Chopta is situated on the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath Road about 30 kms from Ukhimath at an altitude of about 2,900 m above sea level. It is one of the most picturesque spots in the entire Garhwal region, in fact one of the most mesmerizing Alpine meadows in Garhwal Himalayas. [In my opinion Chopta is one of the most scenic places in Uttaranchal... Well I would like to add that don’t go by my opinion, make one of your own, by visiting that place at the right time at the right moment....JJ] Excursions we did from Chopta:
Itinerary: 19th Dec: Chandigarh – Paonta Sahib - Dehradun - Rishikesh - Ukhimath (420 kms by car)
This was the very quick decision for us to plan for Chopta. It’s Friday and we don’t have any plan till morning but suddenly from nowhere the idea to visit Chopta strikes in my mind. I went to Mayank desk and agreed him for this trip. We went to our homes in Lunch time and prepared all the things required during journey. One of our colleague Rajat also shown his willing to join us and ‘2 se 3 bhale’, we agreed upon this. Mayank had picked his car and parked in the office premises. We all know that this was going to be a very hectic journey, but ‘hamare under ghumne ka kida hai bahiyon kya kareJ’. We left office at 6:00M and headed towards Paonta Sahib. We reached Paonta sahib at 9:00PM, all thanks to the road beyond Nahan, pretty well maintained. Average comes out to be 30-35 kph for this 25 kms long stretch. This small town situated on the banks of Yamuna River and on the border of Himachal and Uttarakhand. Here we had ‘darshan’ and ‘Prasada’ in Paonta Sahib Gurudwara. Well passed Dehradun at around 10:15 and reached Rishikesh at 11:00PM. Now came a surprise, this state still follows gate rule and we found road closed just after Rishikesh. We did lots of buttering to the police constable posted there. After 45 minutes of tiring effort he gave us the way. We found that night driving is much better than any other time in this part of state. We continuously drove at 45-50 kph speed. We halted at various places and did buttering every time at each gate we passed from. There were gates or barrier at Rishiskesh (muni ki Reti), Devprayag, Srinagar (2 gates), Rudraprayag and at August Muni. Finally we reached GMVN ukhimath at 6:30AM and had a room at nominal Rs350. We had call off such a tiring day and fell asleep. Devprayag in Night  20th Dec: Ukhimath - Tungnath – Ukhimath (30 * 2 on car + 4 kms by foot)
Woke up at 11:30AM, felt not enough refreshed but we had to plan out for Chopta, so left bad in hurry and took quick bath followed by breakfast. Staff of hotel was very good and eager to help. The sky was overcast and it seems that it got snowfall any time that day. Local people told us that Chopta was completely snowed out this time so they advised us to hire a local guide who can help us. We hired a guide cum porter in 300 bucks and headed fro Chopta. The view was going good to awesome as we reached nearer Chopta. It took us some 1.5 hrs to reach here including the stop time that we had for photography. To our surprise there was no trace of any snow in Chopta, though this very little town still in its sleep and all the shops and rest houses were closed except one Dhaba. We parked our car at road side and left for Tungnath Temple. This is one of the highest ‘Kedar’ among all other ‘4 Kedars’. One can see the snow capped mountains all around. As we moved further Rajat showing the symptoms of AMS, he tried his best but had vomiting after negotiating good 2 kms. We advised him to go back and took rest in car. Snow line started after around 2.5kms walk and snow patches now getting broad to broader by each step passed. Soon we are in the area that was completely snowed out and one can seen nothing, other then white color around. Soon the snowfall had been started and threatening speedy wind made things worst. Our guide, which was a boy actually, scared of this thing and urge us too move back. But ‘hum bhi Churdhar Scholar the to kahan mante’, we were continuing moving ahead. Temple was just 300-400 mts ahead to us but snow was deep enough and hide the path totally. They boy (guide) again urge us to move back, but this time it was like a humble request cum advise to us. I told him to move back slowly to Chopta and we had caught him soon, after visiting the temple. I was not in the mood to return back after reaching this point. But my friend Mayank told me that if we let our guide move back than we all had to go with him else no one was moved back, at this stage. Now I’m in the situation like ‘Kaisa tera jalwa kaisa tera pyaar, tera emotional atyyachaar’, so we all moved back after clicking some pics. We came back to Chopta at 4:30PM, sky now getting cleared after snowfall and Chopta welcome us with a nice sunset. We had Maggi at the only Dhaba there and moced back to Chopta. What an honest guide we had with us, he asked for only Rs200 instead of Rs300 as per agreement, just because we didn’t made out for Tungnath Temple. He blamed himself for that, ‘what a guy who admit his mistake even if it’s not his fault completely’. Well honesty always takes heart, so we paid him Rs300. We had dinner and changed our room for a cottage (same charge but superb location and feelJ). What a tiring day it was, soon we were in the lap of sleep. Moutains from Ukhimath  Near Tungnath Temple
 21th Dec: Ukhimath - Deovriya Taal - Ukhimath - Back to Chandigarh (9kms on road + 2 kms trek + 430 kms by car)
We opened eye at 8:00AM (regret on this later) and after getting refreshed from daily activities, we left for Dovriya taal. There is a village Sari some 9kms from Ukhimath, from here it is like 2 kms trekking (45 degree ascent throughout) to Deovriya Taal. This place is famous for its scenic beauty and for uninterrupted (almost 270 degree) view it can provide of the higher reaches of Himalaya. One can catch a superb refection of Chaukhamba peak in the lake. We reached here at 10:15 and start trekking to taal. We hired a pony for Rajat, so that he wont missed this taal. Pony wala charged Rs170 for one way. We reached there in 1hrs with average speed, with 2 halt for picture clicking. What a superb view one can have from here, I can say. But by this time the sky started cloudy and if I had been there 2 hrs before, I even had some more clear pictures of surrounding (so my advised is to start early). We had tea and Maggi here. Rested for a while and then start moving back to Ukhimath. We were at our hotel at 1:00PM. We checked out from hotel and thank staff for his help. We started moving back at 2:00PM and reached Chandigarh at 12:30AM in night. This was a very wonderful journey into the Himalaya. Total Expenditure for 3 came out to be Rs3800. Reflection In Deovriya Taal
 Only Reflection
 Panaromic View from Deovriya Taal
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Chopta |