Dayara Bugyal Trek

Ah !!! Finally a Himalayan trek. This year was pretty busy in terms of getting free time to scale some peaks. Since the Christmas weekend was right around the corner I tried to get my old friends together and plan a trip. Initially, we planned for Kuari Pass trek. But due to some other plans, we had to cancel the same and find out some other smaller trail.

I had done dodital trek 2 years back and I remembered our guide speaking of the beauty of Daraya bugyal and the mesmerising views from the bugyal. Also, we had promised him that we will come back and do the trek with him. I thought, this was the time. So we called him and booked him for the trek.

We met the familiar faces at Uttarkashi and our guide also greeted us with the biggest smile at the bus stand. From here we started our journey to Raithal Village. Raithal is a well-connected village and serves as a good base for the trek. There is another village “Barsu” from where also we can reach the bugyal but our guide told that is had very steep ascents. We stayed in Raithal, had amazing Garhwali Dinner and started the next day for the trek.

The path

Mountains grow as we trek up

The Pathways

Daraya Bugyal is 8-9 km from the base of Raital. Initially, we had planned to reach Daraya in one go but changed our plans midway as due to Uttarakhand High court orders we cannot camp in the Bugyals. We reach Gui campsite after 4-5 km and pitched our tents there. Gui Campsite has a wide-open view of the Himalayan range and had incredible views of Gangotri set of peaks, Srikanth peak, Bandarpoonch, Black Peak and other unnamed peaks. But the best part of the campsite we discovered was late at night when the sky turned into an amphitheatre with billions of stars and majestic milky way on the horizon way above the mighty Himalayas. We are awestruck and spellbound.

Morning Views from inside the tent

ITBP Igloos at Gui Campsite

Our tents at Gui Campsite

Last rays of sun hitting the Himalyan range

Next morning, we started our trek. Today the path was less steep and for the first 2 km, it felt like a walk. The trail rose slowly as the forest cleared up for Chilapada campsite. After resting for a while at the campsite, the 1 km steep ascent to the bugyal started. We reached Dayara and the views were more majestic from there. We had a quick bite at the small makeshift hotel at the top. We stayed and roamed around in the bugyal, clicked a lot of pics, made snow fairies in the virgin fresh snow. After an hour or so, we started our descend back.

Starting the Trek from Gui

Gui campsite as seen from top

Chilapada campsite

IndiaHikes tent at Chilpada

Frozen Waterfall on our way to the top

Gujjar Huts at the base

Dayara bugual and Bakariya Top

Beauty of the meadow

Scintillating Views

During our descent, we stopped at a “Chhatri” and discussed to descend directly to Raithal. Everyone agreed and we reached Raithal at around 6:00 pm.

Heading back from Dayara Bugyal

Vishwanath Temple in Uttarkashi

Rishikesh Ghat at night

Tihri Dam and newly opened GMVN huts

From Raithal, we headed back to Uttarkashi and bid goodbye to our guide. We again promised to be back for Kedartal or Gaumukh Tapovan trek. Like always, We reached Rishikesh strolled around the ghats with our strained legs and boarded our bus to Delhi.

Following is the rough expense per person for the Trek :