Finally on 19th day at 8pm we reached Badrinath
Finally, yesterday on the 19th day we reached Badrinath all well 
For first four days detail click here
Day 5
Walked till Baijnath, 21km from Bageshwar. There were no shortcuts or trekking route, just a curvy road in between mountains with Gomti river flowing beside the road, constantly seeking attention with its roaring.
Day 6
Trekked to Gwaldam from Baijnath, 22km by road. We took the trekking route dangoli ->gheti->kulaun to reach Gwaldam. From Kulaon to Gwaldam it’s all the way up approx 5/6km. It was raining and getting darker hence no scope of taking rest in between.
Day 7
The weather was cloudy and rainy. It got better later in the day and we could trek till Dewal, just 10km walking down from Gwaldam.
Day 8
We started late at around noon because of rainy weather and managed to trek till Lohajung from Dewal, 22km away from road.
Day 9
Most of the day it was raining, we decided to halt in Lohajung. This was the last place that had electricity and tar road, until we reached Auli on 16th day.
Day 10
Walked to Wan, 16km from Lohajung. The path witnesses many waterfalls, streams across the route.
The Wan has very nice Tourist House from GMVN (Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam), located at top of the WAN village between the forest, add to that the care taker is very good cook.
Day 11
First beautiful sunny day from the day after we started.
Just half a day walk from Wan brought us Kanaul – a beautiful village with beautiful people living there. We all loved the village and the villagers
Kanaul village
Day 12
Spent some time with villagers in the morning and then walked to Sitel, 4 hours walk from Kanaul.
Day 13
The actual plan was to go Ramni. On our way, just 4/5km before Ramni, we met a guy who advised us that instead of going to Ramni we can take a shortcut route to Jheenji, our next day destination. He said it’s just 9/10 km walk from here. Since it was just 1pm we thought it’s a good idea we can save a day. We hired him as a guide until we get single road to Jheenji.
We soon realized what we have opted for. We had to climb up a stiff mountain. That day from morning we have been climbing up all the way. It was tiring. After climbing up that mountain, few more kilometres in somewhat plain the guide showed us a mountain that we need to climb up and he said few kilometers down from there is Jheenji. With that he bid us adieu.
Tired climbing up all the day, we were hoping that this mountain be smaller one. We kept on but there was no sign of its end. It was getting dark and started raining. I thought maybe we lost the way. We almost lost the hope but then there was a ray hope – a villager was approaching us in the midst of jungle. We asked him about the whereabouts of elusive Jheenji, the answer surprised us. He said that Jheenji is some 20/25 km far and not possible to reach there today. He advised us that somewhere up there is a chappar (a hut where cattlemen and shepherds stay in rainy season to graze their cattle, generally of 4/5 feet height – see picture below) and we can stay there today. After climbing up for another half an hour we reached the chappar in place called Vinagi. We requested the cattlemen whether we can stay there for the night, they happily agreed.
As soon as we arrived there the rain changed the gear, it started hailing heavily. The cattle returned back to the chapper. Even though it was extremely cold outside, inside it was cosy as we were sitting around the fire and at the same time the cattle around us breathing out hot. Milking milk from a cow in the chapper, the beautiful young girl of our host prepared hot tea for us. We talked a lot, our host shared his varied experiences on mountain, people and his work. He told us that this place remains covered in snow for around half year. While we were talking, the girl was preparing dinner – roti and home grown potato, pumpkin sabzi. Magically with her bare hands only she was making roti, without using chakla belen (roti maker). Needless to say we savoured the dinner, enjoyed every bit of it.
In the night we were taken to another chappar of their friend as this one is very small to accommodate us. The owner of the chappar was a vaid (village ayurvedic doctor), beside being a cattlemen. There too we had a long talk. He said he treats people just to serve people; he almost earns nothing out of it.
Day 14
Four hours of climbing down from Vinagi saw us in Jheenji, the village we were supposed to reach the day before. All the climbing up that we did day before been climbed down. We had lunch in Jheenji and then trekked to Pana, which is way up in the mountain and generally covered in one day by the trekkers from Jheenji.
Day 15
Trekked to Dhakwani from Pana, tough rocky road – involves many climbing up and down mountains. By this time we were very tired climbing up mountains. We badly needed to take a break but Dhakwani is no place to stay as it’s actually not a village, this is a place where trekkers tent on the way to Kuari pass. We too tented here.
Fortunately you find shepherds, cattlemen in Dhakwani easily. We went to a shepherd and had dinner with them and next day morning we had our breakfast also.
Day 16
We were excited because today we were to pass Kuari pass, the famous place among trekkers from where you see different peaks of Himalaya in a line. After climbing up for an hour we reached Kuari and stumbled by its magnanimous ethereal beauty.
Then we proceeded to Auli. Genrelly Dhakwani to Auli covered in two days by trekkers, hence we had to hurry up. We reached Auli before sunset.
Day 17
We trekked to Joshimath, 15km away by road but there is shortcut route of 5/6 km.
Day 18
Rested in Joshimath for whole day.
Day 19
Badrinath is 44km away by road and situated at an altitude of 3500m, approx 2000m higher than Joshimath. We thought it will take two days for us. We reached Pandukeshwar (22km from Joshimath) at around 2pm and since we were fresh from one and half days rest at Joshimath, we decided to call it THE day and reach Badrinath. With help of some shortcut from Hanumant Chatti we reached Badrinath by 8pm in the night – all smiling and in perfect health.
Cheers
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