinath is 210 Kms. which will again take 7-9 Hrs. (depending upon road conditions), but driving after dark is not allowed in Uttarakhand, so you may have to drop down at Joshimath. You may have to travel to Badrinath the next day and it will not be possible to return back the same day after darshan of Badri Vishal temple and Mana. So I think you will have to rejig your schedule.

Have a nice journey

I shall be driving self. I would start from Delhi at around 10pm crossing Rishikesh by 5am. Tea after crossing Muzzaffarnagar has always been my first break point. Breakfast at Rajhans Srinagar (opp GMVNL) is my favorite. Your concerns are quite right. But I have different stats. This year in January, I started at night from Delhi, and stopped at Guptkashi after visiting Chopta. Similarly, I started from Delhi in June this year and stopped at Gangotri. And again in August, I stopped at Badrinath after starting from Delhi. I take 3-4 breaks for a driving of 15-18 hours.

As you mentioned that I could start by 11am from Kedar. No...... I plan to cross Guptkashi by then.

I am stating this keeping road conditions in mind.