Re: Uttaranchal Road Guide Thought to share route and road condition of Uttarakhand ride which I completed 10 days back. We were two REs and three people including my wife and I must say I never saw so many landslides in my life. In some places there were 9-10 landslides in a KM. Day 1: Dehradun -> Mussourie -> Dhanaulti -> New Tehri
It was a relaxed ride, we started at 1 PM from Dehradun and after negotiating lot of local traffic, we bypassed Mussourie, had tea at Landour and then started for Dhanaulti. Road condition was good but there were lot of landslides and rash driving by many tourist especially from DL number plate vehicles. Day 2: New Tehri -> Ghansali -> Mayali -> Agastmuni -> Ukhimath -> Dugalbitta
Road condition is average, specially once you cross New Tehri and it worsens when you reach Mayali. After that though road surface is bad but it wide till we again take detour for UkhiMath. From here road condition is very good where land slide has not taken toll, else you will come across few rivers, mud pits, slush, boulders etc which you need to negotiate Day 3: Dugallbitta -> Chopta -> Tunganath trek -> Dugalbitta
It was nothing but 8 kms one way road to Chopta then 3.5 kms trek to Tunganath, you will come across mesmerizing views only if weather is clear. Day 4: Dugalbitta -> Gopeshwar -> Chamoli -> Joshimath -> Badrinath -> Mana
One of the best roads in entire trip till Chamoli. Passes through dense jungle, we must have passed more than 100 streams which were flowing through road. This section had least landslides but there were few landslides which were more dangerous than other ones.
Once you cross Joshimath, the real road starts. I salute to BRO for keeping the roads open against all odds, one of the most dangerous in entire trip and worst road condition as well. Day 5: Badrinath -> Joshimath -> Auli
Once you cross Joshimath roads are comparatively better and Joshimath to Auli is narrow road and if there are two big vehicles crossing each other, then expect a jam Day 6: Auli -> Joshimath -> Tapoban -> Joshimath -> Pipalkoti -> Nandprayag -> Karnaprayag -> Rudraprayag -> Srinagar
Joshimath is crowded place with limited parking space, Joshimath to Tapoban is nice wide road and same is when you come back towards Rishikesh but with lot of potholes and landslides. Day 7: Srinagar -> Devprayag -> Kaudiyala -> Shivpuri -> Rishikesh
Road condition is average but, traffic is higher and those local taxies own the road. We had to be very cautious as they drive fast/rash and don’t care who is coming from opposite turn. Day 8: Rishikesh -> Dehradun
Nothing to write about, mad traffic, mad weather, zero driving discipline (though I felt like home as Poona has similar driving sense)
Overall it was a good trip, luck was on our side as except few places we didn’t come across heavy rains. Same with landslides, except two places we didn’t get stuck in landslides. No breakdown/puncture etc, almost all the places which we visited had sparse tourist traffic resulting into a peaceful and relaxed trip.
I want to specially mention about the guy from whom we had taken bile on rent from Dehradun, one of the best experience of the trip. We reached Dehradun at 10:00 PM and we wanted to start early next day, he obliged and gave us bike at around midnight, bike were properly serviced (he runs a garage as well), were 2015/16 model, clear documents and basic tool and spares were given with bare minimum documentation and deposit one of the bike had a nasty fall while coming back which resulted into bent footrest, gear lever, handle etc. but he didn’t deduct a single penny saying ‘Chalo aap logon ko to kuch nahi hua na’ this was icing on the cake
We just had a route map finalized based on people’s feedback on places to visit, we didn’t have hotel booking or anything. Everything was flexible and that would have been another reason for this ride turning out a relaxed but adventurous one.
Regards,
Shubhendra Singh |