Started my trip from Ghaziabad, I was solo as all my friends backed out at the last moment. We were planning a trip to Tosh, Himachal Pradesh. Then I made my mind that I will go alone for a trek. Kedarkantha Trek . It was my 1st Himalyan Trek, Yes I was nervous and excited too. I took a cab from Ghaziabad to Dehradun. I stayed a night at Dehradun at my friend's place. The same friend that was a part of Tosh trip.
Early in the morning around 7:00 AM I headed towards Sankri in Uttarkashi district via local bus.
Around 7:00 PM I reached Sankri and it was raining heavily since morning.
The Sankri Village is the last road head to the Govind Balabh Pant Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Sankari Village in Uttarkashi District of State Uttarakhand is a route to The Paradise of Himalayas for every trekker.
Around 8:00 PM our Trek leader called us for a briefing. We were a group of 12. We shared our earlier trekking experience and we all were like we know each other since ages. We all turned best friends in an hour from strangers.
Today we were supposed to start our trek but due to heavy snowfall the forest department denied for the trek permission.
After breakfast I and 2 more friends planned to visit a small village called Jakhol village.
We visited Someshwar Mahadev Temple in Jakhol village.
At morning we started our trek from Sankri to Juda Ka Talab. Legend says ' Once lord Shiva opened a little of his hairs and the water flowed out forming a small pond called Juda Ka Talab.
The Talab was very beautiful & entirely frozen.
This was our very first campsite. The view was very awesome and there was plenty of snow.
We celebrated a friend's birthday, had drinks and meals and we had a antakshri session which is memorable for lifetime. That night temperature at Juda Ka Talab was -6℃.
Next morning we started our trek to KedarKantha Base Camp, There was plenty of snow and the temperature was very cold. The trails was slippery and steep so we used micro spikes and gaitors to maintain the grip.
Trekking gears are very essential on a himalyan treks. After 2-3 hours of trek we reached base camp. We had meals and after that our trekking leader informed that the weather condition is not good and there's a possibility of fresh snowfall .
We all started a discussion on Summit, during the discussion there was a fight between us too because some of our trekkers wanted to witness sun rise and the others wanted to witness sun set.
At the end we all decided to witness sunset as there was a possibility of heavy snowfall & If it had snowed, we would not have been able to reach the peak.
We started our trek to Final Tea point and then Kedarkantha Peak. We reached Tea point after 2 hours of trek. We ate maggie and then we headed towards summit. Now the trek was little challanging from here as there was plenty of snow and very steep trail.
Out of 12 only 7 were able to reach kedarkantha peak. At peak temperature was -15℃ and it was very cold. It was almost impossible to raise your hand in the air for 60 seconds without gloves.
Due to extreme weather conditions we only stayed 40 mins at the peak and then we came back to basecamp and stayed overnight at basecamp.
We had our breakfast and started to descend Hargaon. We reached hargaon in 3 hours we had lunch and descended to Sankri.
Today was our trek leader's birthday. We bought a chocolate cake for him. We had drinks and partied overnight.
I must say it was one of the best trek i have done in my entire life. Snow was plenty and views were so beautiful that now photo or word can describe.
Its a lifetime memorable trek for me and my friends.
