Harshil is a place where one can easily stay for a week doing nothing. The only place worth staying is GMVN guest house which is basic. But who wants to stay indoors in a place like this?? There are lots of walks and treks to enjoy this pristine peace of earth. Gangotri temple is about 30 kms picturesque drive through rugged and rocky mountain with ribbon like river Bhagirathi cutting through before opening out at Harshil.

River bhagirathi escaping through marble like rocks at the base of Ganga mata temple

Harshil...Paradise

There are very few places as breathtaking as Harshil!!! The view of the place in the first light of day break got me completely by surprise. All the agony of a day long grueling drive seem to have vanished with the beauty of this place. With snow capped high mountains all around and valley down where river Bharirathi ( which becomes Ganga after confluence with Alaknanda and Mandakini, much lower before Rishikesh) spiraling is a scene straight from a picture post card.

Here one can see fresh snow on Bandarpoonch peak and Bhagirathi river bed.

We reach Gangrani at mid-night in biting cold. The only and best way to drive on this stretch is to follow tail lights of vehicle ahead. And if there's none to follow, then extremely carefully since the twists and turns can be most unpredictable.

drive between Gangrani and Harshil

So, this one covers my trip from Delhi to Gomukh through Chamba in May 2009. For reference, this route map will be useful.

Chamba, in Uttarakhand is about 60 km from Rishikesh. Driving out of Rishikesh, you straightway get into a climb through thick green hills of lower Himalaya. The first stop is Narindernagar, now famous for Ananda resorts ( erstwhile palace of Maharaja of Garhwal kingdom) now visited by the rich & famous for soul and body cleansing therapy. A two hours drive took us to Chamba, a moderately crowded town, district headquarter and therefore so I guess. We go past the center of town and drive another 1000 ft to Ranichauri where we join 3 more friends. Our stay here was in tents run by one the friends. The site offers great view of some of majestic peaks seen from this region like Chaukhamba, Bandarpooch, Kedarnath etc. After a night of bonfire and open air drinking & eating, we crash out for divine sleep in those comfortable tents.

The next morning we load our Scorpio loads of provision and alcohol of all kinds from the Chamba and drive off for a day long drive on some of the most scenic yet treacherous mountain roads. For lunch we stop at Bhatwari, midway to Uttarkashi. In this region, the safest food to eat is Maggie noodles which are made with local tadka by almost all eating joints. After witnessing some near fatal bang-ups on the way, we reach Uttarkashi post sundown. Uttarkashi is so named because it is considered the Kashi ( Banaras) of upper north. Though religious, the place has no problem with non-veg food or raw. We picked up some chicken for our future requirement. From here, the road gets even more dangerous, for us more since we were to do the last lap of driving through the night. So, we set off for Harshil en-route to Gomukh through Gangotri...