The Beginning

We have already trekked to Kedarnath, during the September 2018. My son was 3 years old and daughter was 5 when they walked to Kedarnath temple! We decided to cover Kedar temples in the series they are supposed to be covered. First you should visit Kedarnath, followed by Madmaheshwar, Tungnath, Rudranath and at the end Kalpeswar. We planned to visit Tungnath so many times in the past, but somehow or the other, we could not come to Tungnath, rather we started we Kedarnath for which we had no planning at all! So, we decided to follow the order. A trip to Madmaheshwar was planned, I was trying to gather inputs from Internet, since I knew no one personally who had gone there. Unfortunately, I could not get much inputs, some here some there, but not very comprehensive; this is the impetus for me to start this blog. Tickets are booked in Upasana Express, we are leaving on 15th October! Hurrah!

Thundering typhoon!

Just two days before our journey, my careful wife was checking the PNR, and she came rushing “the train is cancelled” she screamed!! I thought it was a prank! She was trying to make me nervous; I checked it myself; and oh yes indeed, the train was really cancelled, due to some double lining work that was going on between Laskar and Haridwar station; and our callus IRCTC or railways didn’t bother to send any email or SMS to inform this sudden cancellation but will always ask for booking money 4 months prior to journey date! Anyway, we had to go, so we booked a flight ticket from Kolkata to New Delhi at premium price. We reached New Delhi on 16th, hired a Cab, and reached Haridwar at around 7 pm, almost at the same time we were supposed to reach, had the train being running! We generally stay at Le Grand Hotel (this is not only because the hotel staffs are amazing but also out of gratitude because the Hotel once helped us in a big way but that is another story!). Reached the room and now is the time to find the next morning bus to reach Ukhimath!

The Route

Let’s talk about the route now. You have to reach Ukhimath first. The Ransi village; which is 20 odd kilometers from Ukhimath is the starting point of the trek. So the route is like

1. Reach Haridwar/Rishikesh
2. Take some transport to reach Ukhimath by next day. You may stay at Ukhimath or can directly stay at Ransi
3. Start your trek, early next morning and reach Goundar. Till Goundar (8km) is the downhill trek
4. Rest well, have your breakfast, and move on. Now it’s all the way up.
5. Depending on your stamina, physical fitness and mental strength, you have 4 options from here:
   • Walk till Bantoli and call your day off
   • Walk till Khatara Khaal and rest
   • Walk till Nanu and stay there for the night
   • Walk till Madmaheshwar and stay at any of the temple complex accommodations
6. If you stay at any of the intermediate places, you will have basic to very good accommodations based on location. For example Bantoli has very good accommodation provision, but Khatara Khaal or Nanu stays will be very basic. So, choose wisely, these places are roughly 2 to 2.5 km away from each other.
7. Once, you have reached the destination, wake up early next morning, and start a Bugial trek right beside the Madmheswar Temple around 4 am. You will need some local assistance to guide you towards the top. It should take around 1 to 1.5 hours to reach the top. On your way to top, always look back, the mesmerizing beauty of Chowkhamba and other picks will remain inside you forever. We walked in a moonlit night, plan accordingly, and be assured to be blessed to walk under starry night washed by moon river. Sinatra will start singing inside you for sure! Once at top, there are a few small ponds I should say; you can see the reflections of mighty Himalayan picks. The sun rays should be starting to glitter the picks around 6.15. Immerse yourself, and then start your descent before the Sun is well up, this is a grass covered mountain and there is no shed. So, things start becoming hotter fast. Gradually, follow the path of your Guide and come down safely.
8. You can start your descent after breakfast. If you start early, you may try to reach Rasi village (Some call then Ransi too), or at leisurely pace walk till Nanu or Bantoli, and call off your trek day. Have some time with locals, enjoy your day; at sleep early. In fact most of the places don’t have much lighting facility or direct electric line access after Bantoli, so staying at Bantoli is always wiser.
9. Next morning, start from Bantoli, descent for some time and reach Goundar. The uphill trek will start from here, you should reach Rasi village by 11.30 to 12 noon.

Bus or Taxi : Which one to pick

Well, it’s absolutely up to you to decide, how you want to go. I went to the Bus stand and taxi stand to find out the prices. The taxi union office asked for around 8k to take us to Ukhimath. We decided against it. But, if this is the first time for you at Garhwal Himalaya, it’s not a bad choice at all. You can enjoy the view well, have your stop overs, even can go for a dip at Rudraprayag or Deba Prayag!

If you choose bus, then take a GMOU bus from the Haridwar bus stand at 5.30 am, this will take you to Rudraprayag, where a connecting bus (waits till this bus reaches), will take you to Ukhimath. You can either stay at Ukhimath (we stayed at Hotel Deb bhumi) or reach Rasi village from Ukhimath via shared vehicle. The one way charge is 600 for the vehicle. So, if you book one, you have to pay 1200 for taking you to Rasi village.

There are plenty of other buses outside the Haridwar bus stand, these are private buses. They can also take you up to Rudraprayag. From there either take a cab for around 2500-3000 or get on the GMOU bus.

The third bus choice is from Rishikesh. A bus leaves Rishikesh bus stand at 5.30 am in the morning and will take you right upto Ukhimath! This can be a very good option, but keep in mind this bus is a Government bus; does not have push back seats or luggage space in the belly of the bus. But, this bus goes really well with less stops and waiting time unlike the private buses.

Reaching Rasi Village

As I said, we stayed at a hotel named Deb Bhumi at Ukhimath, we started a talk with locals to find transport very early next morning. The shared services do not start before 9 am; but we wanted to start before 5.30 am! So, we found one! Anup is the name of the driver; arranged by the Hotel only ( very nice guys). He charged us 1200 and took us to Rasi Village very early morning next day. Once we reached the spot will which the car can go; we descended, got ready, snapped a few pictures, waved good bye and started the descent to reach Goundar.

Porter or No Porter

Again, this is your choice. We took the help of a porter, we have two very small kids, our daughter is 6 years old, and the boy is only 4! We didn’t opt for any porter service during the Kedarnath trek, the route was busy and there was always some help available if required. This route though was very empty, with less traffic and not so much known about the route; we thought opting a porter service would be wise. The locals also asked us to have a porter during the trek, almost everyone said so. We asked Anup, and he arranged for a porter named Ajay. A very charming boy in the early twenties, the kids love him, he sometimes call up, and ask for the kids! They also love talking to him, though language is a big barrier; but love has its own language!

After a steady descent, we reached Goundar. The road to Goundar is no different from the rest of the roads ahead! Made with stone blocks, sometimes there are steps, somewhere it is a long stretch of steep uphill road. Stone blocks are not same everywhere, so watch your steps! The road though is very scenic, passing through thick vegetation of Pine, Rhododendron, Fir and viewing the mighty white pick of Chowkhamba in the horizon is obviously enjoyable.

Lush green forest punctuated by numerous rivulets and water falls; river Madhu Ganga flowing through the gorge; beautiful smell of the forest and sometimes all you can hear is your footsteps! I can not describe any further the mesmerizing beauty of the Garhwal Himalaya, you have to be there to assimilate everything thrown at you.

The first stop over : Goundar

Goundar is a small village, but this has some accommodation as well as places to experience some local food. Food quality overall is really good, throughout the route. Apart from instant noodles, you can try Khichri, Alu Paratha with very testy pickle, Roti sabji. We had instant noodles and tea since that can be prepared fastest and we wanted to go up as further as possible.

Second stop over : Bantoli

We walked up, and crossed one hill, on the way, we could have stayed at Bantoli which was around 2.5 km from Goudar, we stopped over for some rest, also our guide cum porter Ajay had to deliver some marriage invitation cards there! Bantoli has the best facility in the route, if you can not go further up in one day, take rest here.

I tested the Rhododendron flower juice, for the first time, locally known as Burhaans; tested somewhere like rose syrup, with some difference off course, but it was very testy. After some rest, we started our trek once again.

Third stop over : Khataara Khaal

You can stay here also, around 2.5 km from upper Bantoli. Here, Government personnel asks to make one entry per group, with some Government ID proof. This is a valley after Bantoli, if you move on you can stay again at Nanu. The arrangements here are not comparable to Nanu.

Day halt : Nanu

We reached Nanu, at around 3 pm, and we thought that was enough for a day. We stopped here at a very humble home stay. There are three rooms. Two have attached small toilet(very small); we were not so lucky; got the last room without any toilet. You have to go outside the room to use a common toilet.

Nanu is fantastic. It is surrounded by hills from all sides, a place where clouds get trapped easily, and rains a lot. Lush green mountains and a road to top; that’s it. Apart from BSNL, Jio might be available sometime, but no other network works. In most places you won’t get electricity, so carry plenty of batteries, torch, head lamp, candles etc. A single dimmed light is available in the room, battery operated; powered by day time solar cells.

Second day : head towards Madmaheshwar

We started by 7.30 in the morning, reached kun chatti after a steady trek, you should not be facing much difficulty, sometimes you might not be getting any tree shed; can feel the heat. Carry a big hat, this will protect your face and back. A sun glass will also help to keep the irritations away.

After a small break at Kun chatti, we restarted the uphill trek, and reached the Madmaheshwar temple around 11.30 am. We could have reduced the time further, but we walked at a leisurely pace, stopped wherever we feel like, snapped photos and felt blessed.

The temple opens by 7 am and closes by 12 noon, reopens at 6 in the evening for evening Arati. We were present during evening arati, and decided to go to Bura Madmaheshwar early next morning, then after a visit to Madmaheshwar Temple and a brief breakfast we would start the descent. Temperature was close to freezing point, sky was royal blue, mountains are green, and the water is emerald green; perfect! We also encountered occasional rain with hail.

Going to Bura Madmaheshwar

4.15 am, moonlit starry night, and chilling cold. Journey started. Kids were sleeping, baby sitter was arranged last night! We asked the owner lady to keep an eye on them, last night, she gladly agreed. There were few others also, a distributed team of 12-15 persons and two guides.

It is a trek of around 1-1.30 hours, moonlight made the early dawn sky magical; there were out of the world clouds, mountains drenched in moonlight, we were using torch, but in most of the way Moon did the job! Once you are at the top of the bugiyal; behold, admire the might of Chowkhamba, right in front of you. There are a few small ponds, the reflection of Chowkhamba was awesome. Everyone took hundreds of photos of the surroundings. A 360 degree unobstructed view of the mountains.

The Bura Maheswar Temple is a very small modest hut. Pay your homage and wait for the Sun to blast into the morning sky. The first rays fall on the Kedar dome on your left, and you know the Sun is here! In no time, the Chowkhamba and other mountains get their share of Sun rays! White snowy picks, with splashes of red and gold. I cannot describe any further. Take yourself there, behold and admire.

The route to Pandavsera is on the opposite site of Bura Madmaheshwar. If you can afford another 2-3 days trek with tents, be there. It would be little difficult though. We could not venture into the same, partly because I had never heard of this place, second we had a tight schedule to follow, and third obviously, our kids are too small to be there. The place is famed to be the God’s own paddy field, locals have told me that the paddy field grows and dies naturally, and you can also watch blossomed Bramha Kamal (God’s Lotus). There is a lake too. The best time for this would be September.

Third day : descent

We started around 9.30 am, yes, we were late. Initially, we decided to start by 7.30; but the home stay lady insisted that we should not leave without breakfast; especially since we would be going with kids.

We had no fixed plan. Walk was enjoyable, as usual, I was looking for a snap all the time. At around 1 pm, we reached Nanu; there were others also, the same group of persons whom we accompanied while going up. We met a few groups, but I can talk about two groups in particular.

A small duo of Tamil ladies (Nirmala and Malliha); they are in their early sixties, I admire them, and am jealous too since the treks they have already done are in my bucket list only, God knows when I can go to those places!

The other group consisted people from every age group, below 10 to 70! The young at heart men (I dare call them old) battled out this trek easily. One of them was walking with my daughter, almost all the time while going up. They are also avid travelers, done many a treks, gone to places that I have never heard of!

Rain, lots of rain and hail too!

At around 1.30, the weather turned bad. Rain started;Nanu is surrounded by mountains, in no time torrential shower started with hail. We could see the picks were getting a good amount of rain too. Clouds were everywhere. Rain god started to paint them with fresh white snow! We decided to call off the walk for the day. Stayed again at Nanu (We stayed here while going up). A few also decided to stay here. After the weather cleared around 3.30, the others moved on. Later, I came to know they stayed at bantoli. Rain restarted at around 4.30, rained a lot again, and again at Nanu. But, not at Bantoli and Goundar, I think this is because of the geographical position of Nanu.

At around 8 pm, a young lady and her colleague appeared suddenly! They had not much of winter luggage with them. The lady was not comfortable with her shoes, got a few cuts. They told us, this was their state, so they were kind of locals, but not from this place though. They work in New Delhi and came here for some fun time out of office. We invited them into our room; it was a cold night. They were blessings for us, since you have nothing to do after the Sundown. All you can do is have your dinner and go to sleep, keep the alarm ready for an early morning start. We talked and laughed a lot, shared our experiences, and bid them good night at around 10 pm. The lady shared the room with the Tamil ladies, and the boy got shared a bed in the last room, where we stayed while going up.

Forth day : final descent

This time we started really early! 6.30 am! Road was slippery, mountains looked greener after the shower! The Madhu Ganga down below was roaring, got some further steam after the rain! We reached Goundar almost in no time. There was a small stop over at Bantoli before that. I could not wait to taste the Rhododendron flower juice! I tested this while going up, wanted to drink a glass again. Locals call this Burhaans.

Going up to Rasi from Goundar

The last part of the trek is an 8 km uphill trek back to Rasi. We completed the trek at around 11.30 am. While at Goundar, we asked our driver to come to Rasi to pick us up and take us to Ukhimath, we had left one bag at the hotel, had to pick up the bag, also would stay there for the night and catch the early morning 6 am Government bus to Rishikesh.

The ladies (Nirmala and Malliha) joined us, they were staying at Rasi. They told us to pick them from their place, they also wanted to stay at Ukhimath. What a divine connection! When we reached their home stay to pick them up, an aged person approached me, first I was a little absent minded, he insisted to show something, he was the owner of the home stay. I approached very reluctantly, and bingo! He has letters from Uma Prasad, written in Bangla, his father used to accompany this great man from bengal!

OMG! It was a thunderbolt! I told him that your home is no less than a temple to me. I promised that if I ever come back, I would stay here. His name is Ishwari Prasad bhatt, he a guide, told me that he had done all the Kailash, Kedars and Panpatiapass without shoes!!!!! He did not wear shoes for four years!

His foot fingers are chopped off from the tip, the price of walking bare footed in the harshest condition one can ever imagine! The good soul gave my children ample lemons and Mausambis. He even presented me with a small Mausambi plant!

I must thank the ladies, because without them I could not probably found this man!

We left by early morning bus with the two ladies, and we finally got separated at Rishikesh! We took another bus to Haridwar. Had a lot of things to buy; pickles, sweets, herbs, Haridwar was calling!

End note

At Ukhimath, you may visit Omkareshwar temple, this is where the Puja is accomplished of Kedarnath and Madmaheshwar during the winter months. It’s at a walking distance of ten minutes from the main bazar area.

I hope you would find this helpful for your journey, do leave comments and let me know how I have done with my first blog. This will help me to write better in future! Thanks for reading!