15 Days Solo Trip in Uttarakhand Garhwal Hills (Starting Kedarnath Trek)

Let's start with the introduction first. Hi! my name is Ankit and I am one of an introvert who used to dream about traveling since the early days of my schooling. So after a long process of injecting inspiration from the Travel YouTube vloggers, I finally got out in July 2019.

But the journey which I am supposed to share with you is not my first solo backpacking but its the kind of true one LOL! Just pardon me for my English. I hope Grammarly is correcting the grammar well.

So this time I decided to got out to see the hills and the places which lied towards the upside of our town Srinagar Garhwal which the whole world overpopulates in May and June. So I planned to see the Panch Kedar and hotshot places.

The Beginning of Solo Journey

Finally on September 20th, 2019 I got out and started Hitchhiking as this was what I had seen and it seemed interesting in videos.

So asking for the lifts for the first time was not so easy for an introvert who used to think twice and thrice even talking to someone in earlier days. Every time I got rejected a fear of public failure was overcoming the excitement of my dream.

But somehow because of a few good people, of course, you would come to know them if you chose to spend a chunk of your valuable time on my YouTube Channel.

The First Day

For the first day 20th September, I reached Gaurikund and luckily I met a few other traveler who were super friendly so because of them I got a budget room as we split the bill together.

So at Gaurikund a kind hotel owner gave us a room with 6 Beds for rupees 500 and 100 Rupee Thali (till you are fulled you can ask more) for dinner. The hotel was Vijay hotel in front of the Annapurna hotel. And the owner told us that On season(May June) he takes rupee 500 for a single bed so Always and always travel off-season to save some bucks.

The next morning I took a dip in a hot water spring while the surroundings were cold at 5:30 AM morning. If you want then you can but make sure to come before 5:30 AM as after that you will find a lot of speculators watching you bathing LOL! And yeah the water is very very hot so don't dare to jump there. And for God's sake please don't ever think to use soap there.

Trekking Towards Kedarnath

Finally, I started my 17.5 KM climb up after eating some Aloo Parathas. One thing to keep in mind, if you are less sporty then avoid Aloo as it might cause you Gas problems and it will make you vomit as it happened with a fellow traveler whom I met last day.

While climbing up you will feel that milestones are playing with you. Somehow they always show some fake data. And you might think that I had walked too much but why is it still showing the small number.

If you face this issue then, just smile and keep climbing. As its the Mountain Dude!

And as you are reading this then I can believe that you are planning for this journey. So right now open Decathlon and buy a Poncho which will protect you from sudden showers.

And at the start of trek you can find a lot of people operating Khachhar, Palkies and Pitthues who can carry you to up if you face any difficulty 

While trekking up you will find a lot of small hotels where you can kill your hunger and natural water resources where you must refill your bottle. And don't just buy any bottle. Use the "polypropylene" bottle which is the safest plastic and is designed to reuse and it will not dissolve in your water.

I have got a bottle from decathlon for rupees 99. And if you think why should you care about a bottle then do a quick google search about water bottle plastic. Thus you will lend your little hand in saving this environment and yourself as well.

Trek difficulty is average and you will be enjoying the scenic view and breathtaking waterfalls which will be ready to make your shoes wet.

And don't take longer brakes as you are at high altitude and stopping means cooling down your muscles and then reheating them which will take energy.

Just take some mini brakes till you reach the 3555 M summit.

After Reaching Kedarnath

After reaching Kedarnath the first thing is a room which you can get at an average of 500 to 1000 Rupees. Off-season will always be a cheaper one. Rest on your bargaining skills.

And if you are a total solo traveler then you can book a GMVN tent for rupees 250 but it lacks the security of your stuff.

And in 2019 there was an ATM available at Kedarnath but no ATMs are at Gaurikund. Hope they will install next year. But for a place with almost no internet you must bring adequate cash.

And the food is super expensive. I got a 150 rupee thali with 4 Chapaties and a vegetable and rice as well. But you can get 6 Chapaties if you chose not to eat rice. And the food was ok for me. And the price seemed justified for me at that altitude.

And please don't leave your shoes near the temple as there are 90% chances that you will climb down barefoot. LOL! It happened with a friend of mine.

Now you have come to the holy shrine then you will be thinking about praying. If you have reached to the top after 3 PM then the temple shuts down at 2 PM and reopens at 6 PM and then closes around 8 or 9 PM

In the morning you can buy a prasad and give water to Lord Shiva though LORD never needs. The Shiva had a River on his head. If you want to give something then leave your Bad Attitude, Greed, and other bad stuff there at his legs. And come back as a good person.

What else I saw in Kedarnath Valley

And yeah if you have come so far then please trek 2 KM more towards Bhairav Nath Mandir and you will reward yourself with an amazing view of the Kedarnath Valley.

While I was roaming around the place, I saw marks of sacrifice, a crashed army chopper which was telling me that some brave hearts had given the ultimate sacrifice for someone else happiness. And there are a lot more people who are ready for that. So we must become a good human being because that's how we can repay them.

Apart from that, I saw Dhyan Gufa which became popular after our Prime Minister Modi Ji had a visit. And if you are more adventurous then you must try to trek towards "Vasuki Taal" which is approx 7 to 9 KM away from Kedarnath, but if you will be lucky enough to find a group going there or if you are already a skilled trekker then you can go otherwise as a solo traveler, people will always warn you about the foggy ways and being lost. So are you one of those hilly champs?

As I am not because I wasn't able to make it to the Vasuki Tall. And there is one more "Gandhi Sarovar" 3 Km far but I have no idea about the directions. Well, you can ask locals when you will reach there.

And if you are of those who love to stay connected all the way then your heart will be broken, because most of the networks don't work from Gaurikund. For making calls you can use BSNL and you will be happy to know that at Kedarnath around the temple every network works fine. I tested Jio, BSNL, and the internet was working like a charm.

And if you are still reading till here then I have some stuff to share which you can almost find everywhere.

How To Reach Kedarnath

The main point where you have to reach from other parts of India is "Rishikesh" or you can take a train to "Haridwar" which is the next big location in Uttarakhand from Delhi Side. Delhi yeah ! you heard it right a place which we called our Capital which has every facility like A Big international Airport, Metro, Train Station and ISBT ( a term used for Inter State Bus Station)

If you are a Bus person then reach to "ISBT Kashmiri Gate" which is well connected by a Delhi Metro. Now you might get confused by the metro web so, you can simplify your thoughts by DMRC app which will show you the way and fare. And at the end keep asking.

And one pro-tip if you hate being crushed between the people. Always try to take the last coach of Metro and make sure to go opposite the crowd and if you are seeing the crowd in every direction then they might have figure out this article as well. LOL!

And always take Buses inside ISBT. To enter inside there will be a proper security check. If you find people outside who will try to say that they will take you to your destination then those are always lying and they never will.

From ISBT you have to take a bus to Rishikesh. As I belong to Srinagar so I can confirm you about the 8 PM and 9 PM Bus which head to Srinagar from there. You can directly come to Srinagar. And from here you will find local buses to Gaurikund. Let me share you a mini-map

Delhi -----------> Rishikesh-----------> Srinagar----------> Rudraprayag-------> Agastyamuni-----------> Guptkashi ---------------> Sonprayag ------------> Gaurikund .....(17.5 Km Trek)........ Kedarnath

And if you are a Flier then you can land to the nearest Airpot which is Dehradun which definitely will be expensive. So you can fly till Delhi but Delhi to Rishikesh will take more than 6 Hours so choice on yours.

And then from Dehradun you can find local transport towards Rishikesh. And Dehradun Airport is close to the road so if you have less stuff then you can walk towards the main highway which is just a KM and taxies will charge you more then 500 Rupees for that.

So if you had reached Guptkashi then you can take a shared cab as I did which will charge you 100 Rupee till Sonprayag where you can book a Pony if you are afraid of the challenge to walk 17.5 Km up till Kedarnath.

Now walk a little bit more and after a few steps, you will see another shared cabs which will then leave you at Gaurikund for rupees 20.

Now that's it guys after Gaurikund you have to trek up of course next day to Kedarnath and yeah make sure to register for Char Dham Yatra which can be done at Sonprayag as without that you will not be allowed to go up. And you can do it by yourself as they have a website which is free of cost.

So that's it, guys. And if you are wondering what happened to Panch Kedar then I want to tell you that I am one of that lazy kind who had typed a lot for the last few hours LOL!

So I would continue in the next blog. And yeah you remember I had told you earlier about a YouTube Channel where you can connect and see my experiences while I was traveling. And I do share pictures on Instagram as well.

And yeah if you want to share anything new then please do but I don't know whether Tripoto has a comment section. Just new here guys! If there is then please let me know by commenting LOL! Bye!