[jimnylife]

Back with another story to share, this time, a path which has no info on teambhp.

I went on a solo trip to Kasar Devi and Munsiyari. Basically it was a workation clubbed with a few holidays.

Day 1: Ghaziabad to Kasar Devi, Almora.
Departed at around 5am. Didn’t experience any fog on the highways. Took the Gzb-Moradabad-Tanda-Bazpur-Kaladhungi-Nainital-Almora route. The route via Haldwani was saving only 15 mins but adding around 250 INR to the toll cost so I avoid it. I’ve a Jimny anyway and just plough through all the craters on the Moradabad-Tanda section. Please avoid this route if you’re not fond of off-reading.
I refuelled at the Indian Oil on Almora Mall Road as always since I’ve an Indian Oil CC that gives 4% off. Reached my hostel in Kasar Devi at around 1-30 PM. Also got stuck in the choke point near Neem Karoli baba ashram, it’s frustrating every time on this route, almost 30-45 mins are wasted at this point and there is no action on this as on date.

The Kasar Devi temple is perched on top of a hill and offers panoramic views of the Himalayas. Swami Vivekananda had meditated at this place.

Highway views:


Nainital:



Sunset from Hostel:




Nanda Devi:


Day 2: Kasar Devi to Binsar and back.

The Binsar wildlife sanctuary gate is around 10 kms from Kasar Devi. Pretty good roads, takes around 15 mins. They charge 250 Rs for the car and 200 Rs per person for entry into the park. I asked them for what is this entry fee being taken. The response I got was - Entry charge is taken by the forest department while the road inside is maintained by the pwd. Hence there is no relation to the fee being charged and the expectation of the road inside being maintained. Was warned that there are half a foot craters on bends and loose gravel, so drive carefully. The gate to the actual hike start point is around 10kms and is 80% off road. Few sections have foot deep craters and loose soil which needed 4H to climb up. Saw an Xuv300 with a broken bumper and Ertigas returning back from that point. Such a waste of money for the clients in those vehicles, almost like a scam.
The hike is around 2 kms from the place the car is parked and takes around 30 mins for a person with average fitness. The path is well marked and you don’t need a guide for this.
Views from Zero Point Binsar:












The trail:



With the bro:



Day 3 was spent working from the hostel and nearby cafés.

Day 4: Kasar Devi to Munsiyari.
Left early morning around 7am. Took 6 hours for the 190kms drive. Took the Bageshwar-Kapkot route since that was the shortest. Turned out, road widening is going on around Bageshwar and the road is a mess at many points. But Jimny took everything in its stride and even doing little shimmies sometimes on the bends with loose gravel which was fun. I gave a lift to three 3rd class school kids and dropped them outside their school gate. Kids were overjoyed to be dropped to school in a shiny red car in front of their schoolmates Told that they walked 45 mins to school one way daily. Amazing grit I must say.

Took a stop to explore the Birthi Falls. Not majestic to look at during this time of the year, but in monsoons it’s a sight you have to see.

Also stopped at Thamri Kund to enjoy the light snowfall.

The road-


Spotted a jackal on the road-


Birthi Falls-


Panch Chuli peaks


Point to note: The route from Kapkot to Munsiyari is very narrow at places and there is no guardrail at most places with sheer 1000 foot valley visible. There are very very frequent blind curves so you need to be skilled and confident if taking this route to munsiyari. There is no mobile reception for Airtel for around 3 hours on this route so that’s also another important point to note.

Day 4- Munsiyari to Milam and back.
Was very excited for this day since I was going alone into territory with no roads and no network. Milam glacier is around 65 kms from munsiyari. This village was a major trading post on the old silk route before the Indo China war. After consulting many locals and hoteliers I set out on the journey with no destination in mind. Initially there was black top until around 10 kms from munsiyari and post that it was sheer off road. The conditions were worse than the Kaza Manali section I can say. On some places the road was very steep and slippery due to loose soil. 4H had to be used at many places here.

I was able to go until the halfway mark which is a place called Nahar Devi. Couldn’t continue past that since road blasting was going on which would have taken quite a bit of time and I had to return back to munsiyari. That’s an adventure I left for the next summer. If someone’s interested in good offbeat-off-road this is the place. Was having a chat with the BRO folks and they said that the kacha road until Milam is complete and 4x4 cars can visit it, and in next 3-4 years a blacktop is expected until Milam.

Some photos from this road-




















Being very honest, the road was scary in many parts looking at how the mountains had been cut to make way for this road. It was like the Rocky Mountain was hanging like a sword above the road in many sections. In recent news, our Chief Election Commissioner got stuck overnight at Milam village since his helicopter developed a snag and was helped by a trekker who happened to spot them in distress.

Since I could not go until Milam, I had plenty of time in the afternoon so decided to do a small hike to Thamri Kund after returning to Munsiyari from the adventure to Milam. The lake was half frozen and the hike was through snow covered hills which was beautiful. This was a 3km trek and is a moderate to hard one since it is very very steep at places and the surface isn’t also smooth. It’s rocky which means one needs very good shoes to do this hike. Took me 1 hr to go and surprisingly took 1hr 20 mins to return due to body fatigue.

Pics from Thamri Kund.







Day 5: Munsiyari to Kasar Devi.
Drove back to Kasar Devi, spent 2 more days here and then left for home. As luck would have it, due to overnight rains, the road got washed away between Almora and Nainital and had to detour via Ranikhet-Ramnagar-Kashipur. The road near Tanda was full of slush and muck and I had great fun driving over the craters with the Jimny doing the occassional shimmy. The return journey took 9 hours due to the detour.

Next up I’m looking to go to Milam to complete this road trip, fingers crossed! With this, the ODO stands at 6700 kms in 5 months.

[jimnylife]

Few more photos:

Sunset from Munsiyari is one the best things from nature:


Nanda Kot


Trishul


Nanda Devi


The GOAT


Peaks glistening after fresh snow


On the way back to Almora


Coldest morning in Munsiyari


One of the numerous hairpin bends enroute Milam


3 Musketeers


Semi-Frozen Thamri Kund

[GhostRider28]

Thanks for sharing. I was not aware that cars were allowed in the Milam Glacier route. I would tried my luck with my Duster for sure! Nice pictures!

[haisaikat]

Thanks for sharing this trip info, great read it was and thanks for the photos.

Apparently, I visited Binsar and Munsyari (Crysta) back in May this year along with BHPian s_scorpion (Tiguan). Binsar road indeed was in pathetic condition but carrying some momentum still did the job back in May for 2WD/RWD like my Crysta. However Tiguan was able to climb much slower owing to its auto engaging AWD. We of course did not feel 4x4 being must, Has there been enormous deterioration of the road? What time of year did you make this visit?

Binsar climb seemed doable in 2WD, easier in RWD (I still had wheelspins at a couple of places).

However, you had a great sight of the Himalayan peaks from Binsar Zero Point, something we missed in May.

The Kapkot - Munsyari route via Thal seems to be the most common route taken by all and while I agree to your viewpoint that there are enormous bends along this route, 2WD cars in slow and steady pace can do this easily and safely. Great you visited the Thamri Kund, we could not make time, probably another day at Munsyari was required.

Aiming Milam was a great thing and thanks for taking the initiative. Last I had checked 6 months of work was pending completion of the 65KM stretch however from your information it seems we are still lagging behind target. And it seems there are fresh landslide information along this route.

Sharing a few photos from our May trip.

Moon shining, moments before sunrise, Milam Inn


The Panchachuli range at night

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[jimnylife]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Has there been enormous deterioration of the road? What time of year did you make this visit?

However, you had a great sight of the Himalayan peaks from Binsar Zero Point, something we missed in May.

The Kapkot - Munsyari route via Thal seems to be the most common route taken by all and while I agree to your viewpoint that there are enormous bends along this route, 2WD cars in slow and steady pace can do this easily and safely.

I visited in December 2024 last week. Yes the road has deteriorated after the monsoons. Taxi guys aren’t preferring to go there.

The November - Jan period is the best time to view the peaks clearly since the cloud cover is very less.

I think you’re mistaken. Thal isn’t on the Kapkot - Munsiyari route. Yes any car can do this route it’s just that cars with low GC would have to think twice before getting their wheels off the road on the left side to give way to oncoming traffic since the road and the side area has quite a bit of height difference.

[Kkumar]

A wonderful travelogue with beautiful photos. Apart from an excellent car one also needs nerves of steel to drive alone to such desolate places with almost nil infrastructure. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

[vkarora]

Loved reading about your trip and going over the photos. I was there at Kasar Devi during June and loved the calmness in the mountains. We decided to go ahead to Binsar as forest fires were still very much on. I hope some of the damage has got healed with rains and fresh green cover has started spurting.

From your travel log I m totally inspired to do two things:
1) Do the road trip to Munsiyari
2) Start planning to buy a Jimny :P