The walk from Dodital to Darwa Top is a steep uphill and exciting walk through Rhododendron campanulatum shrubs which are the habitat of Monal Pheasants and Musk deer, although the former are more readily seen than the latter!
Dodital is a freshwater lake in Uttarakhand, India, situated at a height of 3,024 metres (9,921 ft). To reach Dodital, one may reach Uttarkashi by road and then walk to Dodital here via Bewra and other minor villages alongside the Ganges river.
According to one of the popular legends Lord Ganesha chose this place as his abode. There is a temple devoted to Lord Ganesha here. Another name for this lake is 'Dhundital' meaning Ganesh ka tal or lake of Ganesha.
Dodital means Emerald Lake and is situated at a height of 10, 500 feet in a forested bowl above Uttarkashi in Uttaranchal, now named Uttarakhand. It is a two day trek from the road head at Kalyani, along the Assi Ganga River. The first day's stop, after a brief but steep trek, is at Agoda village. After that, one walks 16 kilometers, across Rhododendron and oak forests to Dodital, passing through some beautiful mountain scapes inhabited by Goral (a wild Himalayan mountain goat) and Black Bear and coveys of Monal Pheasant with their iridescent plumage. Above Dodital lies Darwa Top, from where one can get beautiful views of Bandarpunch or Banderpunch (White and Black Peak) at around 20, 956 feet, and views of the Gangotri valley. Other images include Primula macrophylla, Short-toed Eagle doing the samba, a swim across the icy cold lake, setting up camp, pitching tents, fishing for Rainbow trout, a tarn at Darwa Top, views of the Hanuman Ganga, Rhododendron shrubs, crossing streams and waterfalls, Himalayan Pied Woodpeckers, Nuthatch, Himalaya, Himalayas, Shivling, Jaonli, Sudarshan, Podophyllum hexandrum, fishing. adventure sports right across the state, including mountaineering, trekking, angling/fishing, ballooning, heli-skiing, skiing, para-sailing, para-gliding and river-rafting. Swargarohini and Bandarpunch ranges in the Govind Pashu Vihar sanctuary, and the Tons river basin, to the Gangotri head-waters, the Nelong-Rudragaira valleys, Harsil and the Lamkhaga and Dhuvadhar Kandi Passes and valleys. And the Jaonli and Chirbas Pravat, Sudarshan and Black Peak regions nearby. On to Yamnotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath and the char dhams. The Ganga and its river valleys. unphotographed and inaccessible Nanda Devi Sanctuary. Rare pictures of Changabang, Nanda Devi, Creamroll, Devtoli, Nanda Ghunti, Trishul and other high peaks of the region. Then the Sundardhunga and Milam valleys and peaks of Kumaon.
The lower Garhwal and Kumaon hills, with Landour/Mussoorie, Lansdowne, Ranikhet, Corbett Park/Marchula/Ramganga/Mohan axis, Sona Nadi and Haldparao/Kanda regions around Corbett. River-rafting on the Sarda, the Tons and the Ganga. Nehru Institute of Mountaineering courses at Draupadi-ka-danda and around Dodital/Hanuman Ganga valley/Darwa Top, etc. The famous kilometer-deep bridge on the Jarh Ganga, at Lanka, beyond Harsil. Bhilangana valley and the Ghuttu-Reeh trek. Wildlife of Uttaranchal with Black Bear, leopard, Snow Leopard, Monal and Kaleej Pheasants, Himalayan Barbets, Black-capped Sibia, Himalayan Pied Woodpecker, Scimitar Babblers, Chukor partridge, Goral and Serow, Mahseer fish, etc.
Wild flowers such as the Saussurea, the rare Paraquilegia microphylla of Nanda Devi, the beautiful Primula stuartii and Primula macrophylla of Dodital/Darwa Top, the ever-present Edelweiss, the exquisite tree-Rhododendrons of the lower hills and the dwarf ones of the high pasturelands and meadows... authentic montage of Uttaranchal, it's people, mountains, rivers, valleys, places, and its bird, animal and flower-life.
Source - Wikipedia
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