UTTARAKHAND TREKKING

An adventurous and exciting trip was arranged by our school for students of grades 5-11 to Uttarakhand, India for one whole week from 6th November to 15th

November’14. A team of 32 students began their journey at 9:40 pm on 6th

November, accompanied by a team of 3 teachers and returned at 5:20 am on 15th

November after an eventful week. Let’s now have a snapshot of their daily schedule during the trip.

Day 1

We had reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi early in the

morning at 2:10 am and next we had to immediately board a bus to Dehradun for

a journey of 8 hours. On the way, on the morning of 8th November, we got down

at a wayside restaurant for breakfast and then we restarted our journey to

Dehradun that took a few more hours.

We reached Dehradun in the afternoon, where we checked in Hotel Saffron Leaf.

We quickly refreshed ourselves, went to have lunch and after a few hours of nap,

we left to the market place for shopping.

TOGETHER AS A TEAM AT THE AIRPORT

ON THE BUS – READY TO FLY

FUNTIME on the FIRST DAY

A WELL-NEEDED NAPIN THE BUS

A SMALL BREAK FOR BREAKFAST EN ROUTE

DELHI TO DEHRADUN DONE

AT THE PALTAN BAZAR

Day 2

After all the packing was done at the hotel, we

visited the Forest Research Institute and the

Buddha Monastery where spent some time in

shopping and clicking photographs. Later, after

lunch, we set out to Mussoorie, the queen of hills

that afternoon. The journey was for about an

hour during which we rejoiced in singing and

dancing.

BUDDHA TEMPLE

F R I, DEHRADUN

HOTEL IN MUSSOORIE

READY TO EXPLORE MALL ROAD

NIGHT FUN

Day 3

The next day after visiting the market place and enjoying the landscape of the hills we travelled to Uttarkashi, which was a journey of 8 hours. We reached Uttarkashi in the morning of 11th November.In Uttarkashi, we stayed at Shivlinga resort situated between the hilly ranges. Uttarkashi was our main point for our trek. At Uttarkashi, three trek experts, Mr. Vijay Bairav, Mr. Bhagyavan and Mr. Rajeev Rawat joined us who were guiding us all throughout the trek. At the market place, we had to buy sweatshirts, pants, woolen caps to protect ourselves from the extreme low temperatures at the base camps. Then, we visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, which was a divine experience. With the blessings of the Lord, we began our adventurous journey.

ON THE WAY TO UTTARKASHI

RESORT IN UTTARKASHI

EVENING VISIT TO TEMPLE

Day 4We began our day at 6:00 am when we started packing our clothes and other necessary items for our survival in the dense forests. We all left the resort at 8:00 am. It was half an hour’s drive to the trek area. We started our trek at 8:45 am from Uttarkashi to Bevra via Agora village, and the distance was 8 km. The trek was astounding, during which we found many waterfalls, huge mountains, valleys etc. By the afternoon, we had reached our first base camp Bevra. We had our lunch, took rest and then unpacked all our necessity items while the tasty food was being cooked for us. That evening all the senior students went to collect wood for bonfire and then we set it up for the dinner. We were playing games, singing songs, dancing and so on that night. Every moment on the mountain was so relaxing and we felt we were in Mother Nature’s lap, away from the madding crowd and without the influence of technology and electricity.

READY FOR TREKKING

ALL SET, READY TO TREK

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

GETTING WARMER

LANDSCAPE AT THELANDSLIDE AREA

SECOND WIND

ON THE WAY TO A VILLAGE

MEETING WITH THE VILLAGERS

REST TO RECOUP

TREKKING CONTINUES

NIFTY NARROW PATH

MEANT TOREACH MANJHI

THERE IS NO ONE WAY TOCROSS A RIVER

A TREAT FOR THETIRED TREKKERS

SETTING UP TENTS

CAMP FIRE TO BEAT THE COLD

FUN WITH FIRE

Day 5From Bevra we again started our trek to Manji, our second base camp. The

distance covered was 8km. We reached Manji in 5 hours. The amazing part of

the trek was going to Dodital Lake, our final destination of the trek. Only

physically fit and determined students went for it. Among 32 students only 12

students took up the challenge. The students who went to Dodital had

experienced a very tough trek as we had to cross a dense forest without any

break before sunset or else we could encounter wild animals. The students

reached Dodital at the just a few minutes before dusk! They shared their

experiences with the other mates, the view, and the stories behind Dodital

and the students who had reached Dodital were nicknamed ’Dodital

Winners!’

THE WAKE UP CALL

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

THROUGH ANOTHER VILLAGE

TREKKING GETTING TOUGHER

REMEMBERING BABA JI KATHULLU

HELPING EACH OTHER

BEING WITH NATURE

RESTING ON THE CLIFF

THE TEAM TOWARDS DODITAL

NEAR THE ZENITH

BLESSINGS OF BHAIRAVNATH

DEEP INSIDE THE DENSE FOREST

REACHED DODITAL

MAGGI NEVER TASTED THISGOOD

CARE TO CLEAN?

Day 6The Dodital trekkers came back to Manji and after their breakfast along with the rest of the students, reached Bevra and then from there returned to Uttarkashi. That day we had covered 21 km down the mountains. We reached Uttarkashi just 2 minutes before it was dark which was a very thrilling part of our trek. At the end of the trek we all felt so proud of ourselves and happy that we could complete it during the day.

DAWN AT DODITAL

BIRTH PLACE OF LORDGANESHA

ON THE WAY TO JOIN THE REST

TOGETHER AS A TEAM AGAIN

BACK TO THE BASEJOURNEY

PETTING AVILLAGE DOGGY

BIRTHDAY BASH INUTTARKASHI

Day 7

The next day we all woke up at 8:00 am and travelled to Rishikesh for Ganga Aarti. It was a 6 hour journey by bus. We reached Rishikesh in the evening and we immediately attended the Ganga Aarti which was very beautiful and soulful. Then we went to the market place to buy a few souvenirs.

TOWARDS RISHIKESH

IT’S TIME TO REST AND RELAX

ON THEWAY TO RISHIKESH

NATURE AT ITS BEST

BIDDING GOOD BYE TO THEHIMALAYAS

GANGA ARATI AT THE GHAT

HOTEL IN RISHIKESH

Day 8The next morning we all went rafting. The seniors along with very few juniors started rafting from Shivpuri and the rest from Brahmapuri. Rafting at Rishikesh is considered as the most adventurous rafting in India. It was a very good lifetime experience when the students jumped into the Ganges and swam in the river. After the rafting, we got refreshed, had lunch and returned to Delhi. We then went to Domino’s pizza, celebrated Children’s day and boarded our flight at 2:00 am at the IGIA airport.

READY FOR RAFTING

GET SET GO……………

BRAVE HEARTS ON THE BOAT

SWIMMING IN THE GANGES

DONE WITH RAFTING

BACK IN THE BUS

THE TREKKING TEAM

EVERY CLICK COUNTS

Overall, it was a very adventurous and a memorable experience for all the members of the team that would be etched in their memory forever.

Sai Sindhu11 B