Dayara Bugyal Trek – A Joyful journey
Dayara Bugyal Trek: Everything You Need to Know In the month of May, I planned for trek in Dayara Bugyal. It is a beautiful high altitude meadow located around 17 km (app.) from Raithal village of Uttarkashi district. The altitude of this trek is around 11,950 ft (app.). This meadow is of great importance for trekkers and nature lovers and one of the most popular treks in the Garhwal Himalayas. This trek is great for beginners who are new to exploring the mountains. Dayara Bugyal trek is an important part of the Gangotri region and other nearby treks like Dodital Trek, Chepabari Forest Trek, Har ki Dun Valley Trek also start from here. The locals believe that it is the place where the Pandavas stayed during their exile. The stunning green flower meadows, snowy peaks and beautiful lakes are a treat to see at Dayara Baugyal.
Best time to reach here! The best time to visit this place is between March to mid May and November to January, when you can enjoy warm weather without too much rain or snowfall on your way back home after enjoying this magical place
Weather & Temperature Temperature is between 13 0 C to 18oC in a day and -3oC to 4oC in Night in summers and 90 C to 5oC in a day and -8oC to 4oC in Night in Winters.
Other wander places In the period of planning i had searched some places nearby Dayara Bugyal to Wander and got surprises that this trek offers you an opportunity to explore some of the most beautiful areas in Uttarakhand such as: a) The Nanda Devi Sanctuary: It’s a Biosphere Reserve, established in 1982 is a national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) in Chamoli Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, in north India. The elevation of entire peak is more than 3,500 m (11,500 ft) above sea level. It also add in World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. This sanctuary expanded later and renamed as Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks in 2005. May to October is the best time to visit this place. b) Dodi Tal Lake: Dodital lake is source of Asi Ganga river and merges in Bhagirathi river near Gangotri. It is a fresh water lake of Uttarakhand. The altitude of 3,310 metres above sea level in Uttarkashi. It is a home to various aquatic species, flora and fauna. Circumference of the lake is 1.5 km. c) Uttarkashi: The place is known as ‘Kashi of the North’, ‘Somya Kashi’ and ‘Shivnagri’. Like Kasi, the town of has sacred Vishwanath temple. This holy shrine is made of copper trident which has circumference of 1 meter. Uttarkashi is popular for trekking, herbs, activities and flora and fauna which attract tourist a lot.
First day on trek: Journey to Raithal
On 23 May 2021, i started my journey to reach my pickup point which was Dehradun. I took the Volvo bus from RK Ashram, Delhi. If you are planning to come then can opt You can take bus from Majnu ka Tila for Volvo bus and Kashmiri Gate for Public services bus. National Highway 307 (NH 307) is a short National Highway in Northern India. This 46-kilometre-long (29 mi) highway links Dehradun in Uttarakhand with Saharanpur on NH 344 in Uttar Pradesh. If you want to come through Rail Dehradun, regular train services to cities Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ujjain, Chennai and Varanasi and other parts of India is available by Shatabdi Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Dehradun AC Express, Doon Express, Bandra Express and the Amritsar-Dehradun Express among others.. Railway station is located 1-2 kilometers away from the city centre which take you only ten minutes to reach or depending on traffic. This city is air connected also. Here is Jolly Grant Airport, which is located just 20 km away from the city centre. You can hire/book a taxi from the airport to reach the city, which should take you 40 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. At 6 am, I reached Dehradun Railway station. Here, i contacted to my trek guide and took the seat in traveller. Now here my journey started for the trek. As per itinerary our first campsite is Raithal which is 185 km & Altitude is 7,110 ft. The whole journey took 9-10 Hrs. Raithal is a small hamlet and the beauty of this land is serene. Holy River Bhagirathi flows here. We reached Raithal at 6 pm and stayed in Guest house. Room was shared by three people. It was Neat & clean, decorated by local art and beautiful outer view room which was quite new thing for me. In the middle of journey to come Raithal, we took our lunch in the local restaurant. I was feeling so relaxed to see the sunset here. Locals are so nice and cooperative. They offered us Rhododendron flowers juice which was amazing. They also told us about the benefits of this flower which is medically proven as a herb and good for prevention and treatment of diseases associated with heart, dysentery, diarrhea, detoxification, inflammation, fever, constipation, bronchitis and asthma. They also told us that there are three routes Raithal, Barsu and Sangamchatti. After dinner, trek Guide told us about next day trekking route, rules, Breathing exercise and how to tackle situation at the time of Altitude Sickness. Altitude sickness is majorly known as acute mountain sickness (AMS). If you travel to a high altitude too quickly. Breathing becomes difficult because you’re not able to take in as much oxygen that’s a situation called. It can become a medical emergency if ignored. We entered in dense jungles of thick oak trees, beautiful flowers and our trek guide informed us that it might to spot some rare species of animals. This region has mesmerizing grasslands like Barnala Bugyal which are covered with snow during winters.
Second day on Trek: Camping at Gui On 25 May 2021, Trek was started trek from Raithal to Gui Campsite on 8 am. The whole trek was about 5 km distance and covered in 6 Hrs. Basically this day trek could cover in 4 hours but our group was doing a lot of fun between the trek and clicked lots of picture. We reached our campsite at 2 am and took our lunch here which was vegetarian food and too yummy. So basically, today we covered 9,630 ft altitude from 7,110 ft. It was amazing experience for me and quite enjoyable.
Third day on Trek: climbing the summit On 26 May, 2021, it was our thrid day on trek. After the breakfast, it was advise to us to took only essential items like phone, battery, water bottle etc. and rest to leave in campsite. At 6 am, we leave Gui Campsite to reach Dayara Bugyal. This day we would cross Altitude of 10,400 ft. We trekked 7 km and it took us 3 hours. The trek trail to Dayara Bugyal is of moderate ascent passing through the forests of Oak and Rhondendron with level walks in between till Dayara. After see the beautiful sunrise felt relief. just spent 3 hours there and clicked pictures, made videos for youtube and instagram. But you know the best part of this trek is when you climb the summit it gives you satisfaction. It gives emotional strength. I listened my hearbeat when I was aboout to reach dayara bugyal. Our trek guide informed us meaning of “Bugyal” which is meadow & land covered with wildflowers in local language. It gives us 270-degree views of the snow-covered mountains of Bandarpooch (6,316 m), Bhagirathi (6921 m) and Black Peak (2,734 m). As it is Highest Rolling Meadows of the country which is full of suspense. Dayara Bugyal trek can go throughout the year due to Seasonal change in the view. We Rest at the top of Dayara Bugyal and enjoyed our packed lunch. After spent lots of time we came back and picked our bag pack to back to Gui Campsite from Dayara Top. We spent one more day in Gui campsite and did lots of masti here. We played antakshari, dance, dum shaidas, poetry, jokes and specially pitto game which reminded me my childhood memories.
Bye Bye Dayara Bugyal! Finally the day come to leave this journey and descent back through to Dehradun. But this place does not only attract nature lovers but also adventurers because there are so many adventure activities that can be done here like skiing, camping and trekking with trekyaari etc. Dayara Bugyal is a good place for camping because it has lots of sites for camping like forested areas, riverside sites or even fields where you can easily pitch your tents on open spaces surrounded by greenery that gives an authentic feeling of being in the wild wilderness environment.