Day escape to Deoriataal, Uttarakhand

Deoriataal lake is a quickest escape to nature from my hometown, Srinagar Garhwal. It was a boring day for me at home and decided to trek to Deoriataal and be back by evening. I started to ride around 8am in the morning towards Sari village from where lake is at a trekking distance of 3kms. Ride was not much eventful apart from thrill of riding in hills, nature and long traffic jams due to road construction work. And reached Sari around 10am, where I had my breakfast and started trek to lake. It took an hour to trek 3kms and reached my destination around 11am. Deoriataal lake is located at an altitude of 2,438mts. above sea level and offers a panorama of Himalayan ranges like Chaukhamba, Nilkanth, Kedar Range, Bandarpunch, Kalanag etc. Apart from the Himalayan range lake is surrounded by dense forest and rhododendrons. I spent around 2-3hrs. around the lake and headed back to home.

 

Towards Sari village.

Sari Village.

Trekking route to Deoriataal lake.

View of Sari village while trekking to lake.

Daily life in villages..... Women carrying firewood.

Deoriataal lake.

Circuit around the lake.

Relaxing.

Himalayan range seen from Deoriataal.

Rhododendrons.

Chaukhamba Peak.

Camps around the lake.

Prashar Lake, Himachal Pradesh.

After a long wait  it was the day to start my ride to Prashar Lake, Himachal Pradesh. Prashar Lake lies 49 km north of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India, with a three storied pagoda-like temple dedicated to the sage Prashar. The lake is located at a height of 2730 m above sea level. #Wikipedia

I started to Panchkula at night from New Delhi, where a friend was waiting for me. Ride was thrilling and scary as it was a night time and it was cold. It was 6:30am when I touched Panchkula where a friend of mine joined me. After a small break at Chandigarh we continued to Prashar Lake via Pinjore and several villages on the way. Our next pause was somewhere near to Bilaspur where we had breakfast, clicked some snaps and admired the beauty Bilaspur lake. Roads are good but full of truck traffic which made us bit slow, somehow we managed to reach Mandi on time. Prashar Lake is 49kms from Mandi and road is in good condition till Baggi. Baggi is a small village from where Prashar Lake is connected by a trekking route as well as motorable road. In winter motorable road to Prashar lake is covered with snow and mostly blocked after halfway. We managed to ride few kilometers before the lake and from where we started our trek. Road was covered with hardened ice which made our feet slippery. It took around an hour to cover rest 3kms on foot and reached our destination around 6pm.

The local temple is dedicated to Prashar rishi and it is believed that it was built by a small boy from a single tree. Guest houses and hut is available for night stay at Prashar Lake but we choose to camp under stars. It is advisable to carry warm clothes even in summers as nights are cold and during winters the area might get covered with snow.

Break at Panchkula after a night long ride.

Panchkula.

View on the way towards Swarghat.

 

Bilaspur Lake.

Somewhere around Mandi, Himachal.

Towards Baggi, Himachal Pradesh.

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Beautiful village around Baggi.

Snow covered road to Prashar Lake.

Waiting for our dinner.

Dhaba.

Sunrise at Prahsar.

Pir Pinjal range from Prahar Lake.

Traditional huts.

Prashar Temple.

Prashar Lake, Himachal Pradesh.

Our buddy of trek and camping.

Bonfire.

Dhauladhar Range.

Dhauladhar Range.

Time to pack bags and leave for Delhi.

Night view of Prashar Lake from our camp.

Admiring.

The Last Indian Village: Mana, Uttarakhand.

Mana village is located in the district of Chamoli, Uttarakhand and at an altitude of 3,200mts above sea level. Mana is also the last village before Mana pass and is just 24kms at a distance from Indo-Tibet border. The village is at a distance of 2.5kms from a famous Hindu pilgrimage Badrinath, Uttarakhand. This is a place for trekking as well and there are many trekking spots located here. There is a waterfall located at 5kms of trek from Mana Village, Vasundara Falls.

My journey started from my hometown, Srinagar Grahwal. Srinagar is a small town in the foothills of Himalayas and at a distance of 200kms approx. from Badrinath. The route from Srinagar to Badrinath offers a joy of riding in hills, adventure and is a paradise for photographers. Landslides and narrow roads is one of the most common story of riding in hills. But as it is said," Rough roads leads to beautiful destinations."

All set to ride towards Badrinath and Mana.

Somewhere near to Chamoli.

Riding along Alaknanda.

Mana is not that far now.

Flora and Fauna at Badrinath region.

Govind Ghat.

Village nearby to Badrinath.

First view of Badrinath.

Badrinath.

The Last Indian Village, Mana.

Last Shop of India.

The Last Indian Village, Mana.

Bheem Pul.

Holy fire at Tapt Kund.

Hot water geyser at Badrinath, Tapt Kund.

Badrinath Temple.

First ray at Neelkant Peak, Badrinath.