Dehradun – Sankri – 10th March 2019 – Day 1
Checked-out of the hotel and waited near the Railway Booking Counter at the Dehradun Railway Station which is near to the hotel we stayed in. The Force Tempo Traveller came in few minutes and all our luggage were stacked at the back. Initially when we booked for the Trek, there were no other bookings for the day, we thought we will be only four of us for the entire tour. But we were joined by Lona – a boy from Dubai and Puja – a girl from Bangalore who also happened to get booked for the same Trek. Started from Dehradun around 07:15hrs.
On the way we could see the Kempty Falls from a distance – a beautiful view of course. After traveling about 2 hours, we stopped for breakfast after the Kempty Falls. Had hot Dosa and Coffee. Being a Sunday, some shops were closed. There was a Punjab National Bank branch next to the hotel and that too was closed. Moving forward, it would be difficult to find a bank or even an ATM if one wants to withdraw some money.
We had the first distant view of Kedarkantha range on the way. The route was scenic and at some places bumpy. But we enjoyed our journey. We can see mustard farms on the way.
The next halt was for the lunch, at Rana Hotel in Purola Village. From this point, Mobile Network will not be normally available though one could get a feeble signal at some spots, near to the Mobile Towers.
We continued our journey to Sankri Village where we had our base camp. At one stage road works were in progress and it was a very narrow passage for some distance. We could see many Tourist Vehicles passing us towards both directions (up and down). HPTC buses were also seen carrying regular passengers. We were surrounded by mountains on all sides and many of them were seen covered partly with ice even though it was a sunny day. Our destination range could be seen more clearly which were covered fully with ice.
At about 4 in the evening, we reached near our base camp and we could see the permanent and temporary tents arranged for the stay at the base camp. The staff and another guide Vijay Rana welcomed us at the Sankri Base Camp. Hot ginger tea was served, and we were taken to our respective tents.
Later, in the evening we had a stroll at the Sankri market and had a chance to enjoy the beauty of the Himalayan Ranges. The Swargarohini peak was illuminated by the setting sun which was a beautiful scene. Came back to the base camp, had dinner, discussed plans for the next day and went to sleep. That was end of day 1.
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