Rudranath is third in the holy series of Panch Kedar and is located in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand with face of Lord Shiva embodied on a shivling here. The temple remains open in summers and remains closed from November to April due to heavy snowfall. Rudranath is a trekker’s delight as there is so much to explore and experience in this nature’s paradise. The base of this trek is at village Sagar which is an hour’s drive from Chopta and 10 Kms before Gopeshwar. This is a moderate difficult trail from village Sagar walking uphill for about 18 Kms through pristine meadows, Pung Bugyal, Panar Bugyal, Luiti Bugyal and surrounded by Rhododendron and Alpine trees. The entire trek to Rudranath temple offers an amazing view of Nature in its purest form. The temple is also surrounded by alpine grassland and beautiful flowers at an elevation of 3550 meters. Near the Rudranath temple there are many sacred water bodies which dot the area, Mana Kund, Tara Kund, Chandra Kund and Surya Kund, in the backdrop one can see impressive mountain peaks of Trishul and Nanda Devi. The holy river Rudraganga flows near the temple, with a grey stone idol of Rudranath. This river is said to be river of salvation as, it is believed, souls of dead cross this river on their journey to other world. Thus devotees visit Rudranath to perform rituals. There is an alternate trekking route to reach Rudranath which starts from a small hamlet called ‘Mandal’ and this 24 Kms trek passes through Anusuya Devi temple. More about the Trek: Rudranath is one of the most popular Shiva temples. The starting point to trek to this temple is at village Sagar, about 250 Kms from Rishikesh. The drive from Rishikesh goes past Devprayag – Srinagar – Rudraprayag – Ukhimath – Mandal to Village Sagar from where the 18 Km uphill trail takes you to Rudranath while passing through pristine meadows lined by thick forest with the backdrop offering impressive views of mountain peaks of Trishul and Nanda Devi.