Deoriatal Chandrashila trek – magical trail through forest!

After Kedarkantha summit trek https://trail2happiness.in/2021/04/17/kedarkantha-summit-and-beyond/, in the same week I headed to Rishikesh to embark upon my next Himalayan trek – Deorital Chandarashila. After finishing Kedarkantha trek, you don’t crave for an immediate trek as it does satisfy your appetite. But the entire plan was made by me far away sitting at home in January – as in why not same state – reduces air travel.

On 3rd April’21, I met the new group and we began our journey to Sari, Rudraprayag, Indiahike’s base village for Deoriatal Chandrashila trek. This was a pretty hectic travel and the zig zag road was dusty and completely opposite to the Uttarkashi route from Kedarkantha trek. Road construction stretched this road-travel even more.

On the way to Sari, we got a good view of confluence of rivers Bhagirathi and Alaknanda in Devprayag. And confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini in Rudraprayag. These rivers ultimately merge onto Ganga. To see the main stem of Ganga from Devprayag was serene.

Photos by Debanjan Majumdar https://www.instagram.com/deb.maj13/

Honestly for few hours the road seemed to be pretty disappointing, as you expect green, bushy landscapes when you are traversing curves in Uttarakhand. But this road was not showing any such thing, it was barren, trees were all dried up. We had to keep windows closed to block dust. After crossing Agastmuni, the views became pretty!

Photo by Debanjan Majumdar – https://www.instagram.com/deb.maj13/

The terrain had gotten so pretty, it was an indication that we were nearing Sari. By 4-4:30 PM, we were by the roadside in Sari and could see IH Alpine tents in the valley. So the warm up began at the very moment, as we had to carry our backpacks and needed to descend till the campsite. The campsite was surrounded by wheat farm, it was a country side view surrounded by the mountains.

Anyone who is just eager to reach the destination without trekking can simply take the motorable road and skip the 4 day trek till Chopta – once you reach reach Chopta, it will be a day’s hike to Chandrashila. But one who yearns for the experience of walking through the forest, drinking fresh water from river and stargaze should definitely choose the trekking trail. This is what makes the trek worth!

So trek trail is from Sari – Deoriatal – Syalmi – Baniyakund(Chandarshila summit) – Sari

Day 1 from Sari to Deoria Tal – first glimpse of Mount Chaukhamba

Day 1 started with such a beautiful sunrise view from the campsite.

After breakfast we started to ascend from the campsite. It was complete uphill till Rupini. Till Rupini, we passed through farmlands. The views were lush green and we got the first glimpse of the Rhododendrons. These red ones are edible! Locals prepare “Chutney” out of it or a soothing cold drink – Burash (concoction of Rhodos and cold water!)

Today’s trail was approx 3.5 – 4 km long, so everyone was quite relaxed and after reaching Rupini, we got a clear view of Chaukhamba massif!

Rupini was a break point and as we were relaxing, there were huge Egyptian vultures hovering over us, may be curious about us.

From Rupini till Deoriatal it was an easy walk. Chaukhamba view was getting bigger and clearer as we were approaching Deoriatal.

And we reached Deoriatal Lake

At Deoriatal lake campsite, we were welcomed with Burash.

In the evening we had gathered around the lake to see the sunset and peaks. But the peaks were completely blocked by the clouds. Near the lake it was just our group and the whole place was serene. Meadow near the lake was covered with Deodar Cedar trees – they looked like Christmas trees and just near the lake there were few pear trees full of blooms.

Day 2 Deorital to Syalmi – longest trail of the trek 10 km

10 km from Deorital to Syalmi via Rohini Bugyal is a combination of steep ascent and steep descent. The first few km till Jhandi top in April month can be exhausting and at some point, I felt like I was hiking in western ghats, as the trail was pretty barren with soaring temperature. There were man-made stone steps leading to the Jhandi top. Half way through the route to Jhandi top I looked back and I was able to see the Sari campsite, the starting point of trek.

At Jhandi top, we rested briefly and heard some beautiful songs sung by our trek mates.

After crossing Jhandi top, we entered the forest and Rhodos were blossomed all over, here we could also spot pink Rhodos, which are inedible. Till Rohini Bugyal, the whole trail was through the thick forest. Not just the Rhodos, this forest was enriched with oak trees with some acorns fallen on the trail and walnut trees towering high.

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As the trail through the forest ended, we were at the foot of the Rohini bugyal and there was steep climb till the bugyal(meadow), where we had our lunch. Around 2:30 PM on the bugyal it really felt cold and clouds had obstructed the view. Now we had to start our journey towards Syalmi and it was steep down.

Landmark to the Sylami campsite is a tree with a heart! Literally – this tree has a bark shaped like a heart.

Finally the Syalmi campsite was visible. We did not even care to find the entrance. We stepped randomly on the stones, jumped up the fence, ran towards the tents and threw our packs.

Beautiful changing hues of sky at Sylami clicked by Debanjan Majumdar – https://www.instagram.com/deb.maj13/

Day 3 Magical trail from Sylami to Baniyakund, I fell in love with this trail!

Weather was perfect, we started around 8 AM from Syalmi campsite and today we had to traverse 6-7 km till Baniyakund crossing Akashkamini river. It was gradual descent till Akashkamini river. This section of forest was covered with tall trees and carpet of fallen leaves made the trail slimy.

Near Akashkamini, bloomed Himalayan peony flowers were spread all over.

That half an hour near Akashkamini river was relaxing. Sounds that I sometimes like to hear in my home to calm myself from the hectic day, were just naturally occurring here – sound of flowing river and rustling of the leaves . I could not resist myself lying down a bit to absorb all of this.

After crossing the river there was a steep ascent till the meadow and we were welcomed by the carpet of tiny yellow and blue flowers.

Somewhere after crossing the meadow we intersected motor road and walking on flat tar road felt odd. But this road ended quickly and we started to climb the slope towards Baniyakund.

Finally Baniyakund Campsite 8,562 ft 

We reached Baniyakund post noon. The views, campsite, meadow everything was just amazing and it kept changing its appearance every hour with clouds spreading across the peaks.

Beautiful clouds and Baniyakund campsite captured by Debanjan Majumdar https://www.instagram.com/deb.maj13/

After spending much time outside, it started to get colder and we went to the kitchen tent, to plan early morning’s Chandrashila summit. Everything was planned and after dinner we headed back towards our resting tents. Before resting, I planned to do some astrophotography. Weather was turning very cloudy and it was hinting towards delayed start of summit next day.

By midnight 1:30 AM, we were ready, packed and all set to go. But nature had some other plan – mightier than ours.

Unfortunately/fortunately, there was a cloud burst and a heavy downpour with thunderstorm made us push our summit plan to 5:30 in the morning. But it still rained. By 8 AM, weather was still not favorable. So some of us decided to retreat and some decided to stay back and give it a try the next day! I decided to retreat. I was so satisfied reaching here. Just gazing the peaks from Baniyakund and the forest trail traversing till Baniyakund was fulfilling.

Trekker who stayed back to summit the next day – were successful! Although some of us were not part of their triumph, we got to see transformation in each one of us as compared to how we were on day 1.

I would recommend this trek to any beginner as well a seasoned trekker as the trail route taken by Indiahikes cannot be underestimated by either of them!