6 Dayara Bugyal

A 7-day Trek from Sangam-Chatti to Dodital, Darwa-Pass and to Dayera-Bugyal via Suru-Thatch and ending at Barsu Village, in Uttarakhand, India.

View of Bandarpoonch Massif from Ridge above our Suru-Thatch camp (where 2 porters are seen walking up)

Day-6, 29-May-2015:

Suru-Thatch to Dayara Bugyal

Morning was pretty cold here at Suru Thatch at 3370 M altitude. Temp outside was around 5*C and inside the temp I saw it was 9*C when I got up. After breakfast we climbed the nearby hillock to get better views of Bandarpoonch range. We got good views of the snow peaks, and of wonderful rolling meadows of Suru-Thatch around our tent.

Bandarpoonch White Peak (L) Main (C) & KalaNag (R) from the hillock near our Suru-Thatch tent site

Today's trek started at 8:15AM and first climbed up to the meadow to ridge on the east side of the camp. At the ridge top we joined a trek path going South towards Devi-Kund. As we climbed gradually to the ridge, we began to see more and more of the Bandarpoonch range in a clear cloudless sky.

View of full Bandarpoonch range, from the ridge-top

By the time we reached the top, we could see the entire snow covered range including and the glaciers running down from the mountains, some flowing into Yamunotri (above pic). We continued the ridge walk towards South more or less level but through forests of pine trees and rhododendrons some of it still in flowers.

After about 2 hours we walked on the ridge, and 10 AM we reached the highest point, at 3500M and from there we could suddenly see Dev-Kund just below us and also the start of Dayara Bugyal towards left (East). I took a 360 degree video with Rajesh Panwar pointing out some of the surrounding features and peaks.

Bandarpoonch Main (L) & KalaNag (R) from hillock near our Suru-Thatch tent site

View from hillock of our Suru-Thatch bugyal & tents

Rhododendron Trees on the ridge trail flowering

We descended towards Dev-Kund and found a well laid stony trail skirting the lake and going down towards Dayara Bugyal.

By 11:15AM we reach the sprawling Dayara Bugyal

We decide to camp here near a flowing stream

The high point on ridge with Dev Kund seen below

Hazy view the Eastern snow peaks from near Dayara Bugyal Campsite. The peaks were Draupadi-ka-Danda I & II, Jogin Peaks etc. but none clearly identifiable.

Crossing the saddle after Dev Kund we saw some the Eastern Peaks