DEORIA TAL

When it comes to lakes not many regions can lay claim to exceptional beauty, barring the Garwhal Himalayas of Uttaranchal. At an altitude of 2,440 mts., the beautiful lake of Deoria Tal is located on the Ukhimath-Chopta Motor road about 3 kms. away from Sari.

In the early morning, the snow-capped peaks, including Chaukhamba and Kedarnath, are clearly reflected on the lake waters. The lake also provides an excellent spot for angling as well as bird watching.



Sari village is the last bus terminus on Chopta-Ukhimath road from where a 3 kms. trek leads to Deoria Tal. This beautiful lake at an altitude of 2,438 mts. gives the spectacular reflection of snow-capped peaks in the lake water.

The journey to the lake starts at Rishikesh and goes along the Ganga up till Devprayag, from where you move along the Alaknanda, right up till Rudraprayag. But we decided to a detour from the old town of Tehri (which is now completely underwater) as we wanted to see the huge lake created by the Tehri dam which is in it’s final stage of being completed and being crowned as the largest hydro project in Asia.

We reached Ukhimath at around 8 pm and decided to halt their for the night so that we could start early in the morning and spend the entire day at the lake. From there we picked up some rations. These were going to last us for the next few days till Chopta, where the PWD rest house awaited us. The welcome board put up at the entrance to Sari by the villager’s shows a detailed map of Deoria Tal and the peaks that surround it. The Sari village committee is responsible for the upkeep of the area. Excited as we are at the thought of reaching Deoria Tal, it is unnerving to see the steep gradient at the beginning of the trek. Since there are not many places where we would get refreshments or even water, we ensure that our rucksacks are sufficiently packed and started the trek early in the morning through the terraced fields.

We reached the lake at around 9am am were greeted by the forest guard Mr. Rawat who is the only government official at the site and is assisted by Negi who is a local from the Sari village. He familiarized us with the do’s and don’ts. We spent the entire day exploring the lake and it’s surroundings. I was tempted by the fish in the lake and wanted to try my angling skills but Mr. Rawat warned us that it was strictly prohibited. We stayed overnight in the tents provided by the eco tourism department, which is also doing an excellent job in keeping the lake clean and free from non-biodegradable waste that is often left behind by the town dwellers.

Mr. Rawat took good care of us and briefed us about the various peaks on the northwest side, stretching from the Kedar group to Sumeru, Madmaheshwar ,Bandarpoonch and Chaukhamba.

The next morning we started at 7am and we were told by Rawat Ji that it would take us not more than 5 hours to reach Chopta which was our final destination. This place is also called mini Switzerland of India. It is a gradual trek through the thick forest and lush green meadows with some breathtaking views of the Chaukhamba, Kedarnath and the other surrounding peaks.

At around 10am we reached a small stream, which was the only source of water in the entire trek. We were feeling hungry and decided to cook and relax there for some time as we had or rather we thought that we had enough time to reach Chopta. We refilled ourselves and proceeded towards the way that we thought would take us to Chopta.



After walking for about eight hours since morning we had reached nowhere and we started to have doubts that we were on the right path but so far we had met no human being ever since we started in the morning whom we could ask if we were on the right track or not. At around 4pm we were confident that we were lost and decided to go back to the lake where we had started. It was a very hard decision, as we knew it was a long way back and we would have to walk much faster.

My friend Darmiyan Singh Negi tried to use his BSNL cell phone and we were all warmed up from inside as we were getting clear signals. We called Mr. Rawat the forest guard and informed him of our location and stressed out situation. Mr. Rawat told us that we had taken the wrong way and we were now in the middle of a huge jungle. He immediately understood the situation and asked us to rush back. He knows it would be impossible for us to make it on our own and assured us that he would send someone to escort us.

Just then we heard a noise, which was sounding like someone was chopping a tree. We both looked at each other’s face and without saying a word rushed towards that sound. We were so relieved to see two old ladies who were chopping branches. As we could speak and understand the local language we asked the ladies where we were and how could we reach Chopta. They guided us towards a steep mountain and told us that we would then catch the right path to Copta and it would take probably an hour from there to reach our destination.

Without wasting any time we called Mr. Rawat and told him that we have now decided not to come back and thanked him for his efforts. Mr. Rawat was still skeptical and insisted that we came back as there was no proper way that we could follow and could get lost again. Yet we decided to proceed ahead. At around 6pm we reached on top of a mountain and again found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. We had no choice but to call up Mr. Rawat and make him aware of our situation. Mr. Rawat told us that he had contacted his counterpart at Chopta by wireless and they have been made aware that two tourists from Delhi are missing in the forest. He insisted that we should head strait back and that he was sending a team of rescuers.

At around 7.30pm it became absolutely dark and it was impossible for us to walk a step further as we were not carrying any flashlights. We stopped at a place and the first this that we did was to set up a fire so that we could be spotted if anybody was coming to rescue. We had no choice but to sit around the fire and wait. Unfortunately the spot, which we chose, was deep in the valley and covered by trees and our cell phone was not getting signals.

At around 11 in the night we were sure that there was no rescue team and we would have to spend the night in the jungle. We had rations to keep us alive and could have spent one night in the forest but we had nothing to protect us from the freezing cold. Just then we heard some human voices shouting. We shouted back at them and realized that we have been spotted. At team of five rescuers had reached us. Those five brave men looked like guardian angels to us. They told us that they had come about 6km from the lake and were just about to go back thinking that we have been lost deep in the jungle and that they would not spot us.

It all seemed miraculous. We all headed back to the lake and reached there at 1 at night. Mr. Rawat was still awake and waiting for us with his walky talky in his hand. He seemed as relieved as were. It would have not been possible without his help. We could never thank him enough. I have been backpacking for over 10 years now and have had some most amazing experiences in the past and this one surely would remain in my memory for a long time.