Year end visit to UK (Uttarakhand :P)
First off, this trip was going to be my last adventure in the Himalayas for a while since I’ve already explored Sikkim, Ladakh, Kashmir, Himachal, Spiti, Arunachal, and also Assam Meghalaya in earlier trips. So, this trip was going to be extra special, and we had this hidden agenda of experiencing snowfall – if possible!!!
After thinking a lot, we finally decided to focus on Auli and Munsiyari as our go-to snowfall spots for the trip. We planned a 10-day round trip from Mumbai to Pantnagar and back, from December 23, 2023, to January 1, 2024. Since there were only connecting flights to Delhi and Jaipur from Pantnagar in 2023, we had to catch a connecting flight at Delhi. We chose Pantnagar because it’s the closest airport to cool places like Nainital and Pithoragarh.
P.S.: We found out later from the cab driver that catching a direct flight from Mumbai to Bareilly would actually be a much better option!
So, by the end of September, when we finally nailed down the travel dates, we quickly got the flights sorted and then moved on to sorting out the hotels and cabs. The hotels were filling up fast, and by the first week of October, we had everything sorted. Even though it was just the two of us, we decided to go for an SUV instead of a sedan since we were expecting some snow on the way and knew the road conditions might be challenging, like our trip to Spiti.
Now, without further ado, the day-by-day details of our visit-
Dec 23 – So, we strolled out of Pantnagar airport around 11:55, and guess what? No sign of the cab driver. Can you believe it? Usually, they’re right there waiting for us, but not this time. Turns out the cab company switched drivers on us. After waiting for a whopping 45 minutes, our ride finally showed up. Those were some precious minutes wasted, especially since the days are so short in December. Finally, we hit the road and managed to get to our Nainital hotel by around 3:30 pm.
Nainital town is all about the Naini lake (Taal means lake in Hindi) and the mall road that runs along the lake. Loads of hotels overlook the lake. When we went, it was peak tourist season, and let me tell you, the authorities were seriously struggling to handle the traffic. We couldn’t even get our cab close to the hotel – had to park it miles away at assigned spots. We checked out the Ma Naina Devi temple and then grabbed a late lunch at Anupam Restaurant. Gotta say, the Kumaoni thali we had there was absolutely banging and is a must-try for anyone visiting Nainital. It was definitely one of the best parts of the trip. There are a couple of other cool spots in Nainital like the Eco Cave Park and Snow View Point (where you can see snow-covered mountains from a distance). Our driver wasn’t the most helpful, and it was getting close to sunset, so we decided to skip those places.
Dec 24 So, the plan for the next day was to drive for about 4 hours from Nainital to Kausani. We wanted to get going early, reach Kausani in good time, and do some sightseeing there. But, surprise surprise, the Ertiga had broken down, and we were told we wouldn’t be able to leave until around 11:00. After a lot of waiting, numerous phone calls, and some tall tales, they finally arranged for a new vehicle, an Innova with a new driver. It was already 3:00 by the time we got going from Nainital, and due to heavy traffic in the hills, we didn’t reach Kausani until around 21:00. We had booked a mountain view resort, looking forward to enjoying the stunning view of the snow-covered Nandadevi mountain range. Sadly, we got there so late that we had to wait until the next morning to see it in all its glory.
Dec 25 Today we had big plans to get an early start. We left our resort at 6:30 and drove straight to Rudradhari falls and cave temple. It’s a natural setup with a Shiva temple. The trek to get there took at least 30 minutes and it was quite a workout. When you get there, it’s best to hire a guide at the entrance (we paid Rs. 400) because there are no signs or marked paths to the falls. Even Google Maps won’t be much help since there’s no phone signal. On the way back to the resort, we also stopped by Anashakti Ashram, a place built in memory of Mahatma Gandhi. He visited Kausani and called it the Switzerland of India. Plus, from the ashram you get an amazing view of the Nandadevi range.
After we checked out around 10:30, we headed up towards Auli. We were really crossing our fingers to see some snow in Auli because the papers had said there was heavy snowfall on Dec 13 and we thought there might be more since it was the last week of December. But our driver told us it wasn’t gonna happen. He said the clouds didn’t look like they’d bring rain or snow. Little did we know, this was one of the worst years to see snow in the Himalayas. It was an ‘el nino’ year, and not just Auli, but most snow tourist spots in the Himalayas weren’t gonna have any snow this year. We didn’t take many breaks, and around 5:30, we checked into The Royal Village. This resort is right next to the GMVN ski-resort by the Uttarakhand government and it’s one of the best spots in Auli. The temperature started dropping, and it was expected to go down to 0-1 °C. Luckily, all the rooms (or cottages) had heaters. The 13 Dec snow had not completely melted and to our surprise, there was some snow lying around even beside our cottage. The view of the mountains was absolutely breathtaking from our cottage.
Dec 26 We didn’t have much planned for the day. We knew there was a skiing spot and a meadow (Gurson Bugyal) nearby. We thought we’d take our cab there, but then we found out there’s a chair lift that can take us. It fits 4 people at a time and costs Rs. 500 per person. I’d totally recommend the chair lift to everyone because any view is only available on the other side. We were hoping for more snow, but we were still excited to explore whatever was there. When we reached the other side, we had a few options: we could either walk/trek with a guide (Rs. 1500 per guide) to Gurson Bugyal for a 300-degree view of the Himalayas, or we could take a Tata Safari ride to a nearby snowpoint (Rs. 2500 per vehicle, less if we shared). We weren’t in the mood for any trekking, so we opted for the ride to the snowpoint. There was a good amount of snow there, and a 180-degree (or whatever angle) view of the mountains was really satisfying. There’s also an artificial lake there, which for some reason the administration had chosen not to fill up. After taking the chair lift back to the other side, we asked our driver to take us to Joshimath (a bit downhill from Auli) where we had our lunch. We also visited the famous Narasimha temple in Joshimath.
Dec 27 After two days in Auli, today we started our drive towards Munsyari. We had planned 2 days stay at Munsyari but the drive from Auli to Musyari is about 10 hours and we did not want to do it at a stretch. So we had a planned overnight stoppage at Bageshwar, a small town – home to the Bagnath temple. The route from Auli to Bageshwar is almost like driving back to Kausani with the exception that at Bainath, insteadof taking a right towards Kausani, you drive straight to Bageshwar. We had planned to stop only at Karnaprayag and Baijnath temple on this day. At Karnaprayag, there is this holy confluence of two rivers – Pindari and Alkananda, where Karna had worshipped the sun god. In fact you can see the beautiful emerald colored waters of Alkananda beside the highway all the way from Joshimath to Karnaprayag (and Pindari from thereon).
Warrier Views 