Hdri

now trying to develop some HDRIs out of the Uttarakhand pics...

here are some from AULI...

i'll also love to ride that 50 kms of jungle stretch in group, that was so scenic but i was scared to take any pics...

@Archi: Ofcourse, you would have to tag along, I am too lazy to search for the right route anyways..

you must be right... will check the map i followed for my confirmation..

thanx, BRO is really doing good work there but monsoon takes itls toll and it is a regular story so cant say that the roads were in bad condition...
i really missed mana village...

thanx Aryan, and sorry for holding these for a long time...
and yes please dont forget to inform me before u decide to ride Auli...

@Archi: Finally, you post the Auli pictures and what pictures! Marvelous my friend..Loved them; makes the itch to visit Auli more pronounced..

Thanks a ton for sharing these god-awesome pictures with us here brother; gawked at those lovely snow clad hills for a good ten-fifteen minutes before moving on to the text. And even while I was reading the text, I could not stop myself from scrolling up and down continously, from time to time JUST to have a glimpse of these wonderful vistas!

Thanks a lot again; you have made "just another" boring day at work oh so interesting!

@Archi:

each looking better than the other. I am reminded of my trip (in a bus) to Haridwar-Joshimath-Hemkunt sahib(trek from govindghat(??))-Badrinath-Mana gaon-Auli. in 2002 summer. I assume the road conditions have improved a lot cuz then the BRO was working on a number of roads.

About Mana gaon. you would have found a temple which is essentially a cave. and a so called "Bharat ki aakhri chai ki dukaan"

you must be right, i even dont remember the exact name of the place from where we took diversion wheather it was Rudraprayag or Chamoli. but as far as i remember, Gopeswar is 10 kms from Chamoli... so it should be Chamoli.... check it out siku....

and yes, the jungle route was really scary. we only found 2 dhabas at Chopta. and we only found a jeep in between but was a amazing experience....

@ archistar there is an error in your log .the way to kedarnath that u r saying goes from chamoli , gopeshwar and chopta to okhimath .there is another way from rudraprayag but on that route u dont go to chopta and gopeshwar.
btw i agree with u that the jungle route is the most scenic route in the whole uttarakhand i went there last year on my car and its just so pretty and lush green and we did get to see some small animals in the jungle .but its also scary cos there is no dhaba ,no settlement sor long distance and very difficult to get any help in case of emergency cos it is not a very frequented route.

thanx, the place was really beautiful and it was a ride worth to remember...


Auli...


at Chopta...

the place is so beautiful.you surely had a great ride and greater destination to reach. i really envy you for this dude!nice pics,all of them.

Day 4

DAY – IV (28th ) (Saturday) (Diwali)

Auli is a beautiful place. When I came out of the room at 7 in the morning I was seeing snow cladded mountain peaks all around. It was very very pleasing. The shadows of the clouds on the mountains were creating a very dramatic effect. After seeing all these we decided to explorer the place a little. Got ready by 8.00 AM and met a person who was the in charge of the construction of the helipad at the top. And he told that the view from the Auli top is superb. And there is a facility of cable chair cars to the top from the GMNV guest house. And we have to trek for about 1 kilometer to reach the top. But the cable car service was to be started at 9 AM. So waited for it and captured some images exploring the place.

AULI…














The cable car that runs from Joshimath to Auli…
















some day i'll explore these unknown routes, these are looking so good!!!



The experience in the cable car was little scary because of the barren land below. The work was in progress in making gentle slopes for skiing. 10 minutess in cable car and nearly 30-40 minutes trek to the top, it was worth it. I was standing and seeing the snow peaks at my eye level only. The whole 360 degree view was beautiful. The most interesting part was the sky. It was changing its texture in every 15-20 minutes. It was a great experience capturing. Nandadevi peak was also visible. We spent good two hours there enjoying and capturing the nature.












The Chair car that runs from Auli GMVN guest house to hill top…


Me n Om…



Returned to the guest house by 12 o’clock. Now it’s tome to rush and we need to cover 300+ kilometers to reach Rishikesh. And we had total 6 hours in hand as we decided no night rides again (but how both the things are possible :O). It was impossible to cover 300+ kms in hills in 6 hours. But still we decided to ride till Devprayag if the time permits. After doing a very quick breakfast we walked down to our bike and started and I was feeling very uncomforted to ride with out Gloves (I lost them the day before).









We tried to ride faster and reached Rudraprayag by 2.00 PM. And we were hungry and it was also impossible to ride till Devprayag in 4 hours so decided to have lunch there. We were standing at a Y point and were searching for a place to have our food. Just then Om pointed towards a signboard showing ‘Kedarnath-130 Kms’.

Me: ‘What?’
Om: can’t you see the sign board?
Me: Yes, but what? (I was guessing something)
Om: what about riding there!
Me: You mad or what?
Om: Listen, it’s impossible to reach Rishikesh today and if we will reach Delhi by tomorrow evening still there will be a day left. So why not to use that day!!!
Me: But we have no spare tube and we also never querried about the route?
Om: Jo hoga dekhajeyega…
Me: No, we cant take the risk this time, the tyre is little bald too. (But I was seeing some more fun in the Hills)
Om: OK, then lets try some 10 kms and then we can decide to go or not.
Me: OK, done. Let’s go for it.

And this decision to ride till Badrinath gifted me another adventurous ride…
Coming to it soon…

We decided to ride till Gopeswar, some 10-12 kms away. And we enquired about the road condition and the response was positive. The roads were narrow but welcoming. I was loving the beauty all around and the ride along with the stiff cliffs. I was enjoying the loneliness in the mountains as there were very less (almost none) traffic all around (later it became a nightmare… the loneliness ).

We were running short of cash and dint wanted to take a chance unlike the day before at Auli…. . and the Uni was also thirsty. So got cash from SBI ATM at Gopeswar and got the tank full there. And I really don’t remember any ATM in my next 250-270 kms ride till Devprayag.

An adventurous ride started from here. After some kilometers we felt that we are going thru jungle and it was continued till Chopta for some25 kms. The trekking route for Tunganath starts fron Chopta. So there were 1-2 dhabas there. After Chopta we also got some 25+ kms of the jungle route and this 50+ kms ride was the best part of my Uttarakhand Ride. The ride was really adventurous. We dint find a single person in these 25 kms. And the ride thru the jungle was little scary and I was scared of getting a flat tyre. Later we came to know that there were really some animals in that Jungle.


























It was dark when we reached Okhimath. But we decided to ride till Kedarnath the same day. So night ride in the hills again. The roads were in very good condition and we reached Gourikund at 7.30 PM. This place was also to be closed in a day because Shree Kedarnath temple remain closed in winter from the day after Diwali. So there was very less crowd and the rooms were very cheap (200 bucks) but the only problem was food. Anyways after dinner we decided to start as early as possible as we have to cover 14 kms on foot for Shree Kedarnath Temple. We were forgetting that it is Diwali then Om got a packet of Phuljhadi from a shop and a peaceful diwali was celebrated in 5 mins….


Route – Auli-Joshimath-Rudraprayag-Gopeswar-Chopta-Okhimath-Gourikund
and the route from HELANG to PIPALKOTI was the best part and i enjoyed it most. wide and welcoming roads with very good tarmac.
Kms Covered – 191 Kms



P.S.: wrote a more detailed log but got that file corrupted… and sorry for the grand delay....

OT...
sorry bro... nw check your mailbox...

my photo archi forgotten???????

sorry bro, tomorrow must....

Archi
Auli
ASAP