Deoriatal - Chandrashila Trek
This trek was from 15 Apr 2024 to 20 Apr 2024
Day - 01 : Rishikesh - Sari
We depart from Live Free Hostel to Sari base camp at around 7:00 in the morning
On the way to Sari, we stop for breakfast at a fairly medium sized restaurant, where the only practical food to eat being Parotas, as they are quick and are made in bulk.
This is also where my Himalayan-Birding started, with my first specie being the Himalayan Bulbul.
Our next stop was Rudraprayag.
On the way, there was an human-made landslide, in order to prevent a natural one with a larger scale of potential damage.
We also stopped near a road-side tea/lime-soda shop. While people who took the beverages, and enjoyed them, we enjoyed the scenery of Devprayag.
It was around 11:45 AM when we reached Rudraprayag.
Our Next Stop : LUNCH @ Kraunch Hills.
We had a solid lunch of rice, dal tudka, khichidi, and a lassi. Even though parata was a much feasible option, others at the table did not entirely agree as they had paratas for 3 meals the prior day and for breakfast.
Just opposite to the restaurant, there are flags, behind which Ganga flows - worth a pic...
Next Destination : Sari base camp
We reached there around 4:00 in the evening, and the weather was chilling out, so it is worth noting to keep your fleece accessible after lunch.
While descending down the slope to reach the campsite, do avoid getting in contact with this plant, which has thorny leaves and gives a constant irritating itch for quiet a while.
The tents with a backdrop of the hills are for the people who are starting the trek, and the tents adjacent to them are for the people who finished the trek.
And this was our first downpour experience through the trek - YOU MUST KEEP YOUR PONCHO AND FLEECE HANDY AT ALL TIMES, as they help a lot, especially at campsites.
This is one of the treks, in which you can see your summit from the base camp itself.
Then, my birding started for the rest of the evening.
Slaty-Headed Parakeet
Blue Whistling-Thrush
During the pre-trek briefing, prior to dinner, which was throughout most of the evening, one of our trek-mates spotted out the amazingly lit peak of Mt. Chandrashila.
It is not very clear, as there was a mesh in between, allowing ventilation to the dining/briefing area.
Day - 02 : Sari - Deoriatal
After the quick morning health check-up, I headed for birding, and below are my findings:
Russet Sparrow
Great Barbet
Thus concluding my morning birding at Sari.
IMPORTANT: Take a photo of the QR-Code of the products you rent, especially the trek poles.
Then, at around 8:15 AM, after the pre-trek photo session, we departed.
Moving forward, you get one water source, so be sure to top-up all your bottles.
Also one more important thing to keep in mind while trekking is, try to keep a bottle which you can hook-up to your back-pack and keep sipping a little bit of water throughout the trail so that you do not get dehydrated and tired. Drink a mouthful of water whenever they pause and announce for a water-break.
And, at finally around noon, you get the first view of Deoriatal.
You might also find skulls or bones, they are of cows, which died due to either cold or a leopard hunting them.
After reaching the campsite, which is quiet near to Deoriatal, YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE COOL-DOWN EXERCISES.
I had skipped about half of the cool-down exercises in Syalmi because I had gone to birding, and also it was the longest trek-day during this trek, so my body did not cooperate with me from Syalmi to Bhaniyakund, thus giving me a very hard time.
Chestnut-bellied nuthatch
Finally at around 4:30, we depart to Deoriatal, which is a short 15-minute walk; and here are the pictures:
Himalayan Grey Langur
Day - 03 : Deoriatal - Syalmi
At around 5:30 AM, I was up and ready with my camera, and some of the shots are below:
And about the same time - 8:00 AM, we depart.
Our next Destination: Jhandi Top.
Jhandi translates to flag, even though there is a flag, its quiet torn and hard to spot quickly.
This being the first part, is quiet a decent ascent, then we slowly descent.
While climbing to Jhandi top, at about 3/4th of the trail, you get to see Sari.
Finally, at around 9:30, you reach Jhandi Top and the view - is incredible.
NOTE: Get a photo shot here of you or/and your family, with the mountains in the backdrop, it will be a highlight photo of the trek.
Reaching the Undisclosed Location.
After reaching the Undisclosed location, you would find a tree, which is easy to climb. But that is not the main part - take a left and move a little further from that tree and you would find a root, THAT ROOT is the highlight.
Photo Credit: Gowri Desai
(The blue shirt on top is me!)
After reaching an opening, we paused, embraced the nature by having a nature-walk kind of thing, in which one after the other went through a long stretch, which felt never-ending and observed what ever we could.
Finally, we break for lunch and spend a good one and a half hour there (including the afternoon siesta!).
At around 2:30 PM, we depart to Syalmi.
Also in this bughyal, I spotted a Himalayan griffon, which were also present on top of the Jhandi Top.
After the break, we head to Syalmi. The view of the campsite, is the most pleasing thing for your back that day, especially if you have not offloaded (I did not!).
Again emphasizing on cool-down, DO NOT MISS THE COOL-DOWN EXERCISES. This is one of my regrets in the trek.
And after the cool-down, they provided snacks, which I devoured because of the very long day and went back to enjoying the nature.
A few shots worth taking here are:
i) The panoramic view from behind the tents
iii) A time-lapse of the sunset.
Day - 03 : Syalmi - Baniyakund
The next morning, I tried to record the sunrise, though the battery died and the phone fell from the supporting rock :(
Just after the morning beverages, I ran out for birding - some photos are below:
After this, my dad spotted a Khalij Pheasant and I ran down the slope for a good shot, but it decided to play hide-and-seek while my parents saw it from top, i could not see it at eye-level at all.
The descent, being steep, was also spacious, so I went down in a zig-zag pattern, like a mountain goat.
While coming up, it was quiet a killer on my knees, because I was running late for breakfast, and was running - literally. Though i got a few shots on the way up.
After all this, being hungry for a hearty breakfast, that's what I did - ate a hearty breakfast.
From Syalmi to Akashakamini River, the terrain was not the most favourable, so as usual, the trek leader, guide & sweeper took their rolls. After Akashakamini River, we (mostly the kids) were incharge of the trail.
We were given the GPX file and decided the rolls of who was doing what in the previous night's dinner.
I had raised my hand for the role of trek leader and had been elected for the trail.
Crossing the Akashakamini river.
IMPORTANT: While crossing the river, follow the instructions given by the trek leader and guides (real) carefully.
After crossing, taking an ground-level shot of river is a must.
I went to the pro mode in my phone, kept the phone upside-down, shot up the White Balance all the way to 10000 Kelvin, adjusted my exposure compensation, and kept the ISO to the minimum - 100.
The Shot:
If you are using a proper camera, i would advice you to go to Manual and reduce the shutter speed, and do the rest as from the phone's pro mode. This however, comes with a drawback - shake. While shooting with the camera, I was reclining on my trek-bag and shooting, which was not very comfortable because of the weight and the angle of shooting. So I will provide a What-Not-To-Do shot.
Next, we went through the Kedarkantha Wildlife Sanctuary. Even though we didn't visibly see any wild animals, we heard a woodpecker(Idk Which...) and then came across bear or leopard scratches on a tree.
After reaching an opening, we took a brake and had an activity planned by the trek leader and guides (real) of hugging trees and embracing nature, inspired from the Chipko Movement.
Finally when we reached a bughyal, our navigators took on a longer route to the campsite, which was off the trail. (something was wrong with their GPS - I guess).
Like a few times before, after about 250 meters downwards, our guides told it was the long path. and we returned to a "U" like bend towards the right path, and in the bughyal, we saw the rest of the team resting. After consulting with the navigators, we decided to give a break. Meanwhile, our guide started off with an interesting story belonging to that specific place, like he had done it in Deoriatal, and a few locations on the trail, and in this case, Baniyakund.
After about 15 minutes of rest, we started off again.
The path from the road to the campsite felt the most tiring, and especially for me for not completely doing the cool-down the previous day.
One of the major attractions of the Baniyakund campsite is the bones staked together, which will make a lot more sense after hearing the story of how Baniyakund got its name - wait for it till you trek.
We met the previous batch, who gave us a vague idea of what we will be facing ahead, but not detailed enough to discourage us, which was good and we followed the tradition to the next batch as well.
After having a hearty lunch and then a siesta, we returned for the snacks, and that's when a funny thing happened; while washing the dishes after snacks, a flock of sheep decided to go around me - effectively imagining me as a pole in their road and going around it with a huge crowd pushing everyone.
Day - 04 : Baniyakund - Mt. Chandrashila - Sari
This is not what happened though. Even at morning 12:30 AM, I had the appetite another solid meal - just dumping as much energy as I can into myself.
The speed at which we covered the distance during the midnight-trek, was insane - we never thought we could cover so much distance in so less time, though we were a bit late for the sunrise.
I had predicted that I would loose charge on my camera and prioritized charging the camera over the phone, another blunder.
Finally, I managed to get a decent sunrise photo.
After the clouds moved a bit, we were able to see the peak of Mt. Nanda Devi
Hikers with the background of Mt. Nanda Devi
After returning to Baniyakund, and having lunch, I decided to photograph Himalayan griffons from the nearby Bughyal. One of my decent shots:
At around 2:30, the Tempos and the cars came to Baniyakund to carry us off to Sari. It was a half-hour journey.
NOTE: Do not sleep during this journey, especially if you get nausea during car rides.
At Sari, after dumping our bags into the swiss-tent, separating the rented items and re-packing our own stuff into our bags, which we had put in the cloak room, I went for birding. Only a few minutes later, the return for the rentals was open I decided to clean the shoes and return the rest of the equipment. Again, I continued off with my birding. Some of the photos are:
Day - 04 : Sari - Rishikesh
After the morning birding session (no decent photos when compared to the previous day at sari), we had tea/coffee in a nearby shop from the base camp and headed for Rishikesh.
We had breakfast at Kraunch Hills and just juice/tea/cofee for lunch as we had a solid breakfast, as we used to have during the trek, and didn't spend enough calories to clear our stomachs.
Conclusion
All in all, this trek was amazing, the experiences, were the best and the rest I have shared above.
A few things to do for fellow trekkers who are trekking this trek:
- Record the sunrise and sunset at Syalmi
- Record the stories told by the guides
- ENJOY !!!
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