Hike
Anusuya Devi Trek
A quiet 5-km forest walk from Mandal to a small temple set in a wooded clearing - under-walked, deeply green, and one of the few treks in the region with almost no other foot traffic on a weekday. 1 km further you will find 70 ft cascade, Atrey Muni Fall - famous for its rare ritual parikrama (circumambulation) passing directly behind the falls through a tight rock cave.
The walk
Five kilometres up a forest road from Mandal village brings you to the Anusuya Devi temple, set in a small clearing in a deep forest. The story behind it is one of Uttarakhand’s oldest: Anusuya, wife of the sage Atri, was said to have her devotion tested by three gods disguised as guests. She turned them into infants, and their combined form became the three-faced deity Dattatreya, still worshipped here today. But the hike is the point - green, quiet, and almost always empty.
For those who want to go further, the trail continues another 2 kilometres to Atrey Muni, a cave ashram tucked beside a waterfall, said to be where Atri himself meditated. It’s one of the few places where pilgrims circle the water itself rather than a shrine, and it adds a couple of hours onto the day.
The trail is easy: roughly 450 metres of altitude gain spread over 5 kilometres of well-graded path. Two hours up at a slow pace, a half-hour at the temple, an hour and a half back. Most guests do it as a half-day from Mandal.
What you’ll see
Forest canopy the whole way, occasional clearings with mountain views, langur monkeys in the trees, and - if you’re lucky and quiet, a koklass pheasant on the path.
When to go
Year-round, through warm summer mornings and crsip winter mornings. Monsoon may make the path slippery. We close it on heavy-rain days.
On the map
Stay base
From our stay in Mandal
Nestled beside a crystal-clear blue river, beneath the sacred heights of Tungnath and bordered by the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary. A place of forests, ancient trails, birdsongs and quiet corners. To explore, slow down, or simply be.