Chaukori - A Secluded Hill Station

When I made my first visit to Kumaon in October 1985 for Pindari Glacier trek, I was familiar with only a few places of Kumaon region such as Nainital, Almora, Ranikhet, Kausani as these were popular hill stations. In August 1993, while returning from Chhota Kailash trek, our bus passed through Chaukori when I got the first glimpse of the place which looked like a small hamlet. The place impressed me a lot. In July 2009, while proceeding from Kathgodam to Dharchula for Darma Valley trek, I once again passed through Chaukori. This time, despite the start of the monsoon season, I was fortunate to witness the almost 180-degree view of the Himalayan peaks - from Trishul to Panchachuli. The place had still retained a sleepy village atmosphere.  At that time, I had decided that sometime, I would like to spend a couple of days in Chaukori in a peaceful environment away from the hustle and bustle of popular hill stations of Uttarakhand.

In January this year, my son told me to plan a visit to some places in Uttarakhand during the first week of April 2024 to take advantage of the start of a long weekend. So, while planning the itinerary, I included Chaukori as one of the places to be covered which was my long pending dream. In our trip, I also included Karnaprayag and Rudraprayag which my son wished to visit to relive his visits to these places during our Kedarnath and Badrinath yatra in June 1993. 

The broad itinerary was as under:

Mumbai-Dehradun-Karnaprayag (1 night)

Karnaprayag-Chaukori (3 nights)

Chaukori-Rudraprayag-Kartik Swami Temple-Rudraprayag-(2 nights)

Rudraprayag-Dehradun-Mumbai.

After landing at Jolly Grant airport in the morning, we immediately took a taxi from pre-paid counter for Karnaprayag (185 kms). We reached Karnaprayag in the afternoon and stayed in GMVN. After some rest, we took a walk to Karnaprayag Sangam of Pindar River with Alaknanda River and thereafter took a round of the Karnaprayag market. 

Confluence of Alaknanda River (left) and Pindar River (right) with Karnaprayag town in the background.

The next day, we engaged a taxi to drop us at KMVN, Chaukori (156 kms). After some slow traffic up to Simili which was about 5 kms from Karnaprayag, the rest of the journey to Chaukori was smooth. On the way, we had a good view of Mt. Trishul and Mt. Mrigthuni about 4 kms before reaching Gwaldam.

Mt. Trishul and Mt.  Mrigthuni clicked from Karnaprayag- Gwaldam road about 4 kms before Gwaldam.

We reached Chaukori in the afternoon. The famed Himalayan view from the place was missing as weather had turned hazy. After finishing our lunch at KMVN's restaurant, we walked towards a place called Hanging Rock which is about 1 kms from KMVN. The walk is mostly through rhododendron forest. On the way, there were couple of bungalows under construction, probably homestays in the making. After reaching a meadow, we saw a flat rock on the right side which protruded in a deep valley. So, at the outset, it does not look like a hanging rock. But in all probability, it may look like a hanging rock for the people watching from the valley. It is said that from the Hanging Rock, one gets a better view of the western side of the Himalayan peaks which are not visible from KMVN due to tall trees. However, due to haze, we could not see any peaks. It appears that a further walk on the trail can lead to villages in the valley.

Our room in one of the cottages of KMVN, Chaukori.

Standing on the Hanging Rock. On clear days, Himalayan peaks are visible from this place.

We got up early in the morning to watch the sunrise on the Himalayan peaks. The sunrise scheduled for the day was 5:58 hours. However, the aroma of the sun rays started falling on the peaks much earlier, but the peaks were still covered by the thin layer of white cloud. It was only when the sun came out from behind the hills, the peaks' visibility became somewhat clearer. By 06:15 hours, the most of the western side peaks were covered with sunrays while eastern side peaks, mainly Panchachuli were still in the dark. It was only when sun fully rose, the eastern side peaks became visible.

Close-up views of left to right: Nandadevi, Sunandadevi, Nandakhat in front of them and Nandakot.

Wide angle view of the Himalayan peaks from KMVN, Chaukori.

Mt. Panchachuli group of peaks on the right, viewed from KMVN, Chaukori.

Himalayan peak view from the Viewing Tower of KMVN, Chaukori.

Close up shots of (left to right) Panwalidwar, Nandadevi, Sunandadevi, Nandakhat in from of them and Nandakot from KMVN, Chaukori.

I would say that while it was not the best view of the Himalayan peaks due to prevalence of haze in the atmosphere, nonetheless, it was worth a watch within the limitation, given the fact that for the next two days, the hazy and cloudy sky did not allow us to watch Himalayan peaks when we were in Chaukori. Probably, a short spell of rains in the evening would have cleared the haze in the next morning. 

Our day's programme was to visit Dharamghar Tea Gardens, Musk Deer Breeding Centre on the way, Berinag and Gangolihat for which we had hired a taxi. We dropped the idea of visiting Patal Bhuvaneshwari Cave temple as we were told that senior citizens should avoid entering the cave temple due to risk involved in negotiating the narrow and slippery cave with a couple of places having almost 75 degrees of gradient. 

After breakfast at KMVN restaurant, we first proceeded to Tea Garden at Dharamghar which is actually called as Simgarhi Tea Estate, about 12 kms from Chaukori on the Bageshwar side. It is a small tea garden on the roadside giving a splendid Himalayan peak view. We spent about 30 minutes inside the tea garden. 

Himalayan view from Chak Pipariya on the way to Dharamghar. Peaks from right to left are Maiktoli, Devtoli, Mrigthuni, Trishul and Nandaghunti (faintly seen) on left.

Dharamghar Tea Estate with Himalayan peak view in the background. Mt. Maiktoli on the right.

On returning from the Tea Estate and driving towards Chaukori, we stopped at the road end at Mahruri from where the 1.5 km of trails starts with a gradual ascend to visit Musk Deer Breeding Centre.  On the way, we did not com across anyone. The trail was well-marked. So, we reached the gate of the Musk Deer Farm in about 30 minutes which included the time spent for photography. The caretaker of the farm allowed us to enter the farm which is enclosed with iron mess all the sides as there is a danger of wild animals especially leopards for whom, musk deers are prey. The photography inside the farm is prohibited so is talking loudly. Since it was noon, musk deers were resting in their cages. One worker brought out a musk deer from the cage to the open which was in the size of a Himalayan goat. All the musk deers are kept separately, especially from the males as they tend to attack other deers with their two canines which are located outside their jaws. The male and female musk deers are brought together only during the mating season. Only the males have musk glands. 

Enroute Musk Deer Breeding Farm.

My impression about the visit to Musk Deer Farm is that authorities are reluctant to develop it as a tourist place. Visitors' movements outside the enclosures are restricted to only one side. They are not allowed to take a round of the enclosures. The reasons caretaker gave us were that Musk Deers are shy in nature and they get disturbed by the visitors. Also, the Park is located inside a dense forest where the frequent movements of wild animals have been observed. Our return from the park to the road end was faster as it was down all the way.

Our next destination was Berinag at a distance of 14 kms, bypassing Chaukori. When we passed through Berinag main market to visit Naag Devta temple, we found that the temple was closed in the noon for some renovation work. So, we drove ahead to our last destination of the day - Haat Kalika temple at Gangolihat which was at a distance of 24 kms from Berinag. The temple was established by Adi Shankaracharya and is regarded as one of the Shaktipeethas. The temple is located in the midst of dense Deodhar Forest and is dedicated to Goddess Kali. There was not much of a crowd, and we could get the darshan easily. The temple is well maintained by the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army.

A view of Gangolihat from the Haat Kalika temple road.

Way to Haat Kalika Temple.

Haat Kalika temple.

A beautiful structure in Haat Kalika Temple complex where the Akhand Jyoti is kept.

We returned to KMVN in the afternoon and had lunch at their restaurant. Rest of the day was spent in strolling around Chaukori. 

On the third and the last day at Chaukori, we had planned a visit to Birthi Waterfall which is about 65 kms from Chaukori on Thal-Munsiyari road. Ideally, Birthi Waterfall is a pit stop for those who are on a visit to Munsiyari. However, since we did not have enough days to cover Munsiyari as well in the trip, as a small compensation, we thought of spending some time at Birthi Waterfall. 

We got up to a hazy morning without any Himalayan peak views. It was a disappointing day for those tourists who had come to Chaukori last evening with a hope of watching the Himalayan peak view in the morning sunrise. After an early breakfast, we left for Birthi Waterfall in a hired car. It took about 2:30 hours to reach Birthi village. After paying the entry fee @Rs.20/- we started our steady climb of about 1 km to reach the base of the waterfall. The trail was a paved one with steps and the support of railings. On the way, there were a couple of tea shops. It took us about 30 minutes including the time for photography to reach the base of the waterfall. We did not get down to the base of the waterfall as the 10 odd stone steps were loose and risky. There was hardly any tourist at the waterfall when we reached. After spending about 15 minutes at the waterfall, we started return trail during which we came across a few tourists heading towards the waterfall. 

Ram Ganga River seen from the Iron bridge at Thal on the way to Birthi Waterfall.

Climbing to reach the base of Birthi Waterfall.

Halfway to Birthi Waterfall.

Almost at the base of Birthi Waterfall.

Video of Birthi Waterfall.

After a tea break at Birthi, we commenced our return journey to Chaukori which took about 2:30 hours. Instead of taking lunch at KMVN, we went to a nearby Paharan Cafe to eat Paneer momos with Coffee. In the evening, we took a stroll to the Himalayan Inter college complex and visited Mahakali temple located in their complex. With this, our 3 days of sojourn to Chaukori was virtually over. The next day, after the breakfast, we bid goodbye to Chaukori and proceeded to Rudraprayag by a hired car.

 

  

 

   

A Walking Tour Around Mukhba Village

In October 2022, my friend K Srinivasan and me had made a brief visit to Mukhba village (2620m of altitude), the winter abode of Maa Ganga. There is a Maa Ganga temple, almost a replica of Gangotri temple. Due to paucity of time, we decided to make our return journey from Harsil to Uttarkashi via Mukhba village, a 3-km detour from Sundar Homestay where we had stayed. During our 30-minute visit, we realised that there are lots to see around Mukhba village such as trek to Thui Top, walk to Bheem Ganga waterfall and to Markandeya temple etc. Even exploring Mukhba village itself which has some old wood-carved houses, will require at least one hour.  One can also visit Dharali village across Bhagirathi River by crossing the suspension bridge to see 'below the ground level', Kalp Kedar temple and spend watching the wide riverbed of Bhagirathi with water flowing close to the shore. Hence, those who are interested in exploring Mukhba village and its surrounding areas would require sparing at least 5-6 hours of their time.

When I got an opportunity to make a re-visit to Uttarkashi-Harsil-Gangotri in April 2023 with my son, I planned the schedule to give one full day to Mukhba village at the cost of sacrificing the trek to Lama Top in Harsil. The reason was that in April, the Lama Top would be snow bound making the trek risky especially the top 100m of trek. When we reached Harsil, we came to know that the snowfall in this season was the lowest during the last 10 years! Even on Sukhi Top which is at 3000m+ altitude, there was no sign of snow anywhere on road or in the valley. My son became interested in attempting Lama Top trek. We enquired from our homestay caretaker about the trekking condition on Lama Top trek. He cautioned us that though there is no snow on Lama Top, the continuous rains during the last two weeks have made the trekking path slippery which makes the steep descends on return from Lama Top trek riskier.  We gave up doing Lama Top trek and our planned schedule of a day visit to Mukhba village remained unchanged.

On the third morning of our stay in Harsil, we proceeded to Mukhba on Harsil-Mukhba road on the true right of Bhagirathi River. From the road one gets spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and Bhagirathi River valley. The weather was fine for a walk and the sky was free from the cloud. The two weeks of continuous rains and snow on the upper reaches have cleared the haze on the mountains with well spread-out snow than what I had seen in October last. This time, we took a short climb from the road end to enter the Maa Ganga temple premises (as against the short climb to the main gate which we took in last October visit). With snow-capped mountains and the blue sky forming the backdrop, the views of temples from all the angles were spectacular.

View of Bhagirathi River valley from Mukhba road.

View of Maa Ganga temple from the entrance to Mukhba village from road-end.

In Maa Ganga temple complex.

Idols of Gods and Goddesses inside Maa Ganga temple with priest.

Side view of the Maa Ganga temple complex.

Since the priest had come with the holy water to conduct pooja of Maa Ganga and other Gods inside the temple, we followed him and watched for a brief moment the pooja conducted by him. This was followed by Arati along with the sound of dole. We spent some time in the vicinity of the temple complex admiring the spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and Dharali village across Bhagirathi River.

Mt. Srikanth (middle) seen from Maa Ganga temple complex, Mukhba.

Dharali village across the Bhagirathi River with snow-capped mountains in the background. On the right is the suspension pedestrian bridge over Bhagirathi River connecting Mukhba with Dharali on Gangotri road.

The display board at Maa Ganga temple showed the distance to some of the tourists/religious places around Mukhba. The distance to the Thui Top was shown as 1.5 kms.  The pathways were through the Mukhba village. So, while trekking to Thui Top, we are also going to explore Mukhba village. On the way to our ascend to the upper Mukhba village, confusion prevailed as to which was the correct path which would lead us to Thui Top because there was more than one diversion on the way. The problem was that there was hardly anyone on the pathway to guide us. Many of the inhabitants of Mukhba village have shifted to either Uttarkashi or Dehradun. Most of them visit their village during the summer. We got a couple of people on the way, but they were confused with the place 'Thui Top' as if the place they heard for the first time. We proceeded ascending on the pathway without knowing whether the path we had taken was correct or not. Finally, we met one gentleman who appeared to be educated by his talk in pure Hindi which only a person staying in the town could speak. He told us that 'Thui Top' is pronounced by the local villagers as 'Shui Top'. He said that the distance of 1.5 km shown in the display board was wrong. He told us that it would take at least 3-4 hours to reach Thui Top and comeback. Instead, he suggested to visit Bheem Ganga waterfall which is about 1 km of walk and thereafter to Markandeya temple on return from the waterfall. Of course, we had planned for Markandeya temple trek after Thui Top trek. So, after halfway to Thui Top, we dropped the idea as we were not fully prepared for 3-4 hours of trek which required packed lunch and water.

Houses in Mukhba village. The ruined wooden house in the foreground is the reminder of the good old days of a prosperous Indo-Tibetan trading family. The house is now used as a storage place.

A newly constructed house at upper Mukhba village with a large open space.

Climbing aimlessly in upper Mukhba village without knowing the correct path to Thui Top. The idea is to ask someone at the junction on the top for direction.

View from Thui Top pathway. Maa Ganga temple in the foreground, Dharali village across Bhagirathi River with Mt. Srikanth in the background.

We reverse out direction of trekking and walked towards Maa Ganga temple side. We took a left diversion (right diversion goes to the temple) and walked more or less on the plain pedestrian path which took us almost out of the Mukhba village with no houses in sight. We could see a waterfall from the distance. Because of dense forest cover, the top of the waterfall was not visible. It is only when dense trees are out of the way from waterfall, it becomes visible. The waterfall is not huge but certainly a long one. In rainy season, it must be making a roaring sound upon its fall on the ground. The water flows below a cemented pedestrian bridge which gets again converted into a mini fall to flows on the pathway to Markandeya temple.

Bheem Ganga Waterfall, one km from Mukhba village.

The waterfall finally flows through a pathway to Markandeya temple and further falls on the right side to meet Bhagirathi River.

By the time we turned back from the waterfall, it was almost noon. Our next and possibly the last one at Mukhba was trekking to Markandeya temple which is about 1.5 kms from Mukhba road end. Since we were already on the pedestrian path leading to Maa Ganga temple, we could join the pathway to Markandeya temple on the way near the back side gate of Mukhba village. After walking about 200 metre from the waterfall flowing point, a right descend in a narrow pedestrian path led to the main pathway to the Markandeya temple. The shaded route was more or less on descend. The entire route gets uninterrupted views of snow-capped mountains. The temple is located at the shore of Bhagirathi River. About 500 metres before the temple, a cemented gate welcomes the visitors, and the temple becomes visible. With a huge snow-covered mountain in the front, the temple looks dwarf. It was around 12.30 p.m. when we reached the temple complex. The temple was closed probably after mid-day Arati. we did not come across anyone in the vicinity of the temple. 

The shaded pathway to Markandeya temple. Photo by Sandeep Kamath

View from the pathway to Markandeya temple. Photo by Sandeep Kamath

About 500 metres to the temple on the left at the shore of Bhagirathi River. The huge mountain opposite the temple makes it dwarf.

Markandeya temple complex. One of these temples have Shiv lingam.

View from Markandeya temple complex (Photo by Sandeep Kamath).

The story of Markandeya Rishi is that he was born with Lord Shiva's boon with a short life of 16 years. He was devotee of Lord Shiva. When he attained 16th year, Markandeya continued to worship Lord Shiva in the form of a lingam. On the completion of his 16th years, a representative of Yama failed to take his life away due to his power of devotion to Lord Shiva. At last, Lord Yama himself came to take Markandeya's life even though he had embraced the Shiv Lingam. Yama encircled his noose around Markandeya's neck which also encircled the Shiv Lingam. Angered by Yama's action, Lord Shiva emerged from the lingam and killed Yama to save his devotee. On the request of Gods, Lord Shiva gave back life to Yama on the condition that Markandeya Rishi remains at the 16 forever. Markandeya Rishi is supposed to have embraced the Shiv lingam at this temple. Hence it is called Markandeya temple. In the complex, there is also a temple of Annapurna Devi.

Markandeya temple from an upper slope to get the full top view.

On the dry bed of Bhagirathi River.

A look of Mukhba village while returning from Markandeya temple path.

A last look at Mt. Srikanth as we entered Mukhba from the gate of the road end for onward journey back to Harsil.

When we were about to complete the Markandeya temple round, we saw a man perched on his small agricultural field. When my son asked him whether we can get some tea, he invited to his house to have tea with him. The house was not visible as it was perched on 10-12 steps above the ground. His wife who was working in the field, served us tea with chivda. He told us that during Chardham yatra season, he stays in Gangotri where he does the business of lending on hire the blankets and razaai (quilts). 

A good time pass on Markandeya temple vicinity is the closeness of the vast shore of Bhagirathi River. I guess, the River is the widest between Dharali shore to Markandeya temple shore. The River flows in two strips in the middle leaving the vast dry bed on either side. My son was tempted to walk on the dry bed of the river which becomes like a beach walk after a km or so. Then cross the river at its shortest width to reach Dharali village on the other side of the river from where we can get in our vehicle to return to Harsil. I did not evince interest in his suggestion. Later, a person from the village told me that even though depth of the river is low, the uneven loose and slippery stones underneath the flowing water can be risky. 

We returned to Harsil via Mukhba-Harsil Road by 2.30 p.m. and had lunch at one of the restaurants on the Harsil market for a change even though hour homestay tariff included breakfast, lunch and dinner.

With this, our 3 days of stay in Harsil was over. The weather was very cold during our stay with a maximum temperature of 12 degree Celsius and minimum temperature dropping to as low as 1-2 degree Celsius. But the cold weather did not deter our activities due to a good sunshine most of the days.