In the land of 'Dev Bhoomi' Part 4
In the land of Dev Bhhoomi, Part 4'
Like I mentioned in my last blog about one of the famous and well known CharDham maybe because of the movie that released in 2018 or our PM visiting in 2019, that is 'Kedarnath temple' which is also one of the 12 Jyotir Lingams and is also the most important temple among the Panch Kedars (group of 5 Shiva temples in Garhwal Himalayas).
Kedarnath Temple is accessible from major destinations of Uttarakhand, the motorable road towards Kedarnath temple stretches till Gauri Kund. After that one needs to take a 17 km trek towards Kedarnath temple. Ponies and palanquins (doli) are easily available; one can also avail helicopter services.
The entrance to Gaurikund
Five of us started our way towards Kedarnath from Gaurikund by 7.15am after having banana we knew we had to walk for 17km that day with no excuse and no backouts midway along with other Pilgrims, khachars and the beautiful Mandakini river flowing by the side.
River Mandakini
Proper road has been built up to the temple, there were few shops in between serving tea, biscuits and packed food, toilet tents were there almost every half a km, cleanliness at a certain level was maintained yet I did found it difficult to walk on that path because the khachars don't have a particular route to follow,ideally they should walk within a lane from left along with other pilgrims and that isint 50-100 khachars a day they were 500 to maybe countless khachars on that route.
I agree with the facilities that should be provided to the 'bhakta' who wish to visit this place but it is seen that when you are provided with facilities you forget the true essence of that place, it is a yatra and not a picnic spot that every person just gets over khachar and go to Kedarnath as I could see many young and healthy people taking khachars and thus genuine people like us had to suffer. Anyways if anyone is planning to walk till Kedarnath do start your walk at midnight 2 am from Gaurikund that is the perfect time to escape khachars and crowd.
Countless Khachars and many more on the route
We took mid breaks as sometimes the climb was little steep and had some power snack in-between like rajgira ladoo and energy bars, refilled our bottle from the water outlets on our way which came directly from the glaciers, sometimes even took shortcuts(hiking) to the top. If you maintain your pace, you can stretch to your maximum extent. We were gaining Altitude from 7000ft to 12000ft but we were going gradual so we did not find difficulty in breathing or any other health related problems of Altitude gain.
Shoveling
Work mode 'ON' to earn 'Bread and Butter'
On our way we saw there were helicopter services we enjoyed the view of a helicopter passing by initially from very far later coming closer and finally just 20 feet from us to the landing stations.
Helipad
The final 5kms was like you can see your destination yet you feel far apart, was like a never ending route, it was 3.15pm(it took 8 hrs to climb 17km) when we reached our destination. We checked into our Dome Stay, freshened up and were so hungry that we ate the food we had with us and then ended up eating thali at Govt hotel the only food available in Kedarnath.
The next part of Kedarnath Dham to be continued...
Part 5
https://pstrekdiary.blogspot.com/2019/07/in-land-of-dev-bhoomi-part-5.html
Like I mentioned in my last blog about one of the famous and well known CharDham maybe because of the movie that released in 2018 or our PM visiting in 2019, that is 'Kedarnath temple' which is also one of the 12 Jyotir Lingams and is also the most important temple among the Panch Kedars (group of 5 Shiva temples in Garhwal Himalayas).
Kedarnath Temple is accessible from major destinations of Uttarakhand, the motorable road towards Kedarnath temple stretches till Gauri Kund. After that one needs to take a 17 km trek towards Kedarnath temple. Ponies and palanquins (doli) are easily available; one can also avail helicopter services.
Five of us started our way towards Kedarnath from Gaurikund by 7.15am after having banana we knew we had to walk for 17km that day with no excuse and no backouts midway along with other Pilgrims, khachars and the beautiful Mandakini river flowing by the side.
Proper road has been built up to the temple, there were few shops in between serving tea, biscuits and packed food, toilet tents were there almost every half a km, cleanliness at a certain level was maintained yet I did found it difficult to walk on that path because the khachars don't have a particular route to follow,ideally they should walk within a lane from left along with other pilgrims and that isint 50-100 khachars a day they were 500 to maybe countless khachars on that route.
I agree with the facilities that should be provided to the 'bhakta' who wish to visit this place but it is seen that when you are provided with facilities you forget the true essence of that place, it is a yatra and not a picnic spot that every person just gets over khachar and go to Kedarnath as I could see many young and healthy people taking khachars and thus genuine people like us had to suffer. Anyways if anyone is planning to walk till Kedarnath do start your walk at midnight 2 am from Gaurikund that is the perfect time to escape khachars and crowd.
We took mid breaks as sometimes the climb was little steep and had some power snack in-between like rajgira ladoo and energy bars, refilled our bottle from the water outlets on our way which came directly from the glaciers, sometimes even took shortcuts(hiking) to the top. If you maintain your pace, you can stretch to your maximum extent. We were gaining Altitude from 7000ft to 12000ft but we were going gradual so we did not find difficulty in breathing or any other health related problems of Altitude gain.
Amazing view on our way
On our way we saw there were helicopter services we enjoyed the view of a helicopter passing by initially from very far later coming closer and finally just 20 feet from us to the landing stations.
The final 5kms was like you can see your destination yet you feel far apart, was like a never ending route, it was 3.15pm(it took 8 hrs to climb 17km) when we reached our destination. We checked into our Dome Stay, freshened up and were so hungry that we ate the food we had with us and then ended up eating thali at Govt hotel the only food available in Kedarnath.
The next part of Kedarnath Dham to be continued...
Part 5
https://pstrekdiary.blogspot.com/2019/07/in-land-of-dev-bhoomi-part-5.html
Lovely yaar!!!
ReplyDeleteReally missing those days Praj....
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