Long awaited Kanatal

I would like to write about one of my recent trip [Started writing this before lockdown so thats why recent ]. Though i traveled many times to Mussorie and Chakrata in different trips but never visited Kanatal before this. It was long pending trip for me as i sighted this place long back when i was looking for a quite place in hills. Even my firend Paritosh who is from Dehradun also mentioned that as a veri nice destination.

I got call from my brother in law about he visiting us and wanted to go on a trip so finalized Kanatal. Discussed same with paritosh and he mentioned you may find snow so if you are ok to drive then its nice place. I went several times till Dhanaulti so was quite familiar with roads so finalized kanatal.

Booked 360 degree resort in kanatal which also caught my eyes few years back while looking for hotels around dhanulti.

We planned to go via haridwar , rishikesh and Tehri as the resort was near Tehri. Started Early morning 6 AM from Gurgaon . As soon as we left delhi we lost the visibility due to heavy fogg around Gaziabad. I knew this is problem with planes so kept moving ahead just behind truck carefully. Being in gurgaon i am used to drive in such foggy weather conditions.

On Way between Rishikesh and Tehri

Took our first break at Haldiram Mansoorpur which has McDonalds adjoining as well as Fresh Hot Tea with Rusk which is a brand there. Headed towards Tehri . After crossing the holy city Haridwar and rishikesh there were mesmerised view of hills. We had our lunch on a small road side Dhaba . Travel tip : in Uttarakhand and Himachal small road side dhaba serve you pure and yummy food and add on is they customize as per your choice.

We reached resort by afternoon , found that its chilling cold in Kanatal and there was a snow fall in Dhanaulti few days back which is melting dowon now. Stayed in hotel . Spotted some snow around so trekked down near by hotel to see that .

Brother in law's daughter playing in Snow around the Hotel

Next morning planned to go to Tihri Dam which is now famous for the hydro project . It is one of the well known Man made dam in north india due to the height on which it exist. i feel it is the first blocker to the holy ganges. if you are a bollywood movie buff then this is the place where some scene of "Batti Gul Meter Chalu" were shot. We reached there on time and started with having some maggie and other snacks. Maggie and tea are two things which you crave most when you are on chilling hills. Then bargained with the vendor for Boating as well as some water sport ride.

Generally i avoid such stuff but my brother in law was there who insisted we should do it. We enjoyed the rides thoroughly ,even kids were enjoying to fullest.

Tihri Dam Water Sports

After the rides we were pretty much tired so returned back to hotel . It was chilling -2 Degree in night and i was enjoying a lot. My daughter vanshika is partner for such cold night walks , whenever we travel to any place she enjoys every moment and we share some great memories in such trips.

Next day morning we were told that the way to Dhanaulti is clear and we may proceed to our onward journey. We started driving towards Dhanaulti . As we were told that there will be snow after 10 km so i was driving on good speed in assumption that will get snow road later. But suddenly on a stiff turn i met with the slippery snow as well as a Mahindra Max , i tried to keep my car away but due to slippery snow we bumped into side rails. Had some damage but thankfully no harm to us as well as no blocker in driving the car. We moved ahead carefully . After few kilometers we came to a place where all cars were bumping into each other the only way was move your car slowly and at one spot where none of the car has control just leave it to people around 7-8 people will push the car in the correct direction and from there take it further driving.

So we also followed same way and moved ahead , we stopped at Dhanaulti eco park for some time , as we already visited this place twice so we were interested in moving out from the slippery zone. We reached to oyo rooms near campty fall which was also my recommendation as we stayed there previously and liked the place.

Planned next day for campty fall so visited mall road in night. Mall road of Mussorie is best in all hill stations, Lot of eatries and woolen shops with good stuff. Must do : Momos on the shop near to agarwal restaurent is must thing, we used to get such momos right opposite to our college gate and after that no other place i had similar momos , Except musoorie.

Started the day on time to reach campty fall, our stay was on campty fall road only so we reached very soon there. The oyo room on campty fall road is a very nice place to stay if you dont want to be near town rush, all rooms are valley facing so one can enjoy morning, evening tea there.

Enjoyed at campty fall, though the restaurant which used to be there on the center was not open so we just enjoyed there for a while . On the way back we visited ram jula as my brother in law and family had never visited this place. Had lunch in the famous choti wala restaurant, though the food is average but it still has the charm of that choti wala thing. Returned to GGN by night.

Ramjula at rishikesh