High altitude trekking in Uttarakhand Himalayas

With the advent of spring, the snow starts melting at higher reaches of mountains in Himalaya. The adventure takes a shift towards high altitude which are above 4000 mtrs. The trek enthusiast start pondering the trek conditions of different trek routs. The few famous trek routs are Kuari pass, Nanda devi sanctuary trek, Gaumukh trek etc.

Kuari pass can be reached by four routes and one of the routes is known as Lord Curzon trek. All the treks are used for the trekking purpose. It is advisable to go in a group with guides and porters as most of the the trek routes have no habitation and any mistake may lead you to problem. The trek normally starts from April months and ends by November every year due to heavy snow fall blocking the route after November. Till April the most common route for Kuari pass is from Auli or Tapovan. The base point is Joshimath for all the trek routes except for the route from Nandaprayag.

Nanda Devi sanctuary trek also opens after the month of April and the base point is Joshimath. From Joshimath, after night halt, trekkers go to Lata village which is around 20 km from Joshimath to start the trek. The perimeter of this sanctuary is about 120 km with an area of 640 sq km. Nanda Devi sanctuary comprises of some of the most outstanding peaks of the Central Himalayas clustered between Gangotri and Milam glaciers. Among all these peaks, Nanda Devi is the most popular with its top shaped like a camel’s hump.

Although, there are many other interesting treks, but the last trek which shall be discussed is Gaumukh – Tapovan – Nandavan trek. This trek route falls in Uttarakashi district, which is also famous for the origin of the sacred river Ganga from Gaumukh. People visit Gaumukh for religious purpose, but many trek this route till Nandanvan for its scenic beauty. The total length of this trek is around 56 km, which can be completed in 5 to 6 days. The trek is surrounded by beautiful peaks like Bhagirathi peaks, Shivling mountain etc.

All the treks mentioned above are few of many treks in Uttarakhand. The journey to these treks will definitely give you immense pleasure and a total different experience of the adventure tourism. 

www.dreammountain.net

Tourism related blogs

Latest tourism related news and articles 

Sanjivanibuti of Dronagiri

Uttarakhand Health Minister recently announced that he had made an appeal for funds to the Union Health Minister to enable the State government to start seriously looking for the mythological SanjivaniButi. We have no idea how seriously Delhi is pondering on this proposal but this is not the first time that attempts have been made to identify this mythological miracle herb.

Those familiar with the Ramayana will recall that during the battle of Lanka, Laxman was mortally wounded by an arrow shot by Ravan's brother Meghnad. The Lankan royal physician Susena advised that the only way to save Laxman was by administering him some lifesaving herbs that were available only in the Himalayas The herb SanjiviniButi was one of them.

     Hanuman was asked to get the herbs but not being a physician himself, he got confused on reaching Dronagiri hill with its profusion of different exotic herbs. So he did exercised the only logical option of carrying away the whole hilltop so that Susena could himself identify the required herbs. Laxman was saved but this story of the life-restoring SanjiviniButi continues to exercise our interest and imagination to this day.

      But coming back to our Health Minister's statement, we need to remember that AcharyaBalkrishna of PatanjaliYogpeeth, Haridwar has already made the claim that SanjiviniButi has been discovered and identified by a Patanjali team which visited Dronagiri village in the Himalayas for that purpose in end 2008. However, the Patanjali team was careful to couch its claims in ambigious language to convey that what the team claims to be the Sanjivinibuti is the nearest that may be interpreted to be the mythological miracle herb. The Uttarakhand government had also sent a team to Dronagiri to search for the elusive miracle and it too came back with ambigious reports.

     The inhabitants of Dronagiri village on the other hand, appear to be immune to all the excitement that is exercising the minds of the rest of the world. For them life goes on as usual in the idyllic village and they are satisfied in the knowledge that the village enjoys the benevolent gaze and protection of DronagiriParvatDev, the local deity. Of course even today they nurse an atavistic grudge against Lord Hanuman for carrying away their hilltop,because unfortunately that particular hilltop snatched away by Hanuman happened to be one of the shoulders of the ParvatDev and for that reason Hanuman is not worshipped by the inhabitants of the village. 

Dronagiri village is indeed blessed by ParvatDev by way of spectacular location and surroundings. The mountainsides above the village are rich in high-altitude herbs and a herbologist's paradise! Locals claim that it is common to see the monal(State bird of Uttarakhand) and the bharal(State animal of Uttarakhand) in the fields surrounding the village. Dronagiri is also on the way to the ChangaBanga peaks.

     At a height of around 12,000 feet, Dronagiri village is totally snowbound during winters and its inhabitants move to their winter villages(in winter, as you would have guessed), and return back to Dronagiri in early May. This year, Dream Mountain is scheduling a trek to Dronagiri area around end May or early June. The trek package will include stay in Dronagiri village, visit to base-camp of ChangaBanga, visit to Nandi Kund, exposure to local dance and culture and an introduction to the local traditional knowledge in exotic himalayan herbs.

     Those interested to join in the trek can check for our detailed programme which will be announced here. (http://www.dreammountain.net/fixed-trekking-departures/)

www.dreammountain.net