[prateekswarup]

It has been almost 3 years since I bought my pre-owned Grand Vitara home. While I have been on many trips with it, namely close by places like Jim Corbett National Park, Nainital, Jaipur & not so close places of Lucknow & Allahabad, the thirst for further taking it on even longer routes remained.


My Trusted Steed – Suzuki Grand Vitara

This August, we planned an all guys trip to Sach Pass. The entire itinerary was planned to cover quite a few places of the Spiti area, touching base at Pathankot and coming down via Manali. However, the government had other plans and 2 weeks before heading out for this trip, Article 370 was revoked in J&K, leading to curfew, which made it unsafe to drive around that area. So the plan was shelved, with hope that maybe we do the whole Spiti circuit at the beginning of Oct.

September beginning, a colleague from office purchased a BMW GS 750 bike. He is an avid traveler and has been to a lot of places around India, both on two legs and two wheels. He initiated the idea of a trip to Mana Pass, upwards of Badrinath, in the beginning of Oct’19.

Since I was already in talks with a couple of other Grand Vitara owners to re-look at the shelved Spiti trip, this plan was tabled to the group. After a couple of clarities on the dates, the trip began to firm up from an idea to a semblance of a plan.

However, one fly in the ointment was the permissions to go to Mana Pass. As informed, there is need of a local government pass by SDM and then an Army pass for travelers to move into the Mana Pass area, which is controlled by the armed forces. Unfortunately, due to continued heightened security, clearance for traveling to Mana Pass was not given to us.

Even with this setback, it was clear that we will still go ahead with the trip and maybe add a few destinations to compensate for the loss of days.

The Usual Suspects:

• Grand Vitara 2.0 2007 carrying yours truly (Prateek), my wife Mira, colleague and friend Shivam & his wife Sheena
• Grand Vitara 2.4 2009 loaded with Debo Da, his wife Rupa, daughter Meghna & Brother-in-law Sunil (traveled all the way from Mumbai for this trip)
• BMW 750 GS topped by Akashdeep, colleague and friend who initiated the whole idea.
• Another Grand Vitara 2.0 2007 driven by Tanmay & his girlfriend Sakshi was part of the convoy, but due to fever, Tanmay had to back out the last day.

The Planned Route:



Starting point was Commonwealth Games Village as it was central to everybody.

The Preparations:

Since this was the 1st time everyone was traveling as a group and introductions were only made on Whatsapp, it was decided that all of us meet a week prior to the departure to have lunch and drinks to get acquainted. This meet was held in CP. Almost everyone came for the trip and amid the tasty lunch and chilled drinks, the group got to know each other. It turned out, almost everyone had good travel experiences with lots of adventurous anecdotes that can fill a couple of chapters. It was heartening to know that like-minded people were traveling together, and I’m sure after this meeting, a sigh of relief must have left our collective bosoms.

This meeting also entailed discussing the provisions that we needed to carry in terms of food and drink, any critical spares, utilities as well as wardrobe management so that we are prepared for the changes in weather. The weather was predicted to be fickle with rains expected in Badrinath area, Auli was expected to be cold at sub 8 degrees and Lansdown to be pleasant.
Since Akash had done this circuit many years ago, he was kind enough to give us some morsels of motivation with some highlights of what to expect in terms of drive, scenic beauty, etc. We also discussed the accommodation arrangements as well as potential halts in the journey. With the bedrock of questions answered and accounted for, we split up with promises to meet at 5 AM on the 2nd of October at CWG apartments, to begin the adventure.

Day D-1:

I’m sure you’ll agree that taking a 4-5 days’ vacation from office, always creates some anxiety on the last day of work. While you might have taken approvals to travel already, there is always this fear that something might crop up that might lead to cancellation of the trip. If not that, since everyone will know that you will be out of office for a couple of days, the urge to complete next week assignments, approvals, dust off old projects, all cumulate on the last day, making the already longer day much more difficult to manage.

Thankfully, since 3 of us were from the same office, we managed to motivate each other and gets things wrapped up quickly. After ensuring that all critical tasks were either delegated, completed or shelved, I decided to head home to pack.

Since we were not bringing our 6 year daughter along, we also had to drop her off at my in-laws place. While it was a heart wrenching decision to leave her out of the trip, we also knew that the distances themselves would get very annoying and exhausting for her. Which in turn, would also affect our mood during the trip. After completing this hand-off and saying good-byes to her and my in-laws, we reached home to finish our packing and turn in for the night.

Around this time we received news from Tanmay that he was unwell and might not be able to make it for the trip. Man proposed and God disposes was the first thing that came to my mind. All of us on the group wished him a speedy recovery and rest so that he may be able to make it for the trip. Offers to drive his car while he rested, have lots of drinks to clear his infections and other helpful suggestions were doled out. Finally, the option was left to next morning, when, if Tanmay was feeling better, he would join us, else we would proceed as planned without him. Thankfully, we did not have passengers in Tanmay’s car to move around, as that would have created another set of problems.

With the essentials for the trip, including cold weather clothing, food, drinks and other paraphernalia all packed in, we decided to turn in for the night. Next day departure was planned at 4:30 AM, as we were all meeting at 5:30 AM at Akash’s place, at CWG village apartments.

D Day (2nd October, 2019):




I’m sure many of you have felt this. When you’re anxious and eager to get out of the house early, you end up waking up much before the scheduled alarm. With the excitement of the trip reaching crescendo, I got up early 3 AM and started to get ready.

It was during this early morning time when we got a message from Tanmay that he will not be able to join us as his condition had not improved.
It was pitch dark outside when we loaded the luggage in the car at around 4:30 AM. Distributing the water and other knick-knacks into the various cubby holes that the Grand Vitara offers, getting the ever important mobile phone charger, holder and playlist ready took another 10 minutes before we set off to meet the gang.

We reached the rendezvous point around 5:00 where Akash was already waiting outside the apartment complex, giving the final touches to his packing on the BMW 750 GS. In the next few minutes Debo arrived with his family followed by Shivam & Sheena. Since Shivam & Sheena were traveling in our car, their Swift was parked at Akash’s parking. For the rest of us, this time was used to reacquaint ourselves with each other and do a luggage check.

Debo had been kind enough to get walkie-talkies for all 3 vehicles and we quickly understood their nuances. It was decided that I would be the lead car followed by Akash in the middle, with the convoy ending with Debo’s Grand Vitara. Tanmay was missed in the convoy and all of us expressed our dismay of his absence and wished him a speedy recovery.

With faint stirrings of light in the darkened skies we set off for our Epic Adventure! With Google Maps giving directions, soon we were cruising along at a steady clip till we reached Muradnagar where the road was narrowed due to Metro construction. It took a while to navigate through the traffic and move on.

Since we had started early, objective was to have breakfast around 7 AM. The route we discussed before leaving was to bypass Modinagar and Meerut using the upper Ganga canal. This was a new route for me and off the highway. The road was mainly single lane and quite good. The canal was to the left of the drive. Since it was still early morning there were patches of fog on the way. Surprisingly this route is also used by trucks that led to some slow tailgating. Tractors along with sugarcane cargo were also seen early in the morning, further slowing the convoy. However, these were minor hold-ups compared to the traffic we would get on the NH.

This bypass connected us to the highway just before Khatauli. Once on the highway, we started looking at good options and were lucky enough to find the Namaste Midway near Mansurpur, approx. 100kms from CWG village. The Midway boasted of a variety of cuisines, and since it was still early morning, very limited crowd. The washrooms were nice and after fresh-up, we decided to try the Naivediyam at the complex. I am strong believer of eating light, especially in road trips and I guess South Indian cuisine was a good compromise for all of us. I especially liked the spicy ‘rasam’ that invigorated the blood cells.

After this pit-stop, we decided to push on as we knew that Haridwar would start getting crowded as the day wore on. We reached Haridwar around 9:30 AM. My GV needed a fill-up as I had not done a tank-full the previous day. Google maps led us on a merry-go-round chase around the town while we asked the rest of the group to carry on and we would catch up. After going through a no-entry, one-way and finally speaking to a traffic cop, we were able to find a petrol pump.

Post fill-up, started coordinating with the group. We were using Whatsapp live locations to help track each other. Unfortunately, the live location was not getting updated due to network issues and we had a couple of stops to understand where to meet each other. Finally, we were able to meet up at the entrance of the Cheela Dam road that goes through Rajaji Park. This road is also single lane, but quite picturesque with a lot of greenery and low traffic. These was a nice canal that was on the right for most of this drive. We did a mandatory stop to admire and take pictures around the middle of the stretch. While the weather was pleasant, Akash with his riding gear, was feeling hot at the slow areas of the drive.


The 1st group photo – (L to R) – Shivam, Akash, Debo, Sunil, Rupa, Megha, Mira & Sheena

The next part of the drive was the starting of the climb towards our 1st stopover of the journey, Rudraprayag. On route, we crossed Devprayag, which is known for the confluence of Alaknanda, Saraswati & Bhaghirathi Rivers to form the holy Ganga. This was something I was not aware of until the same was pointed out to me by Sunil. We took a photo-stop here, trying to capture the confluence; ended up taking selfies. Since was late afternoon and we wanted to reach our night halt OYO at Rudraprayag before dark, we continued to push on.


Devprayag – The confluence of Rivers

I must mention that the onward drive was not that great. While the route was very picturesque with the climb making the drive more scenic, there were lot of bad road stretches where road repair work as well as landslide clearance was being done. Many a times, we were stuck in one-ways due to PWD clearing the roads. However, we were grateful that we did not get stuck for long periods due to such interventions. I was especially grateful to be in an SUV, which was taking the brunt of the bad roads well. With the comfort of an AWD and high ground clearance, concerns about being bogged down were non-existent and I thoroughly enjoyed the little challenges the journey offered.

We reached Rudraprayag around 6 PM. The light was already fading and our OYO Hotel was a little off the beaten track, around 10kms ahead towards Kedarnath. This road was even worse with almost no tarmac and little slushy due to previous rain. Finally, after navigating this last stretch, we reached our destination for the night – OYO 47291 Hotel Gauri & Restaurant.
The hotel was a simple B&B, with basic amenities. There were two floors. We seemed to be the only travelers staying the night there. After selecting our rooms and settling in, we decided to meet up for a drinks and dinner. A sumptuous dinner of chicken, paneer, roti, rice, dahi and salads was ordered. We were already carrying a lot of snacks like chips and namkeen which went great with a few drinks that we had carried. This was the 1st evening we were all spending together after a long day of travel and it was a splendid affair with stories of adventure and future explorations.

Plan for the next day was also discussed. Since we had seen 1st hand how there were still landslides on the route and the delay they were causing, we wanted to get an early start to reach Badrinath. I had also been in communication with our hotel at Badrinath – Hotel Snow Crest, since there was news of Badrinath route being blocked. The owner, Karan, had promised to keep me informed on the situation. Last update from him was that while there is landslide blocking the route, PWD was regularly working to keep the road open. Everyday, they were clearing the road and allowing vehicles to pass, but before 5PM, since the bull-dozers would not work after dark. If we wanted to take advantage of this, we need to be at Lambagarh, the entry to Badrinath, by 2PM to ensure that we were in the line of vehicles that could be released to travel across to Badrinath. With this information, we decided that we should look at an early start, around 7PM, with breakfast at Karnprayag, which is on route.

As I lay down to sleep, I couldn’t help but go through the day in mind. While I had been driving since early morning with required breaks in the middle, fatigue was yet to set in. The GV handled well through the day, the ACC keeping the cabin cool and dust free. I felt quite proud of the way it trudged along with a full load up the hills with minimum fuss. Steering was not heavy to cause arm-sore and not very light so as to not enjoy the feedback. On the way, we encountered a lot of new Maruti 800s and they were tackling the terrain with ease and aplomb. This was not surprising but worth noticing. With time, I managed to wrestle with my thoughts and go to sleep.

Day 2 (3rd October, 2019):



Come early dawn, we’re woken up to the sounds of leaves rustling near the window. While the sun was yet to be seen, there was light for us to start the day. A quick bath, pack up of stuff to the cars followed by a cup of tea or coffee, we were off.

One special mention was the coffee percolator carried by Debo. It was a life-saver for me. I am not much of a tea person and would be on the lookout for good coffee at every stop. Thankfully Debo carried his electric coffee percolator and was always obliging whenever we asked to raid his stash. I can confidently say that those cups of coffee gave me the much needed start to my day.

With splashes of mud still caked to the fenders, we started our journey towards Badrinath around 6:30AM. Planned stop for the agenda was Karnprayag for breakfast. Another big shout out to Debo for bringing the walkie-talkies, which were immensely useful to help plan such excursions and stops.

Breakfast was at Shri Krishna Palace Hotel, a lovely place by the side of the main road, overlooking the Karnaprayag Sangam of Alaknanda & Pinder River. We arrived here around 9 AM. Fresh stuffed parathas with curd and lime soda along with some aloo-puree was ordered and quickly dispatched. We took some time to see the confluence of the rivers before heading back to the next leg of the journey.


Karnaprayag Sangam


Karnaprayag Sangam

A quick cup of tea and cold drinks near Chamoli was the next stop. This was also done so that Shivam could work on some office tasks that had suddenly cropped up. After taking a 30 mins break, we moved along towards Joshimath. The descent from Joshimath to Vishnuprayag was quite a narrow road with typical mountain curves. Here we were quite often caught behind a slow moving truck and had to find opportunities to overtake. Also, the drive was downhill, so one had to be careful. Joshimath is a beautiful town, which has the famous Auli Ropeway to travel to Auli. There is a road route to Auli that branches upwards from Joshimath. This was the route which we would be taking on return from Badrinath. Akash and his bike were already ahead of us from breakfast time and while the traffic was keeping both our GVs slightly behind schedule, we had told him and Mira to continue on their own pace, which was faster. The plan was to meet at Lambagarh, near the entry to Badrinath landslide work area around 2PM.

At Joshimath, we decided to refuel and see the kind of mileage we were getting in the GVs. While I was confident that I would be getting 9-10Km/L, Debo was quite sure that we would be in mid-single digits due to the nature of the drive and low speeds during the climbs since yesterday. He was correct! On tankful calculation, his 2.4L mileage came out to 6.5km/L and mine was a shade better at 7.5 km/L. Once downhill at Vishnuprayag, at a bridge from where the uphill drive to Badrinath would commence, we found a good set of Dhabhas selling “Pakoras” and Maggi. It was almost 2 PM and we stopped here for lunch. The “pakoras” were fresh and Maggi, in your typical dhabha style was good. This was topped with some tea and coffee (Debo’s stash). Interestingly, Shivam found a guy selling “shilajit” to any customers who were stopping there. Further enquiry led to him on his way back home after selling most of the stuff in the main markets. Some interesting questions on the potency of the drug, the purity and other details, extracted by an enthusiastic Shivam, were passed onto us. We thanked the man for his time and headed onwards.


Vishnuprayag – On route to Badrinath

Till now the weather was bright and sunny with a cool breeze accompanying us most of the way. As we moved onwards, the weather started to deteriorate with dark clouds, thunder and finally rain. The route entailed a climb back to heights. The roads here were okay but the rain made the drive slow. As we kept going up the winding road, following the river flowing in the valley below, I could not help but wonder about the landslides that we had been warned about. I was also a little concerned for Akash and Mira, as being on a bike, they must have already been drenched in the rain.

Before Lambagarh, there is a small checkpoint called Govind Ghat. We were in for a surprise here. There seemed to a huge queue of vehicles, all waiting patiently in line to move towards Lambagarh and then finally Badrinath. This was around 3 PM. For a brief moment, a little bit of panic started to set in. Would we be able to reach Badrinath? Are we going to be stuck in this line? Should we turn back? By the time we debated this in the car, we realized that the queue was due to a jam in the front due to the nature of the narrow road for both side traffic flow. After a few minutes of back and forth, and we were off!

However, this euphoria was short lived as we reached Lambagarh. We saw a lot of people standing on the side on the road with cars parked, all waiting expectantly. On further enquiry, it was found that the road to Badrinath is closed and the JCBs are currently ahead, trying to clear the debris, but the rain was not helping. There would be a good chance that the road will not be opened today.

We decided to take the plunge and move ahead to be nearer to the action. We reached a little further up and saw that there indeed was a queue waiting to cross the stretch. There must have been at-least 30 cars up ahead, and from our place in the queue we could see the JCBs moving about, trying their best. The rain was not helping. Even our mobile networks stopped working in that area. Only BSNL network was available. While we were still able to communicate with Debo’s GV, right behind us, we were not able to reach Akash. With a little help from a local driver with BSNL connection, we tried calling Akash or Mira, only to be greeted with a “number switched off” message. The concern was – had they already crossed the area and were onwards to Badrinath since they must have reached a good 2 hours before us? And if they had, how will we let them know that we were stuck on this side of the pass?

Thankfully, it all worked out. 15 mins later we see this BMW bike coming back from the queue, Akash and Mira, completely drenched in the rain. A happy reunion later, we offered towels and a sit down in the cars to get their circulation back from the cold. The rain stopped in a while and we got out to stretch our legs and meet fellow travelers stuck on the road. A lot of them were going for the visit to the temple. It was now around 4 PM and the light started to fade. The overcast sky had anyways robbed the entire afternoon of the sun and temperatures continue to drop as we pulled out our jackets and sweaters to tackle the cold.

Options to walk across the landslide patch and then hire some taxis waiting on the other side were explored. While there was no confirmation that we will get transport from the other side, there were questions about our luggage and more importantly leaving our cars and bike here on the side of the road. While a lot of the taxi guys this side of the pass told us that it was okay to do so, we were just not convinced. Since, the objective was to relax at Badrinath and then head to Mana village, leaving our cars did not seem to be exciting prospect. I think Debo made the decision for all of us that evening, where he clearly declared that he would not be walking to cross the pass, around a 2-3kms walk in these slippery conditions. He would be happy to stay in the car for the duration of the night and then meet us when we returned. Hence the idea to split up was rejected. Since we were due for Auli next evening, we thought maybe we could go there today and relax. It was getting dark now and we had to quickly take a decision as Auli was a good 1.5 hours away and the road from Joshimath to Auli was single lane and not well lit.

Finally, at 5PM, it became clear that the pass would remain closed for the day and there would be another attempt to clear it next morning, we turned the cars around and headed back towards Auli. The idea was that we would come again next morning from Auli and try our luck for Badrinath and Mana village. With this thought in mind, when we crossed Govind Ghat, we saw a couple of B&Bs. Sunil, Akash, Sheena & Shivam were keen to explore staying here instead of going all the way to Auli and then coming back tomorrow morning. The rest of the returning cars also had the same idea and hence there ensued a race to secure accommodations in the available B&Bs. Since we were large group of 10 persons, we had a tougher time finding 5 rooms. Finally, after much searching, a decent hotel at the side of the main road was chosen. Cars were parked and stuff for the night offloaded, including the drinks and snacks.

In retrospect, it was a good decision. We had been traveling since morning and the objective was also to have fun. This stop-over instead of Auli, gave us a little more time to unwind. The rooms were nice and comfortable. As the night progressed, the town shut down for the night, and the only sound that could be clearly heard was Alaknanda River, flowing downhill, close to the town. Govind Ghat is also the bifurcation point for travelling to Hemkunt Sahib & Valley of Flowers. Hence, there is a decent presence of dhabas and chai shops. Sunil and Debo were able to find a nice dhaba run by an enterprising Sikh, who was willing to get us some chicken curry, dal and rotis for dinner. We were quite hungry and ended up finishing dinner quickly. I think the chef took the “make it spicy” comment a little too seriously and most of us were sniffing and wiping tears from our eyes at the end of the meal. A brisk walk back and we called it a night. Since we knew that the next day clearance will not commence before 10 AM, breakfast was planned around 8 AM.

Day 3 (4th October, 2019):




Morning Wake-Up Call - The River behind the Hotel

By habit, ended up waking early. It was a beautiful morning with clear blue skies, the first rays of the sun hitting the heavens accompanied by the sound of water gushing just behind the hotel. The icing on the cake was the view of the mountains, which had eluded us, due to overcast skies yesterday. From the main road, just in front of the hotel, one could clearly see the snow-clad mountains, reflecting the rays of the sunrise. It was indeed a beautiful sight. Everyone seemed to have slept well. Early morning enthusiasm included Shivam and Sheena meditating near the river bed and Megha going on a morning work, befriending the local canine population in the process. For me, a simple cup of Debo’s potent brew was enough to kick-start the day. Since we wanted to get an early start to join the line to cross into Badrinath, we packed up quickly and left towards Lambagarh.


View from the Main Road in front of the Hotel @ Govind Ghat

On reaching Lambagarh, we spoke to a couple of locals who had some information about the opening of the landslide. It was around 8:30 AM and most of them were confident that the roads will be cleared by 11-12 AM, but not before that. We parked our cars at the local bus/taxi stand. Debo and I took his GV further up to the point of the disruption, only to find that there was already a line of more than 50 cars, all waiting for the road to open. While cops were present and managing the situation, it became clear that we would not be able to reach Badrinath before lunch. We returned and discussed the options with the group while savouring parathas with dahi and achaar at the local tea stall near the bus stand. There would not be any point to go to Badrinath only for 2 hours and then be in a situation to get stuck again on the way back. Since we had already planned a stay at Auli, the prudent course of action would be to head to Auli and retire there for the remainder of the day. While this would entail missing out on the temple darshan and Mana Tea Stall visit, it did seem to be the most logical course of action. There were also plans to visit Gamshali today, but considering that it would be another long drive away from the current route, we decided to skip Gamshali in favour of a little R & R at Auli.

Believe me, it was not an easy decision as Badrinath was one of the highlights of the trip. I was thankful that we did have a sense of solidarity amongst us to jointly approach the decision in a positive manner. Post a cup of chai/coffee, we turned the cars and bike around and headed towards Joshimath, much to the amusement of the local and other tourists. The sun was shining and it was almost 9:30 AM when we started our drive back.
The drive to Joshimath including climbing uphill on a narrow road with u-turn bends in short distances. While it was fun coming down, going up, we were stuck behind some trucks that really reduced our pace. Once we reached Joshimath, I, in the lead car got a little lost while finding the way out of the city onwards to Auli. A couple of 3 pointed turns on the busy thoroughfare, I finally managed to point the car in the right direction and climb. The road from Joshimath to Auli, although motor-able in the current season, gets shut down in winters due to snow. For such weather, there is a ropeway between Auli and Joshimath that helps tourists reach the famous ski slopes. The road goes through parts of the Joshimath cantonment in the initial stages. Once we crossed that stretch, it was a narrow road which in some parts required stopped to the side to let the oncoming traffic pass. However, the road passed through some good forest areas, which looked a pristine green in the bright sunlight. This road also crosses a mountaineering (rock climbing) training area for the army and we were also able to see some ongoing training exercise, with jawans lugging their backpacks and rifles and running along the road. The last 2 kilometers of the drive to Garwah Mandal Vikas Nigam Rest House (GMVM) was on gravel. Since it was daytime, the visibility really helped navigate this path. I’m sure it would have been very difficult to traverse this stretch at night.

Our destination for the night was Blue Poppy Resorts, right adjacent to the GMVN property which housed the ropeway from Joshimath and is also home to the Mountaineering and Skiing Institute. The GMVN property boasts of the ski-lift to the slopes of Auli, which I believe are quite the rage in winters, with international standard ski-slopes. The Blue Poppy resort appeal was log cabins with modern amenities and an uninterrupted view of the Trishul and Nanda Devi range, in clear skies.

After navigating the last few kilometers of the gravel road, we reached our destination. The way into the resort was via stairs on the hillside, a fairly steep climb for all of us. We parked at the bottom of the stairs while Akash and Mira went ahead to start check-in process. Thankfully, the Resort deputed few bell-boys to help take our luggage up the stairs to each of our log huts, because on our own, it would have been an arduous affair. Since we had already made reservation, the check-in process was quite smooth and very soon we were relaxing in our log cabins.


Auli - The Car Parking

In total there seemed to be around 10 – 12 cabins, with 5 of them occupied by us and a few occupied by other travelers. While the cabins were nice and cozy, all of them were facing the majestic mountain range. Unfortunately, by the time we had settled in, the sky became overcast and clouds had obscured the view. Every now and then, we would get a glimpse of the same. Since it was good two hours before lunch, we decided to go little exploring around us. The GMVN resort and the barren ski slopes looked interesting. The local boys at the resort also recommended the ski-lift to the top of the hill to enjoy the view further.


The View from the Rooms – Cloudy with dash of Heaven!

With the weather turning dark, we decided to quickly move. Mira, Sheena, Megha, Me & Shivam decided to head to the ski lift and then trek a little around the slopes. The ski-lift experience was a 1st time experience for me. It was exhilarating. There were 4 seats per chair and all of it was open. You were held back a basic iron bar on the metal sofa. While the contraption looked very basic, it apparently worked. The lift slowly builds up speed and then it accelerates quite well, leaving you with a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. The lift charges are Rs. 500 for a round trip. The lift really help us get a view of the surrounding area and also gave a view of the magnificence of the ski-slopes. I just wondered how amazing it would look covered in snow, when it looked so good without any.


The Ski Lift – Upward Ho!


A View of the Ski Slopes

The ski-lift has two stops and we got down on the 1st one and not on the last point of the slope. There were glass huts around the areas to sit down and see the slopes. These were very useful as it helped shelter us from the strong winds and cold and allowed us to take in the view. We spent the next hour going walking through the slopes and getting in touch with nature. There were a few tourists who were also present, by virtue of staying at GMVN Rest House, but largely the place was deserted. As time passed by, it started to drizzle, prompting us to find the local GMVN canteen on the slope for some chai and maggi. There’s something magical about the rain pattering on the tin roof, the cold wind blowing through the door, a hot cup of coffee and maggi.


The Courageous Explorers


One of the Glass Hut


A Rainbow after the rain stopped

Once the rain stopped, we got back to the resort. Since it was lunch time, food was ordered from the kitchen. Chicken curry was bought from the GMVN Rest House as our kitchen was vegetarian. It started raining and stopped just before our lunch arrived. Post lunch the weather was still cold and wet and hence we decided to take some rest. This was the 1st day in the journey where we were not going anywhere post lunch. The rest of the day went lazing around, having a look at the view and sipping some drink or the other. Sunil, Rupa & Akash indulged in some bird-watching with binoculars. I just used them to look at the mountain range in close up. A few of the local canine population was also spoilt by all of us, since most of us were dog lovers. Dinner was served in a log restaurant in buffet style. The fare was simple. As night progressed, the temperature kept dropping and last I remember, before drifting off to bed, was around 3 degrees. Thank God for the warm quilts, blower and innerwear!

Thankfully, by late evening the skies had clear and we had a pristine view of the night sky. For someone from Delhi, to get to see the stars in their splendour and twinkle is always mesmerizing. It truly makes you wonder your place in the universe! Since we were at the absolute edge of the mountain, the view was unrestricted. Megha, if I recall correctly, had gone to sleep looking at the night sky only to be woken up by the cold to get back to her cabin. Such was the allure of the night sky that night.

Next day plan was to reach Lansdowne. It was also Shivam’s birthday. Mira and I visited to their cabin at midnight to offer our best wishes. Since we were not able to get cake for him, the resort was able to give us hot Gulab Jamuns, a much better substitute!

Day 4 (5th October, 2019):



As usual, woke up early, with the incentive of seeing the sunrise against the Nanda Devi mountain range. Got a pleasant surprise to see a small bird perched on the large window from outside the cabin. I guess it was attracted to its reflection as it did not see us moving inside the cabin. Just like a silent spectator to us humans getting out of bed. By the time we were up and ready, the sunlight had started reflecting off the snow clad mountains. The visibility was excellent.


The View of the Nanda Devi Range

We packed quickly as today journey was a long stretch with almost 10 hours of driving expected to Lansdown. Since we knew that a large part of the drive was downhill, we were confident to making good time. Breakfast was a simple affair at the restaurant and with all our packs, we pushed off.


Last look at the Mountains before leaving Auli

The drive retraced our route via Karnprayag and Rudraprayag. The sun was shining and traffic was minimal and we made good time. Lunch was taken on a small highway hotel after Rudraprayag. While going through Google Maps during lunch, we realized that the route via Srinagar seemed to have some traffic. There was an alternate route being suggested via Khirsu, rejoining SH 534 at Nisni. This was similar in distance to the NH 7 route via Srinagar. With some time on our side, we decided to go via this route.

As we entered the split on the road towards Khirsu, we could see a single lane road with a steep climb. Since I was the lead car, there was a little hesitation, but after some confidence boosting from Shivam, decided to take the plunge. They say fortune favours the brave! It was fortunate that we decided to take this road. While it was a narrow road, it was well maintained under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. The drive took us climbing the hills and then bringing us down to Nishnee.

This, I can safely say, was the best drive experience of this trip. The beauty of the greenery around us as we climbed on was mesmerizing. You could not do high speeds owning to the nature of the road and frequent curves. However, what was enjoyable was slotting the GV in 3rd, modulating the accelerator with minimum use of brakes, and taking those corners in well-defined line. It was so much fun!


The Best Road of the Trip

Much to my consternation, this was the place Shivam wanted to get behind the wheel of the GV. Since I know him to be good driver, I obliged, with some advice on how to drive on these hills. Both hill driving and handling a petrol SUV was a new experience for him. But to his credit, he picked up the nuances quickly and started to enjoy the power and all-wheel drive traction that the GV offers over his Swift. I remember we changed the music in the car from EDM/trance to Punjabi to make Shivam feel more at ease behind the wheel.

Somewhere after Khirsu we stopped for tea at an OYO Rooms hotel. This was a new property and there were a few tourists staying there. The location of this hotel was right in the middle of wilderness and the appeal was for those tourists from Delhi NCR who wanted an off the beaten track relaxing experience.

[prateekswarup]

A quick refreshing stop and we trudged along. While the route taken was beautiful and fun, it was a little slower than expected and we were looking at reaching Lansdowne after sunset. The road from Nisni towards Lansdowne was SH 534. This was also very good double lane road with clear road markers. Since we had also descended downhill till Nisni, the terrain was less hilly. This was where we really upped our pace and tried to make up for lost time. The traffic here was negligible. We crossed the famous Jwalpa Devi Temple and pushed on.

The climb to Lansdowne started from Satpuli. We had to navigate some local traffic here. With daylight fading, the pace of the convoy reduced further. Akash and Mira were already ahead of us this entire time. The last one hour of our journey needed headlights as visibility had really fallen. As we reached higher, evening cloud cover was also creeping onto the road making visibility harder. Thankfully with good set of headlights and fog lights on for good measure, we were able to move on. As we reached towards Lansdowne, the road became more deserted.

Unfortunately, our resort for the night, Hotel Ravine Palace, was a little ahead of Lansdowne, towards Kotdwar. By the time we reached Lansdowne, it was pitch dark and add to the challenge, the internet network on all of our phones was down. Luckily we had not disconnected Google Maps navigation and hence we were able to get a direction of where the resort would be. There were a lot of hotels on the way down from Lansdowne on the route towards Kotdwar. The last few kilometers were spent in looking at each property we passed to determine whether that was Hotel Ravine Palace as we were unsure how much further we might have to travel in the dark.

Finally after some searching we were able to find the place. It was right next to the road. We quickly checked in. This was the most opulent property of the trip. Room sizes were big and multiple amenities for guests were available. The check-in experience was a little disappointing since Shivam’s room already had an existing patron – a huge spider! After asking the hotel staff to thoroughly evict any other such free-loaders, we settled in. I remember a pool table, a TT table and a games room. Since we also wanted to celebrate Shivam’s birthday, we ordered a cake, and despite the late hour of request, the resort helped make it happen. Keeping in mind the celebration theme of the evening, we requested for an outdoor seating for serving of snacks and drinks followed by dinner inside the restaurant.


House Guest – The Spider


Shivam's Birthday Celebration

The evening was well spent under the stars listening to some good music, stories and delicious food. It was perfect to help unwind after a long journey and the icing on the cake (literally) was the cutting of the birthday cake. There was a little bit of nostalgia, too, as tomorrow at this time, all of us would be back to our homes, back to our mundane existence, far from the magnificence of the hills.

Day 5 (6th October, 2019):



Sunday was a lazy morning. The hotel room balcony was facing the valley and sun rise and sitting down having your 1st cup of coffee in with the rays of the sun just climbing over the mountains was beautiful. No sound apart from the chirping of few birds and the gentle caress of the breeze. The lush green mountain side looked so inviting that we planned to go out for a little trek before we hit the breakfast table.


View from the Balcony – On top of the Clouds

We quickly got ready and packed our stuff. I spoke to Shivam and Sheena and they were also keen to take a walk around the mountain side. We stepped out of the hotel to see a small foot trail leading up the slopes. This seemed like an easy, often used route that led up the slopes into the greens. For the next half hour we wandered around the slopes, breathing in the fresh air and increasing our appetites. We also collected some pine cones as souvenirs to bring home to paint for our daughter.


A Morning Walk

On reaching back to the hotel, we met with everyone at the breakfast table. We were happy to note that Rupa and Megha had also stepped out for a walk in the morning. Breakfast was a typical buffet with parathas, bread, eggs, and assortment of fruits. We finished breakfast, cleared out any dues and then loaded into our cars and bike.

The journey back would take around 6 hours and the plan was to stop near the Ganga Canal road, near Meerut, for lunch. As expected, we kept good pace with limited traffic on the route. Since we were going downhill, the weather started to get a little warmer, prompting the use of the car ACs.

The drive till the plains was uneventful. For lunch, we stopped at one of the Dhabas on the Upper Ganga Canal. Lunch was a simple fare of Chole Bhature, Parathas and the Shikanji. Post lunch, we got stuck at a traffic jam due, which prompted us to go off the beaten track for a few kilometers before rejoining the main road back to Ghaziabad.

As soon as we reached back toward the Ghaziabad, we were welcomes with typical Sunday evening rush. After driving relatively traffic free for the last couple of days, the entry into civilization was not a happy one. Along with traffic, we were assaulted with the cacophony of traffic sounds – horns, exhausts, and what not. What a welcome home!

Finally, we ended up in front of Akash’s society – CWG Village Apartments.

This is where we had started our journey, 5 days ago, in the wee hours of the morning. While Shivam went with Akash to get his car from his parking, luggage, the much used walkie-talkies and other stuff was handed over to the respective owners.

Before saying our farewells, we took much needed group photos, as a remembrance of the epic trip that we had just completed. Since it was nearly 5 PM and all of us had to travel onwards to reach home, we disbursed.


Back to Civilization


Conclusion:

As I drove back towards Greater Noida, the finality of it all really hit me. The trip was finally over. We had traveled around 1100 kms across the hills, with a group of relatively unknown people and come back enthralled, entertained and most importantly safe. In the process, we also ended up making some amazing friends. I think such is the beauty of being a traveler. It’s a community of like-minded people, who, like you have the passion and thirst to explore. I hoped that this thirst and passion will continue to help plan such getaways that allowed us to break our shackles and enjoy the wonder that is life!


Back to Square One!


Too good to clean!

On the vehicle front, all 3, both GV and the BMW bike performed admirably. Personally, for me, the GV was perfect. Some of the highlights worth mentioning are:

• Carried luggage of 5 persons (Mira, Shivam, Sheena, Akash & me.) along with food and other travel goodies
• Plenty of cubby holes to stock up water, food and phones across the cabin
• The number of charging sockets helped keep the phones and hence Google maps alive
• Comfortable seating and lovely driving position – did not feel fatigue even after long drives across a variety of terrains
• Confidence of the AWD and low-range for go anywhere ability
• Good ACC – managed to keep the temperature well-regulated and comfortable throughout. This really helped keep us fresh as if we had kept the windows open, dust would have added to the overall fatigue factor.
• Good ride quality, can be better. But for the most part, we were able to sail through the uneven roads and bumps in a fairly comfortable manner. It’s no Innova, but adequate.
• Since it’s a petrol AWD, is heavy on fuel with trip average coming to around 9 km/litre.
• Adequate sound insulation, better than Maruti standard, but far from VW. While there was no engine clatter to keep us occupied, noise from bumps and thuds would filter into the cabin. I personally like the engine note on higher RPMs and hence was happy.

On technology & other tools available to us on the trip:

• Google maps was indeed the most used app on the phone. It really was accurate most of the journey and even without network areas, thankfully, it continued to navigate since it was already on. We had no need to download offline maps as most of the journey we had some form of internet – 3G, 4G or wifi.
• Whataspp location sharing – I think a fantastic feature, however, prone to failure as sometime due to network issues, would give us inaccurate locations of us and others on the map, causing confusion.
• Walkie-Talkies – very useful, although across short distances. Much easier than using phones to coordinate in a convoy of cars. Care needs to be taken to switch them off when not in use, as battery does get drained fast. Good for short distances, but since Akash was going ahead on his bike, there were times when we would not be able to reach him. This is especially more true in the hills, where there is not always a clear line of sight. Personally, I had a lot of fun using the Walkies by saying “Roger That!” & “Affirmative” like I was on some mission.

On Tools used in Planning the Trip:

• I think nothing beats good old experience and we were lucky to have some experience travelers with us who had done some part of the stretch earlier. Akash, Sunil, Debo & family have a lot of travel experience between them, and it was their knowledge that gave me a lot of confidence to undergo such a long trip.
• Online resources like TripAdvisor, Google Maps, MakeMyTrip were some of the websites/apps consulted while booking stays across. Most of the bookings were done in advance. Since we were a large group with families, we wanted to ensure that we would not be stranded anywhere without accommodations. Most places accepted online payment and allowed for partial booking.

On this note, I would like to end this travelogue. It was a wonderful experience, something that I am looking forward to doing more often. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my fellow travelers – Rupa, Megha, Sheena, Debo, Sunil, Akash, Shivam & Mira for being amazing people and who really helped make this trip effortless and memorable.
I would also like to thank you, dear reader, for patiently going through what I would call an amateur attempt at penning my thoughts.
On to the next one!

Disclaimer:
Some creative liberties have been taken for writing this article. In case of any factual inaccuracies, do let me know. Also, there are a lot of memories that may not have gotten their due in the travelogue and I can only beg forgiveness for poor recollection.

Photos shared belong to the travelers and Google Map screenshots are from the internet.

[vb-saan]

Thread moved from Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thank you for sharing!

And you got a very special car there - the might Grand Vitara

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by prateekswarup

As I drove back towards Greater Noida, the finality of it all really hit me. The trip was finally over. We had traveled around 1100 kms across the hills, with a group of relatively unknown people and come back enthralled, entertained and most importantly safe. In the process, we also ended up making some amazing friends. I think such is the beauty of being a traveler. It’s a community of like-minded people, who, like you have the passion and thirst to explore. I hoped that this thirst and passion will continue to help plan such getaways that allowed us to break our shackles and enjoy the wonder that is life!

Lovely report there Prateek. Glad to see both the cars and the bike gave no trouble and it was an enjoyable experience for all. While Mana Pass didn't happen, I'm sure you will be retuning back to the hills for the same sometime in the future.

All the best for the upcoming drives and looking forward to you reports on the same.

[prateekswarup]

Thanks blackwasp & vb-san. Have added another rare gem into my garage that will be shared soon.