GANGOTRI DHAM | UTTRAKHAND TOURISM
Today I am going to share my GANGOTRI ( UTTRAKHAND )experience with you.
Uttrakhand is one of the best place in India. Which is full of by Nature Blessing. Too many adventures , trekking, camping , rafting , bungee jumping etc are performed here.
As well as it is a land of GOD for Hinduism. That's why it is called Devbhoomi { Dev- GOD ; Bhumi - Land }.
First city and you can say that the gateway of Uttarakhand is Haridwar.
Uttarakhand has many temples like Tungnath Temple, Nilkanth, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and so on. Many temples are closed in the height during the winter season. Because the maximum width of the height section is covered with snow during the winter. So the roads open only after winter.
Here I will tell you about our Gangotri journey. Where I went recently during the Kannwar Yatra in the monsoon season.
Kannwar Yatra is the annual pilgrimage to the devotees of Shiva who are known as “Kanvari” or "Bhole" for the Hindu pilgrimage to bring the holy water of the Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri sites and the holy water of Gangas river. And that is why I too went to feel this journey and to enjoy a little bit of it.
However, the best time to go to Uttarakhand is before and after the monsoon. Since there are too many landslides occur in monsoon season. But the Kaavad journey comes in the month of Saawan according to the Hindi calendar which is always comes during monsoon. In which millions of pilgrims go.
We went there by bike. So I could feel the nature directly. We went there on the evening of 4th August. And Because Haridwar is not so far from us and Rishikesh is 26 km ahead of Haridwar. So we reached there in the night and stayed in Rishikesh.
We got drizzle in the morning but we started our journey because we wanted to enjoy the rainy season. As soon as we moved forward, we found that drizzle had changed into shower. So we bought rain coat and started our journey again because we knew that there was rainy weather and that is why that happens continuously here. But we don't know that it will happen for whole day.
We had to stop several times during our visit. Because as soon as we went ahead, we got more and more rain.
Whenever and wherever we stayed for a while, we asked the local people when the rain started here, then the answer would have been somewhere from the last day or the last two or three hours.
We used to feel that the clouds do not want to leave us, they want to be with us, but we do not.
When we came only 30 to 40 km ahead from Rishikesh, we got a traffic jam there. when we went ahead to find out the cause of the jam, So it turned out that the stones were falling from the hill further which spread to almost half of the road.
That's why we got stuck in the jam for about 2 hours when the fall of the stones had reduced, the passengers were allowed to go on a bike or on foot, but if there were 2 passengers on the bike then someone would take the bike and the other Had to walk to cross that particular area.
After that we found many small tea stalls on the way, which were very far from the village and some were on the edge of the hill. To stay away from the rain for a while, we stopped at these stall and enjoyed tea with nature.
Finally , after facing many problems like rain, landslide, and stones falling on the way. We reached Uttarkashi at 6 p.m in the evening and the rain was still going on. This is the reason that we planned to stay there in the night , because there was no safe way to drive due to some natural problems at night. And we got wetting in the rain all day and set a distance of 190 km between dangerous roads in the hills. So now we also wanted to relax.
Gangotri Temple
As well as it is a land of GOD for Hinduism. That's why it is called Devbhoomi { Dev- GOD ; Bhumi - Land }.
First city and you can say that the gateway of Uttarakhand is Haridwar.
Gangotri in winter
Kannwar Yatra is the annual pilgrimage to the devotees of Shiva who are known as “Kanvari” or "Bhole" for the Hindu pilgrimage to bring the holy water of the Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri sites and the holy water of Gangas river. And that is why I too went to feel this journey and to enjoy a little bit of it.
However, the best time to go to Uttarakhand is before and after the monsoon. Since there are too many landslides occur in monsoon season. But the Kaavad journey comes in the month of Saawan according to the Hindi calendar which is always comes during monsoon. In which millions of pilgrims go.
We went there by bike. So I could feel the nature directly. We went there on the evening of 4th August. And Because Haridwar is not so far from us and Rishikesh is 26 km ahead of Haridwar. So we reached there in the night and stayed in Rishikesh.
We got drizzle in the morning but we started our journey because we wanted to enjoy the rainy season. As soon as we moved forward, we found that drizzle had changed into shower. So we bought rain coat and started our journey again because we knew that there was rainy weather and that is why that happens continuously here. But we don't know that it will happen for whole day.
Whenever and wherever we stayed for a while, we asked the local people when the rain started here, then the answer would have been somewhere from the last day or the last two or three hours.
We used to feel that the clouds do not want to leave us, they want to be with us, but we do not.
When we came only 30 to 40 km ahead from Rishikesh, we got a traffic jam there. when we went ahead to find out the cause of the jam, So it turned out that the stones were falling from the hill further which spread to almost half of the road.
After that we found many small tea stalls on the way, which were very far from the village and some were on the edge of the hill. To stay away from the rain for a while, we stopped at these stall and enjoyed tea with nature.
Finally , after facing many problems like rain, landslide, and stones falling on the way. We reached Uttarkashi at 6 p.m in the evening and the rain was still going on. This is the reason that we planned to stay there in the night , because there was no safe way to drive due to some natural problems at night. And we got wetting in the rain all day and set a distance of 190 km between dangerous roads in the hills. So now we also wanted to relax.
The next day, in the morning we started our bike again and got ready to go. The morning was full of mist but was not with the rain. And that was the reason we were feeling better. After Uttarkashi, it seemed as if the gate of Paradise was opened to us.
The morning views , greenery , high hills , the valley full of pinus tree and The river flows into the lower valley. As if talking with big stones in it. Whose voice was coming up to the top. And all these wonderful visions were fascinating us.
The vegetation also changed from the down hills and now when we were entering more and more in the Great Himalayas, we were feeling better, because it was not raining here and the only thing was greenery, hills and river, Various types of vegetation, we felt the purity of the air.
And Small villages in which people were spending their lives happily. His life was harder than modern city's life because things were not so easily available there but they were happy. Some livelihoods would come from the tourists going there, some kept cattle and in this they spend their lives happily. Rather, some villages were so far where our going was not even possible because they were in the jungles between the distant mountains but they were happy. Seeing them I thought, how we made our life too complex. Away from nature,away from familiy , friends and relatives. All the things seems to be artificial in our life. From the childhood to the end of our life , we just want to win rat race. Humanity , brotherhood , happiness , we like these words but don't want to implement them.
By the way Come back to the topic, the distance of Gangotri is 97 Km from Uttarkashi. But there were more beautiful place , sight seeing like water falls , sharp turns road , road that cover with trees , road that covered with clouds seems to be like we were in mist. The clouds that stuck between the trees of high hills. All the things were seems to paintaing which is actually painted by GOD.
We got a apple valley there and some hotels and restaurants were also there for stay and picnic and to enjoy the nature. Here the whole valley from top of the hills to the bottom is covered with the trees of Apple.Too many small Tea stall were there from where we could enjoy the natural beauty with the sip of tea. Although all things were beautifull and best for tourist spot but I found a specific tourist spot other then Apple Valley name HARSHIL is there. Which is specific for picnic and beautiful sight seeing. Some hotels and restauraunts were there.
But we were not going there because we had a limited time. So we were continued to the Gangotri and at last we reach there in the evening at 4 pm. We took a lot of time to reach there because there were so beautiful sight seeing in the way where we stay and enjoy the beauty of nature like sometimes near the Waterfalls , in Apple Valley , Sometimes in Harshil also and like this too many place during the way.
Finally we were in Gangotri temple but we were ready to go for Gaumukh. Gaumukh is where the Ganga emerges from the Gangotri Glacier. This is a celestial site, worth the spectacular 18 km hike from Gangotri. Don't try to do it all in one day. Hike to Bhoj Bhasa for the night. Then savor Gaumukh the next day before descending. You can also climb up on top of the glacier, but it's hard and dangerous. If you are an experienced trekker, you can go above the glacier to Tapovan meadow. But you'll need porters and warm camping equipment. There is no way for any type of vehicles. So we were not allowed to go there because the we were to late and the first stopage to stay there were after 9 km. Which were not possible to cover in daylight for us and its to dangerous way so not to safe in night. That's why the militiary would not give permission to went there in night. We had to wait for tommorow morning to went there.
At last we stay in Gangotri and enjoyed the view of flowing river, Gangotri temple and hills and after bath in Bhagirathi river we did the worship in the temple , we were stay there.
The temperature went down very much at night. By the way, there was a fall in temperature compared to where we came from and we started feeling the same from Uttarkashi. And the temperature was constantly going down, but after coming to the temple, the rain started, due to which it was also going down. If you ever come here, do not forget to bring winter clothes. Especially when you were planned to go Gaumukh. We came here in August, which has maximum heat in India, we also came here in summer but still we needed winter clothing and we did not bring it.
In the morning we came to know that due to the heavy rain fall, the road to Gaumukh was closed . We can see that by seeing the rise in the water level of the Bhagirathi river. Apart from this, we came to know that due to the cloud burst in Chamoli the route for Badrinath was closed and due to the clouds burst in Yamunotri the road had closed for yamunotri also. So now there was no way other than returning to us.
And when we came back, we realized that the road conditions were very bad in the rainy place, and in some places the road and some part of the mountain fell also. But in the end we came back.
In this journey, I feel a lot of things which can not be express by writing.
Just I would like to say to you that if you ever come here, you must know about the weather and perfect time.
Our journey ends here.
THANK YOU
Some images from GANGOTRI and GAUMUKH :-
GANGOTRI ๐
The morning views , greenery , high hills , the valley full of pinus tree and The river flows into the lower valley. As if talking with big stones in it. Whose voice was coming up to the top. And all these wonderful visions were fascinating us.
The vegetation also changed from the down hills and now when we were entering more and more in the Great Himalayas, we were feeling better, because it was not raining here and the only thing was greenery, hills and river, Various types of vegetation, we felt the purity of the air.
And Small villages in which people were spending their lives happily. His life was harder than modern city's life because things were not so easily available there but they were happy. Some livelihoods would come from the tourists going there, some kept cattle and in this they spend their lives happily. Rather, some villages were so far where our going was not even possible because they were in the jungles between the distant mountains but they were happy. Seeing them I thought, how we made our life too complex. Away from nature,away from familiy , friends and relatives. All the things seems to be artificial in our life. From the childhood to the end of our life , we just want to win rat race. Humanity , brotherhood , happiness , we like these words but don't want to implement them.
By the way Come back to the topic, the distance of Gangotri is 97 Km from Uttarkashi. But there were more beautiful place , sight seeing like water falls , sharp turns road , road that cover with trees , road that covered with clouds seems to be like we were in mist. The clouds that stuck between the trees of high hills. All the things were seems to paintaing which is actually painted by GOD.
We got a apple valley there and some hotels and restaurants were also there for stay and picnic and to enjoy the nature. Here the whole valley from top of the hills to the bottom is covered with the trees of Apple.Too many small Tea stall were there from where we could enjoy the natural beauty with the sip of tea. Although all things were beautifull and best for tourist spot but I found a specific tourist spot other then Apple Valley name HARSHIL is there. Which is specific for picnic and beautiful sight seeing. Some hotels and restauraunts were there.
Apple Valley
HARSIL during WINTER
Finally we were in Gangotri temple but we were ready to go for Gaumukh. Gaumukh is where the Ganga emerges from the Gangotri Glacier. This is a celestial site, worth the spectacular 18 km hike from Gangotri. Don't try to do it all in one day. Hike to Bhoj Bhasa for the night. Then savor Gaumukh the next day before descending. You can also climb up on top of the glacier, but it's hard and dangerous. If you are an experienced trekker, you can go above the glacier to Tapovan meadow. But you'll need porters and warm camping equipment. There is no way for any type of vehicles. So we were not allowed to go there because the we were to late and the first stopage to stay there were after 9 km. Which were not possible to cover in daylight for us and its to dangerous way so not to safe in night. That's why the militiary would not give permission to went there in night. We had to wait for tommorow morning to went there.
At last we stay in Gangotri and enjoyed the view of flowing river, Gangotri temple and hills and after bath in Bhagirathi river we did the worship in the temple , we were stay there.
The temperature went down very much at night. By the way, there was a fall in temperature compared to where we came from and we started feeling the same from Uttarkashi. And the temperature was constantly going down, but after coming to the temple, the rain started, due to which it was also going down. If you ever come here, do not forget to bring winter clothes. Especially when you were planned to go Gaumukh. We came here in August, which has maximum heat in India, we also came here in summer but still we needed winter clothing and we did not bring it.
In the morning we came to know that due to the heavy rain fall, the road to Gaumukh was closed . We can see that by seeing the rise in the water level of the Bhagirathi river. Apart from this, we came to know that due to the cloud burst in Chamoli the route for Badrinath was closed and due to the clouds burst in Yamunotri the road had closed for yamunotri also. So now there was no way other than returning to us.
And when we came back, we realized that the road conditions were very bad in the rainy place, and in some places the road and some part of the mountain fell also. But in the end we came back.
In this journey, I feel a lot of things which can not be express by writing.
Just I would like to say to you that if you ever come here, you must know about the weather and perfect time.
Our journey ends here.
THANK YOU
Some images from GANGOTRI and GAUMUKH :-
GANGOTRI ๐
BHAGIRATHI RIVER
GAUMUKH TREK ๐
Gaumukh
it's really beautiful:) keep it up
ReplyDeleteThank you very much ๐ . Definitely I will continue to do it, you just stay with us and follow my page.
DeleteYour blog post on the Gangotri dham Yatra is truly inspiring, offering a vivid portrayal of the spiritual journey amidst the majestic Himalayas. Your insights into hotels in Gangotri add practical value, ensuring a comfortable and enriching experience for fellow travelers. Thank you for blending spiritual guidance with practical tips, making it a comprehensive guide for all who wish to embark on this sacred pilgrimage.
ReplyDelete