As mentioned in the previous post, we made an overnight stop at Guptkashi. We planned to leave very early morning, so at to reach Kedarnath as early in the morning as possible, so that the climb up would be easier.
Guptkashi - still asleep in early hours
We continued the journey along Mandakini, crossing a few more confluences, like Nandprayag and Sonprayag. As we gained altitude, the vegetation became greener and denser, the waterfalls became more frequent, and roads became worse. The view was breathtaking, but we could not stop to take photographs, since the roads being narrow, there was hardly any space to park the vehicle on the side, and morover, we were running short of time. We were advised by our driver that we would need about 5-6 hours to climb the 14 kms stretch, and since it started raining by 2 pm or so, and it got dark after 4 pm, we should aim to start the climb by 9 am. However, we reached the base point, GauriKund only around that time. There is a motorable road till Gaurikund; Kedarnath is at a distance of 14 kms from here, and the options to cover this distance is to walk, take a pony, or take a palaquin. We visited the temples at Gaurikund, had breakfast, and started the climb rather late than planned. The sun was up and shining with force, and it was quite hot, making the steep climb much more difficult.
There is little to describe about the climb, except that we were soon tired, and after three kms or so, we had to oush ourselves real hard, and by the time we reached the top, we were almost dead on our feet :-) As for the rest, the sights were amazing, and the pictures can do the talking better. :-)
There is little to describe about the climb, except that we were soon tired, and after three kms or so, we had to oush ourselves real hard, and by the time we reached the top, we were almost dead on our feet :-) As for the rest, the sights were amazing, and the pictures can do the talking better. :-)
Colorful lizard with blue limbs!
It merged perfectly with the rocks!!
It merged perfectly with the rocks!!
The first waterfall we walked besideThere was a rainbow at the foot
(though we could not take a picture of the rainbow)
Another waterfall on the other side of the hillWe could see it fall all the way from the top!
And yet another one ....
A million streams ...
7 comments:
The pictures are so good that I wish you stayed there for some more days to really feel & live that beauty of nature.
Well descriptive post. Were you noting down all the details for blogging purpose ?
Why I ask you this is that i don't, & then while writing the post I forget how many miles, what was the name of such & such..
:-)
@Cuckoo: And so do I :-) To be fair, we did get five days in all.
Noting down the details? Lol!! Well, the details regarding the VoF trek were discussed over and over again, so many times that I am not likely to forget it soon. And as for the distance of 14 km that we climbed at Kedarnath, we noted - saw and felt - each and every 250 meters of it (that is how far the milestones were spaced)! :-D
And for the remaining details that I forget (eg, which prayag was the confluence of which streams), there is Google! :-))
The pics are awesome. Very nice landscape, the place is full of peace and tranquilities. Isnt it a interesting turn :-)
"As we gained altitude, the vegetation became greener and denser, the waterfalls became more frequent, and roads became worse."
yeah right ;)
@Pijush: Yes, the beauty of the place was incredible. So, our trip was not a total washout :-)
@Adi: Was that a sarcastic smile, or an empathatic one? ;-)
There are way too many waterfalls in your fourth and fifth posts :-)
Nice post !
@Pooja: And I havent posted even half of what I clicked, which was less than half of what we saw :-)
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