New Kedarnath Trek

A great peace of mind and undertaking a spiritual trip here always rekindles human beings faith in the almighty.

After the flash floods of 2013 in Kedarnath Shrine, It is must for every traveler and pilgrim to have up-to-date information, before planning to visit. The roads were washed away, with no accommodation or facilities remaining. The govt is restoring the facilities, constructing the basic amenities so that Kedarnath Yatra can be started at the earliest.

The cascading Mandakini River and the images of verdant landscapes and snow draped Himalayas make Kedarnath a tranquil place.

The devotees flock to this holy pilgrimage site every year. Kedarnath in Uttarakhand is one of the most prominent sacred pilgrimages, particularly for the Hindus. The temple opens its gates for the visitors in the first week of May on the eve of Akshaya Tritiya and shuts down in the month of October-November. Gandhi Sarovar, Vasuki Tal, Gaurikund, Sonprayag, Triyuginarayan, Agastyamuni Temple and Deoria Tal are some of the memorable sites around Kedarnath.

The mesmerizing vistas and splendid sceneries in the form of the snow-fed mountains, rhododendron forests, and salubrious environment make the place truly enchanting.

Our Journey Of Kedarnath Trek:

We stayed at Srinagar and had to travel 100km to reach Gaurikund. Traffic jams had become a nightmare and we had developed a bad habit of looking out on the road at each turn for any traffic jam. A clear road would make me relaxed, until next turn.

Kedarnath was the place that I was longing to visit and I did not want to miss it for any reason. There was no miracle on the road that day. The bus stopped on the road 8km before Gaurikund. That was pretty bad considering that we had to walk for 14 km from Gaurikund and reach Kedarnath by sunset. Memories of Yamunothri started to haunt me. It was 9:30AM.

The bus had stopped at a place called Sitapur. Few people in our group refuse to walk and decide to stay at Sitapur. I was sure that it would at least take 3 hours (with my Friends) to walk to Gaurikund. What if we face situation like in Yamunothri where there were no dholies? My Friends were very clear that they would not go on horse at any cost.

We had travelled thousands of km and to turn back at this last stage was not a good option. We started walking. In worst case, we would have to return from Gaurikund.

After walking for more than an hour, we reached a place called Sona Prayag. Gaurikund was still 5 km away.

As the road further was very narrow, vehicles were allowed in only one direction. That should have contained the traffic but unprecendented crowd had messed up everything. It situation was so bad that vehicles were simply not allowed after Sona Prayag.

It was here few people struck a “deal” with Police and a Jeep guy. That made things easier as the Jeep took us to Gaurikund on that empty road!!

Gaurikund was a small place with narrow streets. We walked about half a km to reach the starting point of the trek.

It was here I was convinced that we can make it to Kedarnath before sunset.

Unlike Yamunothri, the dholy system was very well organized in Gaurikund. People have to stand in queue and buy dholy tickets. The ticket price was decided based on the weight of the person. It was surprising to see computerized system working so nicely in that remote corner with huge crowd.

With one of my Friend getting a dholy, we started our journey. The path was steep as expected. We had to gain an altitude of 5000ft to reach Kedarnath. While the path was bad when compared to Yamunothri, the facilities were much better. Drinking water, toilets, eateries and rain shelters was present all along the route. There were places for horses to drink water.

Walking was difficult thanks to dholy and horse people who were rushing without bothering about people who were on foot. One had to always jump to the side to give way for these fast movers.

Seven km from Gaurikund was a small village Rambara. Here we stopped to have lunch. By then the entire area was covered with mist and it started to rain. We still had a long way to and hence did not stop for rain to subside. We had raincoats.

The rain stooped after a while and a grand spectacle was thrown open. It was the view of the snow capped mountains. We had already seen the Snow Mountains at Yamunothri and Gangothri but the view at Kedarnath was simply great. The journey became easy looking at those mighty mountains.

The last km of the journey was on a flat land. Maharashtra Mandal, our place of stay was at the entrance of the town. The room was very basic. One must not expect luxuries at these remote places that are open for only six months.

Our agenda on that evening was to visit Kedarnath Temple. It was a peaceful visit with no hurry or rush. The miniature version of the mountains behind is being worshiped in the Temple.

All char dham Temples are small with no great architecture. This kept me wondering what makes these Temples so attractive to people all over the country. At least, we now have the luxury of travelling most of the distance on bus. Just a few decades ago, people had to travel on foot for several days to reach these places.

We paid a visit to Shankaracharya Samadhi on next morning. With no people around, there was an absolute silence. A great man who in his short life span of 32 years covered the entire length and breadth of India on foot spreading “advaita” and establishing math of religious significance.

Bhairaveshwara Temple on top of a mountain attracted me. As it was a steep path, my Friend did not accompany me. I could get some good views of the mountains and the town as I started climbing.

I was the sole visitor of the Temple at that time. The Bhairava people staying near the Temple looked scary. I had heard about their love for “ganja” and similar stuff. Needless to say, I didn’t stay there for long.

After breakfast, we started the descent. Compared to previous day, the weather was hot and hence tiring even though it was just a decent.

The most memorable trek that we ever had.