Gwaldham
About 3 Kms from Baijnath, the main highways goes to Bageshwar and a side road branches off to Gwaldam. This is a delightful route as besides the presence of birds, adding a winsome note, one passes through terraced fields and thick pines set against a backdrop of the Himalayas, and one can watch the Trishul peaks coming even closer. Gwaldam with its salubrious climate is a little heaven nestling in the woods. In this area, upto Talwari , there are several orchards generally of apple. From Gwaldam, the road winds its way through dense forests and terraced fields dotted with rustic cottages of small towns known as Tharali and Narain Bagar to meet the Ranikhet-Pandukhal road at a place called Simli, which is 8 Km short of Karnaprayag. Gwaldam is 149 Km from Nanital and 22 km from Baijnath.
Kagbhusandi Lake
This is a small oblong lake with emerald green water. It is at an altitude of 5230 m near Kankul Pass(5230 m), and is almost a kilometer in length. Myriad blossoms decorate its banks during the season, a wildest profusion of colours make the trekker forget the hardships and the exhaustion of the trek. Set in the lap of Hathi Parvat (6730 mts.), the lake can be approached either from Bhiundhar village, near Ghangria, or from Vishnu Prayag. The trek from the former is a little easier in gradient, but is longer. The trek from Bhiundhar passes through thick bear-infested, forests and stretches of stinging nettles. The only shelters here are the shepherd huts. This trek also involves walking long distances across glacial moraines and over slippery rocks. Two huge rocks on a spur of Hathi Parvat are described as a crow(Kaga) and an Eagle (Garuda). The locals believe that the crow is animatedly conversing with Garuda on the affairs of the universe. Another version has it that a learned Brahmin of Ayodhya once incurred the wrath of the sage Lomas who lived here and was changed into the form of crow by the sage.
Nandadevi Sanctuary
The Sanctuary has been converted to a National Park and temporarily closed for visitors on environmental considerations. It has an average altitude exceeding 4500 m and is surrounded by as many as seventy ofty peaks, the Nandadevi (7817 m) being the highest. It is in the form of cup with lush green meadows, chuting white waterfalls, and rich wild flora and fauna. Sir Edmund Hillary described the Sanctuary as a god-gifted wilderness - India's training ground for adventure - and truly so. Eric Shipton wrote, amongst many superlatives for the Sanctuary, "All around us was mountain architecture more magnificent even than the great southern battlements of Everest ". Joshimath is the base for collection of stores, provisions, porters, guides etc. One route approaches the Sanctuary from Lata, on the Joshimath-Malari Route. One trek from there to Lata Kharak, an open, wild and grassy hilltop, providing a fabulous mountainscape all around.
The Lata Kharak
Dharansi Pass appears to be a long trek with many ascents and descents yet everything is forgotten when Nandadevi comes into view on crossing the pass. The trek follows a ridge traversing rocky surface till Malatuni Pass, where the other trek route from Rini (near Lata) following the Rishi Ganga river generally, via Kalikuna and Chinwari, meets. It is continuous descent of about 800 metres through alpine grassland thereafter, before Rishi Ganga is crossed at Deodi, wherefrom Trishul - Base camp trek via Bethartoli and Tridang bifurcates. Debrugheta meadow with its floral designs and the grandstand view of peaks around it is exhilarating. The Deodi - Ramni trek passes through dense forests of Junipers and Varieties of Rhododendrons. The Sanctuary opens up there.