Uttarakhand : A Bone-Chilling Winter Vacation in the "Land of Gods"

[mobike008]

It was a different feeling altogether after reaching the top of the mountain. Time was around 3:00pm.

This was the highest (10,000 feet) that I ever been on the mountains.

Difference in chill and temperature is to be felt to beileve it. It was really, really cold

There were a group of trekkers who trekked for about 3kms on complete ice to visit a temple ( which is not visible in any of the pictures). We decided against it for 2 reasons :-

1. We were in our sneakers which isnt good for walking on Ice

2. The last cable ride back was at 5:00pm. We were not sure if we could have done the 6kms trek in that much time

Hence, we decided to skip it and walked up to the Clifftop Hotel which is roughly a km away from the cable car station. That itself was a rejuvenating walk as we trekked through lot of snow.

We returned back in an hour and settled down for some hot maggie and tea and just spent an hour soaking in the mind-boggling views around us.







Pretty Yellow log-huts. Not sure if anyone was staying in them. Next time its decided that we'll stay in these huts





























A porter carrying luggage of guests in "Clifftop Hotel"



Refreshingly hot maggie after a nice short trek



Suprised to see this stray dog giving us a majestic pose at such a high altitude

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by mobike008

...it was a lovely experience and was glad to discover a new part of our country.

We were elated to sight snow for the first time. And, trust me, it was everywhere in loads. We spent more than an hour just enjoying the experience and trekked up one side of the hill etc.

Here are some pictures and a couple of video from our journey up towards "Auli"

Hi mobike008

Awesome pictures. Nice narration of a journey going to the lap of Nature. Another insight of our beautiful country.

Lovely place!! Instead of seeing the inexhaustibly irritating traffic, air and sound pollution you see snow covered hillocks so near that you can touch them.

Simply loving this.

Cheers!
NH

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Night_Hawk

Awesome pictures. Nice narration of a journey going to the lap of Nature. Another insight of our beautiful country.

Thanks NH, it indeed was a revelation for me as I was completely biased towards Himachal Pradesh. But, now I rate UK almost equal to HP

Here are the final set of pictures of our time spent at the top of the mountains and we waited till the last minute to take the cable car back to the GMVN Guest House, which was at 5:00pm

Infact, the cable car operator rode with us in the cable car chair ( it occupies 4 people) and when we reached back down, sun was almost sun-setting down and we got to see its fading beauty beating down on the mountains which changed the colors beautifully to a golden tan



Waving to each other in mid-air





Snow Plougher ready for action













Picturesque location, isn't it?







Moon was also up at 5:30pm



Golden Tan Colored Mountains







Snow covered twisties to go down



Here is a video of us going down to the GMVN guest house from top of the mountain. At 5:00pm, it had become really really cold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YYEa0d7Xug

[Nonstop-driver]

Amazing spread of whites and golden that you saw. Absolutely loved the last two set of posts with brilliant pics.

One more destination entered in my things to do list!

[deepv]

Avinash .. great pics and absolutely perfect time to be there in Uttarakhand.

I had been to some of these places a couple of years back on a trip with my wife in December and it was an amazing experience (rishikesh - ukhimath - deoria taal - chopta - joshimath - auli - khirsu - haridwar).

Its not just the destinations that are so enchanting, the routes themselves are so beautiful (& thrilling ). I totally enjoy the highways beside various rivers that finally join to form Ganga at Devprayag.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by deepv

I had been to some of these places a couple of years back on a trip with my wife in December and it was an amazing experience (rishikesh - ukhimath - deoria taal - chopta - joshimath - auli - khirsu - haridwar).Its not just the destinations that are so enchanting, the routes themselves are so beautiful (& thrilling

Nice. Thats almost the exact route that we did on that particular stretch. And, yeah the roads and the views are equally thrilling

Originally Posted by deepv

I totally enjoy the highways beside various rivers that finally join to form Ganga at Devprayag.

Did you mean this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDjFBLYtOi0

Continuing from where I left off in the last post, we came down from the top of the mountains at 5:00pm and enjoyed the views till late in the evening and had a lovely dinner from their in-house restuarant and recluctantly got prepared to leave next morning for our next destination----SYAL SUR

Syal Sur was about 130kms away from Auli but, was the toughest destination to find in our entire itenary. None of the locals even heard of this place. And, after starting late and getting lost several times, we finally reached Syal Sur at 4:30pm after more than 5 hours of journey

Syal Sur means " Fox Territory". This tidbit was shared by the GMVN Manager

First look of the place, we didnt quite like it but, as we settled down. I think this is one of the best places for a great vacation. It's almost like a posher version of "Tirthan Valley" in Himachal Pradesh. This was one of the best nights we spent in entire trip. Great location, Great log-huts and Super awesome service.

Dining Area in GMVN Auli



Our Dinner



Next day morning we woke up and saw this; Definetly it snowed in night somewhere high up in the mountains. It was very very cold

























First sighting of GMVN, Syal Sur

[mobike008]

As my BIL and cousin were checking-in, I was taking in the surreal beauty of this beautiful, serene and extremely calm place in Uttarakahand

If your looking to spend 2 nights surrounded by beautiful mountains, gushing sounds of the river and other wise complete silence, this is the place to be.

We wanted to go for a walk around the decently large property at night but, for a firm warning by the GMVN caretaker that there are many leopard sightings and we should avoid stepping out at night.

That put the scare into us. We decided to huddle back into the log huts by 8:30pm and spent the evening watching tv, enjoying some hot beverages and lots of hot food

One special mention, this place had the best service during our entire UK trip. Super fast, Super attentive service clubbed with good food.

A couple of slow-shutter speed shots of the River Mandakini





Another slow-shutter speed of the twilight over Syal-Sur



A few pictures of the beautiful log-huts that we stayed in. Loved it immensely











Some snaps taken walking around the GMVN property at night


















Some pretty flowers on the property. More to come in next pic

[mobike008]

Got up early next morning and spent a lot of time going down the rocks at the river and enjoying the views and beautiful sound of the river amidst the otherwise peaceful environs

Later on we enjoyed a hearty breakfast cooked specially for us as we were the only guest on the property ( lucky we were leaving in a short while as they were expecting a truckload of them that evening)

Our Breakfast; Poori Subji and Omlette









Even plants on their property were sheltered from sun for proper growth


Some views around the GMVN property











A few pics of some pretty flowers on their property

[swami.n]

Hi mobike, Fantastic narration with breathtaking images. Thanks for the wonderful thread.
Hoping to visit these places in the near future.

[mobike008]

Iam not sure if I shared these videos in my earlier posts.

Traffic Jam on the narrow road to Auli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1TmfuK3zJk

A liesure view of the scenic beauty on top of the mountains in Auli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vyIP8NlzhA

[mobike008]

After having a sumptious breakfast at GMVN Syal Sur, we headed out towards Kaudiyala which was roughly 75kms and it was the easiest drive of the entire trip

And, we reached there just after lunch time

Surprisingly, we had to search for someone to get ourselves checked-in and the place though right by the river was scenic was a bit marred due to couple of reasons

a) Lot of construction work going on in GMVN Kaudiyala

b) The place was almost deserted and compared to other GMVN the room didnt look that great and definetly was not worth Rs.2300/Night price tag

c) Seems to be a popular place for adventure campers and is a renowned place for "River Rafting". Infact, majority of people who stay at this place come for that particular adventure sport

Some pictures enroute Kaudiyala and also of/on the property






























A short video-tour of the GMVN Kaudiyala

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3EwedxqVs

[mobike008]

After checking into the room, we climbed down some wet, trechearous rocks to go below ( GMVN is on a slight elevation to the river) and sit by the river

Water rushing by was sounded loud and frantic. A heaven for river rafters

Here are a couple of videos shot from very close to the river

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSLeZ2KjfX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad5KgRwFP5Y

[fazalaliadil]

Avinash,

A well deserved 5 star thread.

Great narration collaborated with photographs.
Some very interesting locations, awesome framing, balanced compositions and people.

Rudraprayag, where "the Man Eater of Rudraprayag" stalked and killed his more than 300 humans until he was finally killed by Jim Corbett. The cunning leopard crisscrossed the river to dodge the Jim Corbett, instinctively. I can envision the same seeing your photographs of valleys and greens.

A very nice travelogue.
Regards,

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

A well deserved 5 star thread. Great narration collaborated with photographs. Some very interesting locations, awesome framing, balanced compositions and people.

Thanks Fazal Bhai for the compliments. Much appreciated !!!

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Rudraprayag, where "the Man Eater of Rudraprayag" stalked and killed his more than 300 humans until he was finally killed by Jim Corbett. The cunning leopard crisscrossed the river to dodge the Jim Corbett, instinctively. I can envision the same seeing your photographs of valleys and greens.

Oh, is it. I didnt know of this anecdote. Thanks for sharing. I can imagine a killer man-eater prowling that beautiful mountain area striking terror in the hearts of people.

There was office travel plus lots of work at office so couldnt continue the thread. It's almost on the verge of completion and maybe 3-4 posts is what will bring this travelogue to a grinding halt

Here are some more pictures of Kaudiyala and its beautiful surrounding areas with mountains, valleys and beautiful flowing rapids perfect for river rafting.