Satopanth Tal Trek

Journey from Haridwar to Joshimath is a long one, but definitely not a boring one. As you swirl up, you come across the Prayags ( confluence of rivers) of Uttrakhand, coming down from the Himalayan Glaciers on the higher reaches of the Himalayan state. These rivers unite to form the mighty Ganga which flows down Haridwar to rest for India. Ganga is known as the lifeline of India, and Uttrakhand - The Dev Bhoomi ( God's Land)

The streets are colorful too !! 

Travelling in mountain roads for 280 KMS can be really tiring. So take a good sleep in your hotel tonight. 

After resting last night, we start our trek today. Early morning we pay our visit to the holy shrine of Badrinath. We may also chose to take a hot bath in the hot spring near the temple.

After visiting the temple, we come back for breakfast and then start our trek. We first head to the village of Mana, the last Indian village on Tibet border which is around 35 kilometers from here. In the beautiful village, we witness the confluence of the mighty Alaknanda river and Saraswati river, known as Keshav Prayag. Also located there is the Bheem Pool, which is regarded by the locals as a bridge made by huge rock thrown by Bheem, a Pandava to help Draupadi cross the mighty river.

Mana has lots of important places to visit and its important that we spend a day here to acclimatize better for our high altitude trek. We are already above 3300 meters, and spending time here will give our body the time to acclimatize better for coming days.

We start our day with an easy walk up the Alakananda river towards Vasudhara falls and Chamtoli.

After some gradual climb we hear sounds of gushing water. The sound increases as we keep walking and soon the mighty 400ft tall Vasudhara Falls makes itself visible. The sound of the water hitting the rock is heard from far distance. Its an amazing feeling witnessing the fall so high..

Little climb from here, and the flat walk takes us to a beautiful meadow of Chamtoli. You might find few shepherds here or their vacant caves. From here, cris crossing few boulders, we reach our campsite marked by a small forest of slanting Bhoj Patra trees.  

The surrounding views are great with sights of Alkapuri, the snout and starting point of Alaknanda river. The views will increase your heart beat here on the other side of the river. Other glaciers are also visible on the other side. On a clear weather, white peaks show themselves up here.

The route from here gets tricky and is over boulders. Huge cairns mark the way and during a bad weather, it really makes it difficult here. Stick with you guide. Crossing the bouldery area opens out to lots of small streams flowing down.. Its the beginning od Shahastra Dhara. 

The trail gets steeper from here and as we move on, grand views of Chaukhamba, Satopanth, Neelkanth, Parvati and Balakun open up making it further exciting to trek. An opening with smaller humps come up where we camp to get the best of the views for the remaining day.

On a clear weather, enjoy the great views of Mt. Neelkanth, Mt. Chaukhamba and Mt. Balakun from here.

Today we will be witnessing the serenity of the pious Satopanth Taal. Today's route is difficult with steep climb over glacial moraine. We stick together with our trusted guide and some serious trek of around 2 .5 hours gives us the glimpse of the beautiful lake surrounded all round by mighty and mesmerizing peaks of Neelkanth, Satopanth, Chaukhamba, Swargarohini and Balakun.

We worship the equilateral triangular lake and spend some good time seeping in the view and clicking photographs for the rest of the day. We specially camp here to see the magic of sunset and sunrise with the lake surrounded by giant snow cladded peaks.

After satisfying views of the place, today we make our journey backwards. We retrace our track till Laxmiban.

We retrace our track today and reach Badrinath. If we want, we may spare some time to take hot bath in Tapta Kund to relax ourselves.

Post lunch, we head back for Joshimath

Early morning, we board our cab to return to Haridwar/ Rishikesh.