Trekking in the Himalayas became dream for me since the day I started travelling. Being raised in Hyderabad, far away from mountains, Visiting snow capped mountains, staying in remote Himalayan hamlets, trek in the knee deep snow, camp overlooking the majestic Himalayan peaks. What more I can expect from my first Himalayan Trek ?? After a little bit of research of best Himalayan trek for beginners I set out for Kedarkantha. As it was my first ever visit to Northern side of country I was more excited and had lot of expectations also 😁😁
After having a little experience of leading treks in western ghats, RK asked me to assist this trek for BCF Kedarkantha group in 2018 with 3 more participants. And as Rakesh from this group travelled a lot with RK, I am sure RK thought it will be easy for me to assist by taking Rakesh’s help. And to add this, On the trip I got to know, the other two also are friends of Rakesh.
About Kedarkantha Trek :
Kedarkantha is an adventurous trek in the Sankri Range of Uttarakhand. Mythology of this place related to lord shiva , locals say it is the place where lord shiva meditated. It is very idle trek for beginners looking for first Himalayan Summit. It offers the 360 degree view of Himalayas from the summit with the best views of Mt. Blackpeak , Mt Swargarohini , Mt. Bandarpooch. A 20 km trek from the Sankri is an absolute delight for Trekking enthusiasts. Winter is the best time for this trek but crowded too. This can be done through out the year except monsoon.
Haridwar: Entry to “Devbhoomi Uttarakhand”
Haridwar considered the holy place for Hindus where river Ganges exits Himalayan foothills. It is considered as entry point to the people who are coming to Devbhoomi Uttrakhand. People who goes for Chardham yatra takes a dip in ganges here and start their journey upwards to Holy shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri , Kedarnath, Badrinath.
I came to Haridwar from Delhi by overnight train. Took a holy dip in the Ganges and visited the temples over there.
Ganga Aarti @ Har ki paudi
As I was informed there will be so much rush in the evening to watch the arti on the banks of ganga, I went there an hour before to occupy the best place to watch the Ganga Arti . For the whole duration of arti you will feel yourself so relaxed and peaceful. It is the best divine experience someone ever get surrounded by Lights , drums, chants , bells.
Don’t Miss Ganga Aarti if you go to Haridwar.
I took train( Jan shatabdi) to Dehradun from haridwar, it reached almost 1.30 late than schedules time ( people said its normal delay :p ) . I went to a hotel near by and slept while dreaming about next days trek .
Pro Trip for Kedarkantha : People who are coming for Kedarkantha trek can plan 1-2 days extra and visit Haridwar, Rishikesh and mussourie.
Rishikesh is famous for adventure sports like Bungee jumping , Rafting . You can plan these either Pre – trek / Post trek .
Accommodation : Dehradun has so many hotels near railway station. If you are coming day before plan to stay near railway station so that it will be easy for next day morning.ISBT Dehradun has pretty clean dorms with minimum budget.
Also read: Solo Backpacking in Chhattisgarh : A Magical Retreat for Travelers
Overview about trek :
Base Camp: Sankri
Height: 12,500ft
Grade: Easy – Moderate
Trek distance: 24km
Forest Permission: Yes , Needed. We have to take permission in Sankri forest office
Network: BSNL ( limited service)
ATM: Purola is last point where we get ATM
Day 1 : Dehradun – Sankri Drive
I woke up in the morning and went to Railway station by 6 am. There I received Rakesh, Prithvi and Ravi. This was the first time am assisting a Himalayan trek with BCF. Having only 3 participants definitely made me comfortable as I am was going for the first time to Kedarkantha.
Our Driver Golu was waiting for us already, without wasting time we started our journey into the mountains!!
Note: Its always advised to start early by 6.30 am from Dehradun as road conditions are not good.
Visit to Kempty falls , Mussoorie
We halted at Kempty falls for breakfast, as we arrived on time we went to visit falls also which takes 20 min downhill hike from roadhead. It was very beautiful. One need to have guts to take bath in falls as water is bone chilling. There were some water sports and cafes available overlooking falls. There were some photo shops which offers a photoshoot in local traditional clothes, Couples can try that 😉
Drive to Sankri: A journey of lifetime
Drive to Sankri past the Mussoorie was a journey you will remember forever. Especially for people like me who was travelling into the himalayas for the first time, it was a blissful experience. Once you cross Mussoorie the road will be windy , you will see tiny hamlets in the hills on one side and another side the gorgeous Yamuna flowing though the valley. Be alert if you are not habituated to ghat roads ( carry vomiting tablets ).
Will be crossing the villages, Nain Bhag ( base for Nag tibba trek ) , Purola ( Where will get Last ATM & Network) . Once we crossed Purola , we enterd the pine forests. This road has everything to offer , the views of yamunotri and the traditional Gharwal villages wont let your eyes off the window for a minute. We had our lunch at purola. Did little shopping as Ravi didn’t got anything specific to trek ( I will tell you the reason next 😅😅) .
We have entered our names at forest check point at Naitwar ( Now it shifted to Sankri) and continued further to Sankri. Last 18km of road is little adventurous , we will be moving along side the supin river . No one can get their eyes off from window through out this last stretch from the beauty of valley , even the road condition wont allow vehicle to go fast also :d :d allowing the people to get better views of villages on the surrounding hills and valley.
We have reached Sankri by evening 5 pm.
Also read: Palem Dam, Kongala Waterfalls and Muthyamdhara waterfalls…
Sankri : A tiny hamlet Surrounded by snow capped Himalayas
It is a Himalayan village at 1900 mtr which showcase the local culture of Gharwal . It serves as a base camp to the some of best Himalayan treks in the region. You will be astonished by seeing the colorful mountain houses , Welcoming gestures of locals , Ancient Temples .
Due to the increasing flow of trekkers in recent times few cafes came up in the market , which offers Delicious local food ( Noodles, Mo-mos , Baraf Chaat is not to miss) . Trekkers can buy / rent gear also in Sankri market. Most of the trekking gear can be available who want to purchase in last minute.
We went to market in the evening to buy some snow gear for Ravi. Ravi was told by his friends ( Rakesh , prithvi) that they are going for a trip near mussourie later coming to Dehradun he got to know that his friends planned some adventure in the Himalayas. We bought all the necessary items for trek and had some snacks and went Back to homestay .
Network
There is only BSNL Network available in Sankri that too limited to 40 calls at a time. Recent update is that JIO network will be available by 2021.
Where to stay?
Sankri has so many homestays suitable for travellers. GMVN also there is Sankri. You can pre book GMVN through website as its run by Uttrakhand tourism.
You can contact us for home stay details.
How to reach Sankri ?
If you join BCF Kedarkantha event we will only take care of transportation from Dehradun .
If you are going on own…
For group Travellers : Bolero/Tempo traveller are available to Sankri from Dehradun. They charge 6000/10000 respectively for 7 seater / 12 seater.
Pro Trip for Solo Travellers : there is only 1 direct bus available to Sankri from Dehradun Railway station at 5.00 Am . There will be heavy rush so try to be early at the counter and get ticket. (Same bus available in return journey also)
In case if you miss the Roadways bus, a local private bus is available at same time just outside railway station .
Route : Dehradun – Mussourie –Nain bhag – Purola – Mori – Sankri
If both the option fails, ready to do the break journey in above route. Buses are available till purola , take shared cab from there to Sankri.
Trek day 1 : Sankri – Juda ka talab
After our Breakfast , we were briefed by Preetham ( our logistics provider) about the trek and safety guidelines to follow. We packed our lunch also for the day and left our extra luggage in homestay . As we are only 4 members for trek we thought of started little late with our guide raju and 1 porter.
The trail was just opposite to the road head and gradual uphill from the starting itself. As the winter also ending ( its feb end) the morning temp. was little high , after half an hour of trek all are started sweating. Trek under the pine trees saved us from direct hit from the sun in day light . After an hour of trek trail opened up into open valley with an refreshing Tea shops.
Tea shops are the trail are rest points for trekkers. There are 2 tea points on the way to Juda ka talab. We get Tea , maggie, ready to snacks. It is one source of income for locals during the trekking season.
Also Read: St. Mary’s Island – A Hidden Gem
We reached our campsite after 3 hrs of trek. There was still some snow left out at the campsite even at the end of winter, we were happy to see snow at first camp itself. We took played around campsite in the snow , took some pics and relaxed for the day.
Evening we went to a small walk and collected some wood for campfire . we had company of other group also for camp fire , it was a cozy evening in the lap of himalays singing the songs from different languages of country, enjoying dinner under stars, some funny ghost stories by local staff made our first day memorable.
Every moment spent in the Himalayas is special memory .You just not only trek in the Snow but you will learn so many things by meeting the people from the different places. You will see the new perspectives of living the life , the conditions you encounter will teach life lessons sometimes. So live the each moment up to its best while you are in Mountains.
Day 2 : Juda ka Talab(9000ft) to Kedarkantha Base camp (11300ft)
We woke up to the first sunlight in Himalayas , got freshen up and ready for our trek to Kedarkantha base. We removed our tents and packed everything to shift our camp to Kedarkantha Base camp. Had our breakfast and started our trek .
Today trek was the shortest of all the 4 days. We took our first halt at Juda lake which was 30 min from our campsite. As there was very less water available in the season we camped little below the juda lake yesterday .
Juda ka talab :
It was a high altitude Himalayan lake situated at 9000ft. People believe that this lake formed from the water droplets fallen from hair of lord Shiva. During the winters it will be frozen completely. It’s a delight to the trekkers who are coming for Kedarkantha trek. We can take a walk on frozen lake in winters. It was surrounded by tall pine trees and majestic mountains.
We took a break at lake and continued up . After a little uphill hike we got a snow patch again. , everyone started sliding in the snow . One more rest point we took while everyone playing in the snow. Ravi was more excited to see snow for the first time, wherever he see snow he used to stop and play there sometime. Even though he was little angry with his friends for not informing about trek, he was happy with snow . It just reminded me of how I took karthik along with me to Nishani motte trek. You can read my Nishani Motte trek experience here.
We started our last 40 min of trek to Kedarkantha base camp through that snow patch. It was like a practice for net days summit push. We reached our campsite by afternoon. Sun was directly hitting on our heads. Base camp was almost empty with only 2 groups are having their Campsites. We found perfect ground to pitch our tents . Our Guide prepared hot pulav for lunch. Food tastes very tasty after a hike 😁😁
Post lunch we went around the campsite to click some photos. There was almost 2 ft deep know around campsite. We took lot of photos and videos. Even our local dog which was following us since day 1 has also enjoyed photo session .
Ghost stories which didn’t let us sleep though out the night
Later in the evening we set out for the fun talks with our Guide and cook. They were sharing the remote life of Himalayan villages , what they do for survival and the work culture in the hills. We all sat in the kitchen to get warm up while preparing dinner.
Out of curiosity ravi asked our cook “ have you ever faced any wild animal around campsites?” Our guide Answered “ we do lot of times encounter Bear and leopard “ , topic became interested as we keep asking more about where do you see , how they react by seeing us, etc..
Also read: Bhimashankar Trek via Shidi Ghat
In Himalayan villages when animals don’t find anything above snowlines they come down and penetrate into villages killing the Goats, Dogs for food. That was the reason we can see most of the dogs were tied with saw tooth kind of band around neck so that leopard cant kill easily. Still Goats are people suffer a lot from it. Dogs help the villagers by sensing the danger of wild animals sometimes (except in case of lepords dogs keep silent to save themselves raju said) .
Our guide ended by saying Dogs barks when they see any wildlife near by , but they silent when they see leopards as they will attack directly.
As next day we planned to start our summit push by 4.00 am we went to sleep by 8.00 pm.
Me and ravi were in one tent and rakesh , prithvi in another tent. As I was not getting sleep I set out to watch a movie. After few minutes ravi started complaining about breathing issue. He started behaving little abnormal. As the Dogs started barking continuously for sometime he feared that some wild animals are around campsite and started praying to god that they wont attack us , yelling at me sometimes. For few moments we assumed it as a fun and rakesh ,prithvi from other making fun of ravi too. Ravi almost lost hopes, he started imagining leopard attacking our campsite and even asked me to call her parents and inform.
As he started complaining about breathing issue also, I put my mobile aside and gave a call to my guide who was in dining tent. They did not sleep yet as they were checking around the campsite after the dogs made so much noise. Alterd mental status, Breathing difficulty made me think in lines of AMS ( Accute mountain Sickness) , but luckily it was not. We shifted Ravi to dining tent and hydrated him. After 1 hour he started feeling better.
Be careful about mountain sickness when you go to high altitudes.
Summit day : 6 km trek
We woke up around 3.30 am ..Our guide prepared Daliya as quick breakfast , and we are ready to push for summit by 4.00 Am. It was too cold in the morning , we all came for the first time in the near zero temp. But our determination for the summit made us push ourselves better.
We started before other group so that we won’t have to stuck in human traffic. Initially it was little difficult , we got comfortable after hiking for an hour. We can see some people behind us with their torch lights on heads. Even though it was just 3 km away to summit it will take 3 hours to reach.
By the time of sunrise we were on a narrow ridge , the wind was too dangerous. All the powdered snow started getting out hitting at the face. We waited to witness the Golden sunrise from the snow mountains. My first Sunrise at that height , watching the first rays of sun falling on Snow filled mountains which are Golden in color with charming beauty was unbelievable experience. I forget about the bone chilling cold, opened my gloves and took a beautiful video.
My fingers almost bent in position where I hold the mobile to take video. I put my mobile back in pocket and started hiking. After some time Ravi gave up, he found a big rock and settled there itself. We tried to convince him but he was like “ enough is enough.. I don’t want to die up above somewhere far from my home without even my parents knowing where I am”. We laughed a little after moving ahead and told him to be safe, we moved ahead.
We can only push anyone further as long as one is mentally strong.
Finally atop Kedarkantha (12,500ft)
After 3 hrs of struggle through the snow , we can see Kedarkantha peak in few meters distance. We ran to the summit . Rakesh , Prithivi and me along with our guide raju stood on the summit of Kedarkantha succesfully . The moment we stand at the summit you will forget all the struggle , pain you had past 3 dyas to reach here. Most of the beautiful peaks of Uttarakhand ( Mt. Black peak , Mt. Bandarpooch , Mt swargarohini ) will be in front of your eyes.
I just over whelmed with happiness of first summit… I thought life couldn’t be better than this …
ITS DREAM CAME TRUE MOMENT FOR ME : FIRST HIMALAYAN SUMMIT
There was a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the top, we took some rest there and had little snacks which we carried . As there were no other people on the summit, we took it totally for ourself and clicked some pics till we get enough of them 😅😅
I later realized that reaching this summit was just beginning of my Himalayan journey and I have lot more to climb… My dreams about Himalayas are widened and this trek motivated me to improve my strength to pursue more adventures in Himalayas.. From then I started doing Himalayan Treks continuously every season.. you can follow my travelogue on Instagram.
Rapid Descend to base camp
We started descend to our basecamp, enjoyed snow slides in the middle. Reached our campsite by lunch time. Our plan was to descend to Hargoan camp and rest. But no one was ready to spend one more night in cold temperatures struggling to sleep in tents. Even though am okay to spend one more night in camp site rather than in home stay in Sankri, I decided to go by majority decision. We packed everything and started back to Sankri. As we already know the route back and in the joy of going back everyone started running. We reached Sankri by 6.30 pm and settled in home stay .
Also Read: Kalavantin Durg – The worlds most dangerous fortress, A trek not for the faint-hearted
Sayonaraaa…
We enjoyed our delicious dinner in home stay for that night and spent some time reminding our beautiful moments spend in the nature. Next day morning we started our way back to Dehradun. Crossing the mountain villages leaving behind the supin river towards the Mussoorie was one fascinating journey . Whenever I come back from Sankri, I always comeback with new dreams.. new trek plans…
Epilogue
Sankri is a developing mountain village . Enjoy your time there but don’t throw any plastic and don’t harm the nature. Respect the local traditions, be nice to villagers. Himalayas have so much to offer us for that we need to protect the biodiversity of it. Be a responsible traveler. Leave No trace behind.
Tips for Solo trekkers for Kedarkantha
If you are thinking to do whole trek on your from Sankri this info will help you..
- Take the camping permission from forest office
- Talk to one of the local shop guys who has tea shop on the way to Kedarkantha
- They provide you food , you can pitch tent near to that tea shop
- Trail can be identified easily if you go in the season
- You can hire a guide also in Sankri, who can help you with all the above (or) just join BCF.
I suggest you to join a group because travelling with a group is best experience you ever have . Especially in treks you will enjoy a lot while hiking with group.
Few pics from my Kedarkantha treks in 2018 and 2019
Notes from BCF:
We organize this trip very often through out the year. You can follow us on Instagram for regular updates. Insta ID –bcf.official. For more info on BCF upcoming events visit us here. About logo you can read here.
Contributed by Bharath (BCF’s Organizer)
Follow Bharath on Instagram here
Bharath is a full time trek lead with Backpackers and City Freaks for the past 3 years. He has completed Basic Mountaineering Course(BMC) and he is a certified Wilderness First Responder also. He is available @ 8008072787 / whats app direct link
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Backpackers and City Freaks (BCF) 