Gidara Bugyal

Trek duration: 40 minutes
Final altitude: 7,520 ft
This is the first day of our journey. We will be driving from Rishikesh towards Uttarkashi. This is going to be a beautiful journey. We will pass through the beautiful town of Chamba. From Uttarkashi we will take the route towards Gangotri and pass by Gangnani hot springs. On this road, we will go till the road ends. After this point, vehicles don’t go. From this point, we will be walking 1.5 kms on a forest trail to reach Bhangeli village.
This is an old traditional village where you will see wood and stone houses. We will spend the night here and get all the rest we can for tomorrow’s hike.

Today we are going to walk about 5.2 kms to reach our next campsite. We are going to gain some good altitude today and the nature of the scenery will change considerably. We will pass by village fields and then enter the forest. We will be walking through a dense forest with a variety of alpine vegetation. After 3 hours we will reach Shepherd huts which are temporary settlements used by Gujjars. After further climbing, you reach Munda ka Thach. It is a beautiful site with a pond. Just one more hour walk and you will come up the tree line and reach Rikoda, our marvellous campsite where we are going to spend the night.

Today we don’t have to walk much but the trail is a mixture of ascents and descents. We have to start the trek with an ascent till we see the Thirya river. It’s a descent after that so be careful and watch your step. You will be able to see a wide-open campsite here, we are going to camp here on our fifth day. We will cross a bridge and then pass through the Thirya campsite and then go towards our stop for the day, Dokrani. It’s a steep climb from here and you can view the greater Himalayan peaks from this trail. After a few hours, we will cross the tree line and reach the Dokrani campsite.
You have earned the views that this campsite has to offer. Explore the campsite and get rest after a delicious dinner.

This is the day when you will be able to enjoy the views and the trek to the fullest. This is because it the easiest day of the trek. We will go from our Dokrani campsite to the Dokrani bugyal top. Well, this one hour climb will tire you but it is worth every step you take. You are going to be at the top and you can see a complete 360 degree vision of the surrounding Himalayan peaks.
On one side you have massive endless green meadows and on the other you have the mighty Himalayan Gangotri, Srikanth, Jaonli and Draupadi ka Danda peaks. Enjoy and take a breather here for some time since we don’t have much ground to cover. We will cross the meadows and then go down till we reach Thalotya. This is going to be our campsite for today. It is located in the middle of a narrow valley where a glacial stream flows beside it. What more can you want from a campsite? A river, open greens and a killer sunset! This should recharge you well for the long day ahead tomorrow where we reach our destination.

Trek duration: 10-11 hours
This is the longest day of the trek so we will start as early as we can. This means before sunrise. We will cross the stream and climb up to get out of the narrow valley and enter the massive endless green meadows of Gidara. Since you woke up early and climbed up till here, you will be rewarded with a vision that you will never forget. You will see the green meadows of Gidara light up with the first rays of the sun. We will continue walking till we reach a ridge from where you can truly absorb the vastness of these Himalayan meadows.
After this view, we descend for less than an hour to reach a stream. We get another one hour of flat meadow walking as we go to the west end of Gidara Bugyal. From here, we will start our ascent for 45 minutes till we reach the ridge. The climb is tiring but totally worth it. You will have some of the most unique views on this walk. After we reach Gidara top, we rest and enjoy the view. Then we start the descent and get back to Dokrani. We will take the shepherds route to go down to Thirya campsite. It’s a steep slope so we will be careful. Thirya is like the promised campsite that trekkers have on their minds. It is a dreamy campsite beautifully perched between a forest with two streams around it. Enjoy this site as you have walked a long way to be here.

We will trace our path back to Bhangeli through the Rikoda campsite. This trail starts with an ascent and then we go all the way down to Rikoda. We will take the same route and cherish these sights in a different way because getting down is a different experience than going up. While going up, we are often tired and breathless and we miss a few things. Enjoy this day to relive the paths that you have walked once. We will reach Bhangeli and have a beautiful evening with a sense of deep accomplishment. Rest here for the night with a sumptuous meal.

This is the last day of our journey. We will trace our path back from Bhangeli to the road head where we left the vehicle. This is an easy walk so you are going to enjoy leaving the forest trail. We will try to start early in the morning so that we can take a stop at the Gangnani hot springs and get the hot water spring treatment we have earned after so many days of strenuous trekking. We will reach Rishikesh by evening where we started from. You can enjoy the long drive reliving the memories that you made. You have experienced something which the most adventurous do. Plan further from Rishikesh.