After our successful Dzongri – Goecha La Trek last year, we have decided to do this popular Sandakphu Trek and Singalila Trek from MTG Nature Lovers. We were 9 peoples in group and 7 out of 9 members was from our previous team. It was fabulous to do treks with almost same group and we enjoyed a lot. Though the last day was very hectic as we decided to descend from Phalut to Shreekhola in one day, and the distance was 32 Km.!
I, Deep, Dhriti, and Tapas were planning for a short trip in this year for a long time. But unfortunately, we could not manage a common time after Puja holidays. Especially after returning back from Goecha La trekking in west Sikkim, I was having a difficult time to manage a leave for the yearly trip with my friends. Finally, we four friends together decided to visit Bishnupur on December 2008 and get amazed by the awesome handcrafted works of the terracotta temples there. Bishnupur is a town in Bankura District in the state of West Bengal, India. This place is very famous for the ancient terracotta temples and the local Balucheri sarees (a very common cultural dress for women in India).
We, a group of 11 members, from MTG Nature lovers done this fabulous trek this year during durga puja holidays. Got around -7 degree centigrade at the higher reaches of the mountains. Altogether this trek was awesome.
My best friend Deep and I trekked on the way of Pandavas towards Satopanth Tal this year pre-monsoon on June 2008. It is a trek towards the sacred lake. Trek gets started from the village Mana near Badrinath. Satopanth Tal trek is easy to moderate graded trek and has lots of scenic beauty en-route.
Information
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Trek Name – Satopanth Tal
Location – Garhwal
Nearest Base – Badrinath / Mana
River – Alakananda
Peaks Visible – Neelkanth, Nar, Narayan, Kuber, Balakun, Choukhamba, Parvati
Transportation – Bus / Share Jeep / Booked Car
Standard Itinerary (Haridwar to Haridwar)
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Day 1 – Haridwar > Hrishikesh > Rudraprayag
Day 2 – Rudraprayag > Joshimath > Badrinath
Day 3 – Badrinath (Acclimatization Hike to Dumkal Kharak / Vasudhara Falls)
Day 4 – Badrinath > Mana > Laxmivan
Day 5 – Laxmivan > Chakrateertha
Day 6 – Chakrateertha > Satopanth Tal
Day 7 – Satopanth Tal > Bandhar
Day 8 – Bandhar > Mana > Badrinath
Day 9 – Badrinath > Srinagar / Devprayag
Day 10 – Srinagar / Devprayag > Hrishikesh > Haridwar
Our Itinerary (Haridwar to Haridwar)
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Day 1 – Haridwar > Hrishikesh > Srinagar > Rudraprayag
Day 2 – Rudraprayag > Karnaprayag > Chamoli > Joshimath > Badrinath
Day 3 – Badrinath > Mana > Vasudhara Falls > Mana > Badrinath
Day 4 – Stay at Badrinath
Day 5 – Badrinath > Mana > Chamtoli Bugiyal
Day 6 – Chamtoli Bugiyal > Chakrateertha
Day 7 – Chakrateertha > Satopanth Tal > Chakrateertha > Laxmivan
Day 8 – Laxmivan > Mana > Badrinath
Day 9 – Badrinath > Haridwar
Guide & Porter
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Guide – Mannu Rawat of Mana. Age around 38-40 years. He guided tourists 7 to 8 times to Satopanth Tal. Good and very experienced guy and he have a very good knowledge of the terrain. We encountered ice skeleton crossing, heavy stream crossing, glacier crossing with him and every time he was at his best. He charged @500/- per day + food. His mobile number is: 09412966171
Porter – Sahbat Sing and Kushal Sing. Both charged @250/- per day + food.
Me and my best friend Deep started from Kolkata for twin trek this year October, 2007, i.e. Kedar Tal and Tapovan. Though we faced lots of snow on the route of Kedar Tal and couldn’t reach upto the lake, but I’ve till now never seen such clear and blue beautiful sky that we saw during Kedar Tal Trek.
Menam La is a small settlement in Sikkim and has a fabulous one day trek route, called Menam La Trek, which exposes a magnificent view of Mt. Kanchenjunga.