Preface
 
In 2013, when I (Rohit) visited my first Panch Kedar (Tungnath), I was so much moved by its legend that I decided to visit at least 1 of them every year. In 2014, I visited Rudranath Mahadev and heard lot of stories about Madmaheshwar Mahadev by shepherds. So from there on I decided to visit Madmaheshwar in 2015. In beginning, 4 of my friends decided to come along with me in this trek but as the day come close, only one enthusiast Akhilesh Nautiyal was left. As both of us desperately wanted to visit Madmaheshwar we started planning the trip as soon as Kedarnath Kapat (doors) were open for Yatris.

Day 1 – 6th May 2015
 
I’m from Dehradun and Akhil is from Gopeshwar he agreed to join me at Rudraprayag. On 6th May I hired a Bolero (Taxi) which picked me up sharp 0300hours in morning and dropped me at Rudraprayag at around 10:00 hours. I called Akhil and learned that he was stuck in traffic jam near Karanprayag due to Chardham Yatra. So I searched one fine Dhaba (roadside restaurant) and had tea and breakfast. At around 11:40 hours Akhil was at Rudraprayag and boarded a local bus for Ransi village.This bus will take us to Ransi via Agastmuni and Ukhimath route. The roads till Ukhimath was fine but from there to Ransi via Mansoona just reminded me of Spiti valley route. Finally at around 17:00 hours we reached Ransi , our base of the trek , we booked a room in Bhattji’s lodge for two of us and after a while had some biscuits and tea.
 
We spoke to few local village guys and learned that there is a nearby temple of Rakeshwari devi where Evening Aarti (prayers) was about to begin at 19:00 hours. We went there and took blessing for the trek. After that we went back to lodge and just jumped over some home cooked food as elephants were dancing under our tummy and went for nap at around 21:00 hours.
 
Rakeshwari Devi Temple