[KurtRules]

A Weekend Ride to Chakrata and Beyond

I had no plans this weekend, wasn’t going home, wasn’t keen on spending two days drinking in Chandigarh, so the need for a ride became eminent. Had actually planned Chitkul, but then Rahul said, “We ll go there in November, when there’s lots of snow to ride on”. This time on Rahul was accompanying me. So then, a few days spent brainstorming, and the destination frozen as Chakrata. Similar to the earlier wanderings, this one too was mainly focused on the ride, not to miss out night riding and the fun behind it and exploring new avenues’ . Chakrata was just a night halt … well; at least that’s what my perspective was!


Day 1: (Chandigarh-Poanta Sahib-Vikas Nagar-Chakrata)


Not much stuff; just the tools, spares, underwear and a jacket were amongst the pick of things …. Loaded them saddle bags and met Rahul in front of office at around 6. The ride was off and yes, it was beginning to get dark! After a stretch of pretty decent roads, we were at Kala-Amb, where we stopped for garam-garam bread-pakoras, chai and dhuaa. 30 mins later, we were on the road again. This road was quite familiar to me, had come quite a few times this side during the college hay days! It was 7:30 and completely dark. Stood at the nahan turning, waited for Rahul to catch up and then continued to Poanta. Repeated the same at the Poanta/Yamuna Nagar crossing. Rahul wasn’t finding it to comfortable as the Pulsar 200 seat was making him sweat Thoda dhuaa, and carried on till Vikas nagar were we had our meal. The ride till now was done at a leisurely pace… Clock struck 10! Chakrata was around 50kms from here. Here I spotted a board “Yamnotri-160 kms”! Now then, the devil in me began questioning my endurance and challenged. The right-eyebrow of suspicion rose and I looked at Rahul……”Kya kehta hai, chalein?” He grinned and shook his head..., “paagal hai kya” That line sounded familiar… Somehow convinced him over the dal-roti that we had..


But alas, dreams broke when we confirmed from the locals and they told us that that the Yamuna Pat (The temple where one has to trek to from JankiChatti) was closed due to snowfall!


“Never mind, some other time, abhi lets stick to the original plan”, said Rahul, relieved .

“Ah well, what the hell, Chakrata it is”, I thought!!

Initially, kind of some years ago, they had a gate near Kalsi, some 10 kms from Vikas-Nagar, which managed traffic, by allowing vehicles one way only. But this time round, traffic was opened from both ends. The locals suggested not to move on and stay there itself, as it wouldn’t be safe at this hour, but carried on somehow. A few kms later, the roads narrowed badly and were not the most pleasant to ride on, but were still comfortable.

It was dark , visibility reduced drastically….

“Mere peeche rahiyo, I get a sense of security”, requested Rahul. So there I was, riding behind him and taking the brunt of all the dust that was thrown at me. At points when I rode ahead, I used to hear someone honking from behind…”Peeche ... peeche” !!

So finally we reached Chakrata at around 12. And then, our troubles began!
Nothing, no-one could be seen there! It was literally like a ghost town! Asked, the Army guy on duty if where we could find a room and he directed us to the bazaar, which was even more ghastly. Dogs, more dogs, even more dogs, everywhere, staring, ready to pounce at us, scaring the sh** out of us! Rahul was the brave one here and rode briskly past them, scattering them off.

“Abey aaja, kya darr raha hai” …..

….

“Aa raha hu, aa raha hu…kutto ne le rakhi hai!!! …..

Looked around for a hotel, guest house, rest house, anything…but no luck. Met a couple of police-men(So humans live here, eh) and told them our situation. They expressed their helplessness, though they did mention that a certain guest house on the moussurie road would be open, and a guy with them told us that he would help us in getting a room there. He was a doctor and he lived nearby.


So there we were, 3 of us, the pillion with Rahul. Rode for around 4 kms where the guy asked us to stop as he lived there and would find us a place in a certain “Yudhveer Guesthouse”.


The guy came back after a few minutes and directed us to a small building. “Ask for Yudveer and tell him u need a room, he ll give u one”.


This was the first biggest mistake of our ride!!


A short, middle aged guy opened up and shouted “Kamra nai hai, bhaad mein jaao” … We requested, begged, but all in vain.


Came back to look for the doc who accompanied us, but he disappeared, vanished into thin air, gone!!


“Doctor ne kaat dia”, Rahul expressed.


So there we were, 2:30 am, around 7000ft above sea-level, shivering, with no idea which way to go and where to stay. Sat on the road for a couple of minutes and thought over it. Then decided to ride back to chakrata and crash in at the police station, coz that was all that was open at this hour.


Then , luck somehow came to our rescue and we woke up this caretaker at himgiri guesthouse, at a by-lane of chakrata. The poor fellow came out rubbing his eyes and took us to room. 250 bucks was not a bad deal at this hour! Opened the bag and out came BP! A few pegs later, we were fast asleep…..


No photos for the day, was already dark when we started ..


Day 2: (Chakrata-Tiger Falls-Chakrata-Tiuni-Hatkoti-Rohru)


It was 10 when I woke up. Took a peek outside….the landscape was beautiful! ..Woke Rahul, and freshened up. An hour later, we were on the road again. Honestly speaking, there was no much to see apart from the crowded bazaar in chakrata. Again, purely my perception, but wasn’t to my liking.


Had a brunch in the market, took a few photographs and took off for Tiger Falls.


This was the second biggest mistake of our ride!!!


Tiger falls was like 17 kms from chakrata. Enjoying the view, I was riding comfortably on the fairly well maintained roads. Finally reached a board which mentioned something to do with the falls and a short and quite narrow gravel road was leading to a place below.


Took the turn, rode for a few metres, another turn and there was no road below! Stairs and only stairs! Rahul followed and he got stuck as well!
This was actually where you supposed to park ur bike and trek down for a kilometer to the river basin below, where u can actually spot the falls!


“Trek, what trek? No one said nothing about a trek”, I thought in disbelief.
Somehow managed to get our bikes out. There was another trek route which was around 2 kms ahead. Rode till there and got off. Met a guy there, and he’s the one who raised our hopes by saying that its very easy and quite near. (Some day i ll kill him!!)

With a heavy heart, I started descending. Mistake, BIG mistake, no HUGE mistake.


We Trotted our way to the bottom, the path was in fact quite steep and the thought of how I am gonna make it back up, started eating me from the inside!!

Finally reached the bottom and started hunting for the falls!!!


There were no falls!!!!! Nothing, zilch, zero ….


The falls had actually dried and the carved rocks simply showed the passage of water when, in fact the falls did drop!


Cursed myself for doing this. But the worst was yet to come. The ascend!
Eventually, with a lot of huffing and puffing and frequent stops enroute, I made it to the top! This is where I promised myself that I will not, ah-ahh, never do a trek again in my life!!...


Chalo, that’s past now…Moving back, we reached chakrata and it was already three. Tiuni was around 85 kms from here, bad roads and steep inclines and declines. The common consensus of the locals was that we stay a day more in chakrata and then leave for Tiuni early next morning.
But then, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do! Carried on for tiuni.


This was the best part of the whole ride. The view was simply superb. The road winded up thru barren landscapes and dropped down thru orchids! Considerable amount of off-roading was the pick of the day for me! Bhai mazaa aa gaya …..


Reached Tiuni at 7. It had gone dark. Stopped for a samosa break and then decided to ride till Jubbal. Moving on I could hear the gushing of the river Pabar which was flowing alongside constantly till Hatkoti. Could have sworn that this route too was equally scenic…


Stopped for dinner near Hatkoti and were told that we would be able to find rooms in either Hatkoti or Jubbal, as there was a marriage procession in Hatkoti due to which all the hotels and guest houses were completely filled!


Damn! Not again….


Found out from someone that Rohru would have rooms available. So we called it a day at Rohru. Rode up to the PWD rest-house and we were lucky to get a room there, that too for just 250 again! The room was excellent and we were delighted. The care-taker was quite outspoken, and going by the remarks he was making, gay as well!!! Told rahul to get rid of him and he oblidged.


Bags opened, and out came BP again…A few pegs and chips later, we dozed off…


Day 2 pics attached …

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Yudveer guest house guy was quite rude, I mean even if it is middle of the night, there is no need to speak in this manner to perspective customers or for that matter, any one!

Where did you guys stay in Rohru?

[KurtRules]

Rahul literally wanted to fist the guy then and there, but i was reluctant as there was no point in fighting at that time.

We stayed at the PWD rest house, which is adjacent to the circuit house in Rohru..

[Yogesh Sarkar]

That place, have stayed there twice. Big but kind of empty rooms but good view of the river and the Chowkidar at that time was also a bit over friendly but not gay, well not at least at that time though he did peak into the room at night and said “soye nahin aap” which caused Bunny to jump couple of feet

[KurtRules]

He he ... are u talking about this guy ...?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Neah, I don’t think that’s him. But then again it’s been over four years and after such a long time I can only remember a beautiful girl’s face

[abhi1975]

Wah, nice. We have got a hardcore rider here. Ummmmm.......did you say something about not trekking anymore ever???

[anupmathur]

Wonderful narration and excellent pics!

Standards seem to keep rising!

[akshay4384]

Beautiful pics
and a well written log.

[njoshi]

@Kurt Nice ride and log

Chakrata is like that very few people there, but i'm surprized you did not see any water in tiger fall, this being rainy season, i remember a pleasent surprize there when i went, it was gushing from high up..anyways...great pics..