Background
Char Dham of Uttarakhand needs no introduction as they are culturally significant and have achieved iconic status. If you ask me why I have not visited any of them in my over forty years of existence, the answer would be “I honestly do not know.” Although I had wanted to visit them for many years, somehow, they have eluded me.
When the opportunity presented itself in the autumn of last year, it was time to grab it. I do not know if I mentioned this earlier in another blog, but I feel the best time to be in the mountains is the autumn when there are blue skies and the views are crystal clear. With my trusted motorcycle as my companion, I was ready for the journey of a lifetime (excuse me for being overdramatic).
I hope you enjoy this blog series (if you are here for the love of reading) and find it informative (if you are looking to do this yourself). I will try to keep this as concise as possible without getting into too many minute details (but my track record is not too encouraging 😊). I will do this in a four-part series rather than making it one big blog.
Let me get on with it…
The Preparation
I had done a proper servicing of my motorcycle in July itself, as I was certain that I would anyway be going somewhere in September/October. Though I love my bike (Yamaha FZ 25) dearly but the thing that bugs me is the service quality. I feel that there is too much focus only on sales, but the brands do not bother about what happens after. After spending my hard-earned money on a lacklustre service, I was just hoping that the bike would hold up through my journey.
My initial plan was to start my travel from the second week of September, and the original destination was the lesser-known Panch Kedar, but things did not work out as planned. I had to postpone it to the second week of October instead, and by that time, there was a risk of some of the temples getting closed. So, I finally decided that it was time for the Char Dham yatra. On a sidenote, Panch Kedars are still on my radar, despite being tougher, I will do it one day and will write a blog.
The initial preparation also included studying the route and making a tentative day-wise itinerary. Char Dham is very popular, so I did not expect any challenges in terms of route accessibility or being away from the network. In terms of the clothing I was wearing during the ride, I decided not to be in full riding gear (I would not advise this). The main reason was that the journey involved a couple of treks (Yamunotri and Kedarnath), and it would be very difficult to manage the heavy gear during these days. So, I used a knee guard during the trip and riding gloves with a promise to myself to be extra careful and not take any risks.
Delhi to Barkot
I have always maintained that the first and last days of any ride are the most boring and painful ones. They are boring because most of the distance is covered on straight highways, and they are painful because of the long distance to be covered. This ride was not going to be any different to it.
As per the route mapped earlier, my first day’s destination was going to be Barkot, some 375 km and 9 hours away according to Google Maps. The route to be followed was Delhi-Ghaziabad-Modinagar-Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur-Vikasnagar-Lakha Mandal-Barkot.
I started before 6 AM and soon hit the road running. One of the benefits of leaving early was less traffic, and I soon crossed Ghaziabad. If I had been in a car, I would have taken the Delhi-Meerut expressway, but then, unfortunately, the rules are loaded against the bikers. I keep scratching my head as to how I am safe on bad roads and unsafe on butter-smooth expressways where I can easily maintain the legal speed limit. Anyway, I had to go through traffic till Muradnagar, and the maps suggested I take the Upper Ganga Canal Road. I had never been on that road, so I had no idea as to what to expect. Fortunately, the quality of the road was good, but it was narrow.
I exited the canal road onto the main Haridwar-Rishikesh highway near Muzaffarnagar. For some time, the journey was good, and then I left the highway to join the road that goes through Saharanpur. From this point onward till I reached Vikas Nagar, the traffic situation was very bad and irritating. Even though Vikas Nagar is in Uttarakhand, it pretty much seemed like a normal city in the plains. Once the mountain roads started, my pace dropped considerably. One because the roads turned quite narrow and I had to be extra cautious and two, the quality of roads were not that good.
I finally reached Barkot at around 5 PM and started looking for an accommodation. This is another pain area for bikers. After a tough day, looking for a place to stay is not exactly easy. Barkot is a small town with some decent options for accommodations. It looked busy to me, so I started moving ahead. I exited the town and came to an intersection where one road led to Yamunotri and another to Gangotri. This felt like the perfect place to stay as I could leave for Gangotri without needing to ride extra kilometres. As the season was heading for a close, there was not much rush, and I could find an economical place to stay. The place was just plain basic, and so was the food, my type of place when I travel solo.
Barkot to Janki Chatti
It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining bright, and it was a perfect start to the day. I started my bike at around 8 AM and was ready to cover the distance of about 40 km to the base village of Yamunotri, i.e. Janki Chatti. I had done enough research to know that the road conditions would be treacherous.
As soon as I rolled out of my hotel, there was a checkpoint to check my yatra registration. As I had done it online, it was just a minute halt to scan the paper. The initial 20 km was a breeze; the roads were butter smooth with great views, and I was enjoying every bit of it. I was wondering if this would last till Janki Chatti.
But I was wrong, my happiness was short-lived, and I came back to reality. The remaining distance was a mix of broken roads, narrow roads and slush. The only solace was the views and the sound of the Yamuna River accompanying you all the way. I was extra careful to avoid any kind of mishap and rode slowly. I finally reached Janki Chatti just after 10 AM. Though I was visiting it in shoulder season, still there were crowds to make a mess.
There were parking spaces meant for larger vehicles throughout, but I was struggling to find a safe place for my bike. After a bit of a struggle and asking around, I managed to park my bike in front of a shop, which cost me 50 bucks.
Yamunotri Dham
I started the hike of 6 km at around 10 AM. The weather was crystal clear with deep blue skies. The initial part of the hike was relatively easy with gradual ascents. This gave me a false indication about what was in store ahead. As I moved ahead, the trail became steeper. From the starting point itself, the trail was quite narrow, and there was this challenge of steep terrain as well.
Well, the real challenge for me was not the narrowness or steepness of the trail but the number of mules carrying people. One of the reasons why I avoided the Char Dham yatra was due to the heavy rush of people and the resultant high number of mules. I was travelling in so so-called shoulder season, just can’t imagine what happens during the peak months of May-June. You can see me ranting on this topic even on my YouTube video.
I finally reached the temple premises at around 12:30 PM. I dropped off my shoes at a stand which charges 10 bucks for a pair. There were many who wore their shoes till the entrance of the temple and dropped if off in the open. After this, I climbed some stairs to reach the temple area. In between, saw a hot water spring where one can take a bath.
As there was not much rush, I could easily get into the temple and have darshan to my heart’s content. I even went in a second time to satisfy myself. The setting itself is very beautiful, and the river flows in the foreground, originating from peaks above. After spending some time at the temple, I started my descent at 1 PM. It took me one and a half hours to get back to my bike.
I started back from Janki Chatti at 3 PM and was back at my hotel at around 5 PM. It was a tiring day with around 90 km of riding and a 12 km hike. I had an early dinner and retired to bed.