DEORIATAL-CHANDRASHILA TREK

 Deoriatal-Chandrashila Trek

                                                                         (picture courtesy - chintu pathak sir)

 This was the first trek of my life but the feeling of climbing was not new, it was there in my heart
since childhood. Adventure is something with which i see myself, I meet my capabilities of doing
things alone, I see new challenges everyday and get the feeling of fighting with them, my soul get
renewed overtime, its like "Rebirth On Mother Earth". So here, explaining the very first adventure
of my life.

About This Trek -

Deoriatal-chandrashila is trek in Uttarakhand, which starts from a village SARI. SARI is the small village of 100 to 150 houses and a base camp of this trek. This trek is recommended for beginners
as it is at the height of 12,050 ft from the sea level, and it has all the levels required to face and to know about trekking trails, like on first day it has steep trails, on second day it has long jungle trails, and on third day it has 1 km risky trail after TUNGNATH temple.

Reaching Haridwar or Rishikesh

(What you can do)

Conveyance - By bus, train  or cab

Accommodation - There are many affordable ashrams in haridwar with reasonable prices and good food services.

In Rishikesh you can stay in ZOSTEL which is very comfortable and affordable & you can also search for hostels those are made for backpackers, every raw, solo, and group travellers

My Journey -

I registered myself with Indiahikes which is the leading trekking community in India.

Day 1 (15th March 2018) - So, I went Haridwar from Jaipur by car on 15th March, 2018, and my heart was filled with enthusiasm, my excitement was on its peak & I couldn’t wait to start the trek.

I reached Haridwar by 15th night and stayed in a ashram named SHANTI KUNJ, a very beautiful and peaceful place.

Day 2 (16th March, 2018) - A cab was arranged by Indiahikes for the trekkers (cab charges wasn’t included in the package provided by Indiahikes), so from Haridwar we needed to reach SARI, which is a small village of 100 to 150 houses, from where our trek was going to start next day, it was 7 to 8 hours drive from Haridwar. We reached SARI by evening and stayed in the basecamp. Our trek leader and Indiahikes team were there for our welcome & after having high tea and dinner our trek leader briefed us about the trek, how we need to be very punctual during the trek, how to pack our bags, how to stay hygienic, how to be "eco friendly". He checked our oxygen level by oximeter and did some necessary formalities like form filling and documents checkup, BMI checkup. And then we had an ice-breaking session where we introduced ourselves to everyone there, then we went to our respective rooms and slept.

                                                                       (Sari village)

Day 3 (17th March, 2018) - Here, the first day of trek where we needed to walk like 3 to 4 hours to reach our first campsite DEORIATAL, we woke up, had our morning tea, bathed, had our breakfast and moved, it is a very beautiful campsite near lake DEORIATAL, and the best part of it was that we can saw the reflection of beautiful himalayan range of MT. CHAUKHAMBA in that lake, sunrise and sunset views were treat to the eyes, after having high tea we went to a sunset point near the campsite, where we saw the changing colour of snow clad mountains CHAUKHAMBA, while sunset, from white to yellow to red to blue, and this was the best part of this campsite. In the night after having dinner we did star gazing, the milky way and all the beautiful stars. Here below you can see some pictures of DEORIATAL campsite clicked by me.

                                                            (Deoriatal campsite)

                                                           (Deoriatal campsite)

                                                           (Deoriatal campsite)

    

Day 4 (18th March, 2018) - Next day we woke up, early in the morning, had our morning tea, then we changed our cloths and dry cleaned ourselves, had breakfast, packed our lunch, put on our backpack and then started our trek for the next campsite, CHOPTA, which was around 12 km trek from DEORIATAL, it was a tough day though, we reached CHOPTA by 4 o’clock in the evening, and OH MY GOD! What a beautiful campsite it was. It was surrounded by mountains, we played games, I witnessed a very beautiful sunset that day, and after having dinner, our trek leader was briefing us about the next day and to climb CHANDRASHILA we need get up early in the morning at 3 o’clock and leave the camps at 4 o’clock to see the sunrise of CHANDRASHILA. Here below sharing a picture of myself watching CHOPTA sunset.

                                                                         (chopta)

Day 5 (19th March, 2018) - A day which i will remember for my entire life, this was the day of summit climbing, the first summit of my life, it was very cold almost about minus 5 degree, we all were shivering like anything, we had our morning tea, then put on our head lamp because it was dark in the morning, and then started to climb for summit, first we visited the TUNGNATH temple which was the best part of this trek because the TUNGNATH is the world’s highest shiva temple and this temple is situated just 1 km before the CHANDRASHILA summit, The CHANDRASHILA is the summit of TUNGNATH temple and after this temple, we headed for summit climb. There was very steep and dangerous climb for CHANDRASHILA, because it was the time of March and snow was very hard and slippery  it was full of adventure and risks, hence life is all about risks, we climb CHANDRASHILA and got astonished after reaching at the destination, there were 360 degree views of highest himalayan range, NANDA DEVI, TRISHUL, KEDAR PEAK, BANDARPOONCH & CHAUKHAMBA peaks(go with the binoculars to get the best views). I had tears in my eyes with the feeling of accomplishment, then we went back to our campsites and in between we did snow fight, that snow wasn’t that fresh it was hard but had a great time there. Sharing pictures of CHANDRASHILA summit.

(climbing chandrahila summit)

                                              (chandrashila summit)

                                         (chandrashila summit, 12050ft)



Day 6 (20th March, 2018) - I woke up early in the morning, a beautiful, accomplished morning it was, it was a goodbye day to many unknown friends made on this journey from different parts of the world, we laughed together, we played together, we ate together, we climbed together, we discussed together, in short I lived a completely different life in those days.

Lines From my heart -

Every one must do trek once in their life.

why?

VALUE, Value of everything in life, value of struggle, value of air, value of water, value of home, value of family, value of friends, value of parents.

Learnings, keep moving, and how to live independently because there in the mountains you have to do all of your work, packing unpacking your bags each day, punctuality and living a raw life without having a cemented roof upon your head, leaving behind the luxurious life and stepping into comfortless life.

Trek makes you humble and a grounded person because it teaches you that nature is everything and we are a small and tiny  in front of these big mountains which are not even visible and these mountains are so so big yet so giving.

So, value and grateful for everything you have in life.

In my next blog i will write about trekking essentials that you need to carry while trekking in different-different seasons, thank you for reading, for now tata, take care, keep clicking, keep writing, keep reading and most important keep laughing..

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