Himalayan Adventure - VI

Early next morning, we woke up to a clear day, and caught beautiful views of the snow covered peaks.

The sun rising over the Mighty Himalayas
A part of the Kedarnath shrine in the foreground

Snow covered peaks in all their glory

The Temple of Kedarnath
As viewed from the backside
(It was impossible to get a complete front view)

Imposing entrance of the temple
Himalayas in the background look enchanting

Early morning activity

Devotees exiting from the side entrance

An ancient temple dedicate to Lord Shani

Himalayan Adventure - V

Moving on ...

Mahadev Falls - perhaps the biggest of 'em all

Mandakini flows down with force
We struggle to move up and up
(The cluster of shops on the upper left corned marks the center of the 14 km journey)


Where'd he come from ...
Where'd he go ??

Perfect Pose
He stood still and stared at me while I took his snap

Coming straight from the heavens

Himalayan Adventure - IV

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. :-)

Colorful lizard with blue limbs!
It merged perfectly with the rocks!!

The first waterfall we walked beside
There was a rainbow at the foot
(though we could not take a picture of the rainbow)

Another waterfall on the other side of the hill
We could see it fall all the way from the top!

And yet another one ....

A million streams ...