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...
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