[genesis]

The reason for the secrecy and not allowing foreigners in chakrata is that it is home to the Special Forces...(a fascinating regiment of commandoes and paras of tibetan origin) used for secret ops and in places where neutrality is required. A theoretical example would be in a hindu muslim conflict. They were used in the Golden temple seige as well as in Bangladesh. It is an interesting mind game given that Buddhisim is about non violence.

Some pics from an earlier visit there are at:

Genesis - soumya.org: Contradictions In Chakrata (click on the thumbnail)

[vkochar]

Nice travelogue there - reminds me of my trip 2 yrs back to doon & mussoorie. I also visited Kempti Falls and was shocked by the commercial chnage there ( for the bad ).

A stop at cheetal grands always looked forward to when going and coming back on that route.

[anupmathur]

Sourav, what a nice little travelogue! I'd missed it till now!
But too few pics! I'm sure you have more tucked away!

Between what you have said and Nitin's comments, it becomes clear that the Mussoorie side is best avoided.
This, in fact, became clear soon after Uttarakhand was formed and we decided to avoid this section of the hills almost totally!
It pains me to read the sorry accounts of Dhanaulti and Kempty Falls.

Our last visit there was in 2001, and we came away with only regrets; including horrendous traffic jams!

Hail Himachal!

[gd1418]

Dhanolti, Kanatal & Tehri Chamba bring back memories of my visit to these place for the first time in 2006 during New Year's. It had snowed in Dhanolti then.

Posting a few pictures that I had taken at Dhanolti then with my film camera - Nikon F801 with Nikkor 35~70 lens:

The Snow covered road



Setting sun flames the mountain peaks



Fiery orange snow peaks

[funkydude]

Nice pics and thanks for the write up. Must have been an adventurous trip! Had been planning with wifey all this while to visit Mussorie, but coz of the bad roads and changing weather, had to drop the plan.

Any recent visitors please share your travelling experience on this stretch.


Sourav, which place did you both like the best. I woud be planning again this october on my Ikon TDCi. Wifey wants to go to Mussorie and I vote for Shimla. Any suggestions?

Post EDITED since it contained various [FONT], [COLOR] and [SIZE] tags.
Posting with such text formatting should be avoided on Team-BHP as it is inconvenient for members to read post.
Kindly go through Announcements section before proceeding.

Thanking You for your anticipated co-operation

The Team-BHP Support

[souravdebiswas]

Originally Posted by funkydude

Nice pics and thanks for the write up. Must have been an adventurous trip! Had been planning with wifey all this while to visit Mussorie, but coz of the bad roads and changing weather, had to drop the plan.

Any recent visitors please share your travelling experience on this stretch.


Sourav, which place did you both like the best. I woud be planning again this october on my Ikon TDCi. Wifey wants to go to Mussorie and I vote for Shimla. Any suggestions?

Hi,

I think I liked Chakrata, Kanasar and Dhanaulti the most.

Dont think of staying over at Mussorie. Its become horrible. Extremely crowded and dirty. The mall road seems like a fish market.

Try out Shimla. Thats definetely much better. It still retains the old world charm to some extent. Mussorie has none.

Definetely stay over at Dhanaulti, a short drive away from Mussorie. This is a beautiful place.

[SS-Traveller]

Just dug up some old pics from our Chakrata trip, from my print album - scanning and uploading them.

[souravdebiswas]

Really nice pictures SS. Its tempting me to try out Chakrata once again in December. Unfortunately I dont have a four wheel drive to take me there.

If anyone planning on a trip toward Chakrata side on a 4 wheel drive, please do let me know.

[Indizen08]

Very interesting narrative.

[danish_c]

Hi Guys,

Im planning to head to Chakrata from Delhi later this month and I was trying to figure out the best route (in terms time taken).

1. Delhi-Karnal-Kurukshetra-Yamuna Nagar-Paonta Sahib-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata

2. Delhi-Meerut-Muzzafarnagar-Dehradun-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata (or a varation of this route - Muzzafarnagar-Saharanpur-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata) etc.

Has anybody done these areas recently? What should I take? I am gravitating towards the first option but I am not aware of the route conditions...

Thanks,
D

[mandyrana]

Originally Posted by danish_c

Hi Guys,

Im planning to head to Chakrata from Delhi later this month and I was trying to figure out the best route (in terms time taken).

1. Delhi-Karnal-Kurukshetra-Yamuna Nagar-Paonta Sahib-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata

2. Delhi-Meerut-Muzzafarnagar-Dehradun-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata (or a varation of this route - Muzzafarnagar-Saharanpur-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata) etc.

Has anybody done these areas recently? What should I take? I am gravitating towards the first option but I am not aware of the route conditions...

Thanks,
D

Take right from Pipli to Yamuna Nagar, that route is good, Yamuna nagar to OPaonta is awesome now, new road.

[wanderernomad]

Yes, the route option from Pipli to Paonta is good and will probably save you a few hours of travelling time from the UP route..

[danish_c]

Okay thanks, I will be going day after tomorrow. Will post once I am back!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Yes, the route option from Pipli to Paonta is good and will probably save you a few hours of travelling time from the UP route..

Where exactly is Pipli?

[Irish]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Where exactly is Pipli?

To reach Kurukshetra, we take a left turn from a crossing at NH1 (between Karnal & Ambala). The town on the crossing is known as Pipli. Normally people take this town for Kurukshetra.

Take right turn from this crossing to reach Jagadhari, Yamunanagar, Saharanpur, roorkie etc.

Cheers!
Irish