1 Pithoragarh

A backpacking tour to explore some remote areas and places in Eastern Kumaon, along the Kali River, that is the border between Uttarakhand, India and Nepal

Day-1 (5-March-14): Share-taxi ride (1) Haldwani to Almora & then (2) to Pithoragarh

5th March 2014 - Haldwani to Pithoragarh

My train, Ranikhet Express was running 30 mins late in the morning and the noise of passengers getting off at Rudraprayag woke me up early. So for a change, I got off at Haldwani at 6:00AM (instead of the last halt at Kathgodam) to see if I can get direct Pithoragarh Share-maxx.

Outside it was nice and cold, but when I saw the front-seat of a share-Alto going to Almora was free, I took that and a made quick departure from there (fare Rs 350). After a brief Chai-pakora stop at Kainchi we reached Almora in good time by 9:10AM

To catch a share-maxx for 2nd leg to Pithoragarh, I had walk and climb down steeply through market streets to Dharnaula Taxi stand (9:30AM). But the early morning maxx's had already left; and so I had to wait for 2 hours(!) for the next maxx to fill-up. Didn't mind the wait though, as that gave me enough time to have a nice breakfast of garma-garam Aloo-Parantha with nice sabzi and chutneys.

We left Dharnaula, finally, at 11:30AM and went through some scenic mountain route of Jageshwar ranges via Kapalikhan, Badechinna, Danya, Sidiakhet. After Timta we had great views of Ram-Ganga way down deep in the valley. See Route we took (in Blue) in above Map.

Reached Pithoragarh at 3:30PM and my seat fare was Rs 350. I paid extra Rs 100 for the driver to drop me off at KMVN; which was a 1Km uphill from market on the Chandak Road.

The KMVN was nicely located with view of parts of Pithoragarh town down in a valley seen through a pine forest from my balcony. The Chandak road passing just below the KMVN was also noise-less with not much traffic.

Pine forest view from KMVN Pithoragarh

The KMVN GH was very convenient, nicely located in a peaceful setting with good views. The room was Rs 900 per day. The food in the dining hall was excellent and the service staff very good. March was still off-season, so not much occupancy and so everything was perfect here.

To see KMVN-Pithoragarh on Google Earth download Placemark (KMZ) from Files D/L Page

I stayed 3 nights here and decided to do a few day-trip treks from here. In the evening walked down to market-place (1KM down) just to see where the taxi stands were. Next day planned to go to Chandak and Chhera and maybe the trek to Ashurchula peak