Dayara Bugyal Trek: Exploring the Beautiful Landscapes of Uttarakhand

Dayara Bugyal trek is the most beautifully landscaped meadow of Uttarakhand considered to be one of the best trek for beginners, IF you want to start your trek journey and looking for trek then nothing is better than starting with Dayara Bugyal trek.

Details of Dayara Bugyal Trek

• Trek duration: 6 days.
• Maximum altitude: 11,827ft
• Nearest Railhead: Dehradun
• Base Camp: Raithal (6 hours from Dehradun) GMVN Guest house available.
• Difficulty level: Easy-Moderate during spring, summer and autumn but moderate-difficult during winter.
• Best time: All round the year, except monsoon months.

Things to do and expect

• Stunning view of Mt. Bunderpoonch, Mt. Black Peak, Mt Srikanth, Draupadi ka Danda, and Mt. Janauli.
• Absolutely beautiful Red Rhododendron forest in the month of March-April.
• Spectacular Autumn colours during September- October and November.
• White snowfields covering the meadows during December-January.
• Beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
• Meeting high altitude Shepherds and their large flocks of sheep.
• Exploring abandoned dilapidated shepherd huts.
• Bird watching and identifying their calls.

Remarks: Dayara Bugyal Trek is a beautiful family trek which can be done along with young children above 8years during summer, spring and autumn.

Itinerary and My Experience with Dayara Bugyal Trek

Man proposes and God disposes…this proverb proved to be true twice in my life in the last 12 months. In 2020, I planned two treks in April and October but both had to be cancelled due to Covid crisis. 

This year when things started looking better Dada and I planned to do Har Ki Dun trek but when we reached Kotgaon village (11th April) after a 10 hour journey from Dehradun we came to know that for some issue between the trek organizers and the local villagers, Har Ki Dun trek wouldn’t be possible. The organisers apologized and gave us two options -Kedarkantha trek or Dayara Bugyal trek.

Out of 22 trekkers only 5 opted for Dayara. Dada and I chose Dayara as we had done Kedarkantha trek earlier. The other three were Jyoti, a young pretty IT professional from Bangalore and Ozzie and Keisha, a father-daughter (9 years) duo from Chennai.

Day 01 – Kothgaon – Sumo – Raithal Village

Dada and I were a little disappointed as Dayara was comparatively easier trek. But at the end what we realised was that,one should not aim for a difficult trek but a beautiful trek. Dayara’s beauty was just breath taking..it is the most beautifully landscaped meadow of our country. 

Anyways in Kothgaon we did a short hike to a water fall on the first day (12th April ) and next day (13th April) we travelled 180km (7hours)by a Sumo to Raithal village which was the base camp for Dayara Bugyal Trek. There we met our young and dashing trek leader Swarada, a bubbly 23 year old girl.

Day 02 – Raithal Village to Nyata

Next day (14th April) We started our trek to Nyata (9,100 ft) from Raithal (7,096ft). It was a 2000ft altitude gain and was not as easy as we thought it would be. But Nyata campsite was a dream setup which compensated for all the hard work we did to reach there. We spent a night there and then we headed to our next destination, Chilapada.

Day 03 – Nyata to Chilapada

On 15th of April, after breakfast we started our trek to Chilapada, our next destination.

The trek path was mainly through dense forest of Oak trees and Rhododendron trees. There were some clearings with beautiful wild flowers. The red Rhododendrons were in full bloom and the forest looked as if it was on fire.

We could hear so many different bird calls and spotted beautiful butterflies while walking. At one point we decided to keep quiet for 20 minutes and absorb the silence of the forest.

59th birthday Celebration – Surprise

At last we reached our campsite at Chilapada. It was a clearing on the slopes of the mountains with mighty Gangotri Range right in front of us. There was a very narrow stream of water flowing by our campsite. It was like a picture postcard. We had hot lunch at the campsite and roamed around the campsite, also played some games till it was dark. At dinner time, we got a surprise when we saw the organisers had baked a cake to celebrate Dada’s 59th birthday.

Dada was quite overwhelmed to cut a cake at an altitude of 10,545 feet. He couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. We slipped inside our sleeping bags early that night. The next day we were to climb up the Dayara top.

Day 04- Chilapada to Dayara Top

On 16th April we started our trek quite early. We were really excited because we were heading towards Dayara Bugiyal to climb up the Dayara top (11,830 ft). When we reached the starting point of Dayara Bugiyal we were just flabbergasted. I had never seen such beautiful rolling meadows stretching till the horizon and the mighty Gangotri and Yamunotri range fencing the vast stretch of meadows on one side.

The meadow was covered with wild flowers and in some places there were some snow too. We could see the Dayara top after walking for some time.

Moderate climb to Dayara Top

The walk was moderate. We had to climb up a series of hillocks to reach the foot of Dayara top. From here it was a steep climb through some boulder zone. We managed to reach the top without much of difficulty.

The sight of peaks like Bandarpooch, Kalanag, Mt. Srikanth, Draupadi ka danda, Mt Janauli right in front of us was mesmerising. We had a quick photo session and then we meditated for about 20 minutes at the top.

It was so peaceful. After spending an hour at the top we started our descent.

By lunch time we were back to our campsite at Chilapada. We rested in our tents for sometime. The evening was spent doing many activities and playing games.

Day 05 – Chilapada to Raithal

Next morning, (17th April) we started our descent to reach Raithal, our base camp, through a beautiful forest.

We reached Raithal in 5 hours. We bade good bye to the mountains on 18th morning and reached Dehradun by evening to catch a train back to Delhi.

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Remarks

Uttarakhand Tourism Official website – https://uttarakhandtourism.gov.in/