Kinnaur to Nepal through the hills of Uttarakhand: Jeori – Daran Ghati – Rohru – Ghansali – Rudraprayag – Gwaldam – Bageshwar – Sama – Munsyari – Pithoragarh – Tanakpur

Early morning near Sama, Uttarakhand

This is a very hilly route through Uttarakhand, which we really enjoyed. We didn’t do much research into it, so just took the most northerly (non dead-end) roads shown on Google Maps from Kinnaur to the Nepal border at Banbasa/Mahendranagar. As there are so many food and accommodation options it would be possible to do this as a very lightweight trip without any camping gear – we didn’t camp once.
Every day this route climbs a pass. Most of the climbs are very enjoyable, through forest and past terraced fields, on quiet roads. Apart from the climb to Daran Ghati which is steep and on a bad surface, the climbs are easy as the roads are usually paved and the gradients very gentle. In the table below I’ve just mentioned some towns on the route – there are many more. I’ve included just about all of the passes and most of the low points to give an idea of the elevation gains.
Here’s our blog post for this route.

Total KM Village/Town/Pass
0 Jeori (1,410m), big town on the Kinnaur Highway (NH22).
12 Gharat (2,030m). Jn – R to Daran Ghati.
31 Mashnu (2,110m). Jn – L to Daran Ghati.
44 Daran Ghati pass (2,900m). Tough climb on bad surface.
76 River (1,440m). Low point.
80 Taklech (1,520m).
101 Bahli (2,380m).
119 Sungri pass (2,620m).
146 Rohru (1,560m). Very big town.
157 Hatkoti (1,500m).
187 Tiuni (900m).
203 Hanol (1,090m).
219 Jn (1,200m) just before Mori. Go R.
237 Jharmola Dhar pass (1,933m).
254 Purola (1,360m).
270 Bridge over the Yamuna (1,070m).
284 Jn (1,330m) after Barkot. Go R for Uttarkashi.
301 Radi Top pass (2,256m).
338 Darasu Bend (960m). Join main highway to Gangotri – turn L.
345 Jn (970m) – leave main Gangotri road by turning R to Ghansali. Cross the Ganges straight after the jn.
369 Jn (1,930m) – join Gangotri-Kedarnath bypass (turn R).
378 Chaurangi Khal pass (2,324m).
402 Jn (1,300m). L to Ghansali (if you go R, it is 3km to Lamgaon).
418 Kemunda Khal pass (2,126m).
438 Jn (1,000m) – go R to Ghansali.
451 Ghansali (940m). Big town.
479 Chirbatia Khal pass (2,200m).
517 Tilwara (720m). Turn R on main rd.
526 Rudraprayag (660m). Big town. Road is quite busy to Karanprayag.
549 Gauchar (810m).
558 Karanprayag (790m).
566 Jn, go L.
604 Jn in Tharali. Go L.
621 Gwaldam Khal high point (1,946m).
626 Gwaldam (1,920m).
648 Jn in Baijnath (1,120m) – go L.
668 Bageshwar (870m). Big town.
683 Jn (1,140m) a few km after passing through Kapkot. Go R.
711 Jopara Khal pass (2,123m).
717 Kharlek (1,990m).
720 Sama (2,050m).
727 Jn (1,660m) – go L.
736 Cross bridge (1,080m).
738 Jn – go R.
748 Jn (1,050m) – L to Munsyari, (R goes to Tejam).
763 Girgaon (1,800m).
781 Kalamuni pass (2,763m).
786 Second pass (~2,760m).
796 Munsyari (2,190m).
864 Jauljibi (630m). Cross bridge.
877 Askot (1,280m) – village is up side road.
885 Ogla (1,510m).
901 Pass (1,724m).
907 Satgarh pass (1,860m).
927 Pithoragarh (1,600m). Very large town.
956 Bridge, low point (480m).
982 Maroda Khan pass (1,839m).
988 Lohaghat (1,700m).
995 Pass (1,800m).
1,001 Champawat (1,600m). Large town.
1,040 Bridge (570m).
1,051 Pass (1,123m).
1,076 Tanakpur (250m).

 

Route Summary
Total amount climbed ~20,000m in 14 days
Traffic Mostly very little, though busy around the large towns.
Difficulty 2
When we cycled September 2012 (post monsoon)
How much we had to push A small amount on the climb to Daran Ghati.

 
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