KEDARNATH – City of Lord Shiva

In the high mountains of Himalayas at an altitude of 3,583 meters, a holy shrine called Kedarnath, which is seen as homogenous form of lord Shiva. Kedarnath temple (Mandir), a Hindu shrine dedicated to the lord Shiva. Located in Garhwal range of Himalayas, in the state of Uttrakhand, India. This place is known for its extreme weather condition and very rough terrains, Which is why the temple and Kedarnath region is open for about six months only between the months of April (Akshaya Tritiya) and November (Kartik Purnima, the autumn full moon). During the winters, the vigraha (deity) from Kedarnath temple is carried down to Ukhimath and where the deity is worshiped for the next six months.

Kedarnath is also well known for its scenic beauty with all green fields, high-rise mountains, snow covered white mountain tops, extremely cold winds and the peace at the place. Later, in 2013, Kedarnath was the worst affected area during the 2013 flash floods in North India. The temple complex, surrounding areas, and Kedarnath town suffered extensive damage, but the temple structure did not suffer any "major" damage, apart from a few cracks on one side of the four walls, which was caused by the flowing debris from the higher mountains. A large rock among the debris acted as a barrier, protecting the temple from the flood. The surrounding premises and other buildings in the market area were heavily damaged.

Moreover, after a long wait, my planning to visit the Kedarnath dham began. It was a long journey and I had only 3 days to visit the place and get back to my workplace. It was a solo bike ride with a very limited knowledge of national highways.

10^th October 2019, 10PM, I packed my bags, tied all the bags on my bike Yamaha R15 and started my journey towards Rishikesh. Highway from Delhi to Rishikesh was very good except the stretch from Raj Nagar Extension, Ghaziabad to Modinagar, Meerut, U.P.

11^th October 2019, 3AM, I reached Haridwar on ETA where I had tea on “Har Ki Paudi” (Ghat on The Ganges). After the morning I began my ride towards Devprayag. Just outside the Haridwar, I found a guy who stopped me and requested me to drop him at Rishikesh bus stop as he forgot his luggage in the bus towards Rishikesh. As I had no option, my luggage was tied on the pillion I asked the guy to come by Tempo Taxi and till then I will find the bus and tell the driver about the incident. I caught the bus about 10 kms ahead. Told the driver and moved ahead for my destination.

About 7 AM, I reached Devprayag, is a town Tehri Garhwal district in the state of Uttarakhand, India, and is one of the Panch Prayag (five confluences) of Alaknanda River where Alaknanda, Saraswati (invisible as it is underground) and Bhagirathi rivers meet and take the name Ganga.

Later, my next stop was 138kms ahead in the mountains with lots of dust and bumps on the road with traffic, which I did not know. So finally, after a lot of bumps, dust, mud, I reached Gaurikund at 1PM on 11^th October 2019. As I did not have much time, I parked my bike at Gaurikund, because after Gaurikund, you can not take your vehicle further. I boarded a shared taxi (available all time). And started my journey towards Kedarnath dham. Now, there is restriction to start the trek after 2PM, authorities do not allow as the trek is very dangerous. But I managed to carry my luggage and enter the trek door before 2PM.

Trekking expedition –

It is advised to take minimum luggage, as the trek is very tough and too long with varying weather conditions. Climb is too high so make sure you have good quality sport shoes, a bottle for water, some medicines as you may suffer from HAS (High Altitude Sickness) when you arrive Kedarnath. And one more important thing, good quality camera as the scenic views are very mesmerizing.

I reached the temple at 10PM in the night, while the law to follow is not to trek in the night as the weather can be drastically changing in the night and there is also scare of bears and other wild animals.

12^th October 2019, I woke up in a tent which I bought for 500 INR for night, I woke up early as I did not want to miss the sunrise. And when I came out of tent it was literally beautiful, eyes were wide open. It is advised to enjoy this beauty as much as you can.

Later, I trekked 1 km more towards temple visited the temple, where I bought “Prasad” and joined the row to visit the temple. At the temple, one will find multiple Sadhus, Babas.

Temple from Inside –

The presiding image of Kedarnath in the form of lingam is of irregular shape with a pedestal 3.6 m (12 ft) in circumference and 3.6 m (12 ft) in height. There is a small pillared hall in front of the temple, that has images of Parvathi and of the five Pandava princes. There are five temples around namely Badari-kear, Madhya Maheswara, Tunganatha, Rudranatha and Kallesvara.[13] The first hall inside Kedarnath Temple contains statues of the five Pandava brothers, Lord Krishna, Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva and Virabhadra, one of the guards of Shiva. Statue of Draupadi and other deities are also installed in the main hall. An unusual feature of the temple is the head of a man carved in the triangular stone fascia. Such a head is seen carved in another temple nearby constructed on the site where the marriage of Shiva and Parvati was held. Adi Shankara was believed to have revived this temple, along with Badrinath and other temples of Uttarakhand. he is believed to have attained Mahasamadhi at Kedaranath. Behind the temple is the samādhi mandir of Adi Sankara.

Bheem Shila - Which saved the temple from flood water

12^th October 2019, 9 AM, I started my journey back to Gaurikund as I had planned to leave on Saturday morning towards Delhi. I started the trekking and reached Gaurikund at about 6PM. It was hell of a nonstop trek.

6PM, I searched for hotels in Gaurikund but the place was old and there were very few good quality hotels. So it is advised to not book the hotels in Gaurikund, though if you want good quality hotels, you can go for the Phata helipad route (3KMS from Gaurikund towards Delhi). In route, one can find good quality hotels. So, loaded the luggage on the bike and went on Phata route where I got one hotel for 500 INR.

13^th October 2019, 7AM, I woke up, prepared my bags, loaded on bike and started riding back to Delhi. And starting from 9AM I reached Delhi at 10PM in the night in Approx. 13 hours.

Suggestions for trip –

-         - Must carry rain coats

-         - Minimum luggage for trekking

-         - Good pair of trekking shoes with extra socks

-          -Water bottle

-          -Medicines

-          -Chocolates, Energy Bars

-          -Book hotels after visiting and verifying the room

Other Facilities –

-          -You can easily get tea, snacks, food stalls on the way.

-         - No clean toilets, at some places no toilets at all.

-         - Food quality not so good.

-         - Medical facility rarely available.

Those who have gone to Vaishno Devi temple in Katra, Jammu. Facilities on Kedarnath trek are like 10% of Katra Shrine. Make sure you are prepared for the trek.

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