When Adventure met Faith - Part - I ( On the way to Helang)

When I got to know that some of my Ghumakkar friends are planning to trek Kapeshwar – Rudarnath & the route they have chosen was not the common route but it was actually a  difficult trek so I thought of not letting this opportunity go. 

When Adventure met Faith

We were about 15-16 people who were supposed to join this trek but only five of us turned up, rest were not able to join us because of the train reservation issues & personal issues.   

Our journey started on May 20^th by night train from Anand Vihar Railway station (Delhi) along with our two most experienced trekkers whom you can say they were our tour leader for this trek.

We reached Haridwar around 03.30 AM and reached Garhwal Motor Operators Union (GMOU) office close to Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam hotel (GMVN) to catch the bus for Heleng but due to the peak Yatra season we were not able to get any public transport, we were hanging out here and there to arrange the conveyance, luckily we got a car whose driver was going to drop that car to Srinagar.  

We negotiated the fare and left Haridwar around 4.30 AM for Srinagar .Away from Delhi’s heat the cool breeze in a moving car was making our journey soothing. We reached Byasi around 6.00 AM which is 32 kms from Rishikesh. 

Byasi

On the way we crossed  Devprayag which is 35 kms from Byasi , Devprayag is one of the “Panch Prayag” where Bhagirathi from Gangotri & Alaknanda from Kedarnath meet and form “GANGA”. After crossing Devpryag we had our tea and continued our journey. 

After 35 kms we reached Srinagar around  8.00 AM . It is one of the biggest towns situated in the foothills of majestic Himalayas and on the banks of Alaknanda  River.  

Local fruit - Kafal

We stopped there to get freshen up and to have our breakfast. One of the team members who stay here only also joined us.

After having our breakfast, once again we were struggling to get sharing jeep as most of the local conveyances were on yatra services. After one hour of struggle, around 11.00 AM we got sharing jeep till chamoli. 

On the way  we visited Dhari Devi from Jeep only. It houses the upper half of an idol of the goddess Dhari & Lower part is at Kalimath Temple. Dhari Devi is relocated on pillars in 2013 as the original place is immersed in water due the dam construction in that area.

Entrance Gate - Dhari Devi

 

Dhari Devi on pillars

After 35 kms from Srinagar we reached Rudarprayag   , named after Shiva (Rudra). Here Alaknanda river from Badrinath and Madakani river from Kedarnath meet. 

From Rudarprayag the road gets separated for Kedarnath & Badrinath, left road goes to Kedarnath & right one towards Badrinath. We took Badrinath road.

 

On the way we crossed  Karanprayag , here Alaknanda river and Pindar river meet.

We reached chamoli and once again we started looking for any shared jeep which will be going at least till Joshimath as we had to get down at Helang which is 10 kms before Joshimath.

This time we were lucky to get a sharing jeep soon that saved our time. We reached Helang around 3.30 PM . Our initial plan was to stay at Devgram village and then to visit Kalpeshwar that day only but one of our team members who was coming from Banaras (Varanasi)  by train but the train got delayed. He was to reach Helang after 9.00 PM. After crossing Helang we will hardly find mobile signals so to coordinate with Banarsi babu we decided to stay at Helang only.

Helang

We had our lunch and took a four bed room in a hotel. Helang is a small town so you cannot expect any luxury to stay there .One has to adjust if you really want to experience the actual taste of trekking. People looking for luxury have to go 10 kms further till Joshimath. 

Left goes to Chamoli & right goes to Joshimath

Our friend from Varanasi reached around 10.00 PM after a lot of struggle as it was raining heavily. We together had our dinner and arranged goods carrier jeep for next day to reach village Lyari . You will be surprised to know that we had to share this jeep with a cow too travelling in it. 

Next post will be coming soon……….