The land of sages beckons

rupinder · 13th July 2009, 23:38

well it was a fun filled different sort of trip for me ,which i have been trying to make an annual event .i try to take 7-10 days for an off beat place close to my heart.after last year's trip to ladakh i had finalised this place .
those of you know it good for you , for the rest of you try to guess the place.it was a fun filled 7 days from may 14 to may20

hillram · 14th July 2009, 00:15

Awesome pics...but need a little description about these peaks and the locales

rupinder · 14th July 2009, 00:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by hillram

Awesome pics...but need a little description about these peaks and the locales

well sir if i gave the locales then what fun it would be asking this question just try to take a guess ,i can only say somewhere in uttarakhand

rupinder · 14th July 2009, 01:07

PROLOGUE

This trip was planned in april and i had booked the trekking agency in april. now the planning started for my trip . i needed to buy some accessories for my dslr .the things that i planned to buy were a tripod ,wide angle lens, cpl extra battery and extra cf card.
so booked my tickets for shatabadi from ludhiana to delhi and back from delhi to ludhiana same day. train was on dot . got my seats .first time travel in shatabadi .it was nice and comfortable but i was not hapy as there was very less interaction among the passengers .i like the hustle bustle and the chaos of the reserved compartments. anyways got my breakfast and tea .served in limited amount and with no refill for the breakfast .my appetite was no fully satieted. reached delhi on time .went to rajiv chowk and took the metro for chandni chowk. first time in metro also .lot of firsts for a single day. went to pritams shop .
sardar pritam singh had a chat with me earlier on the phone also but could'nt remember me .anyway bought a vivitar tripod , an extra battery and a 8 gb card for my canon. then bought another battery for my bro in law's handycam . had to wait a lot of time as pritam tried to arrange for the wide angle lens .i was looking for sigma 10-20mm or the canon 10-22 mm .after good 20 min got both lenses . as per my knowledge as i am an amteur i could nt find significant difference between sigma and canon plus the canon lens looked old kinda refurbished so zeroed on sigma. then i wanted the cpl but was not available there so i had to goto palika and fine alfa photos.and didnt had my lunch .so went to gurudwara sheshganj .sat for few moments in the gurudwara .then went for the langar.after that again went to metra station and back to cp.
finding a shop in pallika is difficult if u have not been there before. after 2 rounds of the whole market located the shop asked for cpl and was answered in afffirmative .but the HOYA was expensive then the miromi but as suggested by our respecte tsk i got the hoya .i also got the remote switch .didnt get the infra red but the wire one was of good build quality. was getting late for my train .so took a ric and reached station .ran to the platform 10 min before departure . met some of the passengers who were also in the morning train. the train journey was .another first this time shatabadi was late by 45 min in reaching ludhiana ,eventhough the weather was clear maybe some technical glitch. but we put the blame fair and square on th guy whose ringtone was 'haule haule and he was getting lot of calls .reached home bit late but with empty pockets after going on a shopping binge

unimog · 14th July 2009, 09:08

is it gangotri/gaumukh?

rupinder · 14th July 2009, 09:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by unimog

is it gangotri/gaumukh?

yes u r right .the pics are of tapovan which is 5 km ahead of gaumukh. in pics 2 and 3 the mountain on the right is shivling parvat and the three peaks on the left are the three bhagirathi peaks 1,2,and 3.

muralisk · 14th July 2009, 09:45

Nice pictures and a interesting start to the travelogue. Keep it coming.

sharu945 · 14th July 2009, 10:54

cool pics and good narration. keep the photos coming...

rupinder · 14th July 2009, 16:12

D DAY 14TH MAY

after having done most of the packing the previous day .woke up early about 5ish and loaded my petra. my bro in law had arrived the previous day at my place. then we went to mr.dhingra the friend accompaning us .u can say we three musketteers are always on a mission like this every year. .so at about 6 am we were all packed and loaded and it was time for chel meri petra.

we were covering good distance. reached near yamunagar and planned for the breakast .i think we reached early as the restuarant had not yet started meals .it took 40 min for the whole breakfast. in retrospect we should have some other stop. after saharanpur we decided to follow the dehradun to rishikesh route. it turned out to be longer route but more scenic and with less traffic. after rishikesh we took the turn towards narendnagar.the roads were ok not fully paved.
reached chamba there we took a wrong turn and started towards new tehri . realised our mistake and turned back wasted 45 min here also. then we started non stop towards uttarkashi as we had to meet the trek agency guys and finalise the plans for tomorrow. reached uttarkashi met the guys .he asked us to make the full payment and was introduced to the team .we had one guide,4 porters and one cook.at uttarkashi we filled the car and our tummies and started again as we had a booking at bhairoghati.
the gate is at bhatwari and closes at 8pm if u cross before that then there is no further gate. managed to cross gate in time .the road ahead was very bad cos of the dam project going on. managed to reach bhaironghati at about 9.30 pm .got our room very basic room .lights out at 10pm .we were given lanterns for our room. the food was also basic veg food but the staff was very cooperative and polite .it was nice interacting with them.had our food and slept

didnt click mcuh pics.,here are a few

flowers at the restaurant

my bro in law

my friend pawan dhingra

phamilyman · 14th July 2009, 17:15

3 people, and so much support staff

go on, post more boss!

predatorwheelz · 14th July 2009, 19:04

Rupinder,

Congratulations. Tapovan remains one of the most beautiful locations I've visited, once in 1999 (when I was here for only half a day before descending to Bhujbasa in the evening) and in 2000 (when I camped here for 3 days as part of a big trekking team). The Amar Ganga river flowing through a large green valley at that impossible altitude - bliss! My only complaint was that it got too cold for comfort in the nights. In the morning, we would wake up thirsty and find our bottled water frozen to ice.

Another of my memories was the ashrams (more like log huts) of the 2 babas who stay there - Bangali Baba and Shimli Baba. The latter gentleman treated us to particularly delicious halwa and inedible khichri one afternoon, all cooked by himself. Are they still there?

How many days did you camp here? Was it only a Tapovan trip or just part of a larger trek plan?

rupinder · 14th July 2009, 19:44

it was just the tapovan trek .because of receeding glacier .the trek to tapovan has become trecherous and to go to nandanvan u have to go down from tapovan across kirti glacier and then climb upto nandanvan, this was our first long trek 4 days ,maybe when we can trek more we can go to other places like kalindikhal

rupinder · 16th July 2009, 19:44

since i was busy was not able to post my travelogue .i was also under the impression that since i got an infraction i will have restricted access . thank god it was just an infraction not a infarction it might have been deadly

rupinder · 17th July 2009, 01:22

15th ,may

we got up early and headed for gangotri. reached in no time at all.went to the temple .there was not much rush so the darshan were done in a jiffy. met our team. this was a 4 day trek so the porters were carrying supplies for 4 days with them. after a 2km trek reached the entrance of gangotri national park .since it is under forest department they ask u to notify the amount of plastic bottle or other non degradable stuff u arre carrying have to pay the security ,on return u shown them the empty bottles and wrappers and u get the refund.

the trek was ok .since we were newbie trekkkers we carried lot of stuff that was making the porters slow.we covered the 8-9 km till chirbasa quite early but the porters were about 2 hours back. so the plan changed from camping in bhobasa to camping in chirbas.

nothing much to say just some pics

MileCruncher · 17th July 2009, 05:01

Nice travelogue and pictures. BTW was it a meteor shower that you captured?

Also could you please post up the costs of the trek in terms of what the agents charge and all.

Cheers

13th July 2009, 23:38	#1
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	The land of sages beckons well it was a fun filled different sort of trip for me ,which i have been trying to make an annual event .i try to take 7-10 days for an off beat place close to my heart.after last year's trip to ladakh i had finalised this place . those of you know it good for you , for the rest of you try to guess the place.it was a fun filled 7 days from may 14 to may20
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 00:15	#2
hillram Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 2,942 Thanked: 1,326 Times View My Garage	Awesome pics...but need a little description about these peaks and the locales
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 01:07	#4
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	PROLOGUE This trip was planned in april and i had booked the trekking agency in april. now the planning started for my trip . i needed to buy some accessories for my dslr .the things that i planned to buy were a tripod ,wide angle lens, cpl extra battery and extra cf card. so booked my tickets for shatabadi from ludhiana to delhi and back from delhi to ludhiana same day. train was on dot . got my seats .first time travel in shatabadi .it was nice and comfortable but i was not hapy as there was very less interaction among the passengers .i like the hustle bustle and the chaos of the reserved compartments. anyways got my breakfast and tea .served in limited amount and with no refill for the breakfast .my appetite was no fully satieted. reached delhi on time .went to rajiv chowk and took the metro for chandni chowk. first time in metro also .lot of firsts for a single day. went to pritams shop . sardar pritam singh had a chat with me earlier on the phone also but could'nt remember me .anyway bought a vivitar tripod , an extra battery and a 8 gb card for my canon. then bought another battery for my bro in law's handycam . had to wait a lot of time as pritam tried to arrange for the wide angle lens .i was looking for sigma 10-20mm or the canon 10-22 mm .after good 20 min got both lenses . as per my knowledge as i am an amteur i could nt find significant difference between sigma and canon plus the canon lens looked old kinda refurbished so zeroed on sigma. then i wanted the cpl but was not available there so i had to goto palika and fine alfa photos.and didnt had my lunch .so went to gurudwara sheshganj .sat for few moments in the gurudwara .then went for the langar.after that again went to metra station and back to cp. finding a shop in pallika is difficult if u have not been there before. after 2 rounds of the whole market located the shop asked for cpl and was answered in afffirmative .but the HOYA was expensive then the miromi but as suggested by our respecte tsk i got the hoya .i also got the remote switch .didnt get the infra red but the wire one was of good build quality. was getting late for my train .so took a ric and reached station .ran to the platform 10 min before departure . met some of the passengers who were also in the morning train. the train journey was .another first this time shatabadi was late by 45 min in reaching ludhiana ,eventhough the weather was clear maybe some technical glitch. but we put the blame fair and square on th guy whose ringtone was 'haule haule and he was getting lot of calls .reached home bit late but with empty pockets after going on a shopping binge
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 09:08	#5
unimog Newbie Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: California Posts: 13 Thanked: 3 Times	is it gangotri/gaumukh?
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 09:45	#7
muralisk BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hyderabad, Bangalore Posts: 711 Thanked: 13 Times View My Garage	Nice pictures and a interesting start to the travelogue. Keep it coming.
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 10:54	#8
sharu945 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: bangalore Posts: 43 Thanked: 0 Times	cool pics and good narration. keep the photos coming...
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 16:12	#9
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	D DAY 14TH MAY after having done most of the packing the previous day .woke up early about 5ish and loaded my petra. my bro in law had arrived the previous day at my place. then we went to mr.dhingra the friend accompaning us .u can say we three musketteers are always on a mission like this every year. .so at about 6 am we were all packed and loaded and it was time for chel meri petra. we were covering good distance. reached near yamunagar and planned for the breakast .i think we reached early as the restuarant had not yet started meals .it took 40 min for the whole breakfast. in retrospect we should have some other stop. after saharanpur we decided to follow the dehradun to rishikesh route. it turned out to be longer route but more scenic and with less traffic. after rishikesh we took the turn towards narendnagar.the roads were ok not fully paved. reached chamba there we took a wrong turn and started towards new tehri . realised our mistake and turned back wasted 45 min here also. then we started non stop towards uttarkashi as we had to meet the trek agency guys and finalise the plans for tomorrow. reached uttarkashi met the guys .he asked us to make the full payment and was introduced to the team .we had one guide,4 porters and one cook.at uttarkashi we filled the car and our tummies and started again as we had a booking at bhairoghati. the gate is at bhatwari and closes at 8pm if u cross before that then there is no further gate. managed to cross gate in time .the road ahead was very bad cos of the dam project going on. managed to reach bhaironghati at about 9.30 pm .got our room very basic room .lights out at 10pm .we were given lanterns for our room. the food was also basic veg food but the staff was very cooperative and polite .it was nice interacting with them.had our food and slept didnt click mcuh pics.,here are a few flowers at the restaurant my bro in law my friend pawan dhingra
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 17:15	#10
phamilyman Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 5,974 Thanked: 4,663 Times	3 people, and so much support staff go on, post more boss!
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 19:04	#11
predatorwheelz Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Delhi/Kolkata Posts: 1,728 Thanked: 2,147 Times View My Garage	Rupinder, Congratulations. Tapovan remains one of the most beautiful locations I've visited, once in 1999 (when I was here for only half a day before descending to Bhujbasa in the evening) and in 2000 (when I camped here for 3 days as part of a big trekking team). The Amar Ganga river flowing through a large green valley at that impossible altitude - bliss! My only complaint was that it got too cold for comfort in the nights. In the morning, we would wake up thirsty and find our bottled water frozen to ice. Another of my memories was the ashrams (more like log huts) of the 2 babas who stay there - Bangali Baba and Shimli Baba. The latter gentleman treated us to particularly delicious halwa and inedible khichri one afternoon, all cooked by himself. Are they still there? How many days did you camp here? Was it only a Tapovan trip or just part of a larger trek plan? Last edited by predatorwheelz : 14th July 2009 at 19:06.
	() Thanks

14th July 2009, 19:44	#12
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	it was just the tapovan trek .because of receeding glacier .the trek to tapovan has become trecherous and to go to nandanvan u have to go down from tapovan across kirti glacier and then climb upto nandanvan, this was our first long trek 4 days ,maybe when we can trek more we can go to other places like kalindikhal
	() Thanks

16th July 2009, 19:44	#13
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	since i was busy was not able to post my travelogue .i was also under the impression that since i got an infraction i will have restricted access . thank god it was just an infraction not a infarction it might have been deadly
	() Thanks

17th July 2009, 01:22	#14
rupinder BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ludhiana Posts: 197 Thanked: 5 Times	15th ,may we got up early and headed for gangotri. reached in no time at all.went to the temple .there was not much rush so the darshan were done in a jiffy. met our team. this was a 4 day trek so the porters were carrying supplies for 4 days with them. after a 2km trek reached the entrance of gangotri national park .since it is under forest department they ask u to notify the amount of plastic bottle or other non degradable stuff u arre carrying have to pay the security ,on return u shown them the empty bottles and wrappers and u get the refund. the trek was ok .since we were newbie trekkkers we carried lot of stuff that was making the porters slow.we covered the 8-9 km till chirbasa quite early but the porters were about 2 hours back. so the plan changed from camping in bhobasa to camping in chirbas. nothing much to say just some pics Attached Thumbnails Attached Images
	() Thanks

17th July 2009, 05:01	#15
MileCruncher Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: MH01 Posts: 4,331 Thanked: 886 Times View My Garage	Nice travelogue and pictures. BTW was it a meteor shower that you captured? Also could you please post up the costs of the trek in terms of what the agents charge and all. Cheers
	() Thanks