The Summit:
We started our trek from Summit Camp to Kedarkantha at 3 am. When we reached there a day before, we understood that we would encounter human traffic the next morning. There were a lot of people, and everyone was given the time of 3 am to start the trek. We woke up at 2:30 am, packed our stuff, and handed over the bag to the campsite people so that I could take it to Sankari basecamp site.
We carried some water, had a couple of chocolates in the bag while trekking. Camp campsite people provided lemon tea and black chickpeas as snacks before we started. There were a lot of people, I think more than around 400. Many people had come in groups to different camps.
We could only move in a line at the start, around 500 meters. We went ahead once some of the people started getting slow and tired.
We then reached a dhaba where our guide suggested we wait for about 40 minutes. He said that since we were walking fast, we would reach the destination quickly, as it would be cooler and the wind would be stronger. We also made the same decision, and we spent about 45 minutes in this dhaba. This was the last dhaba before reaching Kedarkantha peak.
When we reached very close to Kedarkantha, a very strong and very cold wind was blowing. We again waited for some sunlight about 200 meters away from the peak. We sat behind a rocky cliff so that we did not feel the breeze. When some sunlight appeared, we quickly completed the 200-meter climb, and after waiting for about 10 minutes, the sun suddenly rose.
Sunrise seemed to me the most amazing part of this entire trip. So much darkness was dissolved in so much light in a second. The view was so golden that I just kept looking at the rays for quite some time. It was so bright that even the summit photos were overexposed. It was so cold that I didn't even set up my phone camera, snapping just a couple of photos.
With the joy of summiting, we started descending within 20 minutes. It was very cold up there, and there was a strong breeze. The sunrise was so bright, we couldn't even feel the warmth of the sun in the cold air. We took only one break in between and headed straight to Sankari Basecamp.
The Story behind Kedarkantha:
Our guide shared with us that Lord Shiva was meditating here, and the noise from Sirga village interrupted his meditation, forcing Lord Shiva to leave this place and go to Kedarnath. People also call it small Kedarnath. There is a trident at the summit, which is believed to protect people. The guide also said that according to Hindu mythology, when the Pandavas were going for salvation, they wanted to visit Lord Shiva and seek his blessings, due to which Lord Shiva was hiding here as he did not want to meet them.
The conclusion: best part for me
If I look at our entire journey from Dehradun to Kedarnath, it was amazing that we completed the four-day trip in two days and went back to Dehradun. This was the first summit for both of our kids. We got a taxi for the journey and a traveller for the return journey, which made our journey more comfortable. Since we had booked a package with a camping agency, it was a pleasant first experience for the kids. We got a lot of delicious food to eat. And the most exciting thing for me was the sunrise. Who so quickly removed all the light and made everything silent.
The conclusion: Lesson Learnt
The biggest learning in this entire experience was that whenever you book a taxi, check the condition of the taxi yourself. Check thoroughly that the driver is not a drug user before leaving. Never pay the full amount in the beginning. When our driver stopped us for breakfast, he was taking some strange drug, and we had made up our mind that we would stop him and would stop somewhere in between. But after about 30 minutes, he was absolutely fine to drive the car. While booking the taxi, we had asked his owner whether the driver is a drug user, to which the taxi owner agreed. But in a conversation when both of them were on the phone, the taxi owner himself was saying that there should not be any complaint this time and was asking whether he had consumed any drugs.
Our bags, which had arrived at the lower Sankari base camp before us, arrived about 4 hours after we did. A traveller who was also going to Dehradun waited with us for the bags, and we covered the difficult mountain path in the dark instead of covering it in the daylight and reached home around 2 in the night. We wanted to leave this place today itself as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister was visiting this place. We might have been stuck here for one more day due to road roadblock.
Finally home:
Upon reaching home, the children shared what they liked and what they didn't. First of all, they would like to have another experience like this, which I found amazing. This means we'll plan a trip again next time. Neither of them didn't liked the taxi driver, but they really liked everything about the bakery.
About Kedarkantha Trekk-
An experienced trekker can summit Kedarkantha and return in a day. However, if you want to see the sunrise, you'll need to plan accordingly. If you're traveling from a distance and don't want to bring your own trekking gear, the Sankari village market offers almost everything for rent.
If you're coming with family or with people who do not have mountain and altitude experience. You may want to go with a camping package, as staying at a higher altitude may be too difficult if you don't have experience staying at a higher altitude.
While travelling, think carefully about the selection of food when eating outside and eat food that does not make you sick. Drink water; not feeling thirsty in the cold can lead to dehydration if we do not drink water consciously.
If you are travelling with your own tent and want to stay somewhere in the middle of the jungle, Summit Camp is also a good place, but Juda ka talab is also a good point.
Disclaimer: All the photos were clicked on my one plus phone, and I translated from Hindi to English for the blog.
[//]:# (!worldmappin 31.02262 lat 78.17219 long Kedarkantha Peak Summit - The Day (Part 3) d3scr)