Photos

This cobbled path leads one to Vasudhara waterfalls from Badrinath. One can walk with naked feet or flat soled footwear, not anything else. We found abandoned footwear on the path: filmsy, high heels.

Unlike the paths to Kedarnath (including the Chorabaari walk) and Gaumukh, this path is solitude re-defined. The gentle blue waters of Alakananda flow besides the path, this path is also hugging the mountain-side like the others, yet, there is a silence on this path which is different from the other paths.

Yonder on this path lies the Satopanth and Alkapuri glaciers which feed the Alakananda. This path takes one to Satopanth, which is exactly between Neelkanth peak (seen at Badrinath) and the Kedarnath massifs of Meru & Sumeru.

Once the glacier (whether at Gaumukh, Chorabaari or Satopanth) is reached, she is Ganga, the same one flowing incessantly at Deoprayaag, but in solid form as frozen ice and covered with debris.

There she waits for none and here she waits for each one. At Deoprayaag, cars can take anyone for a glimpse of her, here in glacier form, one must make the effort of walking to her. Thankfully so.

My Norwegian husband (seen in this and the last photo) was amazed at the efforts of Uttaranchal government to carve out & maintain paths for pilgrims on 'such' terrain, including the Gaumukh and Chorabaari paths (see photos posted earlier), all above 3000 mts above MSL.