A Trek to Kedarnath - The 11th Jyotirlinga

Shri Kedarnath Ji ko Sahasra Pranaam 🙏

I'm Krishna, a travel enthusiast, an ardent and staunch devotee of Bhagawan Shiva, Maha Vishnu and Maha Ganapati. I hail from Bengaluru, I'm a native Kannadiga, an actor, anchor and a tecchie.

About this trip , it was a trip that started off with two friends and eventually it became a trip for five like minded friends. 

A Trip to Kedarnath and Badrinath...

Please read this blog if you wish to visit one of the holiest Hindu Dham Kshetra - Kedarnath !

Since our point of start was Bangalore (hometown), this blog focuses on the trip from here.

From Left to Right - Krishna, Arun, Praveen, Kumar & Shivanand

Chapter 1 - Flights 

Dehradun Airport (Jolly Grant Airport) is the nearest airport to head towards the Dham.

There are some direct flights and quite a few connecting flights from Bangalore to Dehradun. 

Our departure date : 23rd June 2023 -
We flew Indigo Airlines from Bangalore which arrived at Dehradun by 2:30PM 

Our return date : 28th June 2023 - 

We returned on Indigo Airlines from Dehradun to Bangalore 

Bangalore Airport is far away from the city, so one must plan their arrival at the airport +1.5 hours of travel time. The DigiYatra App allows all registered passengers to simply walk through the airport without carrying any ID proof or printed air ticket. The App is available on both Android & Apple stores. So, it is worthwhile downloading this and registering for a smooth experience.
The Lounge at Bangalore Airport is relaxing and has plenty of options for food and beverages (Do note that one needs a valid credit card for entry)

Dehradun Airport is small but cozy with enough options for a passenger to have a pleasant experience before flying. The staff are generally very polite and courteous.
The Lounge at Dehradun Airport is small but has decent options for food and beverages
(Do note that one needs a valid credit card for entry)

It is worthwhile to know that the airport is situated around the base of the Himalayan Mountain Range, so there are chances of flight cancellations due to bad weather and since it connects most towns nearby, there are plenty of ATR flights that ferry passengers (ones with the propeller), so more chances of flight delays or cancellations during monsoon (July to Sep) and peak winter (Nov to Feb)

Chapter 2 - The Drive towards Kedarnath

Overall, the roads are quite good, but due to the falling rocks, landslides and occasional rains, some spots are a bit risky and might cause some road blocks and traffic jams. 

Day 1 

We took a Taxi (Toyota Innova - a preferred choice) and drove straight on NH 7 towards Kedarnath. Crossing Rishikesh took us quite some time. A distance of merely 40kms took us more than 1.5 hours to cross. The main road-blockers are the white water rafting planners with huge rafts mounted on top of the vehicles. 

We drove towards Srinagar which is one of the biggest towns in Uttarakhand. The drive distance was a mere 110 kms but took us almost 5 hours to get there. 

There are plenty of picturesque places on the way and if you are travelling during the day, you get to take some amazing pictures all through the way. 

Stop by at Devprayag to watch two rivers merging (Alaknanda and Bhagirathi) and this is where the river gets its name Ganga. If you reach by 6pm, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the Ganga Arti here. The two distinct colored rivers merge here and the sight is simply marvelous.

We stayed at a Anmol County hotel overnight. The hotel was an average one (quieter and comfortable rooms with hot water and air conditioning). 

With that, we bid bye to the Sun for the day and rested for the night.

Day 2 

We made an early start to ensure that we get to Kedarnath as early as possible. We started from Srinagar at 6am and drove towards the Sonprayag, base of Kedarnath. 

After driving for 2 hours, we stopped at Mystic Kailasha - Empowering Luxury Stay (Omkara Kitchen) to have breakfast. Our first taste of Tandoori Aloo Paratha with Curd followed by some hot tea. It was absolutely worth the stop as we were hungry and wanted to ensure we have energy before starting a trek in a few hours. 

We continued our journey and saw some small water falls all along the way, water trying to make its way to the river and it was a pleasant sight. We even got to see Aghori sadhus along the way. For us, this was a rare sight, to see someone smeared in ash (vibhooti) and almost naked but for the locals, it was a normal sight and they didn't seem too surprised 😁

We finally got to Sonprayag by 10:30am. Since the roads are small and limited space available for parking, our vehicle could not go beyond Sitapur, so we unloaded our rucksacks, stretched our muscles a bit, took Baba Bholenath's name and started walking towards the spot known as Sonprayag - Gaurikund Jeep stand. 

Note : If you are able to reach Sonprayag the previous evening/night, it might be good to stay here so that you get an early start and save a few hours.

The walk was for 1.5kms - 2kms. There is a place for registration check where we needed to show the pre-registration doc downloaded from the Tourist Care Uttarakhand App. This is MANDATORY & extremely important as the Govt and the Police Team keep track of every pilgrim that enters the Kedarnath Dham (in the event of any natural calamity, it would be helpful to trace and also inform family members)

Link to the Tourism Website (if you plan to register from a PC instead of the App, although App experience was better) : https://registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in/signin.php 

Link : Tourism Uttarakhand

This is the spot (across the bridge above) from where one must take a jeep or walk for 4 - 4.5kms to reach the base of Kedarnath called Gaurikund. A jeep can ferry 12 people and they charge Rs. 50 per seat. You must either wait for the jeep to get filled or pay for the remaining seats and hire it privately to drop you to Gaurikund. We were short of 5 seats and decided to pay for those and took the jeep. 

After alighting the jeep at Gaurikund, we finally began our journey towards Kedarnath at 11:30AM. 

The signboards read that the trek is for 16kms from Gaurikund to Kedarnath camp site.

Chapter 3 - The Trek to Kedarnath Base Camp from Gaurikund (Ascend)

The journey from Gaurikund to Kedarnath is quite a treacherous one. The uneven walk path, the steep climb at places, the continuous Khacchar (Mule-Horse cross breed) walking, pooping, combined with shortage of oxygen makes it a particularly difficult experience. 

We had made sure that we had sufficient energy to walk and cover a decent distance. Eating a heavy breakfast or any meal is not recommended as it makes it difficult to walk especially while walking uphill.

The initial walk for a few kms was fairly comfortable. However, we decided to hire a porter to carry out bags till the destination (Kedarnath Base Camp) so that we could walk comfortably. After a bit of negotiation, two porters jointly agreed for a price of ₹4000 (5 bags x 6 kilos each). It was one of the good decisions which we felt soon after a few hours.

We walked slowly and got to one of the mid points - Ram Bada. There were two routes that one could choose from Ram Baada. 

One is a shorter route, it is steep while the other is a slightly longer one but the inclination is not so steep (we chose the shorter one for ascend and longer one for descend). 

The longer route is better for descending as it gives some relief while walking down the hills (lesser stress on the calf muscles, thighs and knees)

At Ram Baada, one can take some rest as there is space to sit and relax. However, there are plenty of small shacks for refreshments and the vendor allows you to rest there for a while as long as you order something from them. The best refreshments to have along the way are Tea, Maggi, Banana and Tandoori Aloo Paratha (made of Maida or refined wheat flour). Some shacks also offer Rajma-Chawal or Kadi-Chawal which tastes really good (during lunch time / dinner time).

 

Note that chai is not made and kept in a thermos flask but they make chai each time you order, so you will spend at least 10-15 mins each time you settle for chai.

The weather may change as you ascend, so it is advisable to carry a raincoat / poncho along with warm clothes always and if you get wet, the clothes will make you feel colder and you might catch a cold or even get fever due to the sudden change in body temp. It never really gets hot at this altitude, so keep the emergency clothes ready. When we reached Ram Baada, there was a mild drizzle, so we wore Ponchos which not only saved us from the rain but also cold breeze.

The picture below shows the rates for the Pony/Khacchar ride. Please use this for reference. 

We crossed some dangerous points on our trek to the base camp, including some hardened snow (ice) and some melting snow turned stream.

One important note - There are many spots where "make-shift shortcuts" have been created to avoid walking more. However, I strongly recommend NOT taking this route as it is risky, steep, tough and very tiring considering the altitude and scanty oxygen concentration in the air. We regretted taking the shortcuts once or twice and eventually learnt the disadvantage of it. 

As the sun set, the temperate fell further to around 6-8 Degrees Celsius and the walk got very tiring during towards the last 3-4 kms. Everyone we met seemed to not have an idea about distance and kept saying only 300m or only 500m left. I suggest that you avoid asking people for the remaining distance as it leads to false hopes, instead enjoy the walk.

Also, I recommend each individual to keep a portable flash light/torch handy as some areas are quite dark without a street light and has less visibility. 

Finally at approximately 8:30PM, after a trek of 9 hours, we reached the Kedarnath Based Camp, available exhausted and barely any energy left.

This picture below was clicked as soon as we gave a group hug to thank each other for supporting each other and making it finally to the base camp. 

Chapter 4 - Stay and Darshan at Kedarnath

We had booked a shared tent online (Max 10 pax in one tent) with a shared toilet for camp guests. It was called Nandi Complex Base Camp, also called as GMVN Kedarnath Nandi Complex Base Camp. 

It was fairly cosy & comfortable. There were 10 individual mattresses, 10 individual sleeping bags, a charging socket for portable mobile phone charger and a decently bright light inside the tent 

The stay at this shared camp cost ₹800 per pax with dinner included. After the treacherous walk, the dinner was such a blessing. This camp is about 1.5 - 2kms away from the main mandir, so one can camp here after a long trek and rest well before the Darshan.

Link to book accommodation : https://gmvnonline.com/trh-filter.php 

Link : Nandi Complex Camp

Dinner included a thali of Poori, Potato-Capsicum, Dal, Rice and Kheer. 

So, after a really long day, we finally spent the night at the camp after dinner and decided to go for darshn at first light. It was a much needed sleep, even if it was only for a few hours. 

End of Day !

Day 3

We woke up by 5am, paid ₹100 and got a bucket of steaming hot water. One bucket is enough for 3 people to take bath after mixing some cold water. 

After freshening up, we walked towards the main mandir area (30-40mins walk). 

We arrived at the registration desk where the pre-registration doc was scanned again and we got a Darshan Ticket with a timing mentioned. 

There was a really really long queue that might have taken us atleast 2 hours to get inside the temple, so we checked if there was any way we could get a special entry inside. Luckily, we met a pandit who mentioned about a Puja with special entry, we paid ₹1200 per person and he got us entry from the side entrance from where we joined the queue inside the Garbhagudi (inner sanctum). In about 15mins, we were able to get Darshana of Bhole Nath, Kedarnath Bhagawan. 

(You can check with the shops on the left of the mandir for this)

It was a divine feeling to finally see Bhagawan Kedareshwara, Maha Shiva, Mahakaal, for whom we started our Yatra a few days ago.

We spent a few mins inside the Garbhagudi, performed puja, sankalpa by pouring water on Maha Shiva and also kneeled down, bend and touch our head to Bhagawan Kedareshwara.

It was one of the best moments of our lives and we were thankful to Kedareshwara for blessing us with a darshana.

Here is a Darshan of Bhagawan Shri Kedarnath for you !

This is the Bheema Shila that saved the mandir during the 2013 massive floods.

Babas doing their Bum Bum Bhole 😁

Some more pics of us after the Darshan. A feeling of contentment.

Chapter 5 - Return from Kedarnath to Sonprayag (Descend)

After a divine darshan of Bhagwan Kedarnath, we started our return journey towards Sonprayag.

We started descending at 7:30am. The weather seemed fairly good and we even spotted a few helicopters along the way.

We noticed a lot of pilgrims riding the Khacchar wearing a rain coat. We had checked the weather forecast a day before and we wore our ponchos and rain deterring pants for the descend.

The weather changed along the way and in about an hour, it started raining. As we reached Ram Bada, it was pouring heavily with water flowing along the way. There were many areas where the water was gushing along and we really had to walk very cautiously.

Since it was pouring heavily, we couldn't click pics or videos along the way. It was beautiful and picturesque but we could only capture it with our eyes. There were many waterfalls along the route. In some locations the water was close to knee deep, our shoes were completely filled with water and we had to frequently remove and drain them.

We also heard from some of the pilgrims that were ascending that there were some areas with landslides and falling rocks due to which they were stopped and their ascend was forcibly slowed down. We had to constantly monitor for any falling rocks and walked cautiously. 

After walking for many hours, we kind of lost track of time and distance. Each of us felt like we were in some zone like a continuous limbo of walking. It felt like we were walking since days. Our minds were playing tricks on us due to the fatigue.

We finally reached Gaurikund, exhausted both physically and mentally. We sat at Anup restaurant waiting for the others and our legs started cramping due to dehydration and continuous descend. We had some chai pakoda to re gain some energy and also drank lot of water to help our muscles recover.

After everyone regrouped, we would finally get the Jeep back to Sonprayag only to be told that all vehicles had been stopped due to landslides and falling rocks. So we had to walk another 7 km which felt like 70.

But when we saw the vehicles which were damage due to falling rocks we felt it was the right decision by the authorities to stop all vehicles. 

Below are some pictures of the damaged vehicle.

We finally arrived at Sonprayag (Sitapur precisely), really really really exhausted and found out that the Dham had been closed for all pilgrims without any update on when it would open again. We felt really lucky that we got the Darshan and then the Dham closed. If we were a day late we would have missed the Darshan as well. 

Finally, after 9 hours of walking downhill in incessant rain, we finally got into our vehicle at 4:30pm headed towards Rudraprayag feeling contented and looking forward to a darshan of Shri Badrinath ji.

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This was one of the toughest treks I've ever encountered and a very memorable one too. I hope this blog helps you plan your trip to Kedarnath and get a darshan of Bholenath, Kedarnath, Mahakaal, Maha Shiva, Rudra Bhagawan, Eeshwara, Neelakantha and much much more......

If you plan to take a helicopter ride, it begins and ends at GuptKashi. Distance of 45km covered in 15mins (during good weather) and costs about 3750 one way. Please plan accordingly.

Thank you for taking time and reading through this blog ! Wish you all the best for your trek to Kedarnath !

Har Har Mahadev ! Jai Bholenath ! Jai Kedarnath ! 

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Do read the following to understand about the list of things to pack for the trip to Kedarnath

1. Trekking shoes - waterproof and high heel

2. Rain wear (Poncho, Lowers)

3. Bags - Backpack

4. Cargo pant - 2 pants

5. T shirts polo - 3 shirts

6. Winter Jacket 

7. Waterproof Pouch for Phone

8. Travel Pouch (optional)

9. Gloves and thermal wear (optional)

10. Sun glasses (Optional)

11. Cap (optional)

12. Bath accessories

13. Emergency medicines including painkillers & paracetamol

14. Snacks preferably Dry Fruits, Peanut Chikki, Chocolates 

15. Portable Flashlight/Torch

16. Power bank

17. Portable Mobile Phone Charger

18. Water Bottle

19. Slippers

20. Sweatshirt for overnight sleep

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Blog written & published in July 2023 by Krishna Sathyanarayana, Bangalore, India