Travelling and touring in different places of the earth have been a greatest source of enjoyment. Big mountain adventure comes when there is enough courage and self-attainment to join at different places of the earth. Discovering newer places and reaching beyond boundaries has been the greatest source of enjoyment. By touring at different places one can find enough inspiration and motivation to reach unknown territories. Harsil is one such place where one can enjoy big mountain adventure while camping near the source of Ganga. Harsil is located in the northern state of India known as Uttaranchal. This place is located in the Garhwal Himalaya. There are 3 beautiful mountain peaks known as Bhagirathi, Trishul and Shivaling. Tall peaks of these three mountains are standing surrounding Harsil. It seems they are guarding this city.
The path to Harshil:
This place is 9,005 feet above sea level. It is a case in the highest place above sea-level of India. It is a natural playground for adventure. Only Gangotri which is 10,000 feet above sea-level is inferior to this place. At Harsil, you will experience the reality of great Himalayan ranges at its peak. There are many springs, forests, tall and powerful peaks surrounds the entire route.
With advent of meadows and beautiful glaciers, the entire place becomes a safe haven for adventurous loving people. It creates high adrenaline and pumps many adventurous illusions while travelling through these places far and wide. The cab driver to Harshil is filled with pleasure and much anticipation. From Uttarkashi the scenic route is closely followed by Bhaghirathi river on the side, creates a sense of pleasure and reticent to nature. The twists, turns and modification of routes create a sheer pleasure and the sense of reaching to heaven through the path of paradise.
For some time you reach at the peak of ghat-road and at some other time you closely find yourself nearer to the banks of the Bhagirathi River. You will feel yourself close to nature having driving amidst green valley with a nice climate and sometimes reaching closely to the white sands of the nearby river perfectly blending yours journey to a smiling nature present. Nearby apple orchids and pine forests make the entire path to Harshil brilliant beginning to reach eternal. With peals of ranges of mountains becoming whitish creates exact opening of a much needed paradigm shift of thinking parameters of reasoning personality.
Journey to Gangotri:
The beauty and tranquility of this place have attracted many and from among all these renowned cine-maker, of yesteryear Raj Kapoor chose this location to shoot his movie ‘Ram Teri Ganja Maili Ho gayi’. Here the glorified beauty of nature, adding substance to real temptations evolving out of entire drones of natural scenery. The next stop of Harshil is Gangotri. That is why most times, visitors have just touched it for a night stay and then move forward to reach the source of Ganga. That is why there are many untouched places and unraveled arenas of Harshil which can still have plenty of potential for tourists to reach there and enjoy the beautiful climate.
People with slightly imperfect health, can reach here and have a month long stay to improvise their health conditionalities. Here, there are various places where you can walk and move from here and there and can find exact solace coupled with becoming fitter and smarter that earlier situations. There are beautiful surrounding forests, with white sands in between to gain rapid health improvement while staying outside for a couple of hours.
Harshil is a nice place to start trekking and there are some wonderful places, where one can reach here and there with plenty of adventure point of view. This experience begins while I am at college and have reached there with teachers and students for excursion for learning of nature. We reached at Harshil from federal highway 24 Ghaziabad. Ours sports utility vehicle runs through Gangotri road and we reached nearer to Bhagirathi River while driving through Harshil.
Dharali village, the pleasure of nature:
In the surroundings of the forest we drove hardly two kilometers and reach at Dharali village which is two kilometers from Harshil. We have a few other plans of trekking and seeing some other places than what normal tourists have experienced so far. Most of tourists either reach to Gangotri or Harshil but we reached to Dharali village which is two kilometers from Harshil. Then we start trekking of seven kilometers long which is mostly pleasant while seeing the advent of small forests with large canal like drains going here and there showing signs of life and the pleasure of nature.
At the end of seven kilometers of trekking we reached towards place known as Sattal, which is a wonderful place and this place can only be experienced with eyes and senses. Sattal is a place of a group of seven lakes, while the surrounding is absorbing scenery coupled with a strong sense of the presence of nature. That is a wonderful camping place and we stayed there and have plenty of water and natural fruits available and only few meters away there are presences of some Tibetan settlements and villages and prominent among these are Bhagori and Harsil.
Bahiron Ghati:
Here, Gangotri is hardly 24 kilometers away. From Harshil begins ghat-road to Bhairon. Bhairon Ghati is full of lush green forests and denseness of the forest is so observable that most times, darkness creeps in while at noon? After some time in about 24 kilometers we reached at the confluence of river Bhagirathi and Kedar Ganga which is recognized as Gangotri town and it is situated 10,000ft above sea-level. Entire Bhairon-Ghati is filled with tall pine trees structures coupled with whitish snow drenched peaks of mountain ranges making the entire journey filled with exuberance and joy.
Most of professional trekking start from Gangotri town. Here, we saw numerous professional mountain trekkers planning their mountain ride at some point of time. Entire place is linked with natural beauty. From this town, there are two one routes is towards famous devotional place of Badrinath and the other router is towards Kedar Ganaga Valley. We have chosen to stay there for some days. Nearby Gangotri the famous Gaurikund, the waterfall is gorgeous and divine. This waterfall is on the Bhagirathi River. Another famous place of Gangotri town is Gangotri Temple and it opens for six months in a year.
Nearer to Gaumukh:
Gangotri Temple open from May to Diwali each year for duration of six months and for the next six months the idol of Goddess stays near Mukhba village nearby to Harshil. After resting for few days at Gangotri and observing Gaurikund waterfall and Gangotri Temple, our next destination will be Gaumukh which is 21 kilometers from Gangotri and 45 kilometers from Harshil. From Gangotri, our next best destination is Gaumukh which is hardly 21 kilometres from here but the entire route takes more time than in normal roads. The source of Bhagirathi river is recognized as Gangotri.
Consequently river Bhagirathi is otherwise known as Ganga while travelling in the midst of meadows inside heartlands of India. Gaumukh is situated at an altitude of 12,769 feet above sea-level. Extreme experience of cold can be viewed here. First one reaches the temple of Gangotri, and after passing this temple, where a difficult path to reach to Gaumukh comes. Here there is tiny openings of roads and one has to cross path extreme difficulty and with care to reach here. There have been entirely dry lands and most roads have hardly presence of trees. Bhagirathi River all along comes with you while you reach towards the source of Ganga.
Reaching nearer to emergence of Bhagirathi:
While trekking is on we reach nearer to Chirbasa where valley swings into complacently different direction. From here when seeing upside we saw the lofty peak of Bhagirathi and some range of mountains. Till that time, we have been pretty tired and our feet are sore due to climbing and walking against some of the rules of gravitation. We have completed almost eight kilometers to reach out to our night base camp at Bhojbasa which seems a place where the entire land is strong to stay overnight and recuperate tiredness due to high range rise all over through journey. We have decided to reach for gaumukh which is four kilometers from here on the next morning.
At Gaumukh, emergence of Bhagirathi occurs and part of it seen from there and the exact point of origin is still not clear from there. Bhagirthi begins from the snout of the Gangotri glacier and completely comes out from Gaumukh. On the banks of these environments, we watch peaceful Mount Shivaling which is now 21,456 feet above sea level. At Bhojbasa, there are quite a few cafeterias to refresh in chilling cool winds. Cost in these café is on the higher side but it is nice to have hot coffee with some snacks and free smiles from locals which remove most tiredness while performing long trekking back to reach there. It has been joyous experience for all of us, a lifetime remembrance for all of us definitely.
