Deoriatal is one of the most beautiful lakes of The Himalaya. We had the opportunity to go there in Oct 2008. It was a bright sunny morning when we reached Haridwar…the gateway of Garhwal Himalaya. We took a cab and set off for Rudraprayag. The road was typical Himalayan highway with gorge at one side and the mountains at the other. Rudraprayag is one of the pilgrimage places of the Garhwal Himalaya. The two famous rivers of North India, viz. Bhagirathi & Alakananda have merged here and this is one of the five prayags. We shifted to a roadside hotel at Rudraprayag and spent the night there.
The very next day morning we had our breakfast and visited the Prayag. It is one of the holy places of North India. One has to get down through the stair cases to get there at the particular spot where the two rivers are getting merged. We carried on with our journey to Ukhimath. This place has a big significance in the religious culture of India. In the winter season when the Kedarnath is completely under thick layer of ice the Shiva Idol is worshipped from this place only. Bharat Sevashram Sanagha has one of their resthouses here. Anyways, after having lunch at Ukhimath we set off for Sari, a small hamlet where from the trek route for Deoriatal is originated. We arrived at Sari in the afternoon at around 1:30-2:00 pm. And here we met Mr. Negi who will be taking care of us for the next couple of days. He has got two tents just beside the taal which is a steep upward journey from Sari. We took few absolute necessary belongings with us and kept our sacks in Mr. Negi’s house at Sari and started walking. Initially the road was between the village huts but soon we left all of them behind and were in midst of thick forests. Mr. Negi has sent a little, shy boy, named Raju, with us as our guide for this 4 km uphill journey. Raju was initially a bit circumspect but soon he became a good companion and kept on providing much information about the flora and fauna of the locality. The road to Deoria is a typical Himalayan walkthrough with boulders and rocks. The road is more or less covered by the overhanging branches of the roadside trees. So although it was quite sunny still we didn’t have much trouble. There are slabs for taking rest while walking. Eventually we reached our destination without facing a leopard or bear which according to Raju, is a very common phenomenon in this part of the world. Deoriatal is a holy lake of the Garhwal Himalaya and is famous for bird watching. It’s indeed a bird watchers’ paradise. We occupied two tents immediately and amazed to see that there is a small tea stall there beside the lake. Further enquiry revealed that this shop is also owned by Mr. Negi. We had a cup of warm tea and went off to explore the place. We scouted the every possible portion of the place and finally returned to our tents as it was getting dark very fast. It was a full moon night and we helped ourselves with a few pegs of vodka and enjoyed the night thoroughly unless the people engaged in the tea stall came to us and after handing over our dinner box went downhill to Sari. Now we were alone amidst the thick forests. Before going into the tent we saw a glimpse of the mountain range but that was just a very thin line in the sky…nothing else. The night was one of the most exciting nights in my life. It was so silent that you could listen to the sounds of dew drops on the ground. With every sound of the night we thought that this could easily be a leopard or a bear or some other creature approaching towards us. Anyways the animals of the locality didn’t say anything to us (perhaps they took pity on these foolish Calcations) and the night finally came to an end. The morning came with a clear sunny sky and what a scene it was! All the famous Garhwal Himalayan peaks are in front of us. Cowkhamba was the best of the lot. We found a broken watch tower at some distance from the lake and took few snaps of the peaks from the top of the tower. It was an awesome experience to watch the peaks getting red with the first ray of the sun and then getting yellow and finally became white. We had our breakfast and started walking downhill to Sari. Our cab was waiting there to take us to our next destination – Chopta.
Useful informations:
Ukhimath is well connected by road with Haridwar, the gateway of Garhwal Himalaya. One can take a cab to Ukhimath or there is direct bus service from Haridwar but probably only one bus goes to Ukhimath directly from Haridwar.and that too very early in the morning.
For booking tents at Deoriatal you have to get in touch with Mr. Lakpat Singh Negi @ +917966057128 and +919411554291.
Enroute to Ukhimath one can stay at Rudraprayag to avoid a hectic and troublesome journey.
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