Gomukh Tapovan Trek

9th October 2025

 I did my third trek of the year 2025 recently. Over a 12-month calendar this is my fourth trek (ABC, Goechala, Rumtse to Tso Moriri and now this). This was a five-day trek from Gangotri to Tapovan via Gomukh and Bhojbasa. I went with Sumanta Jana's Wings of Mind group. My fellow trekkers were Aditi, an middle-aged couple Atindra and Madhumita, a young couple called Wasim and Monalisa - while Wasim is a Bengali living in Bangalore, his wife Monalisa is Oriya and works as a doctor in Cuttack. There was another Bengali guy named Shuvro. He lives in Barasat. 

While Sumanta walked with us all along as the trek leader, the main arrangements were done by a few buys based in Gangotri. Manish was the main guy who organised our porters, stay, cooking, tents and sleeping bags etc, Obviously I carried my own sleeping bag and tent. 

We took the Rajdhani from Calcutta to Delhi and took the connecting train to Dehradun where we reached in the night. We checked into a cheap hotel nearby for the night and next morning set out for Gangotri in a Tempo Traveller. There were four other trekkers in the bus who were Manish's direct customer. Three of them were middle aged Bengalis from Bhadreswar. They would go as far as Basuki Taal. Subhasish Banerjee, Sumit Das and Tanmoy (can't remember his surname). There was another guy from Bangalore - Parth Jain. This was his first trek. He would do exactly the same trek that we would do. In Gangotri another Bengali guy joined us Madhu Bhakta from Kalyani. 

So from Gangotri to Tapovan these 12 of us walked. On day one Gangotri to Bhojbasa our local trek leader was one Chaavi Lal. After that one Ravi took charge. Sumanta was there all along.

The tempo journey from Dehradun to Gangotri took the entire day. The road follows the river Bhagirathi on its almost entire journey. Frankly, I could not understand the route but we went via Musoorie where I had come with my parents in 1976. The bus journey took us something like 10 hours. On the way came Harshil which was in the center of a famous cloud burst a few weeks ago. We saw the devastation caused by the stream flowing through Harshil. The road here was closed for several weeks after the disaster in August. But now it is motorable, though restoration and repair work is going on in places. This also caused some hold ups and delays. 

From Gangotri bus stand to the temple is a straight walk of less than five minutes - there is only this one road in Gangotri which has shops on either side selling various puja materials. We were put up in a Dharamsala (pilgrim's inn) right next to the temple. Kali Kamli Yatri Niwas. I was asked to share a room with the other seniors like Aditi, Madhumita and Atindra. There were two double bedded cots which would mean me sharing the bed with Atindra perhaps. I politely declined and took a room of my own. This room was in another Dharamsala run by Bharat Sevasram Sangha. But it is managed by a guy called Dipinder who runs a tea stall in front. It had a nice bathroom with a geyser. I felt very comfortable there and made endless cups of coffee for myself. Even on the return leg I took the same room. They charged Rs 1000 per night. 

Later I realised that Atindra snores so loudly that I had to put ear plugs even when sleeping in a seperate tent at least 30/40 feet away from his. Aditi shared the tent with the two of them. I wonder how she or Madhumita could sleep amid that roar.

Gangotri temple does not look very ancient, though it actually is. Some businessman must have "restored" or modernised it, robbing it of its authenticity as a traditional temple. According to Google it was built sometime in the 18th Century by a Gurkha. It had very few pilgrims and I had a comfortable darshan of the goddess. This lack of pilgrims is possibly due to all the publicity to the cloud bursts of Harshil and the latest one in Dehradun a few days before our travel.

The river flows right next to the temple complex and the roar of the river can be heard very loud and clear. It indeed flows very fiercely here. But in the evening the sound of devotional songs over the mike was terrible and completely drowned the river sound. The nuisance stopped when the temple gate closed at 8 pm. 

Next morning we started a little late out of Gangotri. We were told we would start at 8.30 am but by the time we started from the Forest Check Post where one has to take the permits etc it was 10.30. 

We walked with the river flowing to our right. Our destination is Bhojbasa. I have heard this name so many times in the past from other trekkers and mountaineers. First came Chirbasa which used to be a camp site earlier. It is a wooded area with a small tea stall run by the forest guard. Before Chirbasa there was a section where the trail just hangs by the mountainside. It is wide enough not to scare you off but the river flows right below the ledge of a trail. 

The walk from Chirbasa to Bhojbasa is also featureless except a longish section that is declared a "rock falling zone". I was walking more or less alone and tried to cross the section as quickly as possible. Soon after crossing it, it started getting cloudy and a light drizzle started. I pulled out the poncho and walked with it. 

The Bhojbasa campsite came in sight at around 5 pm. It was below and visible from a distance. There is a small police station and a GMVN tourist bungalow. Our tents were pitched next to the GMVN. I realised my off loaded bag had still not come, which meant I would have to wait to pitch my tent. It was being carried by porters and not by mules. On this route mules are not used. I realised the next day why.

The Bhadreswar trio asked me to sit it out in their tent. Their bags had also not come. It was getting dark and I was not happy that I would need to pitch the tent in the dark. The place was cramped with five six tents pitched in close proximity. 

Soon I saw four men carrying a sick person on a stretcher and putting him down in front of our tent. A very fat young man sat up. They brought him down from Tapovan. He is Bengali and is down with AMS. His body was shaking from time to time like he was having a seizure. Apparently on the way up he did not feel well and was advised by his friends to go back but he insisted on going up. This was his first trek in life.  

An army doctor arrived from somewhere (they have a camp in the neighbourhood) and administered Diamox. Later he was given oxygen and by evening he was feeling better. Next morning he was taken down to Gangotri and I am sure he survived. Very lucky. 

The porters arrived pretty late with our bags and I set out to pitch the tent in right earnest. It got dark pretty soon which was not the main problem. The main problem was dealing with various fellow trekkers, trek leaders and porters offering to help me. I had to be almost rude to refuse them explaining that this tent is totally different and one cannot pitch it unless one knows how to do it. 

The surface on which I had to pitch it was totally rocky. I could sleep comfortably mainly because of the air mattress. But driving the pegs in was a challenge. But I managed.