Treks can be tiring, exhausting, hazardous and sometimes be just long and winding steep climbs that seem to go on and on and on… but the trek to Budher Caves is more than how any conventional mind would define it. For one, not many know about this place. And quite importantly, the climb through a dense forested region of deodar and pine trees doesn’t end with only deodar and pine trees around you. If this intrigues you enough, you know you are going to read the rest of this post and then probably plan to please the ghosts of Dietrich Brandis and Miola. No, they don’t haunt this place but these two did make it possible for the future to stumble upon where the Pandavas once ventured.
History surrounds Budher Caves and the world would have probably left it only to the sheep grazers and few adventurous villagers to remain in a continuous state of love with this place had it not been for Miola, a German, to bring world attention to these caves. So yes, it is a somewhat difficult trek and if you’re the sort who wants to climb up in a sherwani and jootis you must know that the loose stone rubble will not be kind to your feet. Besides, large embedded rocks jutting out menacingly and massive old trees silently create obstacles that have to be tackled expertly. We were lucky that we (Specky my wife, Kitty my brother-in-law, and I) decided to carry a torch, a sandwich, and a water-bottle in our backpacks… well, what I was carrying was actually a laptop backpack because I love to go around with a large drawing pad and my travel water-colour pack besides my Surface Pro 4. So you see, I do need a fair amount of space. Specky, my wife was actually carrying messenger portfolio bag that we fondly call our sachcha satchel… this is because it has a good wholesome stock of snacks and sandwiches. What we woefully forgot in the boot of our SUV were our trekking poles… and had to search for the right sized stick to help us from slipping and ending up somewhere far below on the endlessly treacherous slope.
The surprise
This trek springs surprises more than once. The twists and turns and the steep bursts with rocks jutting out brought us face to face with stubborn tree trunks and loose rubble every time we thought the trail had become easier. There were moments when one of us stopped to catch his or her breath and mutter, ‘Let’s turn back. I mean, how do we know we are going in the right direction?’
‘Come on, let us go on.’
‘We have left the FRH way below and there seems no end to this trail… and who knows if there are predators lurking behind the deodars and pines?’
‘Come on, let us go on.’
It is good that one of us always urged the others to go on because… the most wondrous surprise popped up quite suddenly. Yes, the tree line ends rather abruptly and there we were on the summit with rolling meadows all over. Grazing sheep and horses briefly interrupt their task to look up. There was no early warning or signs of the meadows appearing… these are the bugyals of the region and though the undulating terrain doesn’t end, the vast expanse of a clear sky trying to revive our spirits and clouds attempting to humour us were welcome.
‘Where are the caves?’ I asked a Gujjar, and he pointed to a low spot some distance away and said, ‘temple is also here.’
So we saw. A temple up on a meadow high-ground and what looked like a gaping hole in the lower end.
Just a bit about the history and geography of this place
In the vanvas period after their lac-palace had been burnt had sent the Pandavas to exile and they hid in these caves for some time. It is believed that the caves extend to nearly 150 kms during their time. It is because Miola stumbled upon these caves at a height of around 2590 metres that they are also called Miola caves.
The old Shiva temple is also called the ‘temple of fairies’ and then there is a large lake as well from which we filled our water bottles in our backpacks. This place is around 3 kms from the Forest Rest House or FRH (constructed in 1868 and renovated in 2008) below and… the view of the Himalayan ranges from here is simply stunning. Budher is taken from the name of the people settled in this area and the FRH too is one of the oldest structures that the British built. It was Dietrich Brandis, the Inspector General of Forests in India who gave the site a place in the cultural history of Uttarakhand.
The caves have an abundance of stalagmite and stalactite formations, and are dark and treacherous and must not be attempted without an expert. We did enter the caves but went in only for a few yards to experience the thrill that our heroes from our own epic The Mahabharata must have had. But then we decided to come out, walk around for a bit before we went back to the FRH at a latitude of 30’45’ 51 N and 77’47’19 E.
Reaching Budher Caves
The distance from Chakrata by road is around 30 kms and the trekking distance is around 3 kms. It took us almost 3 hours to reach these ancient limestone caves on Miola Tibba. Chakrata, for those who are unaware, lies between Tons and Yamuna rivers at an elevation of 2118 metres and is around 98 kms from Dehradun. We had, of course, driven from Chandigarh then. As yet, there is no entry fee and there is no one to ensure that trekkers behave in an environmentally safe way. On our way back I did see one young girl fling her empty water bottle down the slop through the deodars and pine trees and it hurt me. Do read about this incident here.
Our trek to Budher caves was far more exciting and full of memorable moments that some of the other places of interest in and near Chakrata and these include Deoban or ‘God’s own forest’, Chirmiri, Tiger Falls, and a few temples, and of course, the quaint Cantonment market of Chakrata.
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Arvind Passey
Written on 09 March 2020
