KedarkunthaTrek Part1-by Aashish Chawla

Part One of Kedarkuntha Trek

21st Dec,2011, Time:5.30a.m.


 It is 5.30 am in the morning and I am wide awake, despite my sleeping very late last night. I could feel the pitch of excitement, Yes the feeling of utter estacy that I shall be venturing to the mighty and beautiful himalayas.

Beautiful Himalayan range

Few months back even in my wildest dreams I would have not imagined that one day I would be on my way to do the Himalayan trek."Sach me pucho toh apni itni aukat hi nahi thi " A lazy slob like me who nurtured himself on regular diet of junk food and TV set to keep company it was indeed a giant leap. So kedarkuntha here I come.....

Kedarkuntha Here I come !!!!

As planned I took the train to New Delhi and from there we were to catch the late night train to Dehradun. As most of us were on this train we gathered at Delhi station , Had a quick intro which most of us never remembered and split into groups to catch their individual compartment.


Dehradun Station:

Winter morning at Dehradun station

Someone jolted me out of my deep slumber to make me realise that Dehradun station has arrived. I  quickly picked up my things and made a dash to the SBI ATM centre where we were all suppose to meet......



But what is this ... a sudden shock of chill hit me...."arre yaar idhar kya baraf gir raha hai kya...so cold... I thought " Maar gaya " "wrong decision to come for trekking in winter." I was literally kicking myself at this stage... Something was ringing in my mind...
" logo ne bahut samjhaya par mai samaj na paya..." anyway I moved ahead " akhir me kya mu lekar jata...ki Dehradun station se hi bhaag aaya" ( You can get me to trek anywhere but cold weather is something I really dread like hell)

Our team waiting at the SBI ATM 

Anyway I somehow pushed myself( against my will ) to the ATM centre where everyone were waiting like lost cows koi idhar dekh raha toh koi udhar...As they say Safar  me suffer na kiya toh kya maja kiya.We got our first shock when we found there was no bus for Sankri  I could literally see the thought bubble on each head..


"local co-ordinator kidar hai" " bus kidhar hai" but friends "kabhi kabhi asi confusion bi bahut aachi hoti hai..."because strangers become friends...simple..both are facing Common problem and suddenly this splinter group evolved into a common unit with a common cause... to find the bus....

we are just like lost cows!!!

Certain team member frantically started calling the organisers and in the amidst of all this commotion certain wheels began to move and loo!!! there we saw the mini bus all ready to take us to Sankri.


As it always happens in local trek same thing happen here also "Koi na koi late ho hi jata hai" kabhi trekker toh kadhi usko lekar jane wali ghadi. In the ,meanwhile someone had a bright idea that we should have our breakfast so dumping our bags in the bus dicky we all fled to the nearby royal hotel and had a royal breakfast (which royally screwed up my bus journey )
just like the north Indian people the north india food is also very inviting. I could still feel the fragrance of the steaming hot Aloo Parathas with Volumptous  butter floating on it. we were told that the lunch could be late so Chaitanaya, Amit,Sapna and me stuffed ourself with parathas,butter,Curd. We literally hogged and with no more space till the neck we reluctantly moved away for these inviting delicacies.

Ice breaker impromptu photo session

The excitement was building up , everyone was in good spirit cracking jokes, calling out to each other  and breaking into a impromptu photo session at royal hotel itself. This is a small way of breaking the ice. I always love to make friends and what better way then to have few clicks together.


we finished our prolong breakfast and the bus contractor was pulling his hair shouting at us to move fast as we will be late for sankri our base village.."lekin saab masti me...sunta koon hai..."Poor fella has to literally pull us out from there.


we all boarded the bus and we were informed that 2 sumos with other members of our team  will be following our bus as the bus do not have sufficient seats. Meanwhile 2 Bangalore ladies Radhika and Deepa joined us enroute but as our bus was full they opted for the best seat ...yes the seat next to the driver...a full 70mm full screen sight....believe me they enjoyed it immensely..."trekker of future aap log try kar sakte ho..you too will be loving it"

Bus journey From Dehradun to Sankri

Atlast the time to move on has come and our bus started to move gently through the bazaars of Dehradun  and on the way to Sankri.
the route was Dehradun to Mussorie-Damta Village-Naugaon-Purola-Mori-naitwar-Sankri.


As it was quite cold so most of the members had kept the windows closed aur agar koi photo lene ki liye window open karta toh bechare per sab log tut padte....Window Band karo. many a time I was the victim as I was trying to capture the beautiful scenery which was whizzing past my eyes.

Whirlwind roads

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

On the way to Sankri .....Tranquil yamuna river

 whirlwind road with dusty mountains ,iron bridges, beautiful yamuna river to give company through out it was indeed an enchanting journey. 

On the way to Sankri .....Dusty mountain roads

On the way to Sankri .....Dusty mountain roads

On the way to Sankri ....iron bridges

Very rarely does it happens that what you see matches with the travel photos given to you but in this case what we saw en route to Sankri superseded whatever was given to us in information booklet.
 By the time we reached Sankri it was already late evening and whole of the Sankri was enveloped in darkness.


Our bus stopped in front of the GVN guest house where we were greeted with steaming hot Tea and biscuits by our organisers Arjun and Sandya. In the dim low voltage light of the guest house the brave group of trekkers landed ready to crash into the inviting beds.


Tomorrow will be another day with another story.......


Friends I am taking a break here...akhir me kal ke trek ke liye tayari karni hi....

Our Team for Kedarkuntha Trek