Well , after an unsuccessful attempt to trek Roopkund this September end (" the 2010 late monsoon ran havoc in the state of Uttranchal and ate up most of the roads of the state and while we were on our way to reach Loharjung-the base camp for Roopkund trek , to cross the Almora distt became almost impossible and with time constraints we had to cancel the trip and returned back after driving some 100 odd kms from Kathgodam to got stuck at Mukateshwar/Nanitaal " ) I wanted to trek a moderate to tough route in Uttarakhand and while I was just in the look for some destinations in Uttranchal (had grown a kinda liking for Garhwal Himalayas ) I come to know about this beautiful lake situated in the midst of dense tranquil forests of Uttarkashi district. Another good reason to choose this trek was the time of the year , we were right in the middle of the winter and to plan some high altitude trek would have meant taking another chance , but with Doditaal unless its snowing heavily in the Gharwal himalayas( Uttarkashi distt in particular) we can always go to Doditaal .
So I spend a day or two to check out the details , I was mainly concerned about the weather conditions and the availability of the equipments ( mainly Tent , though I never thought we would be requiring a guide until I reached Uttarkashi and had words with the guy we wanted to rent the Tent from .. you can find his details in the Contact and Paraphernalia Page ) . Then with just a little chance of getting the Tents at Uttarkashi ( I now feel how could I have planned such , with completely relying on some Blog posts on net and without having a word with any person in particular .. I will suggest never to do this . Even if for this Doditaal Trek ,if you dont have the final confirmation or arrangements dont go as you never know a small missing thing can prove to be a trek spoiler and can be dangerous . As someone( Mr Vishnu ) has wisely said "The mountain dont kill its the bad planning ". ) we left for the destination .
Final Draft of the Plan:
The Distance draftprint of the trip should look like ( the text in bold is the actual trek with non bold text indicating the distance thats doable on vehicle ).
(Delhi) --210km--(Haridwar)--180km--(Uttarkashi)--14km--(Sanghamchatti)--5km--(Agora Village)--2km--(Bebra Camp Site)--5km--(Dharkot Or Chatri)--5km--(Manjhi)--5km--(Doditaal)--7km--(Darwa Pass) .
Now with all the details sorted out we had the following plan . We had 5 days available (or we made available to us as I was dead sure we would be able to do this trek in these days ) with us in the last week of December 2010 starting with Dec 24th to Dec 28th . Well if you read through some other blogs pertaining to Doditaal you definitely will find that they had done this in more days or atleast kept more days while planning , I will also suggest the same, better be prepared then to correct later on .
The total distance that you have to cover for Doditaal + Darwa Top is about 58 Km's so you know well how can you plan this . I will just try to tell you how we did that and how we could have done it a bit better.
Ok so comming back to the plan , The worst part of living in Delhi/Gurgaon is for any small to moderate to definitely a tougher trek you have to travel a lot and reach the base camp or the place your trek starts from . If I am not wrong , for any place in Himachal/Uttranchal the minimum distance you have to travel is somewhere arround 300 to 400 KMs and not all travels are possible at night ( though it suits most of the travellers ) .
Similarly for Doditaal we had to travel close to 400KM one side .
( Delhi to Haridwar is abt 210 Km , and then From Haridwar to Uttarkashi about 180- 200 Km's ) .
What should have been the ideal plan for this trek is as follows :
Travel overnightly to Haridwar from Delhi.
--> Day 1: Travel to Uttarkashi - 200KM's abt 6 hours of drive .
Reach uttarkashi and book a hotel and buy the food supplies for the trek from the local market . As per your plan reach out the tour operator and meet with the guide etc .
--> Day2 : Start early in the morning . (Not later then 7 in the morning )
Travel to Sangamchatti ( 14KM's from Uttarkashi ) by car/taxi .
Start the trek from Sangamchatti to Agora Village ( 5 KM's . This is steep climb for the first day trek ) .
Reach Bebra ( 2 KM's from Sangamchatti -- this is probably most comfortable part of the trek and the path is almost level and no steep climb ) . Bebra is a good place to camp , incase you have the leverage of time .
Now if you are bit descent trekker , you can leave for Manjhi ( 10 km's from Babra ) the same day , so overall this will make your first day of the trek to be 17 KM's . But a suggestion , the trek from Bebra to Dharkot about 5 km from Bebra is the steepest climb of the trek . Though from Dharkot to Manjhi ( which is 5 km is almost level path and relatively easy to tread through ) .
Note: Between Bebra and Manjhi ( 10 kms stretch ) you dont have much places to camp overnight . So if you plan to go beyond Bebra the same day , My suggestion is to go upto Manjhi .
--> Day 3: Start from Bebra for Doditaal ( 15 KM trek ).
Again start as early as possible , The first 5 kms( till Dhaarkot Or Chattri ) of this day will be toughest and will drain you out so walk easy and slowly .
From Dharkot to Manjhi its again 5 KM of almost level trek . For this day do carry water with you atleast a littre each person .
Manjhi, has a very beautiful camp site with a view of the Dayara top peak , and it lies in the midst of the dense forest . You have a cluster of huts at Manjhi and in summer times you can even find some food available here , so can plan a lunch here .
From Manjhi to Doditaal is again almost level trek of 5 km's and the excitement of reaching the beautiful lake can make you walk fast and reach the lake in about 2 hours . The last Kilometer or so is almost a 30 degree down hill walk . All in all these 15 km's should be easily manageable, and should take you arround 6 to 7 hours of trekking excluding any lunch/food halts .
There's ample supplies of wood at Doditaal and one can have a very gud and relaxing campfire in the night at the lake side . There's a lot and lot of spaces for the camp site at Doditaal .
-->Day 4: Doditaal to Darwa and back to Doditaal ( 14 Kms total ) .
Darwa top is about 7 Km's from the lake Doditaal and is bloody vertical climb , had u done this the first day you might have required the next two days to rest . But none the less reaching the top and the view from there will refresh you instantly .
Come back to the lake and stay overnightly and enjoy the scene.
--> Day 5: Doditaal to Agora - 17 KM ( Or if you can manage till Sanghamchatti which will be added 5 km's ) .
Somehow I think even the weakest of the trekker will be able to walk this complete distance to Sanghamchatti which will be 22 km's . But If you still feel like have it easy a bit travel to Agora , stay at the Village ( You can find Bharat Tourist Lodge with arrangements for 30 people there ) .
--> Day 6 : Agora to Sanghamchatti ( 5km's ) and then to Uttarkashi and drive back to Haridwar .
This days plan depends completely upon your travel bookings from Haridwar to Delhi .
Our Trek Details :
Now I have told you above what should have been a perfect trek plan for an average to descent trekker but we did this in 3 days coz we are BLOODY HELL OF A TREKKER ( I even surprised myself with my second days trek for 24 km ) . Now how we were able to do this, its a little incidental and my pahari upbringing has to do more then a bit with that as well .
Out of us three, Me and our guide (Govind) did a full 58 km trek to Darwa top , where as Nitin prefered to go up to Doditaal only and stay there while we went ahead and trekked Darwa top .
The second day of my trek , we walked about 24 km's that included 7 km's of that king of a trek vertical climb to Darwa top from Doditaal .
Let me detail you each days events .
Day 0 : Dec 23 2010 : We left Delhi in the night train to Haridwar. The intent was to drive to Uttarkashi as early as possible from Haridwar the next day . The journey to Haridwar would have been much more comforting had we booked the ticket in the second or third tier AC , but we booked in normal sleeper class so had to deal with seasonal cold that one can experience in the month of December in the northern plains of India . Got about a maximum of 3 hours of sleep in the train .
Day 1 : Dec 24 2010 : Reached Haridwar at arround 5:00 in the morning, and went straight to get some accomodation in any cheap hotel near railway station to get fresh and wait for the Taxi that we had booked from Delhi itself . Finally we get a room in Hotel X just in front of the railway station which we booked for about 3 hours . They provided with hot water and tea which suffice our need for the hour .
Incidentely or if I can call a good omen , the room that we got in the hotel had a picture of Doditaal covered in the sheet of snow decorating its wall , so now we had at the least something to call a SIGN that the trip will be a good one . ( The almost opposite happened when we started our journey for the Roopkund trek in september the same year with so many of bad signs and events keep occuring all throughout our first day .)
At sharp 7:00AM our taxi and Mr K.P Singh our taxi owner were standing right in front of the hotel and we left Haridwar . Had a breakfast of paranthas near the Haridwar-Rishikesh border and crossing couple of hill towns ( Narendernagar, Chamba ) we reached Uttarkashi by 4:00 PM in the evening .
Though it took us probably about 2 hours more to reach , but thats because we halted at couple of places in between .
One can enjoy the Tehiri Lake(Dam)--as seen in the adjoining picture, all through from Chamba for the next 60 or something kilometers , the road runs parallel to the lake and gives you very good view of the Gharwal himalaya's lower ranges falling into the lake .
Now the first thing that we needed to do in Uttarkashi was to find some tour operator and get Tent and other equipments for the trek (even still we have not thought about hiring a guide for the trek ) . Again the omen number two for the day , we incidently stoped our vehicle right below one of such tours n travel shop(Rana Tours n Travels- 9412984495/9557464668 deals in Adventure sports/trek organiser. ) in Uttarkashi ( though we did not hire from them but the omen was gud one ) .
Meeting Mr Vishnu
After talking to Mr Rana , we decided to look for some other tour operator as well and while searching for the same we landed at Snow Spider Trek & Tour , Uttarkashi and met Mr Vishnu the Director of the firm.. Now I would call this the best thing to have happened to us till this point because Mr Vishnu not only provided the best guide we could have asked for in Govind but also gave his invaluable advice to us and he also arranged for the camping fee receipt from the Regional Forest Office , the receipt shown above in the blog.. Also he being a professional mountaineer we cannot have ignored him but he was also a bit apprehensive about us making this trek in three days . Well those words were more then worry some material hearing his experience of the terrain and the us personifying an image of filthy and unhealthy IT professional of so called US slavery in front of him . Having some discussion arround the best possible tour itenary we left for the local market to buy some food stuff for the trek . One can get all the basic necessity at Uttarkashi ( but dont expect to get tinned/processed food here , if you need something like that better carry it from Delhi ) .
Oh , yeah Mr Vishnu also helped us get a good and cheap room at Uttarkashi ( There are quite a lot of options for Hotels in Uttarkashi, and one can find accomodation from per bed basis to some good luxury hotel ).
So having everything in place for the next three days of excitement we creeped back to the hotel room by 9:00 pm and were in 5 in the morning .
The night was expectedly cold but very easily manageable in the warm hotel room and a descent quilt .
Day 2 : Dec 25 2010 : Well Marry Christmas to us ............( 14 kms drive + 17 kms trek to Manjhi )
The next morning , even surprising ourselves we wokeup at 4:30 and were ready to move by 5:45 am , Our guide Govind also came to hotel on time and taxi as planned was ready to drop us at Sanghamchatti ( 14 km ) away from the town . The morning was about 3 to 5 degrees cooler then the last night but we had some good jackets to protect us ( Jackets were good enough for -5 degrees celcius ) .
Reaching Sanghamchatti.(As seen in the picture in the wee hours of 25th dec , It was still dark at 6:50AM when we reached Sanghamchatti ) .
Just about 5 km's from Uttarkashi a bifurcation leads you to a small cluster of houses called Sangamchatti . This is the end of the road and the vehicle have to be parked here or turned back for Uttarkashi . In our case Mr KP Singh(Our taxi driver) decided to turn back to Uttarkashi and stay there rather then waiting for us in Sanghamchatti , which I also infer is a wise decision as one can find a better accomodation in Uttarkashi as compared to Sangamchatti .
It was 7:00am and we were just waiting for the light to sprinkle itself over the mountains and first beam of sunlight touch the snow skin of the peaks .
Finally we started our trek to Agora at 7:00am . The trek from Sangham chatti to Agora though is steep one but not something that will kill your spirits right upfront and with the excitement budding to ooze out of us we travelled with good pace and reached the last Village on the trek called Agora .
Now Agora is a typical Gharwal village with no road , no medical centre and probably no school in the village itself .
A so called "valid" argument for the negelect of these villages that probably the local politician or the power dwellers can put forward is the remote ness of the place which I definitely didnot find an alibi as I rate this negelect of the poor people of the country as the biggest crime they are doing for which even if each one of them is literally fucked for the comming centuries will not be exonerated. Come on when we can build the net of metro in the most crowded city of the world (Delhi ) we definitely can build a single lane or just a jeepable road to these villages . None the less if we wish to .
Reached Agora village(As seen in the Picture below) by about 9:15 am .
At Bebra I found a walking stick for me and the party and we moved ahead for Dharkot . The next 5 km had to be arduous and about 45 degrees or more climb as what Govind told us . And that was to be, we opted for some shortcuts and by the time we reached Dharkot ( the chatri ) we were completely drenched in sweat and were out od stock for energy . Sipped a bottle each of Glucose water and ate some chocolates to get some back .
Well , after staying there for some 30 mins or so we headed for Manjhi and it was already pass 2:00PM in the day . Though as per our morning plan for the day we were to trek all the way to Doditaal , and thats would have been so had not for Nitin's legs , those just gave up and we moved with very slow pace and decided to go upto Manjhi only, where we invariably reached at 5:30 in the evening .
Day 3 : Dec 26 2010 : ( 24 km Trek to Dodital -Darwa top and return back to Manjhi) . The night in the hut at Manjhi was relatively good and comforting as we initially thought and had choosen to stay in huts then to putup our tent some where . We cooked some good Daal chawal ( cereal and rice ) , tomato soup and ofcourse tea ( an ever needed glass of the hot liquid ).
At Manjhi , you have ample supply of wood and one only need few drops of kerosene to have a good fire on and prepare the meal .
OK, the next morning we were up by 7 :00Am and had our morning tea in the hut , packed our bags and were out on our feet again by 8:00am . Now , at this point we all had a plan to reach the lake in an hour and then head straight to the Darwa top and come back to Manjhi . This looked quite simple on the paper , just 5 km to Doditaal ( almost level walk ) then just 7 km to the top ( Belive me this 7 km is equivalent to 14 km or probably more on level ground ) .
With our excitement for the lake we walked briskly and reached by 9:45 am , this time doesnot suggest a great start , but was fair enough with the morning chill and Nitin's legs cramping and his body completely exausted with last days climb and had not recovered fully .
So we were finally at the Doditaal ( The picture below was clicked from the other side of the lake while returning from the Darwa top )
Had another cup of tea and Maggi Noodles as our breakfast and relaxed at the lake side for next hour or so clicking some pictures and visiting the Ganesh temple .
Now after a quick discussion, with considering all the pros and cons Nitin decided to saty at the lake while me and Govind decided to go upto Darwa top ( By the very look at the peak point where we had to reach for Darwa top I had such a stong inhibition about my reaching there and comming back in the same day ) .
So , as a backup plan we kept an option of staying at the Lake only for this day and doing the return journey to Sangamchatti right from the Lake in one go tomorrow ( though that should have been a too much asking ) .
Sharp at 11:15am we started for the Darwa top .
All the way to the top , I kept looking at the peak and kept asking intermittently to Govind "how much is left " and try to sip water continuously to keep my enery level up and running . Though the water was too cold to provide a satisfaction from the thirst but to merely fulfill your craving for some enery .
The trek from Doditaal to Darwa Top is straight 75 degree climb and is too much to kill your right from inside and completely drain you out . By the time one reach the top he's completely out of stock , But the very first sight from the top of the distant Himalayas gives you such a high kick of energy and splendor will daze your eyes . This is what I came here for . This is what I kept pressing on when the climb was acting too heavy a load on my body .
We started to cook soon and had another round of Daal Chawal as our dinner and again an ever needed tea .
The night in my sleeping bag was most painful for me and I had to take a pain killer to get some sleep .
Day 4 : Dec 27 2010 : (The Last day of the Trek -- The Journey back to Sangamchatti ).
The morning was relatively warm and since we had covered substantial distance the last day we could leverage a late start . We woke up late by arround 8:30am , had tea in the full and wrm morning sun . It was a bad feeling to leave these lush green hills and the forest behind us to the concrete and unrelenting world of the Gurgaon Hell .
Well , after so great 2 days when we did not see a single human being , we started our journey back home from Manji at arround 10:30 am to reach Dharkot(Chatri ) by 12:00Noon and Bebra by 1:15pm . We halted at Bebra for about 2 hours and had our lunch at the local restaurant ( which opened the same day after they came to know about another visiting party for the lake , after all they do need to earn some for their daily bread ).
Soon , we crossed Agora Village and did not stoped untill we reached Sangamchatti exactly 15 mins to 5:00 pm as promised by us to our taxi driver Mr K.P.Singh .
Finally three wonderful days were over and with a hope to return back to these mountain again for sure we headed to Uttarkashi and meet Mr Vishnu .
All in all these three days were like spending to think why are we not living this life which is far more enriching and beautiful then those days spent in the gloom of those 4 by 4 cubical in some slavery that sucks the very soul out of your body and you being a devote human being keep knitting those holes back day after day after day .
With some sort of hurry and a wish to see the Haridwar's evening prayer at Har-ki-Pauri the next day before boarding our train back to Delhi ,we decided to leave for Haridwar the same evening and after starting at arround 6:00pm from Uttarkashi , we were at Haridwar by the midnight .
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