A meadow at 2,900 m, and the walk above it
We went the second week of June, which is a gamble — a week later and the monsoon usually shuts the window. It held. Six of us, four days, the Char Dham road up to Chopta before the season peaked, and a walk in the dark to a temple most people reach by bus.
Nine hours to Rudraprayag
The first day is just a long one — Delhi to Rudraprayag on the busy Char Dham highway, roadwork in three places, and a short landslide clearance near Srinagar that cost us forty minutes standing in the heat watching a JCB. We got in tired, ate, slept.
The next morning was the reward: the quiet climb through Ukhimath to Chopta on a narrow, well-surfaced hill road, rhododendron still in colour near the top, almost no traffic. Fuel note that actually matters — Ukhimath has the last reliable pump, and it is 60–70 km with nothing from there to Chopta and back. Deepak didn't top up and spent the return leg doing sums in his head; the group's spare can saved him.
The walk in the dark
We left the bikes at the Chopta roadhead and started up the stone path to Tungnath at four in the morning, head-torches on. It is 3.5 km, steep in the last kilometre, about ninety minutes at a steady plod. Tungnath first, the highest Shiva temple there is, and then a sharper climb to Chandrashila just as the light came up — Nanda Devi, Trishul and the Kedarnath peaks all the way round, wind cutting straight through everyone who had argued about bringing a warm layer at the briefing.
Nobody said much up there. That is usually how you know it landed.
What we carried down
The Tungnath path collects a shocking amount of plastic through the season — bottles, wrappers, broken chai glasses tucked under rocks where you can't see them from the trail. On the way down each of us carried a bag and filled it without trying hard. We hauled the lot back to Ukhimath, where it can actually be dealt with, rather than leaving it on the meadow.
The full route, the day-by-day and the season table are on the Delhi to Chopta & Tungnath page.
Ride the next one with us
We run Chopta as a two- or three-night group ride — the long highway day briefed and paced, fuel sorted at Ukhimath, and a trail clean-up on the walk up. See the next departure on the meetup page.