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Day Four - Kedarnath to Sonprayag Trek
Preparation
Since Kedarnath Jyotirlinga is situated amidst the Himalayan mountain range, the environment there is beautiful and enchanting, which naturally creates a strong desire to visit this place. For the past three years, I have been harboring the wish to visit Kedarnath, but due to certain unavoidable reasons, I was unable to go or had to skip the trip. This year as well, the trek organizer,
Mr. Vijay Sutar (phone number 8149533168, Event Group - Bhaktanti Dhyas Gadgillya Ka), posted an advertisement on WhatsApp about a trip to Kedarnath and Tungnath. Assuming once again that I wouldn't be able to go, I ignored the advertisements. Suddenly, a colleague, Ameya Vipat, forwarded Vijay Sutar’s advertisement and asked whether I wanted to go to Kedarnath. Indirectly, it felt as if Lord Kedarnath himself had sent an invitation! I immediately called Ameya to discuss, and we decided to go to Kedarnath this year. However, the issue of leaves remained. The next day, I approached my manager at the office and officially requested leave, which was approved. When I also discussed it with my best friend, Kaushal Sutar, he responded with a “Yes, let’s go,” although I had assumed he would play some fool. This time, however, he obtained permission from his wife and prepared for the journey 😂. Along with Ameya, another colleague, Santosh Raj Karande, also agreed to join. Santosh suggested that we take our parents along, so we all started preparing accordingly. Since both Kedarnath and Tungnath are high-altitude pilgrimage sites, the oxygen level is very low; considering our parents’ age and health, consulting a doctor was essential. The doctors advised that both of them were unfit for the journey, which was disheartening. Organizer Vijay Sutar had set the registration deadline for March 10, and with only a few days remaining, a quick decision was necessary. After discussing with Vijay, we explored alternatives to helicopter travel, but we learned that in case of any health issues after reaching the top, immediate medical treatment would be difficult. Respecting the doctors' advice, we decided to proceed with the journey without our parents. Meanwhile, Ameya also consulted doctors, and doctor gave a green signal for taking his parents along.
On 10th March, we all paid Rs. 5,000 each to secure our spot for the journey. The travel date was 21st May, giving us approximately two and a half months for preparation and shopping. However, due to a six-day journey, a 25-kilometer trek, and the cold environment of the Himalayan mountain range, we couldn’t decide what items to carry, how much to carry, or what to exclude. My minds were frozen. During such times, friends come to the help. Shailesh played a significant role in helping us. He provided valuable information and advice on how to minimize bag weight and which essential items to carry. Since Shailesh has experience in mountaineering training in Himachal Pradesh, his guidance was very helpful. To avoid unnecessary expenditure, he lent me most of his trekking equipment. Additionally, Parab uncle, from the railway staff, provided me with his poncho, which could cover my entire bag, alleviating concerns about exposure to rain and keeping the belongings dry. We went to Decathlon and purchased a head torch, woolen socks, and gloves. On 20th March, Vijay called us to collect personal information, completed the train booking, and registered for the Uttarakhand Tourism Board’s journey. As the date approached, our excitement grew. When only a month remained, Santosh Raj shared disappointing news—that due to an unexpected workload, he had to cancel his trip. Furthermore, Vijay also delivered shocking news: helicopter bookings were fully booked, leaving senior citizens in the group with only one option—palanquin. The situation did not end there. On 22nd April, in response to the terrorist attack, the Indian military launched an assault on Pakistani terrorist sites on 6th May, marking the
start of an undeclared war. Many of the local people started offering their advice, saying, “The war has started, don’t go, don’t take risks,” and so on. However, Ameya and I remained firm in our stance: as long as the Uttarakhand government and organizer Vijay Sutar did not advise us to cancel the journey, we would continue our preparations. “
The plan is on.” Thanks to divine grace and the Indian armed forces, the war ceased, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. 👉
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Important instructions
- For the Kedarnath trek, keep the weight of the bag as minimal as possible. Essential medicines, thermal wear, raincoat, warm jacket, an extra set of clothes (dry fit), additional socks, head torch, power bank—these are sufficient.
- Important medicines such as those for fever, cold, vomiting, diarrhea, and electrolyte/enzymic powders should be carried along.
- Government rates for palkhi (palanquin) are valid from 4 AM to 10 AM; after 10 AM, higher rates are charged.
- For the Kedarnath trek, permission is not granted to go by vehicle beyond Sonprayag.
- If there is heavy crowding, registration inspection at Sonprayag may take 3-4 hours.
- The trek from Gaurikund to Kedarnath Temple takes approximately 10 to 12 hours; prepare accordingly before starting.
- Do not trust the kilometer markers on the Kedarnath trek; all kilometer markings are incorrect. Even Google shows incorrect distances, displaying 15 kilometers instead of 23 kilometers.
Travelogue
Day One
On May 21st, the day dawned, but I was not yet awake. Having worked night shifts for a week, The night shift cycle was not broken. I stayed awake like an owl until 4 a.m. in the early morning. Mom woke me up at 9:30 a.m. I quickly got ready, received my parents’ blessings, and left home at 11:30 a.m. by auto rickshaw to Goregaon station. From there, I reached Borivali station by local train around 12:20 p.m. The Haridwar Superfast Express was scheduled to depart at 12:45 p.m. from Bandra Terminus. Out of the total 18 members, 15 were to board the train from Bandra Terminus, while I and two others planned to catch it from Borivali. While waiting for the train, I called Vijay to ask for the carriage number and seat number, and that’s when I realized the seats were not confirmed—they were RAC. I wondered how to manage a 25-hour journey on RAC, but now time had already passed, and I resigned myself to whatever would happen. Traveling always involves small and big challenges. The train arrived at Borivali station at 1:25 p.m., and I boarded, beginning our journey towards Haridwar. I had not met Kaushal in nearly a year and a half, so I spent some time chatting with him. It was also my first time meeting Ameya’s parents. Many of the members were strangers to me, as they were in different compartments, so I hadn’t gotten to know them. After a while, some members started playing UNO. I finished my chat with Kaushal, and the two of us joined the others in playing UNO. Since it was our first time playing, we didn’t know the rules, and I ended up taking 12 cards in total. While playing UNO, we got to know everyone, and the first day came to an end. When it was time to sleep at night, the same question arose: how could two people fit on one seat? Then I thought, “Life is all about adjustments,” and so, two of us simply adjusted on one seat. 👉
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Day Two
Woke up exactly at 7:00 AM, freshened up, and had a cup of tea. I was feeling extremely hungry; I thought someone would be wandering around with breakfast on the train, but apart from the cold drinks and tea stalls, no one came. The train stopped at Faridabad station and Hazrat Nizamuddin Junction, but no breakfast vendor arrived. At Tapri Junction, the train halted for 20 minutes; we got off the platform and wandered around the stalls in search of breakfast, but apart from cold drinks and chips, we couldn't find anything else. I had never seen such a poor junction before. We ate chips and slice cake as a breakfast and then got busy playing Uno until around 2:00 PM. At 2:30 PM, the train arrived on time at Haridwar. I was surprised to see the train arrive punctually. Until now, the Indian Railways had never arrived on time; that was my experience. Anyway, it felt good to see some improvement in Indian Railways (Achhe Din Agaye 😜).
After exiting Haridwar station, we took a group photo and then went back to the train. There were three cars for 18 members, with six people in each, arranged systematically. A little beyond Haridwar station, we stopped for lunch at "Rasoi Dhaba" near Khand village at 3:15 PM. Kaushal and I had ordered a special thali, and we had no idea how much quantity would be served. When the waiter brought the thali and I saw six naans on it, my appetite vanished. Vijay and Prasad helped me finishing the meal by taking one naan each. My stomachs were quite full, but there was a small space left for the delectable gulab jamuns in the thali; I ate those as well. By around 4:30 PM, we started our journey towards Chandrapuri.
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Group Photo - Haridwar from left to right
First row - Nishikant, me, Pradeep, Amey's father and mother, Jyotsna,
Snehal's mother, Snehal, Abhishek's wife.
Back row - Sagar, Prajwal, Kaushal, Abhishek, Amey, Prasad, Pranali. |
The Uttarakhand government had constructed wide and accessible roads, which allowed the vehicle to move swiftly. Observing the lush greenery and hills, our journey toward Chandrapuri was underway. Around 6:40 PM, we reached Devprayag and witnessed the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers. The Central Sanskrit University located there caught my attention. I inquired briefly with the driver about it. Near the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda, we took some photos and selfies. At 7:10 PM, our journey resumed once again toward Chandrapuri. By then, we had traveled for approximately four and a half hours, and I took a short nap inside the vehicle. Everyone was feeling hungry for tea, so Vijay asked the driver to stop for tea. After having tea at 8:30 PM and feeling refreshed, we loosened our legs and set out again toward Chandroo at 9:15 PM. We arrived at Shikhar Lodge in Chandrapuriaround 11:00 PM. We checked in, freshened up, and had a light meal. Vijay had instructed everyone to set off at 6:00 AM the next morning. Before sleeping, we packed the bags with essentials for Kedarnath trek and set the alarm for 4:30 AM, then went to bed.👉
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| Devprayag - Confluence of Bhagirathi and Alaknanda |
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| Central Sanskrit University - Devprayag |
Day Three
The day I had been waiting for all these years finally arrived on May 23, 2025. The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., and we started preparing. Two things were constantly on our minds: a 25-kilometer trek and the blessings of Lord Shiva. Deciding to do breakfast at Gaurikund, we set out towards Sonprayag at exactly 6:30 a.m. As we approached around 8:30, we reached near Sonprayag. Due to traffic jam, we got off the vehicle some distance earlier and started walking. (Four years ago, it was possible to reach Gaurikund directly by car, but seeing the increasing crowd of devotees and tourists, the Uttarakhand government has made Sonprayag a checkpoint, and all vehicles are parked there.) We walked further for some distance and queued up for registration inspection. After about an hour, it was our turn. The security guard scanned the QR code on the registration form and permitted us to proceed.
We thought the trek had officially begun, but that was not the case. We had to wait in another line for the Sonprayag to Gaurikund shuttle service. This was a measure taken by the Uttarakhand government to manage the crowd. After crossing the Vasuki Ganga River bridge, we reached near the taxi stand. Our number came up after approximately 40-45 minutes. We paid 50 rupees and set out for Gaurikund. Note: The vehicle does not depart until it has ten members. The distance from Sonprayag taxi stand to Gaurikund is 4.2 kilometers, and due to the narrow road, there was also a traffic jam here. Finally, we got off the vehicle about a kilometer earlier and started walking.
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While standing in a queue for a shuttle - Sonprayag
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While standing in a queue for a shuttle - Sonprayag
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After walking some distance, we stopped near a stall and had a breakfast. After filling our tummy, we moved forward and then met the mule and palanquin (doli) bearers. We all shocked after hearing the palanquin fare of 15000 Rs. Bargaining started over the palanquin fare, after standing there for some time, I told Vijay that we (me, Kaushal, Prajwal) were going ahead. We had started the trek at approximately 12:00 pm. Note: The government rates for palanquin (doli) are from 4 to 10 am, after 10 am private (extra) rates were charged. Vijay could not go ahead without getting a palanquin for senior citizens, and since Amey's parents were also going to go in a palanquin, the two of them stayed behind until the palanquin was arranged. The rest of the group moved forward slowly. At the beginning of the trek, everyone was saying in unison that we should walk. Some people gave up after 2-3 kilometers and secretly rode on mules 😆.
On the way, we passed the Bhairavnath temple, after paying homage to Bhairavnath, we moved forward and stopped for some rest. We thought that Vijay and Amey would be following us, considering the speed and stamina of both of them, we were assuming that they would cover us. When we called Vijay at 1:50 pm, we came to know that he had just started the trek. Almost 90 minutes were wasted in deciding the fare of the palanquin. After resting, we set off, we still had a long way to go. There was no water left in the water bottle, we had to pay 50 rupees for each Bislari bottle. The water coming from the glaciers after melting snow was released through pipes at various places. We filled the same water in the bottle and started drinking it, this did two things: we saved money and also avoided plastic pollution. (We were drinking Himalayan water for free 😁).
Approximately 7 kilometers had been traveled so far, and it was 3:30 PM. While resting, Prajwal and Kaushal decided to hand over the bags to Pittu (the porter). Although this decision was against my wishes, there was no other option now, as we were very exhausted. All three of us gave our bags to Pittu and continued the trek. Pittu was walking with us; we were taking breaks and taking photos as we went. Because of this, he also had to bear the burden and stand with us. Therefore, we took a photo of his license, which had his phone number, and instructed him to proceed ahead. Upon reaching Bhimbali, we decided to have a lunch. After finishing the lunch between 4:00 and 5:00 PM, we resumed the trek. Kaushal met Amey and Vijay; I had already moved ahead, so I did not meet them, but we all were in close proximity, and there wasn’t much distance between us. The 8-kilometer trek was completed, with another 17 kilometers remaining. Note: Since the footpath, mule and palanquin paths are the same, one has to be very careful. A collision between a mule and a palanquin can cause serious injuries.
We crossed the bridge over the Mandakini River and proceeded towards the mountains on the other side. Pranjal, because he hadn't done lunch, was feeling even more exhausted, and he started stopping frequently for rest. Because of this, our pace (Kaushal and mine) also slowed down. Vijay and Amey were coming from behind, so we decided to leave Pranjal and move ahead. The climb after crossing the Mandakini River was steep, making it very tiring. Kaushal and I, in agreement, resting only after completing each segment. With this strategy, so far, we had covered only 18 kilometers. As we gained altitude, the cold increased, and the sun had also set. My fingers were freezing, and I remembered the jacket, but the jacket was in the bag, and Pittu (the porter) had taken the bag ahead. I called Pittu, asked him to stop wherever he was, but he had already covered a considerable distance. As instructed, he stopped. After some time we saw Prajwal going on a mule (it was the right decision for him). We reached Choti Lincholi around 8:30 pm, had tea at a stall and called Pittu again and asked him for his location. He told us to come to electricity pole number 409, but we were at electricity pole number 398. it did not seem to be very far.
After drinking tea and feeling recharged and energized, I set out towards pole number 409. A slight breeze of cold wind was almost unbearable; I had been eagerly waiting to meet Pittu and get my jacket. Suddenly, due to a power outage, I had to proceed with even greater caution. I kept calling Amey and Vijay periodically to check their locations. Approximately an hour later, around 9:30, we reached pole number 409 and met Pittu. First, I took out the jacket from my bag and put it on. Lost in the jacket, I forgot my water bottle right there and started walking in the direction of the temple. Note: Whenever you hand over your bag to someone else, make sure to keep important items like medicines, raincoat, and warm clothes with you, or else you might end up in an embarrassing situation like I did 😅. Adjusting to Pittu’s walking speed was challenging for us. On the way, we met Rahul Nair and Pradeep Sangodia. Seeing Rahul ahead of us, I was surprised—he must weigh over 100 kilograms, and his backpack probably weighs 10-12 kilograms, yet he was trekking with all that weight! Hats off to his endurance and willpower 🫡. He even performed a greater feat by completing the Tungnath trek, which I will mention later in the Tungnath travel narrative. We had gone quite some distance when, while walking with Pittu, we became exhausted, but he, carrying our bags, kept walking steadily. We took a break near the Pony Camp, and we allowed Pittu to move ahead; we didn’t stop him. On a signboard near Pony Camp, it was written, "Kedarnath Temple 1.5 kilometers away." Reading that provided some relief. We resumed walking, and after about 500 meters, we saw another milestone mentinoed, "Kedarnath Temple 1.5 kilometers away," and we realized we had been scammed 😅.
The last 4-5 kilometers seemed never-ending; the temple's spire was visible, but the road never seemed to conclude. Near the hospital, Kausal sat down again to rest; this time, he was quite exhausted. "Just a little more left, come on, get up," but Kausal was not willing to get up. Eventually, Kausal told me to go ahead and free Pittu. Reluctantly, I left Kausal behind and went ahead to meet Pittu. Finally, at 11:30 PM, I reached the lodge, paid Pittu, and set him free. Shortly after, Kausal was also arriving; he met Rahul, who encouraged him with hope and helped him move forward. In this manner, one by one, Kausal, Amey, Vijay, Rahul, and Pradeep reached the lodge. Out of the 18 members, 6 remained behind in total; two of them arrived around midnight, but the remaining four members were expected to arrive soon, and everyone was hopeful they would join soon. Except for the four who had left the group, everyone else was resting at the lodge. Vijay had informed everyone that they needed to go for Mahadev's Abhishek at 1 AM, but due to excitement, i can't hold my self to see temple. Around 12:15 AM, I informed Vijay and decided to go see the temple, accompanied by Jotsna, a member of the group. I regretted not being able to bring my parents but tried to compensate by showing them the temple through a video call. Watching the temple illuminated by lights at night was a different experience. Importantly, the white Himalayan mountain ranges behind the temple were shrouded in darkness at night. I took some nice photos of the temple and returned to the lodge. Just then, Vijay informed us that it was time to leave for the Abhishek. At 1:30 AM, we again approached the temple and stood in the queue for Abhishek. This time, four more members, who had arrived from Kedarnath by helicopter, joined our group.
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| Shri Kedarnath Temple, illuminated by lamps at night |
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| Shri Kedarnath Temple, illuminated by lamps at night |
Finally, the moment came! In just twenty to twenty-five minutes, we entered the temple by bowing down through the eastern gate. In the hall of the temple, there are idols of Shri Krishna and the Pandavas (Draupadi, Bhim, Arjun, Yudhishthir). The idols were coated with ghee. In the middle of the ceiling of the hall, there is a beautifully carved stone lotus and a large chandelier is attached to it. Nandi Maharaj is seated under the chandelier and a broken Amalak ( the stone wheel located between the peak and the spire of the temple ) is placed next to him. An idol of Shri Lakshmi Narayan is placed near the western gate of the temple (inside), looking at the idols, it is known that these are from the 21st century. There are gatekeepers statue (dwarpal) on both sides of the entrance. We reached the antaral (the space between the hall and the sanctum sanctorum), beautiful carvings are done on the door panel of the sanctum sanctorum. Bowing down, we entered the sanctum sanctorum and had a glimpse of the Kedarnath Shivlinga. The walls of the sanctum sanctorum are decorated with gold plates and all four sides of the Shivlinga are decorated with silver plates. We performed Jalabhishek on the Shivlinga, had darshan and came out of the temple. ( It is noteworthy that after performing Jalabhishek, we did not see any water or space to go out, we had completed the complete circumambulation of the sanctum sanctorum and came out, a complete circumambulation is not done in other Shiv temples ).
Most temples in India face east, and the water of the Jalabhishek performed on the Shivlinga is collected in the Udak Kund by the Pranaala to the south of the temple, but the Kedarnath temple faces south and the water of the Jalabhishek performed on the Shivlinga flows out towards the south, but towards the back of the temple, and collects in the Udak Kund. Kedarnath Temple is built in the Nagara style, and the interlocking method has been used to join the stones, in which two stones are joined by iron clamps. There is an ancient stone Nandi outside the Kedarnath temple, and a smaller stone Nandi is also installed in the assembly hall. It is possible that the ancient stone Nandi outside may have broken, so a new stone Nandi was installed in the assembly hall.
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| Peak of Shri Kedarnath Temple |
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| Shri Kedarnath Temple - Chandelier in the hall |
While we were going to see the Bhim Shila behind the temple, it started raining and we all ran to the lodge. Ameya's mother was having difficulty walking due to her leg pain, so we didn't realize that the whole family would be left behind. due to darkneess, Ameya faces difficulty to identify the way towards the lodge, so when Ameya called, I took an extra raincoat and went down and brought everyone to the lodge. By this time, 2 of the remaining 4 members had reached and were having darshan. Since it had started raining, the remaining two members had increased their concern for everyone. Around 2:30 am, both of them reached near the lodge, I went down again and brought them to the lodge. Now, however, I felt hungry, but the food we had brought to the lodge had turned cold. Nishikant Thali had brought puranpoli and thepla, which I ate to fill stomachs. Many thanks to Nishikant Thali for the puranpoli and thepla! I set the alarm for 7:00 in the morning and anticipated seeing the temple again and went back to sleep with that excitement. 👉
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Day Four
The alarm went off at 7 in the morning, but due to extreme fatigue, I couldn’t bring myself to get up. Finally, I got up around 7:30 and freshened up. Because of the freezing cold, I didn’t have the courage to take a bath. There was hot water, but it was only available at the washbasin tap; in the shower, hot water was available for only five minutes 😄. Vijay also decided not to bathe, and everyone followed that decision 😅. When we stepped outside the lodge room, seeing a waterfall cascading from the lush green mountains ahead, I exclaimed "Wow," and Rahul Nair asked me to come a little closer and look to the right. Seeing the white snow-covered Himalayan mountain ranges, the exclamation "Wow" turned into "Beautiful." Around 8:30 in the morning, we all reached near the temple. Watching the Kedarnath Temple and the beautiful Himalayan mountain ranges behind it, I felt like staying there forever. Once again, I made video calls to family and friends. The two members who had returned late the previous night were allowed to visit the temple through a special pass issued by Vijay. We took group photos and selfies, and after climbing about a kilometer, we reached Bhiravnath Temple.
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| Shri Kedarnath Temple |
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Group photo - From left to right,
members sitting down - Ameya, Vijay, Jyotsna, Abhishek's wife.
Standing members - Abhishek, Kaushal, Rahul, Prajwal, Nishikant, Pradeep, me,
Ameya's father and mother, Snehal's mother. |
Bhairavnath is the guardian deity of this place. (As shown in the final scene of the film “Kantara,” where the guardian appears to protect the village, and so on.) After having darshan of Bhairavnath, we all went to a nearby hilltop and started taking photos. Once we had taken enough photos, I and Kaushal approached the temple; adjacent to the main temple is another small temple. The priest had told us whose this temple is, but I do not remember now. From there, as we were about to go to Bhim Shila, we met Prajwal. He told us that everyone had had breakfast/lunch at the Bhandar near the foot of Bhairavnath, and he advised us to go there too. We hadn’t had breakfast in the morning, so we turned back without going to Bhim Shila, and after receiving prasad from the “Barfaani Seva Samiti - Alwar Bhandar,” we had breakfast and then set out towards Bhim Shila.
.jpeg "Bhairavnath Temple") |
| Bhairavnath Temple |
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| Sculptures of gods in Bhairavnath temple |
Bhim Sila! During the natural disaster on June 16, 2013, a large boulder miraculously came to a halt behind the temple, protecting it. Due to the cloudburst, the flow of water and stones coming from the glacier was obstructed by this Bhim Sila, thus safeguarding the temple. (An example of divine miracle for those who do not believe in God!). I took photographs of Bhim Sila and left for the samadhi site of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya. It is located about 200 to 300 meters from the temple. It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya took samadhi behind the Kedar Nath temple. After viewing the samadhi, we both headed toward the lodge, reached in front of Kedar Nath temple, and paid our last respects, not knowing when we would get the opportunity to visit again. My eyes welled up with tears, I composed myself, and reached the lodge. We packed our belongings and stepped out of the lodge for the return journey, having breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Vijay was staying with Ameya and his parents to arrange for a palanquin for them.
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| Behind Shri Kedarnath Temple - Bhima Shila |
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| Adi Shankaracharya Samadhi Memorial |
At around 12:15 pm, Kaushal and I started descending. This time, however, we did not hand over our bags to the porter. We were both descending at a fairly fast pace, stopping from time to time to rest as the bags were heavy. While descending, I felt that my right toes were hurting, I thought they were blisters, but I kept walking as I don't want to waste the time. In just 2 hours, we reached Choti Lincholi. After going some distance, suddenly both my feet slipped and I fell to the ground 😐. Luckily, since my bag was big, I hit on it, otherwise my buttocks would have been crushed 😅. A pilgrim there helped me get up. Kaushal was on his phone, so he had no idea about this. Before crossing the bridge over the Mandakini River, we decided to have lunch, and sat down at a dhaba there. We had ordered parathas, and while we were waiting, it started raining heavily. We had raincoats, but we knew we would get a little wet. Getting wet in this cold weather was likely to worsen our health. So we waited for the rain to subside. We met Prasad Munde, a member of the group. After waiting for about 40 minutes, the rain subsided and we decided to leave. Kaushal, Prasad and I, the three of us, put on our raincoats and walked non-stop, in an hour we reached the forest canopy. We took some rest there and then stopped for rest, right near the Bhairavnath temple. At around 6 pm, we reached the arch of Gaurikund. There, we bought small wooden temples that were replicas of the Kedarnath temple and started towards Gaurikund. We reached the bottom around 6:45 pm (it took us 6:30 hours to descend from Kedarnath temple to Gaurikund).
When I called Ameya, he said that he him self, Vijay and Jyotsna were 3 kilometers away, so we waited for them. During that time, we had snack. After having snack, I called Ameya again to see where they had all reached. Ameya said that he was still 3 kilometers away. Even after all this time, are you still 3 kilometers away? When I asked, Ameya reminded me of the kilometer scam 😅. At the same time, Vijay had called Kaushal, so I told Ameya that Kaushal and Prasad were with me; hearing this, Ameya and Vijay breathed a sigh of relief. They had no idea that Prasad was with me, he had gone ahead without telling Ameya and Vijay. But Vijay and Ameya thought that Prasad was still behind, so they were wasting their time waiting for Prasad. Vijay asked us to go ahead, because there was a big queue for the Gaurikund to Sonprayag shuttle, and the 3 members of the group who had gone ahead were waiting in Sonprayag. Since there was one car for each 6 members, it was not possible for the car to leave without a total of 6 members. We stood in the queue for the shuttle, our number came in just 30 minutes and we reached Sonprayag by jeep. We still had to walk 1 to 1.5 kilometers from the Sonprayag taxi stand.
As we crossed the barricade set up by the police near the Sonprayag parking area, Prasad Munde disappeared, and it was even more difficult to find him as his phone was not with him. Since there were two roads there, it was not clear which road he had taken and we (Kaushal and I) were not sure whether we were walking on the right road or not. When I called Prasad's wife (Pranali) enquired about hime, she told he had not reached yet and our worries increased even more. When we enquired at shop about the road leading to Chandrapuri, shopkeeper said that this was the only road leading to Chandrapuri. While we were going ahead and stopped for a rest, suddenly we heard a voice from a distance, it was Prasad, were relieved! Around 9:35 pm, we met 3 other members and moved towards Chandrapuri by car. Due to the rain, there was landslides happed in many places, due to which there was a traffic jam. The hour-long road took us two hours and we reached Chandrapuri at Shikhar Lodge at around 11:50 pm.
We reached the lodge, but the rooms that were given to us on the 22nd had now changed, so there was some confusion. When I called Vijay, he asked to call Gaurav Negi and at the same time he told me a worrying piece of information. One of the members who was with him had lost his way and it was difficult to find him as his phone was not with him. Finally, after an hour, he found the him, Vijay and 5 other members reached the lodge at 2:30 am. As mentioned above, my foot felt injured while descending. When I took off my shoes, the guess was correct, there were blisters on my fingers. Earlier I called Shailesh in the evening, he initially scolded, because he had already told me to apply Candid Anti-Fungal Powder on feet to avoid blisters. As Shailes had told me to apply the powder, I washed and dried my feet and applied the powder on the blisters. There was no guarantee whether I would be able to walk on the Tungnath trek or not, now I would know only when I woke up in the morning.
As per the travel plan, we were supposed to stay in a tent at Chopta for the night, but due to the sudden rains, the organizers Vijay Sutar and Gaurav Negi, the organizers from Uttarakhand, decided to keep everyone at the lodge. Many thanks to both of them for taking the right decision at the right time.
Thus, our Kedarnath trek and darshan were completed and we were ready for the Tungnath trek .
Spending Tracker
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.jpeg "Bhairavnath Temple")
