We started towards Kedarnath. We stopped at Guptakashi. We went
to Sri Srividhya Dhaam. It is a residential patashala and a
charitable rest house for sadhus and sadhaks. We left our luggage
there.
We went to the place where a friend of Gopiji - Sri Ramamoorthyji
- is leading a secluded life. There is a shiva temple where Nala
had worshipped. There is a place where Nala did tapas. We also
saw the samadhi of Damayanti from a distance. There were rice and
potato fields all round. There were rows of mountains one behind
the other in all directions. The place was very beautiful.
Sri Ramamoorthyji showed us Bhoj Patra. It is the bark of a tree
and is like paper. It is used to write sacred texts. He also
gave some Kedarnath prasad. He gave Gopiji a magnetic knee cap to
alleviate some knee pain.
We reached Gauri Kund at the base of Kedarnath before noon. We
took bath in the hot spring and started trekking up. The place
was very crowded. Horses and palkis were plying in the service
of pilgrims who could not or did not want to trek by foot. We
heard there were more than 20,000 horses in service there. There
is helicopter service also. The trek is not as steep as Yamunotri,
but it is twice as long. It started raining as we neared the
Kedarnath temple. We reached the top in the night. We took a
room and slept.