My Madhyamaheshwar Trekking : a “Heaven on Earth” experience (3-Nov-2022 to 6-Nov-2022)

Photo Copyright: Satyabrata Maiti

Prithvi asked lord Vishnu: “Why do you come in the form of mountains and not in your own form?

Lord Vishnu replied: “The pleasure that exists in mountains is greater than that of animate beings; for they feel neither heat, nor cold, nor pain, nor anger, nor fear, nor pleasure…. We three (Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar)  reside as mountains on the earth for the benefit of mankind”.

Our desire to fulfil Pancha Kedar visits in the Himalayas once again led us to visit Madhyamaheshwar Temple, the fourth in the series.

Madhyamaheshwar or Madmaheshwar is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Lord Shiva, located in the Gaundar village of Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand, India. Situated at an elevation of 3,497 m, it is one of the Panch Kedar pilgrimage circuit, comprising the five Shiva temples in the Garhwal region (Wikipedia)

Madhyamaheshwar Trek Overview

About the Destination:

Madhyamaheshwar is a picturesque holy SHRINE situated at an altitude of about 3490 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by majestic snow-capped Himalayas on one side, verdant alpine meadows on the other side, and forest on the backdrop. It is also renowned as one of the Pancha Kedars.

The trek to this famous temple is one of the most enchanting ones in Uttarakhand, filled with natural beauty and remarkable views of Himalayan ranges such as Chaukhamba, Pandava shera, Janak tung, Kedar Kand, Meru and Sumeru. The Madhyamaheshwar trek is amongst the most spiritual ones and is taken by pilgrims to offer their prayers at the temple.

About the Madmaheshwar Trek:

The Madhyamaheshwar r trek lies in the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary amidst the northern Himalayas, which is known for its biodiversity and house of various species of flora and fauna. The Madhyamaheshwar trekking through this sanctuary not only offers natural elegance but lets you spot a range of birds, wild animals, plants, and trees. It is indeed a treat for trekkers to hike through this magnificent trail that has a plethora of attractions like water falls, beauty of pines, small dwellings of local people throughout the journey.

This Madhyamaheshwar trekking trip is for 4-6 days and involves hiking of 22 km of distance through charming villages, thick forests, and grasslands, along the banks of Madhu Ganga River till the Holy Temple in a valley.

This moderate trek starts from Ransi Village  and pass through, Gaundhar, Vantoli, Khatara, Nanu and ends at the Madhyamaheshwar Temple.  The views of the Himalayan ranges and surrounding meadows from the summit are spellbinding and leave the trekkers with cherish-able memories to carry forward in their life time.

How to reach ?

Located in a hilly terrain, Madhyamaheshwar does not have a railway station or an airport. However, Madhyamaheshwar can be reached from the Rishikesh Railway Station.

Similarly, one can reach Madhyamaheshwar from Jolly Grant Airport (Dehradun). From the airport and the railway station, one can reach Ransi village by road.  Trekking of about 21-22 km will take you to the Madhyamaheshwar temple.

We finally fixed our itinerary with the help of Mr Sandeep Bisht of e-Uttarnachal, Mr Pradeep and Mr Deewan Singh (Guide), rather on a God’s decided date 1-Nov-2022,  as follows:

1-Nov-2022 (Tuesday ): Ahmedabad – Dehradun airport; night stay at Rishikesh

2-Nov-2022 (Wednesday ): Reaching  Ransi village via Ukhimath for night stay

3-Nov-2022 (Thursday): Trekking to Madhyamaheshwar temple with night stay at Upper Vantoli

4-Nov-2022 (Friday): Reaching  Madhyamaheshwar temple  and  night stay there

5-Nov-2022 (Saturday): Trekking  to Budha Madhyamaheshwar temple  in the morning and returned back to Upper Vantoli  for night stay

6-Nov-2022 (Sunday):  Trekking  back to Ransi Village and driving back to Ukhimath for  night stay

7-Nov-2022 (Monday): Ukhimath–  Rishikesh by road

8-Nov-2022 (Tuesday): Rishikesh–Dehradun airport –  Ahmedabad airport and back to Anand

1-Nov-2022 (Tuesday):

We left Anand at about 12:00 (noon) and reached Ahemedabad  airport by 1:30 pm. We completed our check in and security formalities within half an hour. We had our lunch that my co-trekker brought packed in banana leaves. Flight was delayed by 30 min and we reached Dehradun airport via Jaipur by 7:45 pm.  We came out straight to our waiting cab driven by Mr. Pradeep. We reached Rishikesh by 9:30 pm and faced with problem in locating the hotel that was booked through OYO. Somehow when we reached the hotel, we found that it is locked from inside. When we tried over mobile, one person came out and said that they have stopped taking bookings from OYO. When I showed him that it was a fully paid booking and booking was done about a month ago, he expressed that there were rooms but all the workers had left for Diwali and had not returned. We had bookings of three rooms on single occupancy basis. He finally said that he would give two rooms in two different floors and arrange one room in another hotel. Finally, we agreed to that arrangement since it was already too late. My co-trekker got the room in second floor (room #203), I got in third floor (room #301) and Pradeep went to the other hotel. We dropped our luggage and went for dinner in a nearby hotel. We were back by 10:45 pm and called it a day.

2-Nov-2022 (Wednesday ):

I got up early in the morning and went to the roof top and could take some view of Rishikesh in the early morning. We left the hotel at 8:00 am. On the way, we had our breakfast in “Chauhan Bhojanalya”-stuffed parontha without oil, potato curry and curd. We stopped over at Devaprayag at 10:30 am and took some photographs of confluence of Bhagirathi and Alakanada rivers.  After joining of these two rivers it is named as Ganga. At 11:05 am we had our tea in Danveer hotel. The lady owner of the hotel recognized us since we took tea there several times earlier. We reached Dhari Ma temple at 1:00 pm to take permission for our safe visit. We had our lunch in Rudranath by-pass road in Apna Dhaba. We had local Pulse (Dal) preparation called Chowsa and cooked rice (called Bhat). We crossed Rudraprayag confluence at 2:40 pm where Mandhakini and Alkananda join together. We took some excellent photos of a river in Bheri- Kedar road. We also took photographs of brilliant Chaukhamba mountain peak on the way. Finally, we reached Ransi village via Ukhimath. Deewan ji (our guide) was picked up on the way, about 8 km from Ransi village. By the time we reached, it was setting dusk and we got three rooms there. We took one each and Pradeep and Deewan ji shared a room. Rooms were having five beds. Since there was little traffic during our visit,  Deewan ji could manage on single occupancy basis with a lesser price.  We had our dinner by 7:00 pm and slept early.

3-Nov-2022 (Thursday):

We got up early and had our breakfast Roti + sabji and left the Home stay place by 8:00 am. First 2 km from the home stay was motor-able road but we left our car at Home stay and started walking in cold morning. On the way we could find some school going girls with whom we chit chat and took photographs of their innocence smiles. After about 2 km, at Agatoli, our Madhyamaheshwar trekking started. It was a wonderful enjoyable trekking route, one side of the path was having mountains and the other side, Madhu Ganga river. The path was moderate and good. On the way we had tea after walking about two hours at Gaundhar which is a small village with its own temple. We also saw beautiful water falls, wild flowers, and pine beauty.

Our Team

We had tea there and went to Upper Vantoli  by 1:30 pm where our stay arrangement was made. We also had our lunch.  We trekked about 11 km today. We got big rooms with four five beds on single occupancy basis. During peak seasons,  the same beds are given on rent individually. My co-trekker went for rest. I along with Pradeep went on exploring the very few houses that  Upper Vantoli had. There were settlements  of  about 6-7 families. We went up to a point where mobile tower was available. I took some excellent sun set skyline and also portrait of an aged lady. At about 7:00 pm we had our dinner: roti with pumpkin sabji which was very testy. I slept by 8:00 pm since we decided to start early tomorrow for a difficult climbing trek ahead.

4-Nov-2022 (Friday):

We got up at 4:00 am and took tea. We started walking by 6.20 am when the dawn set in. Pradeep was left behind since he was not ready by the time we started, moreover he is faster in trekking due to his upbringing in Uttarakhand from childhood. We slowly started climbing in the path  and enjoying the walking in the trek. We met three young boys from West Bengal on the way. I have no words to express the beauty of the trek.  We saw Langur, some birds and lot of lizards on our way. We had breakfast on the way at Khatara and also early lunch at about 12.00 noon at Nanu since after that there was no shops in between up to Madhyamaheswar.

We could see the beauty of   Chaukhamba, Pandava shira, Janak tung, Kedarkantha, Meru and Sumeru hills again and again from different angles. When we reached Madhyamaheshar valley, we could see the temple from a distance which was standing in gorgeous surroundings. We all received a kind of thrilling vibrations inside. We reached the place at about 2.50 pm and Deewan ji arranged two rooms there. One room was given to my co-trekker and we three occupied the other room. I had a plan to go to Budha Madhyaheswar in the evening itself, but it was cloudy and I dropped my plan. I could not resist myself of taking photographs of the magnificent temple and went on to do so. I took the photographs from various angles. There were very few visitors at this time. In the meantime, we had our evening tea also. My Co-trekker and I went to a small temple (Bhairava), a little far away from the temple. While coming back we took some photographs of the temple too. After coming to temple, we met the Pujari-ji  He was very friendly and allowed me to take his photographs. The evening aarti was from 6.00 pm onwards and we spent our time around the Temple with the feeling of not losing a single moment of viewing and feeling the divine temple surroundings. We got ready for Aarti at 6:00 pm when we were allowed to enter into the temple and got comfortable seat to see and absorb the enchanting evening aarti. Pujari-ji started the Sandyhya aarti which was delightful and his mantras were giving a sensation on the body. He also narrated the temple history, about Himalayas, epics behind the temple, etc…After Sandhya aarati, my co-trekker give Puja. After that I again took some temple photos with solar lighting. One Bengali young trekker whom we met on the way came to me and expressed that he is having some breathing trouble. I gave him Diamox tablets and asked him to take one immediately and another in the next morning. We had our dinner with roti and some sabji and slept early to get up next day morning at 4:00 am.

5-Nov-2022 (Saturday):

We got ready by 4:20 am and left the place at 4:30 am for Budha Madhyamaheshwar trekking which is about 2 km uphill climbing. It was dark and I was using torch, Deewan-ji was using mobile torch. We took the short cut route which was steeper, but faster to reach the top before sun rise. At one point of time my co-trekker proposed that we should proceed leaving her because she couldn’t reach before the sunrise. Deewan-ji refused to leave her alone and we slowly started moving in sequence of Deewan-ji first, in the middle my co-trekker and myself in the behind. Thanks to Dewan-ji, we could make it before the sunrise because of his decision of taking the short cut climb. There was no fixed path in that climb. When we reached, I realized that “heaven on earth” feeling in the valley. It was surrounded by magnificent Himalayas in one side and sky on other side. There were some water bodies and the reflection of the Himalayas on it was heavenly. The majestic view of Chaukhamba, Kedarkantha, Janak tung, Meru and Sumeru in a sequence was a life long experience. The colour of the peaks was changing with sunrise. Golden colour of Sumeru made us spellbound. Temperature was about -2ºC. Frosting was very severe and left the mark on all grasses and the open surfaces .   We spent there about 1:30 hrs in a mesmerized state with the dramatic painting made by the rising sun on the Himalayas and returned back to the temple slowly after enjoying the real feeling of heaven on earth. There were vloggers who were also busily engaged in capturing the picturesque drama created by the nature. By the time we were returning, a few more visitors were reaching there. But I felt sorry for them because they missed the transformation of beauty from dawn to sunrise. We reached down at 8.15 am. We decided to leave the temple after seeing the original “Shiv linga” without shringar which is possible only in the morning pooja at 9.30 am. We were allowed to enter the temple at 9.00 am and the morning pooja started at 9.30 am onwards.  After having   darshan of Shivalinga we were about got up and tried to take permission from the Pujari-ji. Who with  so much love and care   forced us to be there till Temple’s morning Aarti, followed by abhisheka was over. He assured that it would not be much late and he would finish it by 10:30 am. We stayed back in the temple and I could feel the same vibrations that I experienced last night. The Bengali trekker who was having breathing problem met me and informed that the tablet gave him relief and thanked me for the same. We left the place after taking breakfast at 11:10 am. Journey back was easier and pleasant since it was mainly descending the hill. We reached Upper Vantoli by 5:15 pm in the same home stay and in the same rooms where we stayed while going. We had our tea and I took bath with hot water. We had our dinner by 7:30 pm and retired.

6-Nov-2022 (Sunday):  

We left the home stay at 8:00 am after taking the tasty and refreshing breakfast, roti-sabji and tea. We slowly started, mostly climbing up hills to return. We did the same procedure of taking photographs and walking slowly. We reached Ransi village by 2:00 pm. We ordered our lunch there and went to a local ancient Devi temple, Maa Rakeshwari temple. When we reached, it was closed and we were taking photographs from outside. But all of a sudden, a God’s sent person came who was dumb and opened the temple for us. The temple also had “akhand dhuni” (perpetual fire) and we were told that if by any reason if the fire extinguishes, it will be ignited back from the famous “Akhand Dhuni” of “Triyugi Narayan” temple. We saw the temple with our full satisfaction. We returned back to Ransi home stay where our lunch was ordered. We took our lunch and left for Ukhimath and reached by 4.30 pm. On the way it was started drizzling. Deewan ji arranged a home stay in the Ukhimath. From the home stay, the view of Omkareshwar temple was adoring. We checked in and left for Omkareshwar temple, Ukhimath. This is the temple where Utsav Murtis of Kedar Ji and Madhyamaheshwar Ji reside in the winter. In addition, Usha, Aniruddha, Parvati and Mandhata are the other deities of this temple. According to Hindu Mythology, the wedding of Usha (Daughter of Banasura) and Aniruddha (Grandson of Lord Krishna) was solemnized here. By name of Usha this place was named as Ushamath, now known as Ukhimath. The mandap where the marriage was solemnized is still preserved here. By 6:00 pm we attended Sandhya Aarti, but I could not get the same vibration that I felt in Madhyamaheshwar temple.  We returned back and had our dinner in a hotel at about 8:30 pm. I slept at 9:00 pm.

7-Nov-2022 (Monday):

We left Ukhimath after taking tea at 7:30 am. We had our breakfast  at 9.00 am in Apna Dhaba, Rudraprayag and tea on the way. We reached Rishikesh by 3:00 pm. We could reach our booked hotel easily and checked in. We quickly took bath and went to Madras café for late lunch. We all had Masala Dosha and coffee. After that we went by walking to Lakshman Jhulha and Ram Jhula to see Ganaga Aarti. We enjoyed the Sandhaya Aarti on pre-full moon night in the back ground of Ram Jhula. We returned back and had our dinner in the same Madras cafe. We returned by 9:00 pm and called it a day.

8-Nov-2022 (Tuesday):

My co-worker and myself went to Lakshman Jhula side at 5:30 am, spent there about an hour and returned back. It was very refreshing to watch people meditating, doing pranayam, yoga, snaan, etc. in the back drop of ever flowing Ganga Ma.   We got ready for going to breakfast at 9:00 am. We three had our breakfast aloo paranthan and had tea on a road side stall.

We left the hotel for airport at 12:10 pm. We reached the airport within 45 min. When I was screening my luggage,  I could realize that I have not packed our trekking poles. I called the hotel and also requested Pradeep to bring it since there was sufficient time. In spite of the traffic jam due to the full moon day, he could bring it just in the nick of the time. We checked in and the flight was a little late. We had some snacks at Lucknow. We reached Ahmedabad at 8:00 pm, however, it took about 45 min to get back our luggage in the belt. We left airport at about 9:00 pm and  reached back Anand at 11:00 pm. I just slept with memories of wonderful trekking by the grace of God and with a feeling of :

“সকলি তোমারি ইচ্ছা,
ইচ্ছাময়ী তারা তুমি
তোমার কর্ম তুমি করো মা,
লোকে বলে করি আমি”

(Translation: Everything what I do is your wish, oh mother. Your work, you do through me  but people think, I do)

Know Before You Go for Madmaheshwar Trek

• Carry your identity card, Aadhar Card, and three to four passport-size photographs.
• Do not forget to carry your personal medication kit, including your daily medicines, and medicines for headaches, cold, cough, stomach ache, etc.
• Carry appropriate woolen clothing, shoes, and equipment for trekking and camping.
• It is best to enquire about the detailed guidelines for the Madmaheshwar trek beforehand and prepare yourself well in advance.
• If you feel nauseated, or suffer from headaches, or not feeling well, then immediately notify your group or your guide and practice some relaxation remedies like slow deep breathing.
• Anyone can get sick with AMS, even if you are an experienced trekker, so better be safe and prepared.
• To avoid AMS or worse health situations, breathe slowly and properly, have water and take breaks at regular intervals, and do not overexert yourself.

Acknowledgement

1. My thanks to  Dr. Geetha, K. A., Co-trekker, for her cooperation and understanding to trek in adverse conditions. I am also grateful to her for sharing her inputs in writing this block.
2. Sandeep Bisht, e-Uttranchal for his support in arranging the trip.
3. Pradeep, Driver for his support and also trekking with us.
4. Diwan (Guide) for making all necessary arrangements for our best possible comfort that one can have.
5. On line literature resources were used for the write up.
6. The Wikipedia for giving insight of