Driving Holiday in the Hills [ Delhi - Chakrata - Kanesar - Hanol - Mori - Lakhmandal - Mussorie - Delhi ]

Hill-Driving Holiday

Far removed from city life, traffic jams, crowded workplaces and the Internet yes, Uttaranchal in India does boast of relatively unexplored locales where there's space unlimited, and human beings limited. These are lands mostly up north, off the beaten path and over nifty roads carved into the mountains by the British decades ago. With a group of 5 wanderlusts: Jayanta Sarkar (the man with excellent PR skills), Ashok Sarkar (the paidayeshi Driver on the Hills), Animesh Guha (the baba for every occasion), Manish Aggarwal (the only vegetarian or should I say eggitarian in the group) and myself, Dipankar Sengupta, we decided to undertake the holiday in the hills and started for Chakrata on the 29th September, 2006 at 5:30 am early morning from our homes in Delhi.

The Route to Chakrata
Delhi to Chakrata: 351 km Driving time (approx): 7 hours

• Bhikaji Cama. Take the Grand Trunk Road (NH1) from Delhi and head towards Karnal. (145.4)
• Road junction. Right goes to Yamunanagar. DO NOT take this turn. Head straight. (174.8)
  Pipli junction. Turn right for Yamunanagar. (198.8)
• Fork. Veer left towards Yamunagar. (213.7)
• Yamunanagar. (215.7)
• Roundabout at Yamunanagar bazaar. Turn left towards Jagadhri and Poanta Sahib. (221.8)
• Roundabout. Turn right towards Poanta Sahib on SH6A. Left goes to Chandigarh and Ambala,straight goes to Yamnotri. (223.5)
• Roundabout. Turn left towards Poanta Sahib. (255.6)
• Forest checkpost, Tajewala. Continue straight for Poanta Sahib. (267.4)
• Haryana-Himachal Pradesh border. Continue straight on SH1. (274.8)
• Road junction. Turn right towards Poanta Sahib and Dehradun. (277.9)
• Roundabout. Turn right towards Dehradun (48km) and Poanta Sahib (2km) on NH72. (280.5)
• Bridge over the Jamuna. (290.8)
• Crossroads. Turn left towards Chakrata. Straight goes to Dehradun. (294.3)
  Herbertpur town. (294.9)
• Crossroads. Continue straight towards Chakrata. (306.8)
• Road junction. Continue straight towards Chakrata. Right goes to Yamnotri. (310.0)
• Checkpost, Kalsi. (328.7)
• Up gate for Chakrata.
• Chakrata. (351.3 )

Note: The 22.6 km winding road up to Chakrata is very narrow and traffic is allowed in only one direction at a time. You might have to wait at this gate for some time before it opens.

Paonta Sahib

The drive from Delhi takes you along NH1, past Panipat and Karnal, to the Pipal junction. Here we turn right for Yamunagar and from thereon head towards Paonta Sahib. We reached Paonta Sahib at around 11:30 am.

Paonta Sahib is situated on the bank of the river Yamuna. There is a Gurudwara dedicated to the tenth sikh guru, Gobind Sigh, who spent five years here. It is a bustling town. The story goes that the place aquired its name after the Guru has lost an ornament that he wore on his foot, known as Paonta. The second in the triangle is Paonta Sahib, a city sacred to the memory of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs. Paonta to Renuka is one arm of the triangle.

Situated on the Yamuna River, Paonta Sahib is a bustling township with growing industries. It is one of the important places for the Sikhs. It retains tangible memories of Guru Gobind Singh in the form of his weapons and a majestic Gurudwara. It recalls his presence even in the name of the city which is derived from Paonta meaning "foot", either because he set foot on this place or, according to an alternate story, he lost an ornament which he wore on his foot called "Paonta" while bathing in the Yamuna river.

We all decide to take a trip inside Paonta Sahib Gurudwara. We made our entry for the sangat, the holy congregation and spent some time inside the gurudwara to the soothing strains of the gurbani being recited.

Date: 29/09/2006 Time: 11:30 AM

Traveling west towards Paonta Sahib, we reached a place called Herbertpur. From there, a road bifurcates towards Vikasnagar and Kalsi. On way to Kalsi we passed Yamuna Hydel Project at Dak Pathar. It is 45 kms from Dehradun and is one km off route from Dehradun-Chakrata road. It is a place worth visiting because of its green lawns, blooming gardens and obviously the Hydel Project. From here one gets a good glimpse of beautiful Yamuna Valley.

We reached Kalsi after crossing Yamuna at a point 3 kms upstream from Dak Pathar. Kalsi is a small town known for its Ashokan rock edict. Since we missed the 12:00 noon gate, we decided to take our lunch at Kalsi. We had a gourmet of a meal with chicken and roti, little did we realise that non-veg food will be difficult to get once we were on the hills. We also paid a visit to the Ashokan rock edict and the caretaker was very helpful once the PR charms of Jayanta got going. The garden inside the rock edict was very well maintained and we spent close to about half an hour there. Animesh and Manish made good use of the new toilet whose keys were made available by the caretaker. Kalsi-Chakrata road is not very broad and gate-system is in force. Gate opens every two and a half hour with timings of 7:00 am, 9:30 am, 12:00 noon, 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm. Crossing of traffic from two ends takes place at a place called Sahiya, 20 kms from Kalsi. The road between Kalsi and Sahiya is along a small hilly river and is prone to landslides. Hence it is advised to be very careful while driving especially if one is new to hill driving. With Ashok (the paidayeshi Driver) driving we literally had our hearts in our mouth all the way up the road till we reached Chakrata.

Taking the 2:30 pm gate, we reached Chakrata at 5:15 pm. Located at an altitude of 2135 m, Chakrata abounds in conifers, rhododendrons, oaks and other high altitude trees.

Chakrata

We arrived at Chakrata Forest Guest House on 29/09/2006 Time: 5:30 PM. We stayed at the Forest Guest House at Chakrata and had a very pleasant experience.

Chakrata is a picturesque cantonment town, ninety-two kms from Dehradun. It is a sleepy town devoid of any commercial activity or tourist crowd. Known for its salubrious climate and the panoramic views of the Himalayas and the surrounding area, Chakrata is slowly getting the attention of tourists running away from maddening crowd. It was Ashok Sarkar who motivated me to make this short trip to Chakrata and I cannot be more thankful to him. Situated at an elevation of 7000 ft (2118 mts), Chakrata is known for its pristine beauty.

While a part of the town is a cantonment for the Indian army, the northern part of Chakrata sub-division provides a fascinating landscape for trekkers and nature lovers with its virgin forests of conifers, rhododendrons and oaks.

Chakrata was made into a cantonment in 1866 at the recommendation of Colonel Hume. The dense forest is dotted with attractive villages of the Jaunsari tribe and has the 10,000 ft high peak of Kharamba as a backdrop. The northern slopes of Mundali (9000 ft) is where it is possible to ski, provided there is sufficient snow and you have the equipment and expertise. We could also get a glimpse of the snow clad Bandar Punch peaks during sunset in the distance.

Date: 29/09/2006 Time: 6:30 PM.

Manish like all of us, could not resist taking a stroll in and around the Chakrata Forest Guest House. We all basked in the pristine glory as the sun set on Chakrata. The creaking noise created by the forest insects provided the right music to the setting sun.

The DFO's Residence is just next to the Forest Guest House and has a beautiful garden.

The downhill trek from the forest Guest house leads to the market below where we ordered dinner for the night.

Surprisingly we could still get to hear all the FM channels broadcast from Delhi at the Guest House and Animesh kept us all entertained by playing the FM channels on his mobile.

The dinner was procured by the Chowkidar from the market below and we had a delicious meal and after quite a few rib tickling jokes from Animesh, we retired for the night.

We all slept early and got up at 4:30 am to see the sun rise. Day break happened, but the silhoutte of the snow clad peaks that was just starting to be visible disappeared as the sun rose from the snow clad mountains of the Bunder Punch ranges.

We all Left Chakrata Forest Guest House for Kanesar on 30/09/2006 7:00 AM.

Koti-Kanesar

We had a Forest Guest House reservation done and started for Koti-Kanesar, 26 kms from Chakrata early in the morning. On the Road to Kanesar from Chakrata on 30/09/2006 (8:30 AM) we stopped on the way and Children of local Garwalis greeted us and Ashok who brought a digital camera just before embarking on this trip decided to freeze frame this occasion.

Kanesar is an untouched forest area surrounding a beautiful meadow. The forest rest house in Koti-Kaneshar was under rennovation and even though we had a reservation could not stay at Kanesar. The Forest Guard was very helpful and Jayanta used all his PR skills to extract every bit of information on Kanesar from the Guard and other village folks there. We came to know that one can either camp in the forests of Koti-Kanesar or stay in Forest Rest House after obtaining permission from the forest department in Kalsi. The road is narrow, but motorable, with one or two bad patches which are prone to landslide. Mahendra Jeeps ply on this route but frequency is low and timing uncertain. There is a beautiful stream few kms before Koti-Kanesar and one can spend some time near the stream.

The forest guard also told us that right from the time of the British, a deodhar tree is given to each family of the village and in the event of a tree getting uprooted by a wind or dying of natural reasons, the tree's logs would become the family's which they could use for furniture.

Hanol

Since there was no accomodation available at the Kanesar Forest Guest House, we decided to move on towards Hanol and had to encounter treacherous roads on the way. The roads were being rennovated and all that was left in the name of the road were boulders and loose stones. Hanol Village is 120 km from Chakrata. It lies on the eastern bank of the river Tons. The village is famous for Hanon Mela, Hanol Mahasu Temple and Mahasu Devta's fair.

Hanol Mahasu Temple is situated at an altitude of 1429 m in the village of Hanol, 120 km from Chakrata and is some 188 km from Dehradun. It lies on the eastern bank of the river Tons. The deity of Buda Mahasu Devta is worshipped in the village of Hanol, on the eastern bank of the Tamas (Tons). It was originally constructed in the 'Huna' architectural style, but over the ages it acquired a mixed style. According to the legends, a demon lived here and devoured at least one man from the nearby villages, everyday. In Mandrath, one of the villages, a man decided to defy this tyrant. He worshipped Shiva who directed Deolari Devi, one of his woman devotees, to help the man. On hearing his story she requested her four sons to go to Mandrath. She also asked the man to plough his fields. On doing so he discovered four Shivalingams. Subsequently named Massu, Pavasi, Vasik and Chalda, after the names of Deolari Devi's four sons, whom she sent in search of the Demon. The sons of Deolari Devi surrounded the demon from all sides and in a battle lasting several days, the demon was killed. The villagers rejoiced and Shiva was worshipped as Mahasu ever after. The Hanol Mela celebrated every October draws a large crowd.

Date: 30/09/2006 Time: 3:00 PM

We decided to stay at Hanol at the Garwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Tourist Guest House and arranged a dormitory for the whole group.

In the evening we trekked down to the Tons river below and had a whale of a time with the ice cold waters of the raging Tons river.

Tons River Valley

Tons River, in Uttaranchal, is an important tributary of the Yamuna River. It has two feeder streams - Supin and Rupin rivers. These two rivers merge near Naitwar and the channel downstream is known as Tons River. It flows along the 'V'-shaped Tons Valley, before merging with Yamuna at Kalsi, around 50 km from Dehradun. The famous Duryodhan Temple in Jakhol is located on the banks of Tons River.

The Tons Valley lies in the region of Garhwal, with a unique culture and history. The social customs here differ from the rest of conservative Garhwal. Polyandry, and to some extent, polygamy, are the normal practice.The villagers claim that they are the descendants of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Unlike in other parts of Garhwal, Kinnaur and the Kullu Valley, where the Pandavas are revered as the righteous ones, in the Tons Valley people are over-awed by the Kauravas, the wrong doers, and worship them as gods. Netwar, where the temple of Karna is located, is one of the most significant places in Tons Valley.

The temple is a rectangular wooden structure with pent roofs lined with slates. Every year in mid January, the Festival of Ball is held in the temple grounds. The biggest temple of Duryodhana, Duryodhan Temple, is in Jakhol near Sankri. The people in Tons Valley smoke earthen pipes, bidis or coconut hookahs and spin wool on the spindles. Women wear silver ornaments.

Road to Purola

On the Road from Jarmola / Mori lies Purola, quite a town. From Jarmola (1800m) is a gradual descent of 22 km till Purula through one of the most beautiful pine forests in Asia, with spectacular views of the Purola valley and the Kedarkanta Peak (3813m). 16km downhill through the pine forests and apple orchards is the village Mori, the gateway of Tons valley, from where one road goes to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh (150 km) and the other, to Sankri (1900m). On the way we stopped and absorbed the scenic beauty of the pine forests and the valley below. The road was relatively much better than what we faced on the way from Kanesar to Hanol and the entire drive really felt like paradise. Jayanta kept on gulping as much fresh air as he could thinking that once he reaches Delhi he will have nothing like this for a pretty long time.

Refilling at Nowgaon

Nowgaon has the last petrol pump on this route. The road branches off here. The one leading to the left goes to Purola (1524m) and Tons Valley, while the other leads to Yamunotri and Uttarkashi. The petrol pump is 500 metres down the Yamunotri road. After crossing the iron bridge on the Yamuna, one leaves the Yamuna valley behind and beautiful pine forests herald the beginning of a different terrain. We filled in Jayanta's Fiat Palio's tanks to the brim and proceeded towards Lakhamandal.

Date: 01/10/2006 Time: 12:10 PM.

Road to Lakhamandal

From Nowgaon Town, one road leads to leads to Yamunotri and Uttarkashi. The river Yamuna is one of the two major sacred rivers of the Hindus. Yamuna is said to be the sister of Yama, the God of Death in the Hindu mythology and it is believed that a dip in the Yamuna ensures a smooth passage to the other world. Yamuna originates from Yamunotri (3165m) and merges with the river Ganga at Allahabad. The road that runs along the Yamuna for 54 km, starting from Nowgaon (1372m) right up to the Yamuna bridge (772m), offers some breathtaking frames en route. From the Yamuna bridge, it is a 42km drive via Nainbaag and Damta along the river till Bernigaad (1090m). From here the road turns off towards the historic site of Lakhamandal (1310m).

Date: 01/10/2006 Time: 12:30 PM

The Iron Bridge over the river Yamuna. We decided to stop at the bridge and take in the beautiful Yamuna in all its sprite and the scenery in the distance which was breathtakingly beautiful from the bridge. We met a few Fisherman boys preparing to catch Fish (Bam Fish). They were making the anchors which they proposed to lay across the river after sunset and catch the fresh water Bam fish on their anchors.

Lakhamandal

125 kms. from Dehradun via Herbertpur and 111 kms. via Mussoorie, Lakhamandal has a historical as well as mythological significance. It figures prominently in the annals of the Mahabharata. It was here that the Kauravas are believed to have built the Lakshagriha (House of Lac) to burn alive their cousins the Pandavas. Old temples of Shiva, the Pandavas and Parsuram are aplenty in this area.

Date: 01/10/2006 Time: 1:30 PM.

According to the epic, Mahabharata, the Kauravas had once conspired to burn the Pandavas alive here in a palace made up totally of shellac, known as lakshagriha (palace of shellac). The Pandavas, however, escaped unscathed with the help of Lord Krishna. There is a historic cave here and an eighth century temple with a number of carved stone figures and two big Shivlingas, (symbolic phallus of Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe in Hindu Mythology) all of which are of considerable archaeological importance. The Dwarpals guarding the temple - mythology has it that a dead man placed at the feet between the dwarpals would rise have food for the last time and then go back to their deaths for the funeral rites.

The area falls under Jaunsaar-Bhabur, a tribal land where people practise polygamy and polyandry, in keeping with the customs of the times of the Pandavas (the five Pandava brothers were married to a single woman, Draupadi).

There is a historic cave here and an eighth century temple with a number of carved stone figures and two big Shivlingas, (symbolic phallus of Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe in Hindu Mythology) all of which are of considerable archaeological importance.

The baba in our group, Animesh who had entertained us with his prabachans all along the journey on several occasions, was caught on camera on the night we spent at Garhwal Vikas Nigam Limited Guest House at Hanol doling out his prabachans and we decided to put this worldly baba in one of the caves when we found the actual baba missing. So we decided to morph Animesh's image that we had taken earlier and put him inside one of the historic cave.

Road to Mussoorie

We stopped on the road to take in the step cultivation on the banks of the Yamuna. It was a wonderful sight.
From the legendary and mythological temples of Lakhamandal (related to the exile of the Pandvas) with ancient sculptures of the 8th century A.D. we drive to Mussoorie, travelling through the Yamuna river past the Kempty Falls. You will be seeing remote, historical and cultural places of Jaunsar - Bawar, Rawai, Jounpur. We couls also see the Bandar Punch Ranges on the road to Mussoorie and all through the road it was nature at its very best. The hot mid-day sun too did not deter us from frequently venturing out of the car and basking in the glory that nature presented.

Date: 01/10/2006 Time: 3:00 PM

Kempty Falls, Mussoorie

The famous waterfall, Kempty Falls, is 13 km from Mussoorie and is a good point to take a break and some refreshments. The stream from the Kempty Falls joins the Aglaar River that forms a tributary of the Yamuna. 12 km further is the Yamuna bridge which links Tehri district to Dehradun district.

Date: 01/10/2006 5:00 PM.

We continued on our journey through the night via Mussoorie and reached Dehradun at 7:30 PM and put up at the Forest Training College where we had a reservation. Early next morning at 4:30 AM we started back for Delhi and reached our homes at around 11:30 AM to resume our mundane urban life.