road trip to chopta tungnath - part II
- Publishing Date: 11-Feb-2018
- Category: Adventure
- Starting Date: 23-Dec-2017
- No of Days: 3 Days
- Location: Chopta, Uttarakhand, India
To read the first part of this story click here
To read the same blog in Hindi, go to setting gear showing on the right hand side and change the language selection to Hindi.
We were thinking about some other options and after few minutes my phone rang, I checked the number and it was the same bike renting guy, he apologize me for getting late and not able to attend the call as he was driving and with in 15 minutes we were standing in front of that guy and he give what he promised. After getting our bike with two helmets we were heading towards the nearest petrol pump to fill our bike tanks.
One can use his Credit/Debit Card on the petrol pump available near by Laxman Jhula. One important thing that was told by our bike renting guy - Ask for Chopta Tungnath route as there are 2 places named as Chopta in Uttarakhand.
After filling the petrol we were all set to start our ride, the trip meter were also reset so that we can get an idea of how much distance covered. Now the question is who will ride, as a regular rider I have a good experience of long rides like Delhi to Rishikesh, Delhi to Mathura, Gwalior to Kanpur. But Ajeet never did long rides, but still he wants to start the ride and I was totally agreed, as we both know it's not an easy task to ride 8 continuous hours, so we will change the driver after every 50 KM. Ajeet started the bike and I manage the bags and we were moving towards a very long journey, no body knows how the roads will be, at what time we will reach etc. The chilling winds were kissing us and we were like flying in the valley with our machine. We wore a pair of gloves, cap, helmet and very heavy jacket still we feel the chilling winds when we were in sheds. A song playing some where in my mind "Hushn pahadon ka, kya kehna ki baraho mausam yha mausam jaadon ka".
Our first stop
After driving hardly for 15 minutes we saw a ver beautiful place and we stopped our bike to click some pics and to capture the beauty in our mind, and we follow the same routine for next 1 hour, and because of that only 20 KM covered in first hour. So we decided, this place is full of such places so we will not stop on each place, our next stop will be after 50 KM and the one who is driving will only concentrate on the road as the road is very risky, and we don't have previous experience of driving in such roads.
There are some basic rules of driving in hills - Always keep left, blow horn on every curve, and always give side to the vehicle going upwards.
Silver Mountains (Snow covered mountain range)
The hills were on one side and Gange's on another side, suddenly I saw something and told Ajeet to stop the bike on side. We saw the Silver Mountains (Mountains covered with Snow), this is the first time when we see something amazing like this, Ajeet and me don't believe on our eyes, one thing was clear to both of us, it's not just a trip, it's a lifetime adventure ride for us.
Our next stop was Devprayag, we reached there and our another group was on the way, so we decided to stop there for sometime and to get some pics of this beautiful place.
Important Information
About Devprayag: Devaprayag (Deva prayāga) is a town and a nagar panchayat (municipality) in Tehri Garhwal district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. The celestial town of Devprayag is positioned at an elevation of 830 metres above sea level. Devprayag is the last Prayag or the holy confluence of the Alaknanda River, from here that the confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi River is known as Ganga.
Devprayag is 37 KM from Byasi and 70 KM from Rishikesh, Garhwal is famous for its five Prayag i.e. Devprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnprayag, Nandprayag and Karnprayag.
Confluence of Alaknanda (right) and Bhagirathi (left)
After collecting the memories in our mind and camera we were heading towards, and this time I was on the driving seat. It is more scariest to sit on back while driving on the mountain, we understand this fact during this trip. And the scary time for Ajeet started :D
After crossing Kirti Nagar, we were in the busy market of Srinagar, it's around 01:00 PM and we were too much hungry so we decided to take a halt at a road side dhaba and have some food. We called our friends to join us but they are far away so they denied. Our order was 2 Veg Thali's and on our request agreed to serve us outside so that we can make our body warm by sitting under the sunlight. In the Veg Thali they serve us, Dal, Chapati, Patta Gobhi Aloo ki Sabji, Rayta and Achar cooked with pahadi water, and I like the taste of such food. After finishing the lunch I was again on the driving seat and heading towards our destination. After covering some distance we saw the famous temple of Dhari Devi but we don't have so much time so we offer our prayers from the road and we move forward.
After covering some more distance we saw a place, it was a village and I don't know the name of this place but we took a halt (The name of this village is Kaliasaud, I got to know the name while returning)).
Reflection Point
This place was just like a Bollywood romantic movie song shooting location, the place was like a reservoir or lake used to store the water, and at that time the water is very less and it looks like a bank of a still river, the water is so clear that one can see Reflection of every thing into it. Every person who was going from this route and have some spare time take a halt here and click some pictures, we were also busy in clicking some poses.
Life is a reflection
The author of the story :D
After clicking pics we again started towards our destination and a song playing some where in my mind "Dhoop ke makan sa ye, hai safar dhalan sa ye mod meharban sa hai ye"
Scenic view of Chaukhamba range
Again we moved further and after covering some distance we saw the same Silver Mountains, but this time they are very near from us and It was like they are standing to welcome us by extending their arms. I can's express the exact scene in my words but let me try - "The whole surrounding was like a big canvas on which the painting of great Himalaya painted and snow flacks were spread over this painting".
Another view of Chaukhamba range
We took out our camera to store these memory in out suitcase of memories and we moved further, the sunset was on their way and we reached a place known as Kund. As Umesh told us the left turn from Kund goes to Kedarnath and Right turn goes to Chopta, after confirming from a person we took the left turn and moved further, now Ajeet was on the driving seat.
Its 04:00 PM means we were driving for last 6 hours and around 2 more hours to go, we were feeling exhausted, to recharge us we took a tea break at a road side tea shop, I took out the phone and dial the home number and told them we are safe and it will take around 1 more hour to reach Chopta. I confirmed distance from the shop owner and I got the same reply "a few kilometers only". After finishing we make a call to other group and they were also behind us, we move forward and after covering few kilometers, we saw a board - Chopta 40 KM. That means we will reach Chopta around 6:00 PM and its a kind of satisfactory moment for us.
The road is narrow but is good enough so we were driving a bit fast, the Silver Mountains are so clear now as the distance is decreasing. After covering few more kilometers we were able to see the snow on the side of roads as the last snowfall occurred in Chopta a few days back and the snow was still there. We reduced the speed as sun is going for the night break and the entire area becomes scary and dark and we also saw some snow on the road as well. On a sharp turn Ajeet loose the control of bike suddenly, but thank god the speed was to low. I got down with the bags in my hand and pushing the bike but nothing works as we were stcuk in the Black Ice, the most dengerous form of snow on the road. I signalled Ajeet to got down and we both were pushing the bike to clear the road. This is the scariest moment till now on this trip.
I told Ajeet to hold the bags and give me the bike key, I removed my hand gloves and start the bike. My whole concentration was on road the speed is around 20 25 KM/hour. My fingers were freezing and I felt like thousands of needles were entering into it but still I was driving bare hands as I feel a bit uncomfortable with gloves and in such scenario we don't take any risk. The whole area is covered with snow, after driving 10 minutes we were in Chopta, our destination. We asked for our camp site and its 200 meter away, it took 2 more minutes to reach our camp. I can't feel my hands as they were totally freezed, I put it in the pocket of jacket after parking our bike, and I am feeling there is no need of such act :D
After parking our bike we were standing in the office of our Camp Site i.e. Moksha, it's around 06:30 PM. It took total 8 hours to reach Chopta from Rishikesh.
The Moksha camp site is managed by Tarun Nagpal who is from Faridabad, apart from this camp site they organize adventure tours, bike tours etc. We confirmed our booking and Tarun told me to wait for 10 minutes to make our camp ready. There were so many books and novel available here, one can read it and put it on their place, some song was playing in the music player. There was no electricity connection available here, the only source of power is Solar Energy. There was no network available in my cell phone so I asked Tarun to make me a phone call to my home.
Our camp were ready, and we put our bags in our camp. This was a small camp used by travellers during their road trips, one can easily take this by putting this in a bag. Blanket doesn't work here, so they provided the sleeping bags to us. Dinner will served at 08:00 PM, till we were in mood to have some rest and enjoy the nature of beauty. I took out my camera and start clicking the moments to keep my mind and camera in synch :D
Kedarnath range from our camps
This is the second part of this trip, I hope you enjoyed it. In the next part, I will take you to the trek of world highest Shiv Temple "Tungnath". The temple remain closed during winters, but still you feel like you are under the arms of Shiv blessings...
To read the same blog in Hindi, go to setting gear showing on the right hand side and change the language selection to Hindi.
To see all the pictures related to this blog, click here
Happy traveling
Fir milege kahi kisi roj ghumte firte :)
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