Kedarnath-Chopta-Devprayag-Rishikesh

We boarded the train at 5.10 pm from platform number one on MMCT. Chinmay, Kusum and I were together at the station as we boarded the train compartment B2. Dhanashree and Ekta boarded another train compartment - A5. Suvi was going to join us from Borivali. We also met our friend Mittal from a previous trek on the train as she was heading to Spiti Valley with her husband. We had some delicious food on the August Kranti Rajdhani for dinner and for snacks and had an old couple for company on the train.

We reached Delhi in the morning at 10 am and had time till 12 am in the night to explore the city. So we decided to change and then clean up and explore Humayun's Tomb, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar and drove across India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Foreign Embassy. I've been to Delhi before once I travelled by auto, second by metro and this time by a private taxi and a friend's car. All experiences have been exciting to say the least. However roads were emptier this time around it being a Sunday. We also explore the mall - Saket City Centre and Sarojini Nagar Market and felt extremely satisfied.

We boarded the bus at 1 am to reach Haridwar at 5.55 am and Rishikesh at 7 am. We crashed and changed and left for River Rafting Activity at 12 pm. We reached the location at 2.30 pm. We finished rafting by 4.30 pm and then took a few dips in the chilly water of the Ganga. We then went back to the hotel and reached the Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat and it was raining so I had to wear a rain poncho. After the aarti we headed back to the hotel for dinner and then moved onto the next location - Ram Jhula. We walked down the roads of Rishikesh and had the time of our lives! We returned back to the hotel by 12.00 am and crashed by 1.30 am.

We woke up at 7.45 am and left the hotel by 9.00 am to head towards Gupt Kashi. On the way we saw the Alakhnanda and the Bhagirathi Confluence at Devprayag and the difference in the colours of the rivers which are met together by Saraswati from underneath according to the legend totally made our day.    We checked into homestay = The Himalayan View Resort and prepared to leave for Kedarnath the very next day. We had to be up at 4 am in order to leave in time and were very excited and thrilled to say the least.

We drove to Gaurikund to begin our trek to Kedarnath Temple which is 22 km long. We had breakfast at the homestay before leaving at 5 am and then reached the starting point only at 1.30 pm which is when we started our trek. We trekked all the way to the top of the temple and reached the following day at 1.30 am.

Kusum di woke up at 6 am and took Darshan and I reached at 11 am because I fell sick - I was vomitting and was low on energy. We left the temple at 3 pm on horses and reached Gauri Kund by 9.30 pm and then back to Gupt Kashi at 3 am which is when we had our dinner.

The next day we spent at Makku Math and explored the temples in the village - a Makku Temple dedicated to Shiva and the trek towards it was a lovely one in the evening. All rested up we decided to leave for Chopta the next day.

We left for Chopta and did a 5 km trek to the Tungnath Mandir and this place is called Mini Switzerland because of the views. We then returned back to the traveller, took our luggage and left for Rishikesh. We reached Rishikesh in the night and checked into the Hosteller - Rishikesh.

The next day we had our adventure activities at Jumpin Heights where my friends did Flying Fox, Giant Swing and ofcourse I did Bunjee Jumping. It was an experience to remember and then we camped right underneath the activity spot at Dera Inn which was a camping spot and looked at the stars at night together.

The next day we left from Rishikesh for Haridwar and our friends left for Amritsar whereas we spent the day in Rishikesh in a beautiful Café by the Ganges and then caught the bus to Delhi and then waited at the station for our train to take us back to Mumbai.

Our train arrived and left at 8.50 am and then we reached Mumbai the following day at 2 pm and this marked the end of a beautiful trip to the mountains once again.