Day 1: 22 December 2015 -
Reaching Auli
Gaurav and Utkarsh had joined me in Delhi on 20th December. We three started our journey from Kashmere Gate, Delhi where we caught a bus to Haridwar at 11:40 pm on 21st December which took nearly 5 hours to reach the destination. We had reached before 5 am. A bus going directly to Auli was waiting and was about to start at 5:30 am; with some delay we began this stretch of journey, which was going to take nearly 12 hours, at around 6 am. If buses to Auli are not available then Joshimath (13 km from Auli) is the nearest place one should aim for. But one has to keep in mind the fact that buses do not usually ply during night in hills, thus buses from Haridwar to Auli or Joshimath would not be available after 7-8 am.
Customarily we took sips of tea before launching in the 6 am bus to Auli. The bus stopped midway at a number of places for all sorts of reasons. Starting with tea at Rishikesh, for breakfast just before Devprayag, to fix the deflated tire at Srinagar, and just some rest at Karnaprayag, Chamoli and for evening meals at Pipalkoti, we reached Joshimathonly at around 5:20 pm and then the bus driver and the conductor discussed if they should take the bus to Auli or not for the route might be covered with snow. Luckily they took the bus till high up. It was 6:30 pm, pitch dark and the day was 22nd December when we got down from the bus in front of the GMVN guest house at Auli.
On reaching GMVN, we looked for rooms that would be comfortable as well as moderate on our pockets. The room we took costed us INR 1880 including taxes for a day (12 noon to 12 noon). It had hot water and heater as well as sufficient number of quilts for the three of us. The hotel staff suggested us to keep one of the bathroom taps running at night so that water flowing in them doesn’t get frozen! GMVN’s restaurant offered us tasty food as well.
We had watched a little snow on the roads enroute in the fading light and couldn’t wait anymore to gambol in it. We threw our luggage in the room and ran out to find in that dim light wherever we could find snow sufficient to cut capers. We were ecstatic to find some and Utkarsh and I playfully emulated the Dilwale’s Gerua song in the snow. We took turns to take pictures and selfies but the light was just not enough. With high hopes that the next day will throw miraculous moments for us, we went to have some food in the restaurant, while the larger quota of food was brought by Utkarsh from home. He had brought some homemade mutter ki puris which we gorged on to as we knew it’d be long before we get to eat homemade food again. Back in the room we kept the heater on for some time till we got cozy in the bed and went off to a sound sleep turning the heater off and keeping a tap on.
Let me begin
by introducing you with my fellow travelers.
Gaurav:
Adventure club coordinator from our PGDFM batch (2013-15) at the Indian
Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.
Utkarsh:
Member of the winning and runners-up team of the flagship event of the
adventure club for two years.
Dinesh:
Another adventure enthusiast and an avid bird watcher.
Nishant:
Organizer of adventure events at IIFM and the planner of this whole trip.
We take
immense pride in being great amigos, adventure enthusiasts and carry a shared
philosophy for the benefit of nature and society.
Gaurav and Utkarsh had joined me in Delhi on 20th December. We three started our journey from Kashmere Gate, Delhi where we caught a bus to Haridwar at 11:40 pm on 21st December which took nearly 5 hours to reach the destination. We had reached before 5 am. A bus going directly to Auli was waiting and was about to start at 5:30 am; with some delay we began this stretch of journey, which was going to take nearly 12 hours, at around 6 am. If buses to Auli are not available then Joshimath (13 km from Auli) is the nearest place one should aim for. But one has to keep in mind the fact that buses do not usually ply during night in hills, thus buses from Haridwar to Auli or Joshimath would not be available after 7-8 am.
Customarily we took sips of tea before launching in the 6 am bus to Auli. The bus stopped midway at a number of places for all sorts of reasons. Starting with tea at Rishikesh, for breakfast just before Devprayag, to fix the deflated tire at Srinagar, and just some rest at Karnaprayag, Chamoli and for evening meals at Pipalkoti, we reached Joshimathonly at around 5:20 pm and then the bus driver and the conductor discussed if they should take the bus to Auli or not for the route might be covered with snow. Luckily they took the bus till high up. It was 6:30 pm, pitch dark and the day was 22nd December when we got down from the bus in front of the GMVN guest house at Auli.
On reaching GMVN, we looked for rooms that would be comfortable as well as moderate on our pockets. The room we took costed us INR 1880 including taxes for a day (12 noon to 12 noon). It had hot water and heater as well as sufficient number of quilts for the three of us. The hotel staff suggested us to keep one of the bathroom taps running at night so that water flowing in them doesn’t get frozen! GMVN’s restaurant offered us tasty food as well.
We had watched a little snow on the roads enroute in the fading light and couldn’t wait anymore to gambol in it. We threw our luggage in the room and ran out to find in that dim light wherever we could find snow sufficient to cut capers. We were ecstatic to find some and Utkarsh and I playfully emulated the Dilwale’s Gerua song in the snow. We took turns to take pictures and selfies but the light was just not enough. With high hopes that the next day will throw miraculous moments for us, we went to have some food in the restaurant, while the larger quota of food was brought by Utkarsh from home. He had brought some homemade mutter ki puris which we gorged on to as we knew it’d be long before we get to eat homemade food again. Back in the room we kept the heater on for some time till we got cozy in the bed and went off to a sound sleep turning the heater off and keeping a tap on.
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