Trek to Dayara Bhughyal and Darwa Pass - Part 1
Wonderful to get back to the Himalaya's! Uttarakhand may be called Dev Bhoomi by the religious minded. For me its heaven on earth.
This was my 4th trek and second starting from Uttarkashi. We were supposed to be more than 10 and scheduled to start from Lata on the Gangotri route and trek to Kedarnath via Belakh, Guttu and Panwali. Unfortunately, the group size dropped to 2 and we had to change the schedule to make it viable. We chose Barasu - Dayara Bhughyal - Dodital - Yamunotri trek; a trek of 9 days with a days scheduled rest at Dodital.
Preparations
I had sent out fairly detailed instructions to all who wanted to do the trek. The essential kit included the following (Ranga bought all his stuff when visiting his daughter in US)
1. Proper trekking shoes (Quechua Forclaz for me and Timberland for Ranga)
2. A 50L back pack for stuff and a smaller day pack. Both of us chose well designed day packs to carry
3. Light weight pants for the trek. I had 3 quechua trek pants and light pants bought from dollars and pounds
We left Chennai on the 6th and reached Rishikesh the same night. The next morning we took a shared Mahindra 9 seater to Uttarkashi.
Tip 1: If travelling to Uttarkashi, take the route from Dehradun via Mussoorie by pass; its shorter and much better route and avoids the travel around the Tehri dam.
Tip 2: All the vehicles take crazy number of passengers; book the middle row of 4 seats and either 2 or 3 travel comfortably. The front seats 2 hence book both and seat 1. Avoid the rear seats.
Tip 3: Start early and if your are a larger group book the entire vehicle. The vehicle will not start unless all seats are sold out, even if they have to wait for 3 hours (we waited 2)
We reached Uttarkashi by 4 (6.5 hrs travel). Stopped for excellent roti and rajma at Dharasu bend (route to Bharkot). We realized that we where going to be in for a foodie treat throughout the trip. The food all over Uttarakhand is cheap and great. We stayed at the GMVN guest house at Uttarkashi.
Day 1 (Oct 8)
We left Uttarkashi at 8:30 towards Barasu off the Gangotri high way. The road was not bad considering the recent battering from rains in Uttarakhand. Generally, the border roads organization is doing a very good job with roads these areas. I could get data connection upto Bhatwari, before we moved off the Gangotri road.
Our day 1 destination was Barnala Bhughyal, about 5km away. Its feasible to reach Dayara in 1 day, but considering that we were going from 1100 mts (Uttarkashi) we chose the safer and lighter day 1 option of reaching Barnala. We had another shock waiting for us; mules (kachchar's) were not able to do the route due to landslips and hence there would only be porters. Hence there were 5 porters carrying 10days provisions, tent, sleeping bags etc, in addition to a guide and a cook. That made us a 9 member team.
We started our gradual climb and reached Barnala in 3 hours at 2:30 pm. By 3, it started raining and it was to be the pattern during the entire trek. Funnily, there had been no rain for the previous 3 weeks in these parts. Our campsite was a beautiful meadow beside a lake. A cold night ensured and we were huddled inside the tent to escape the rain. The dark and cold night meant, we were sleeping at 8pm!
Day 2:
We woke up to see the effects of the previous nights rain; all around us was snow except the meadows. The route for the day was also covered in snow. Ranga, who had never seen snow was excited like a kid.
The days walk was to be short; a 4 km trek to the camp site at Dayara and a fairly pleasant walk. As we neared the Bhughyal's the sky became dark. We could see snow from the previous day. As we were debating the camp site, a heavy hail and snow started and had us running into a shepherds hut. That was to be our home for the day as the hail and snow didn't relent for the next 2 hrs.
After a hot lunch and 2 hrs later, we went out for a stroll in the snow covered mountain and surprise surprise!, we got mobile signal and got in touch with an equally surprised family.
As the evening set, the sky cleared and we got some wonderful sights of snow covered mountains all around us. Of course, it also meant a very cold night. The stay in the hut was not so pleasant; the air was stale and led to a very troubled sleep.
Woke up early due to a stuffy room, but then had a view of glorious sun very soon as we were facing eastwards. Rewarded with good photos of the peaks basking in sunlight
We then made the first strategic error for the day; we didn't leave early enough and left only at 8:45. It was to haunt us later in the day. The walk was very pleasant one for the first 3 kms through the Dayara meadows. Elsewhere in the world this would be one of the expensive locations as they offer some of the best possible ski slopes. Unfortunately (or fortunately as you might look), the poor access has still preserved the meadows as such.
We were thoroughly enchanted by the meadows and made the second strategic mistake; our guide wasn't sure that the porters will find the way - it was the first trek for all except our guide, on the route and he was worried they may go on the wrong trail. Hence we waited for a good 45 mins. This meant that when we reached the Dayara top to go down to Marapada, it was noon and the usual hail / snow was beginning. All this made the climb down a non existent trail (500m drop) treacherous.
Once we reached below after a few slips and many a prayer, we were unanimous that we had been mad and a lot of heat was directed at our guide, who was confused as to what were complaining about. He was a good mountaineer, a mountain rescue specialist, who had no clue about assessing difficulty levels for us city dwellers. A very clear conclusion is that Dayara to Dodital trek is not for first timers. You will see what I mean when you look up this picture and figure out our trail.
If we thought our horrors for the day was over, we were terribly mistaken. After more boulder hopping, we entered a forest.
Ranga began to seriously believe that our guide didn't know the way and lost his appetite for lunch. As we continued our walk on what was supposedly the last 3 kms, it started raining. It soon turned out to be the mother of all hail storms started. Hail stones the size of peas and larger began falling. All thoughts of photography evaporated. Our gloves already wet from the climb down (grabbing at snow covered rocks for grip) became useless. In no time our hands were frozen. We made the wisest of call to keep walking as the hail continued for 2.5 hours. We slipped in hail and moved at a crawl space. I decided to take the Bhaghyan's (our guide) statement that the campsite was just after the next clearing literally and went ahead faster. Bith Ranga and Bhaghyan, became worried as they thought I had lost my way. Bhaghyan was now
carrying Ranga's back pack as well and tried to move faster than he should have and fell sending both back packs flying.
We then got together; completely drained, cold and freezing and slowly moved on. My energy returned when I could see the campsite far below. I rushed forward and shouted to the rest of our staff and soon enough 3 of them were with us helping us down; Ranga broke down in relief. Hot water wash and fresh clothes brought us the much needed respite. Hot soup and tea energized us.
We were glad to back in a tent after what was my toughest day of trekking in 4 years. 46 youngsters from TATA group had arrived ahead of us from the opposite direction and had camped at all the vantage sites (about 18 tents in all) and that meant we had a poor camp site. But both of us were glad to be in a tent at last. The exertion forced us to decide to take the next day off; Ranga especially, was bushed and couldn't do the next day. We also decided one rule that day start trek early by 7:30 every day.
Day 4: Relax at Marapada
Part 2 follows
This was my 4th trek and second starting from Uttarkashi. We were supposed to be more than 10 and scheduled to start from Lata on the Gangotri route and trek to Kedarnath via Belakh, Guttu and Panwali. Unfortunately, the group size dropped to 2 and we had to change the schedule to make it viable. We chose Barasu - Dayara Bhughyal - Dodital - Yamunotri trek; a trek of 9 days with a days scheduled rest at Dodital.
Preparations
I had sent out fairly detailed instructions to all who wanted to do the trek. The essential kit included the following (Ranga bought all his stuff when visiting his daughter in US)
1. Proper trekking shoes (Quechua Forclaz for me and Timberland for Ranga)
2. A 50L back pack for stuff and a smaller day pack. Both of us chose well designed day packs to carry
3. Light weight pants for the trek. I had 3 quechua trek pants and light pants bought from dollars and pounds
We left Chennai on the 6th and reached Rishikesh the same night. The next morning we took a shared Mahindra 9 seater to Uttarkashi.
Tip 1: If travelling to Uttarkashi, take the route from Dehradun via Mussoorie by pass; its shorter and much better route and avoids the travel around the Tehri dam.
Tip 2: All the vehicles take crazy number of passengers; book the middle row of 4 seats and either 2 or 3 travel comfortably. The front seats 2 hence book both and seat 1. Avoid the rear seats.
Tip 3: Start early and if your are a larger group book the entire vehicle. The vehicle will not start unless all seats are sold out, even if they have to wait for 3 hours (we waited 2)
We reached Uttarkashi by 4 (6.5 hrs travel). Stopped for excellent roti and rajma at Dharasu bend (route to Bharkot). We realized that we where going to be in for a foodie treat throughout the trip. The food all over Uttarakhand is cheap and great. We stayed at the GMVN guest house at Uttarkashi.
Day 1 (Oct 8)
We left Uttarkashi at 8:30 towards Barasu off the Gangotri high way. The road was not bad considering the recent battering from rains in Uttarakhand. Generally, the border roads organization is doing a very good job with roads these areas. I could get data connection upto Bhatwari, before we moved off the Gangotri road.
Our day 1 destination was Barnala Bhughyal, about 5km away. Its feasible to reach Dayara in 1 day, but considering that we were going from 1100 mts (Uttarkashi) we chose the safer and lighter day 1 option of reaching Barnala. We had another shock waiting for us; mules (kachchar's) were not able to do the route due to landslips and hence there would only be porters. Hence there were 5 porters carrying 10days provisions, tent, sleeping bags etc, in addition to a guide and a cook. That made us a 9 member team.
 |
| Barnala Tal, beside our camp site |
We started our gradual climb and reached Barnala in 3 hours at 2:30 pm. By 3, it started raining and it was to be the pattern during the entire trek. Funnily, there had been no rain for the previous 3 weeks in these parts. Our campsite was a beautiful meadow beside a lake. A cold night ensured and we were huddled inside the tent to escape the rain. The dark and cold night meant, we were sleeping at 8pm!
Day 2:
We woke up to see the effects of the previous nights rain; all around us was snow except the meadows. The route for the day was also covered in snow. Ranga, who had never seen snow was excited like a kid.
The days walk was to be short; a 4 km trek to the camp site at Dayara and a fairly pleasant walk. As we neared the Bhughyal's the sky became dark. We could see snow from the previous day. As we were debating the camp site, a heavy hail and snow started and had us running into a shepherds hut. That was to be our home for the day as the hail and snow didn't relent for the next 2 hrs.
After a hot lunch and 2 hrs later, we went out for a stroll in the snow covered mountain and surprise surprise!, we got mobile signal and got in touch with an equally surprised family.
As the evening set, the sky cleared and we got some wonderful sights of snow covered mountains all around us. Of course, it also meant a very cold night. The stay in the hut was not so pleasant; the air was stale and led to a very troubled sleep.
Day 3:
Woke up early due to a stuffy room, but then had a view of glorious sun very soon as we were facing eastwards. Rewarded with good photos of the peaks basking in sunlight
We then made the first strategic error for the day; we didn't leave early enough and left only at 8:45. It was to haunt us later in the day. The walk was very pleasant one for the first 3 kms through the Dayara meadows. Elsewhere in the world this would be one of the expensive locations as they offer some of the best possible ski slopes. Unfortunately (or fortunately as you might look), the poor access has still preserved the meadows as such.
 |
| Rolling meadows all around |
 |
 |
| Pictures above of the meadows |
We were thoroughly enchanted by the meadows and made the second strategic mistake; our guide wasn't sure that the porters will find the way - it was the first trek for all except our guide, on the route and he was worried they may go on the wrong trail. Hence we waited for a good 45 mins. This meant that when we reached the Dayara top to go down to Marapada, it was noon and the usual hail / snow was beginning. All this made the climb down a non existent trail (500m drop) treacherous.
 |
| We go down this path! |
Once we reached below after a few slips and many a prayer, we were unanimous that we had been mad and a lot of heat was directed at our guide, who was confused as to what were complaining about. He was a good mountaineer, a mountain rescue specialist, who had no clue about assessing difficulty levels for us city dwellers. A very clear conclusion is that Dayara to Dodital trek is not for first timers. You will see what I mean when you look up this picture and figure out our trail.
 |
| Can you see our trail? |
Ranga began to seriously believe that our guide didn't know the way and lost his appetite for lunch. As we continued our walk on what was supposedly the last 3 kms, it started raining. It soon turned out to be the mother of all hail storms started. Hail stones the size of peas and larger began falling. All thoughts of photography evaporated. Our gloves already wet from the climb down (grabbing at snow covered rocks for grip) became useless. In no time our hands were frozen. We made the wisest of call to keep walking as the hail continued for 2.5 hours. We slipped in hail and moved at a crawl space. I decided to take the Bhaghyan's (our guide) statement that the campsite was just after the next clearing literally and went ahead faster. Bith Ranga and Bhaghyan, became worried as they thought I had lost my way. Bhaghyan was now
carrying Ranga's back pack as well and tried to move faster than he should have and fell sending both back packs flying.
We then got together; completely drained, cold and freezing and slowly moved on. My energy returned when I could see the campsite far below. I rushed forward and shouted to the rest of our staff and soon enough 3 of them were with us helping us down; Ranga broke down in relief. Hot water wash and fresh clothes brought us the much needed respite. Hot soup and tea energized us.
We were glad to back in a tent after what was my toughest day of trekking in 4 years. 46 youngsters from TATA group had arrived ahead of us from the opposite direction and had camped at all the vantage sites (about 18 tents in all) and that meant we had a poor camp site. But both of us were glad to be in a tent at last. The exertion forced us to decide to take the next day off; Ranga especially, was bushed and couldn't do the next day. We also decided one rule that day start trek early by 7:30 every day.
 |
| Relaxing on Day 4 at Marapada |
Part 2 follows
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