"Yup, its gonna be a Sunday release" coolly said my boss.
It was Holi time, a three day weekend, and a ride on my mind. With Sunday spoilt, all of that went out of the window. While the world revelled in colour, i was stuck in office. Heck!! even the coffee machine was in a holiday mood.

A successful release, and i went up to my Boss, and said coolly, "I am taking next monday off" There, my weekend was made..

The Destination: Nope, not Shimla.. Not even himachal. Even my mother was frustrated with my Shimla sojourns. So, it had to be uttarakhand. This time i wanted to do fresh routes. Mapmyindia to the rescue, and i had the basic route in mind. Gurgaon - Chakrata - Tehri - Back. Chakrata because i had heard so much about it, and Tehri because Tehri dam was something i really wanted to see (Bhakra is still on the list)

Day 1: Gurgaon-Karnal-Yamunanagar-Paonta Sahib-Chakrata-6th March

Learning from previous mistakes, we made an early start this time. Adjusted the trip meter at 0 at 5:15 am and we were off. Progress was good as there was hardly any traffic and soon we were having paranthas at Pahalwan Dhaba at Murthal. Till Karnal was a breeze and then we took the bend towards Yamuna Nagar. Mapmyindia had assured that it was a state highway. So it was quite a shock to see the rocky terrain in front of us. My bike cringed and my wife cursed me for taking this route. A few better stretches and i thought the worst was over.

A quick detour from the "road"


Not to be, soon, just stones gave way to a tractor path with slush. We slipped and my bike kissed the earth. Damn!! black ice would have been better than this muddy slush. Later, we ran into a sandy dirt track.



A limo in YamunaNagar :-)


Finally, after what seemed like hours, we got back to tarmac and through the beautiful Kalesar national park.





A quick snack break in Paonta and we started climbing the hills.
Since for day 1 we had only a short visit to tiger falls, we took it easy and took lots of breaks. Here are a few pics.





















Checked into a hotel 5km down from chakrata, Himalayan paradise. A beautiful hotel tucked in the bosom of the mountain, away from the hustle and bustle.
Had lunch there and then we biked to a place from where the trek to tiger falls begins. 14km of rather dicy road with lots of rubble made progress slow.
Climbing down the mountain, I clicked a few shots.





However, we couldn't even find tiger falls. It was simply not visible. A local guided us, and then we were witness to this beautiful spectacle, hidden from the casual eye.









As darkness fell we trekked up the hill (a very exhausting climb ), and started back to the hotel, in the darkness. A quick shot of how things looked. Apologies for the blurriness.



In the hotel, the lights went out once and we witnessed an amazing spectacle. The stars in the sky were simply bursting forth. The edges of the mountain took up different shapes and we had a great time giving them meaning. I wish i had the skills and the equipment to capture those beautiful vistas.
The night was still young when we drifted off to sleep, with a plan to bike up to Devban and then onto Mussoorie-Dhanolti and Tehri, to see the dam.

Day 2 and 3 tomorrow. Now i gotta sleep