Udiyari Band -- a little slice of paradise

 

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” - John Muir

View from Udiyari,  those mountains are Maiktoli, Nanda Devi, Nanda Khot

Udiyari Band is actually a transit point -- people going on to Munsiyari or elsewhere stop here for the night and move on in the morning. Little realising that this place has a lot to offer...

The sun rises on Maiktoli peak

To begin at the beginning.... I reached Udiyari Band (actually it is Bend) after a four hour drive from Binsar WLS (see my blog at Binsar WLS -- Traipsing Around the Mountains ).  It is a tiny fork in the road with one side going to Udiyari and the other going to Chaukori. 

A lady gets lassi from her hut.

 I stayed at Aagan Homestay which has good rooms and average food. The owner, Saurabh, is very helpful and assisted me a lot particularly in getting around. He took me on his bike and in his car to places where I wouldn't have dreamt of going.

Clouds over the mountains.  Every afternoon it would get cloudy
and by evening it be dark due to the clouds

I saw a very different view of the same Himalayan peaks, the main ones being Nanda Devi and Maiktoli. Though I could see the peaks from my room or the helipad (right next to the homestay), the view was much, much better from a open ground at Chaukori. But again I  am getting ahead of myself.

The leafless tree with a bird on it.  This was the view from my room
each morning and I could not get enough of it.

Sunrise was truly spectacular from the homestay, each day offering a different view. There was a leafless tree (dry?) on the other side of the helipad (the only homestay with a helipad) and the branches beseeched the heavens for a colourful sunrise.

Close-up of a waterfall.  These waterfalls were worth seeing and photographing.

Rainbow over Chaukori. Once we were treated to this colourful
display for awhile 
.

The sun rises

So I fell into my familiar routine of walk for three days and rest for one, and there were many places nearby to walk. My favourite walk was along the ridge and back, quiet, unsullied and untrammeled. I did try hiking from Chaukori to Udiyari Band once but it was along a steep hillside and I didn't have much fun so I did not do it again.

The entrance to Kotna Devi Mandir

Trishul at the Mandir

Just outside Chaukori was  the Jai Maa Kotna Devi  temple, which I am told is quite crowded of festival days, but today I was the only one going up.  There was no one there, absolutely no one, not even a Pujari (priest).  The views from here were spectacular as the quote goes 'The best view comes after the hardest climb.' 

Bakali viewed through the trees.  A leopard had just killed a goat nearby,
reminding me of our frailty.

The Kumaoni Lady of the Bakali.  As modernisation catches up in the hills
as it will, the old and new must exist together. 

I walked to many places, Hanging Rock which I overshot, walked back and found it very close to where I had started; Chaukori Village, Saurabh's shop in the Village, Musk Deer Farm, Sarla Ashram, the falls and a village with bakalis ( like a haveli, a mansion,) painted a vivid blue and white. And of course many, many walks along the ridge.

“Up in the mountains even our greatest cities, highways, and monuments to ourselves are nothing compared to the vast awesome beauty of a big mountain range.” - Unknown