The Beautiful valley of Alakhnanda: Badrinath and Vasudhara falls ~ iNDiA

Mountains are old and so are the rivers and the valleys. They are said to be the bearer of the oldest wisdom known to man, and perhaps this is the reason why the mountains have been abode of ascetics since time immemorial. For many, these are the sites of pilgrimage and devotion. However, for travelers like us, mountains are more a place to witness the beauty and diversity of the Nature. But even we mortals, who live life of senses, were able to learn empirically that these mountains and the valleys are blessed with sheer beauty and divinity, which no theology or metaphysics could have made us learn. Walking through the valley of Alakhnanda , we were all captivated by absolute beauty of the nature, which was pure and elating. The holy presence of Maa Ganga and her various streams throughout the trip was a blissful, at the same time fascinating experience.

Adventure, peace, devotion, beauty, and thrill everything was in this trip. Traveling all along the divine river was adventure in itself, beauties of the valleys were peace inducing, visiting Badrinathji was a devotional experience and trekking in the mountains was no less than thrill. We, a group of city dwellers traveled to high mountains and splendid valleys to experience the freedom of living beyond social dogmas and ideologies.

This trip was planned for five days to cover Badrinathji, mana , vashudhara falls along with chopta and Tungnathji. The itinerary was made keeping in view the rainy season and probabilities of landslides and road blocks. (We faced landslides and road blocks throughout the trip; luckily we steered out ourselves comfortably every time). The mode of transport throughout the trip was dedicated or shared taxis; qualis, bolero, maxx etc, avoiding a journey by bus was part of our plan. Being off-season, bestowed us with easy availability of low priced accommodations throughout the trip.

The gang

DAY 1- 11th July - A dreary Journey to Joshimath
Seven happy souls landed in the holy city of Haridwar to start this journey. This was the month of shravan and influx of kawaria( people who offer Gangajal to lord Shiva in the holy month of Saravan) had started , they were everywhere but the situation was not as chaotic as we had prevised . This is because the holy month had started 3-4 days back but by the time we came back to haridwar on the last day of the trip the number had reached zillions and we faced the toughest part of the trip.
We booked a quails from the taxi stand at Haridwar railway station and started our journey to Joshimath by 9.30 am. Buses also leave for joshimath/badrinath from haridwar early in the morning. We left the HN and took the route to rishikesh which passes through Rajaji National park, a long and scenic section of which is along chilla canal of Chilla Hydel Power Project. This is where we pulled out our cameras to start the trip formally.

Soon we crossed rishikesh and took the first refreshment break .this is where we Say many kawarias going to neelkanth temple to offer Jal (water). Deoprayag was the first among many prayags ( places of confluence of rivers) that we were going to see throughout the trip, this is the place Where Bhagirathi meets Alaknanda and formally called as Ganga afterwards. By the time we reached Srinagar, it started pouring down rain, which subsided after we crossed Srinagar

New and old bridges at Srinagar

We took our first break for lunch at a dhaba before Rudrapryag. At Rudrapryag, Mandakini meets Alaknanda, Mandakini originates from chorabari glacier near Kedarnathji . After crossing Rudraprayag we faced our first road block of the trip, an innova having Sikha pilgrims was stuck badly in mud. Thankfully, a JCB reached the spot soon and the traffic was cleared.

Our taxi driver was quite slow and the journey afterwards remained eventless and boring. We reached Joshimath by 8 pm, booked a Dormitory run by GMVNL for the night, took dinner and settled in our beds. Tariff- INR700 for a dormitory room having 12 beds.

our dormitory at joshimath

Day 2- july 12— Scenic Ride to Badrinath, Trek to Vashudhara Falls

We woke up a little late to witness one of the most beautiful mornings of our lives. The whole Joshimath was under dense cloud covering. I got ready hurriedly and moved to the main market to find an ATM, as I was not sure about availability of one in Badrinath. There are two ATMs at Joshimath, one of SBI and another of PNB. The PNB ATM was closed, thankfully, SBI ATM was working, fetched the money and moved to the dormitory to find that everyone was geared up for the day and photo session had already stated. Picked our bags and walked to the taxi stand where shared taxis to Badrinath were available, shared taxi accommodates 10 to 12 people having a tariff of Rs 70 per person. However, we booked a taxi for ourselves only by paying fare for 12 people. This made the journey a little convenient and gave us freedom to stop and click wherever we want. We also got to know that the gate system between Joshimath and Badrinath has been abolished. One can move between Joshimath and Badrinath at any time of day.

It was already past 9.30 am when we left for Badrinath which is around 45 km from Joshimath. And its worth admissible here that the whole of the route till Badrinath was beautiful; Greenery, rain, mist, streams, mountains and the valleys. We were captivated by the scenery to say the least. Bridges in this section also look beautiful.

Saw the confluence of Alaknanda and Dhauli-ganga at Vishnuprayag and various streams kept meeting Alaknanda throughout the journey. saw a lot of people on bikes plying on the roads, many of which were sikhs going to Hemkund while others were going to Badrinath. Even saw people doing tripling on bikes in perilous monsoon roads.

beautiful Bridges in route

The scenery got even better after Vishnuprayag where the road takes a left turn along Alaknanda. From here, the road got scary too and many streams flowing over the road made it even tough for the drivers. We were gaining altitude faster owing to the fact that the vishnuprayag is at a height of 1372 meters while the Badrinath is at a height of about 3133 meters.

Reached Govindghat, this is the base point of trekking to Ghangaria, VOF and hemkund.
Saw many people trekking the route.
The Last section of the road to Badrinath was the most scenic .....

We reached Badrinath by 11.30 am , found a nice hotel near bus stand, Booked two rooms having three and four beds respectively for INR 1600, rooms were clean and spacious. Got ready to leave in 30 minutes, took heavy brunch of aalo-gobi paratha. moved to the market & brought widely available rain coat for each of us, cost Rs 20 . finally, took a taxi to Mana - the last Indian village..............

Fun Begins....
We crossed through Mana to reach Vyas –gufa, believed to be the place where Rishi Vyas had cited Mahabharat to Ganeshji who wrote it down. Moved ahead to reach bheem-pul , it is belived that Bheem , one among the pandavas , had put a huge rock across gushing Saraswati river helping others to cross while going towards Swarga-rohini. Saw river Saraswati flowing profusely out of a mountain, eventually meeting with Alaknanda. Here we bought eatables etc and started our trek to Vashudhara….

Mana welcomes us..

Gushing Sharswati river

Vyas-gufa

Trekking time….
The trek path up to the fall is well paved, the only exception is a glacier crossing which comes on the way , it was easy to cross though , but the glacier melts by august making it a bit difficult stream crossing. The path is said to be about 5 km long but its more than that, it is an easy trek but the altitude causes problem, Sumeet faced a punch of Mountain sickness during the trek.

We started the trek with full enthusiasm and zeal, the trek path is all along river Alaknanda and the valley is mesmerizing; lofty mountains, colorful vistas, surreal scenery, clouds and light, everything there was adding to the beauty of the place. It was first time in our lives that we were witnessing such an intriguing atmosphere....

We were walking with an easy pace taking frequent photography and resting brakes.
Sumeet was feeling uneasiness and was walking slowly. Another problem was that we were carrying only one bottle of water with us and the water ended in first break itself. Sugar candy offered some respite but everyone was feeling the thrust.

sadhus going to vasudhara falls

One of the Glacier crossing on the way

Beauty of Alakhnanda

Everyone was moving with different pace now, Shobraj too was feeling the heat now. However, Abhay and Abhishek the youngest among the lot, were the fastest too.

Then we had the first sight of vashudhara-falls and it was encouraging , but it was still far away. Soon, we came across the glacier, few of us were seeing a glacier for the first time, water was flowing under the glacier, and we were so busy in clicking that we forgot to fill our water bottle . Vashudhara was still 2 km from the glacier.

After crossing the glacier the last leg of the trek started and this was the steepest section of the trek, vashudhara was out of sight now, thanks to the presence dense clouds all around.
At this point of time Sumit gave up, and he laid down on a platform near the path. I was sure now, that he is not going to make it the falls. But, positive sign came for him when I saw Abhay running towards us with a water bottle in his hand, he and Abhishek were quite ahead of us and they had found a small shanty with a flowing mountain stream near. Every one was happy now that they were going to get water soon.

After taking water and Parle-g, Sumit was feeling better, and started moving more comfortably now. Everyone reached to the water stream, we had chikki and water, water was very cold but tasty and I must admit, drinking water from a pristine Himalayan stream was a different experience altogether.

The fall was in sight now, and we reached up to the falls swiftly. Its more than 400 feet high, water cascades down to the edge of the Vashudhara glacier which eventually flows under the glacier and finally meets with Alaknanda. It is also said that the water from the vashudhara fells on those only who are sinless. And Vashudhara sparkled the water on us. Hurrah! We are sinless ….

We were very happy, clicked a lot of pictures, clouds and the light were playing hide and seek creating stunning pictures in the process. The valley of alaknanda and the fall ; the place is mesmerizing.

Then we saw this picture , probably the Mt, Neelkanth , it looked Havenly

After spending sufficient time there we started our journey back to Mana, this time, everyone was moving with a good pace. Finally reached mana and we tired souls rested at a tea stall, sipped tea, then crossed Mana to discover unavailability of any kind of vehicle to take us to Badrinath. Apparently, we walked all the way to Badrinath , some three km in drizzle. Took dinner, went to our beds.

Day 2- july 13- Jai Badrinath ji

everybody was exiceted to go to the Badrinath temple which was at the walking distance from our hotel.

JAI BADRI VISHAL....

went to the temple, after Darshan at the temple we started our return journey towards Haridwar.