Kedarkantha Trek - Part 1

• There was no internet in 2021 in Sankri. Jio had limited service here.
• If you can reach Sankri on your own, you will save one full day of commute. Also you may have options of trekking groups and destinations to choose from at the last minute.
• Sankri is base to some of the most famous treks in Northern India - Kedarkantha, Har Ki Doon, Swargarohini, Ruinsara Tal to name a few. Accommodation and food is not for those who seek luxury, be prepared for that.
• Kedarkantha is a winter trek and two of the three nights are in tents. At a modest height of 12k ft and 3 days of trek, Kedarkantha is the definition of a beginner’s trek.

Sankri is a trekker’s heaven. The entire village is tuned to make sure the trekkers who turn up round the year have as comfortable stay as possible - their livelihood depends on it. Most of the trekkers come from Dehradun which is the closest railway station / airport from here. Generally trekking companies arrange buses which take a whole day to reach this place.

Local Temple @ Sankri Village

We reached Sankri late on a Winter evening. We were on the bus the whole day and it was getting colder by the hour. We were told the stay is down somewhere. Somehow we trudged down the steps and settled in our modest accommodation before dinner was to be served. There were other batches staying with us - batches for other treks and batches for same trek as us but on hold.

Waterfall on the way to acclimatization exercise

We were told the trek was on hold due to heavy rainfall and we will be able to know by tomorrow if our batch is going up or not. We were disappointed but decided to take the day as it comes. Next day we went for acclimatisation to a nearby village.

Temple @ Kotgaon

 

The three batches (two on hold and us) combined to make a huge team. We first crossed a waterfall and bridge and then walked through some of the step farms to reach another village called Kotgaon.