Chakrata - The unhappening hill getaway

Posted on June 15, 2010 
Filed Under Blog, Satya Speaks

Chakrata, Tiger Falls and Vyasa Peak 

Chakrata is not popular yet in the conventional sense of the term when it comes to North Indian hill stations. It is conspicuous by its absence in the ‘Lonely Planet’ that is ubiquitous with any traveller.  The answer to that was evident shortly after we entered Chakrata – Foreign nationals are not allowed entry beyond Herbertpur (about 30 kms short). 

 A Non Happening place :

The best way to describe Chakrata and the nearby places is that it is a non-happening place. And that makes it the best thing as crowds are fewer, no mall roads that fill up in the evenings, the loudness is missing and there are far more hours per day that begs to be filled joyously!

 

Chakrata is reachable via Dehradun or Saharanpur or Paonta Sahib from Delhi. Herbertpur is the gateway to this rather unheard of and silent town that is about 2600 meters above sea level.  A couple of picturesque peaks reach as high as 3000 plus meters within a 30-40 minutes driving distance from Chakrata.

 Tiger Falls –

Have you heard of that name before ?  I got to know a couple of hours before we reached there that this is the second highest waterfall in Asia.  The visit to the location was a joy and an excitement in trekking.

 

I remembered a 4 hour long drive to a waterfall in the state of California about a decade ago. The most disappointing thing about the waterfall was the place itself.  The hype that the market-savvy societies generate and market themselves can be best illustrated by this rather disappointing trip to the waterfall whose name I have not cared to remember.  Of course, I have experienced this dozens of time subsequently in various first world landmarks.

 

By the same token, we must be self critical for being market-unfriendly to the point of being in stone age. The only sign board that shows the way to the Tiger Falls off the main ghat-way is a rusted iron board of about 2ft X 2ft.  The problem was the red-brown colour of the paint too to write on the rusted brown iron sign board J

 

Tiger Falls is about 130 feet high and provided a therapeutic bath. The mouth of the fall, when I looked up, was alluring enough for us to excite our three young guides (see pic against the Scorpio) to take us to the origin of the fall. They did not disappoint us. It was another trek that, we were told, is undertaken by very few visitors.  It took us about an hour more to reach the top of the waterfall and touch the mouth of the fall.  Nandu and Uma were equal to the task and made a trek that would have been vetoed by most of the home-folks and kids on an outbound trip like this.

   Devban and Vyasa Peak –

The legend is that the Deva would descend here for their meditation. There is an exclusive peak dedicated to the devamuni ‘Vyasa Maharishi’. A rock on the top of this hill has the inscription of the sloka – “vyasaya vyasaroopaya…..” from the Vishnu Sahasranamam.

 A Well Marked Map :

An enthusiastic army officer (name unknown) is attributed with marking out all the peaks that are visible from this spot. There is a well-marked directions that helps a layman like me to get a good view of the peaks including Nanda Devi, Dronagiri, Bandar Poonch etc,. (See pic).

 Bird Watching :

The local experts were right in guiding us about the richness of Himalayan birds that we were hoping to find. We could spot Himalayan Griffon (Vulture), Niltav (Flycatcher), Cattle Egret (Crane), Asian Open bill (Stork), Himalayan Swift (Sparrow), etc  (Check some of these pics). Needless to say, I had to consult my own in-house expert to populate this paragraph. J

 Pluck and Eat :

Peaches and Plum hang in the orchards that are unguarded. An unthinkable for city-zens like us. We were welcome to pluck and eat for the few days until the weekend crowd of three cars arrived from Chandigarh and Saharanpur. Promptly, the care-taker reversed his friendly invitations into a ban order !  However, we had had a fill of these fruits for a decade by then.

 

Yamnotri Glacier (the source of Yamuna) is about 90 kms further ahead from here. Not too far from the railhead (Dehradun) and yet one that offers all the thrills of a distant hill towns in the category of Joshimath is available here. The winter snow, we are told, brings in another category of excitement seekers for snow camps. Sounds like a good idea !

 

In sum,  if you are looking for that typical 3-4 day drive away from Delhi, ‘Chakrata’ can be added to your shortlist.

   Satya Narayanan R

Comments

2 Responses to “Chakrata - The unhappening hill getaway”

  1. pragati on June 20th, 2010 11:22 am

    Hi Satya,
    I revisited my ‘GAON’ through your writeup,thanx for the nostaligia.
    Pragati

  2. Anon on June 25th, 2010 6:38 pm

    You will get more comments on your blog if the link to give a comment is placed at the end of the post like it is on most blogs.

    Right now, it is a bit of a pain to locate it.

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