[Wanderer]

Scorching Gurugram and office leaves on the verge of getting lapsed was enough fuel for me to look up to the mountains. So, 15,16 and 17 June it was, spanning which I planned to visit few small mountain hamlets in Uttarakhand going by the names of Purola, Mori, Tiuni, Deoban and Chakrata. Although there were numerous more which I had visited on my way, but these are the names I can recall (probably because they were more prominent on the road signages )

15 June – Day - 1 - Reaching Purola

Made a horrible mistake of starting from Gurugram at about 8 in the evening, and taking the Delhi-Jaipur Expy, resulting in getting stuck for about an hour in front of Ambience Mall. Anyway, moved on with an ailing left leg and took the usual Delhi Meerut Expy-Raj Nagar Elevated Road-Upper Ganges Canal Road. Now I tried to be miser here and wanted to avoid toll tax between Saharanpur and Deoband. So, explored a new and fabulously maintained road. The details are here.

From start of UGC Road, go straight to Pan Chakki crossing (approx. 93 Kms) and turn left onto Nirgajni Power house to take the Basera-Barla Road. This road goes arrow straight to Deoband bisecting the Muzaffarnagar-Hardwar Highway and ends below the Deoband flyover from where I turned right and continued on the Saharanpur Road, until Gagalheri. Turned left from Gagalheri towards Saharanpur and after about 7 kms took the right turn to take the Janta Marg which ends at the Saharanpur-Behat road. This road will continue upto Vikasnagar, beyond which it bifurcates for Chakrata and Barkot. For Purola, I had to take the latter one.

Road Condition:

1)UGC Road – Quality of road is still impeccable although only two lanes. I crossed it between 9-10.30 P.M. and there were police checkposts at every crossing. Scarce food joints and no petrol pumps.
2)Basera – Barla Road – Fantastic tarmac, again two lanes and police checkposts only at crossings. No food joints or petrol pumps.
3)Saharanpur onwards until Uttarakhand – Good tarmac with occasional mini diversions. No police patrols. Scarce food joints and few petrol pumps which are mostly shut at night and not ready to accept cards.
4)Roads until Purola beyond Vikasnagar. Smooth, twisty and narrow stretches with few bad patches since landslide is quite frequent.

Around Purola –

So, I reached Purola at about 9 in the morning. I had booked online my stay at GMVN Tourist Rest House which is probably the only decent one. There are around 3 petrol pumps in Purola. This being a small village / town where mainly trekkers halt for their onward journey, there is no speciality about this place as such, but it is one of those picturesque valley towns through which you can take a relaxed stroll. Few pics attached below.





16 June – Day - 2 – Yamunotri

I had no plans to visit Yamunotri, but while I was just looking at the maps, saw that Yamunotri or rather the base at Janki Chatti is just 80 Kms or about 3 hrs drive from Purola, and hence decided to fall for it. A decision which I think, was partly extremely foolish, I’ll tell you why.

Road Condition: - Purola-Barkot-Syana Chatti-Janki Chatti

1)Purola to Barkot is extremely good with few stretches so wide and smooth that I plonked 5th gear albeit for a brief period.
2)Barkot to Janki Chatti via Syana Chatti is 70% good i.e. the tarmac was smooth, but had very narrow bends where you cannot cross an opposite vehicle without reversing. But the rest 30% is hellish, as I was just praying that my 5.5 yrs old Polo doesn’t betray me. Actually we can’t complain about such bad stretches because they are due to landslides, and the Himalayan range being the youngest of all is still growing, thus such landslides are part and parcel of it.

Around Janki Chatti – Yamunotri

•Started from Purola at 4 A.M. and reached at about 7.30.A.M.
•Ample parking is available at Janki Chatti ranging from Rs.50-Rs.100.
•As soon as you enter Janki Chatti, the porters for dandi, kandi and mules gather around you. I was left alone since my car was the only one to enter with just a driver.
•From Janki Chatti you have to trek uphill for 5 kms to reach the Yamunotri mandir complex and the means of reaching are the ones I just mentioned above.
•Please note that there are rates approved by the Government for all the porters and one needs to ask them else, getting duped is pretty common.

The Trek

I started the trek at 8 A.M. with a tripod on one shoulder and my camera on the other along with a backpack. All others were wearing full winter clothes, but here I am trekking in a jeans and kurta with all the camera gear looking like an alien and gathering looks even from the mules. The path and its associated scenery is better explained in the pictures below. If it was not for the scenery, I would have taken a U-turn just after 2 kms.

Yamuna from Yamunotri


The Path



The Gradient



The Parking lot



The Destination



The journey takes a real toll on those who are not used to such extreme strains. But there are proper seating arrangements after few hundred metres to occasionally catch your breath along with multiple food stalls selling parathas, maggi and other beverages.
One irritating thing is that you need to continuously jostle with the porters and mules as they move faster and just bulldoze you out of their way.
Reached the top at 10 after much huffing and puffing. Spent some time up there and then descended and reached Janki Chatti at about 1 P.M.

Now this is where I realised that my decision was partially foolish . While descending, the full weight of your body falls on your legs and that too with major jerks and this makes the muscles work hard and then stiffen up. When I started my drive back to Purola, I immediately realised that I have no feedback on either of my legs. It was a scary situation since clutch and brake pedals are the only two saviours on hills and here I was struggling to even lift my legs. Sheer luck and grit helped me reach Purola.

16 June – Day - 3 – Mori, Tiuni, Deoban, Chakrata and back
This was going to be a long day as I was planning to visit all these places and then leave for Gurgaon. Started at around 7 in the morning. Took the only route from Purola to Tiuni and drove along experiencing the abundant beauty of the Himalayas, again attaching pics to do the talking.

Somewhere near Deoban



Somewhere near Tiuni



Banks of river Tons



The road from Tiuni to Chakrata is badly broken at places and at one point I even had to stop for an hour due to road construction. There are many hotels at the places I mentioned above and one can enjoy the mountains from various angles from each of these places.
While returning, took the same route, and apart from the bottleneck at Gagalheri crossing which wasted 15 minutes, the journey was smooth and I reached Gurugram at about 9 P.M.

The Machine



Some stats:
Total distance covered - 1062 Kms
Diesel consumed – Rs.3450 or 51 Lts. approx. giving an average mileage of 20.82 Kmpl.

Being my first travelogue, would request you all to suggest improvements.

Thank you.