we had started off pretty early, as we had planned for Dharamshala so 4:20 we were all at the Karnal bypass. Some of us met each other for the first time. A few first time riders in Mehta Narinder and Paaji worried us. Yes we called him Paaji and will do so, he made the trip double fun thanks paaji and helped us survive the night at deoban.
His (Paaji's) bike wasnt running well though coudnt go over 60 so it was slow going till Pipli...and we found some amazing routes on this trip more gyan on that later. Somehow none of us could gather too much credible info from the net on the routes to here, as there were many and no feedback.
We went via the karnal Highway to Pipli, diverted to yamunanagar, Kaalsi from where we had to collect the permits for Deoban. Enroute was Poanta sahib and what a great ride that was through the jungles.
From Kaalsi the ride to chakrata was pathetic, so pathetic that some of us wanted to turn back, scenery was pathetic and also the road. We thought of staying in chakrata, there is just one hotel Snow view and maybe a few more a little distance away, snowview was full. Since our original plan was for Deoban we decided to head there
Gyan
Deoban is a forest as the name suggests Dev- Van (forrest of the gods), nothing there except a Forest rest house, you have to take prior permission from the DFO at kaalsi(pronunced as kaal-seee this is imp as there is another kalsi in the area confusing the locals :)) to stay there.
There is no electricity or runing water there, whatever water the care-taker gives you is drinking and is rationed, we carried our own cooking stuff including aata, rice chiken, oil , salt etc from chakrata to survive a few days there. This is where Paaji starred, all of us being so lazy at least i am, we would have slept drinking pepsi but paaji motivated us to cook. Before this to reach Deoban is a jeepable track of about 10 odd kms, pretty nasty at places and loads of fun. can be treacherous for first timers. Anyways we made it to deoban.
The cooking food was an experience i will never forget. Burnt wood for preparing the "chulas" made maggi and eggs chiken and rice, and believe you me the taste of your own labour under those circumstances is awesome. It was scary at night outside as there was no electricity. Paaji had a scorpion over his foot which got smashed to bits and scared the wits out of whoebver was there.
The Next day we moved to chakrata as the water shortage was killing us, so we survived only one night at Deoban, but what a memorable night it was.
TIPS:
if you are going to deoban be well prepared to cook, carry a stove if you can, learn to survive with meagre water :)...its nasty when you gotta go... trust me lol.
Next day we got a room in chakrata cleaned ourselves felt so much better. Chakrata is like any other small hill town, nothing there to hang around. we also went to Tiger falls, deep in the hills had to walk a kilometer down to get to it, but was worth the fun.
The Lyril Man
Since we had no plans at the end of the day the discussion came back, what to do tomorrow, Ankit and Mehta wanted to go back to delhi no one else wanted that :) mehta coz he was the pillion and his bum was hurting. so majority prevailed and we headed out to mussorie. What a good ride this was. Zero traffic and excellent scenery. Enroute we came to Yamuna pul where we saw a rafting camp. Dithched mussorie spent the night at the camp, did rafting which was fun.
Paaji fell off the boat twice in the rapids which was a sort of record there considering the rapids were grade 2 :)..sorry paaji had to write this.
The next day we started back for Delhi Via Kaalsi but this time a different route, and what a good route it was.
Gyan
Ir you are going to chaktrata via karnal Pipli go to yamunanagar, 2 kms before Kaalsi there is a diversion for yumnotri and chakrata, take the Yumnotri (catch you might need to go to kaalsi to get permits and tred back to this point) road, a few kms up there is again a diversion to chakrata. This route might be longer by 20-30 kms but worth it. The one after kaalsi is pathetic.
The final day was good, rains throughout, so no riding in the sun to delhi. Stopped at poanta sahib to pay respects, back to delhi. Power packed 4 days of fun.
A Few more shots
