August is not a good time to visit Madmahesar. But as we had to club three treks in one go, end of August was chosen. For we wanted to visit Valley of Flowers, there was no other option . We considered last week of August to get flowers and clear sky in VoF. After VoF, a good trek accomplished very successfully, we reached Ranshi on 26 th August. We had booked a room in Komal Hotel Ranshi ( height 6450’) by phone on that day itself. We were a bit late in reaching Ranshi, for we opted to avail a share jeep , which is much cheaper for two persons. Full jeep asked for Rs. 700/- whereas we paid Rs.150/- for 2, but had to wait for about two hours to jeep started after all 8 seats were full. Komal hotel proprietor , Mr....... was very cooperative . he immediately prepared khichodi and served hot immediately after we refreshed. Our room was in the 1st floor with a very scenic view of some snow-clad mountains and lush green valley. We spent the afternoon sitting on the Balcony and gazing at the green valley, Madmahewar river and snowclad mountains ..
Next day, we started early for Upper Monsuna. Jeep is
available upto Agtoli, 2 Km beyond Ranshi. A small budget Home stay is also
available there. ( Krishna Hotel &
Homestay, Phone- 9012772132) One can stay here overnight and trek to
Madmaheswar (13.6 kms) next day. We opted to trek that 2 kms without waiting for the jeep. Beyond
Agtoli, the path is full of ups and downs, but not very challenging. Several
water falls greeted us with roars and occasional rainbows on the falls.
It was about 11 AM when we reached Gaundar( 5500’). Ramesh Panwar, whom we contacted earlier, greeted us at his roadside hotel with Alu ka Paratha. He has also a lodge nearby, where I had stayed in 2001 during my visit to Madmaheswar. He contacted his wife at his another Hotel at Upper Bantoli (5840’). For our accommodation and Lunch. Kailash Topurist lodge, Upper Bantoli ( phone- 09456729506). The trek path to lower Bantoli is almost smooth. This is where Ramaprasad Mukherjee had built an accommodation for trekkers from Bengal. It is a very serene and scenic
Beyond KhaddarKhaal, gradient of ascend was a bit tough, particularly for a man like me at the age of 72 years and having undergone bypass surgery of heart 20 years back. Covered a distance of about 2KMs and reached Nanu Chati (7765’) at about 8.30 AM ,. Had breakfast at Priyanshu Homestay, a very simple accommodation but majestic view of the mighty Himalayas from the front shade is quite breath taking. Could not resist the temptation to sit on the bench in front of the home-stay to gaze at the panoramic view in the soft morning sun for half an hour.
Beyond Nanu Chati, ascending was a bit easier.
There are a quite few simple accommodations at Madmaheswar and it is allotted in a que system. By turn, we got accommodation in the Mandir Comittee guest house. It is a big accommodation with several rooms. Other smaller accommodations are there like Shivalik Hotel ( Yasvant sing Panwar phone- 9410315757) at cheaper rates. Evening Arati was performed at 7 PM . Next morning, our plan to visit Buda Madmaheswar (11300’) was washed away by rain. We could not take the risk of climbing about 1.5 km of slippery ascend. We offered Puja at about 7 AM and after breakfast, started descending
