In the state of Uttarakhand, away from the city glamour, there lies an untouched valley called Chopta, that can easily evoke the wanderer inside you. It has the famous Chandrashila-Tungnath trek, which is a year-round trek offering same level of thrill and adventure in every season. This spell-bounding trail is considered as one of the most beautiful treks in Garhwal Himalayan region and offers a spectacular view of Oak, deodar and rhododendron with snow-covered peaks.

Here is the guide how to reach Chopta from Delhi:

• By Road: Private buses, government buses, and taxis are easily available from Haridwar to Chopta
• By Air: Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun is the nearest airport to Chopta which is 116 Km from Tungnath.
• By Rail: Nearest railhead is Haridwar (225 Km from Chopta) which is well connected with other cities like Delhi.

One can book private taxis/travelers from local agents for comfortable journey, just like we did.

We planned our stay at Holiday Hike Camp & Hotels (Nilkanth Camps), which is located within 1 km from the starting point of Chandrashila-Tungnath trek. This place is owned by an awesome Pahadi Guy – Nitin Negi who was also our trek buddy. He and his fellows offered us their heart-warming hospitality in Chopta at a nominal price of 4000 per head for 2 nights and 3 days. One can get a really comfortable and budget stay, yumm pahadi food accompanied with beautiful landscapes here.

Fueling the adventurer inside us, we started the trek with loud enchanting of “Bam Bam Bhole” in the dim moonlight on 19 April 2019. Soaring up at 13000 feet, adorned with coniferous and snow, covered with a blanket of blooming rhododendrons, this is one heck of a trek you must take. The beauty of the trek was unrivalled, and with every step we discovered a never-seen before scenery, it simply was a moment to witness.

It is a moderate level trek of 4 km that could be covered in 3-4 hrs (In summers) and 4-5 hrs (In winters), however, the morning dew made it a bit challenging for us to move ahead on slippery snow and it took us 6 hrs to reach the almighty, Tungnath temple. Tungnath (meaning- Lord of the peaks) is one of the highest Shiva temples in the world, located at an altitude of 3680 m (12,072 ft) it is believed to be 5000 years old spiritual architecture.

The view from the top was mesmerising, if only i could express it in words, a serene temple in the centre of the snow covered peaks, the snow was fresh glittering like a blanket of white diamonds. You could easily feel the silence that speaks a lot about the unrivalled art of nature. We spent like 2-3 hours there feeling proud enough that we completed it, clicking selfies/groupies, dancing like no one was watching and what not.

With friends, fun and the adventure, we realised that it’s time to get back where we belong, three days passed in a blink. With the memories of our fantabulous trip we packed our backpacks, bid farewell to our hosts and started our journey back to Delhi with a promise to never miss the call when mountains would be calling.

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