Kedarkantha – summit and beyond!

I am kind of biased to choose a trek. Since I have began trekking in 2018, my love for greater Himalayas has increased by leaps and bounds. So picking up a trek from Garhwal range was absolutely new experience.

Trekking seemed to be so commercialized and popular in Uttarakhand as the buses from Dehradun to base villages were loaded with trekkers and tourists . That was slightly unpleasant sight early morning on 27th March’21.

Those 8-9 hours snaking through the mountains were exhausting, but rewarding near to the destination as the terrain was beautiful. For the last few kilometres, there was Tons river flowing parallel to the road which did add a charm.

The tempo traveler stopped near a cliff and we saw Indiahikes banner at Gainchawan gaon with an altitude of 5,600 feet. It gives such an immense contentment to witness such a beautiful village. All those loaded buses went to Sankri – most popular and crowded starting point of Kedarkantha summit trek. That was the moment, I felt this trek is not going to be a conventional trek, with the crowded trail.

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Next day, there was a steep ascent from Gainchawan gaon to Julota campsite with almost 3000 feet of altitude gain. After the king size breakfast, we started around 8 AM with all the excitement for our 4 days “Trekathon”

Although the trail was steep and temperature was soaring the views were breathtaking and it was a gorgeous distraction from the huffing and puffing as we were climbing uphill. Our trek leader Abhishek did engage us with an activity to find the meaning of “Pathali” something related to the place we were passing by.

Haltari/Hultadi was the break point with a tiny dhabha, serving some out-of-the-world snack 😉 Take a gander at the menu.

Finally we set foot on Julota campsite, with pitched tents waiting for us.

Second day from Julota to Pukhrola was a leisure day compared to the first day. Pretty trail to Pukhrola campsite had mixture of meadows and tall trees. The trail seemed to be unused, we spotted a vulture and a woodpecker minding their own business.

Pukhrola campsite was again a surprise, a water stream flowing near the campsite. Some snow covered patches here and there. I instantly became big fan of Indiahikes as their sense of choosing the trails with such gorgeous locations was awesome.

It was Holi on that day, the festival of colors. So we did celebrate it with dry colors. After that some of us spent some time near the stream which was quite peaceful!

By the time we came back to campsite, we experienced hailstones, very little ones.

That evening at Pukhrola ended with delicious Honey Potato and a long briefing for the next Summit day.

Summit day!

We started around 5 AM from Pukhrola campsite. Since we were not aiming to see sunrise from the summit, we anticipated less or no crowd at all on the peak. All the preparations of packing the day pack etc was done the previous night. Waking up early and having to climb a steep ascent was difficult for the first 100-200 meters.

There were less breaks on this day and the goal was to reach as early as possible. It was a team effort now, to have each others back and to give each other constant nudge; that after coming so far, there was no turning back!

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Around 8:45 – 9 AM, we were on the peak, 12,500 feet and the huge crowd was already returning. As expected at this time, there were hardly any trekkers. Though there was this thin layer of cloud, we got 360 degree view of Nanda Ghunti, Swargarohini, Kalanag peak, Bandarpunch mountains, Yamunotri range, Jaonti, Gangotri, Draupadi ka Danda, Jorkanden along with Rupin valley and Har ki Dun valley.

This view and the times we were in overpowered me. Tears started rolling down and I was smiling at the same time. There was no room for rationality!

After much retrospecting on the peak, we cleared out some garbage and started to descend. These furry nomads, who were already on the peak followed us. Descent was a surprise as we had to slide through the snow. After the slide, there was another surprise, we were served Alu Paratha, which we also shared with the dogs.

Around 1 PM we were back to Pukhrola campsite, had our lunch and started to move to Akhoti Thach campsite

Trail to Akhoti Thach was a new trail and we were the first ones to traverse this part of Govind Pashu Vihar National park. The trail was downhill and very steep.

Stay at Akhoti was the last camping experience of this trek.

On the 4th Day we headed back to Gainchawan. Coming downhill, tracing back the same route with such gorgeous views through thick forest and back to the village section with apple plantation, no wonder this is recommended as a beginner’s trek! One will inevitably yearn for the mountains after experiencing this.

At times we become grabby in our urban spaces but in the mountains, we are willing to give away whatever little we have. Humility comes to the surface, that’s the effect of being in the mountains; being so close to the Himalayas.

You meet some people only once and they are etched forever!

• Trekking period : 27th March – 1st April’21
• Camping and home-stay experience.No crowd encountered, except some while climbing Kedarkantha.
• Route – Gainchawan-> Julota -> Pukhrola -> Akhoti thach -> Gainchawan
• No shops to buy snacks on this route.
• Very clean trail.
• If you can, carry Binoculars to spot some rare birds.