Valley of Flowers, Uttaranchal

Valley of Flowers is a mystical region in the Himalayas, that has been quoted in various texts old and new. I remember reading about it in Swami Rama’s book, “Living With the Himalayan Masters” a long time ago, before I did any kind of photography. The interwebs tell me that this place even gets a mention in the Mahabharata. Mythology and spirituality aside, Valley of Flowers was discovered as we know it today by Englishman Frank Smith, in 1931. But it is botanist Joan Margaret Legge who is remembered in the Valley. A grave marks the spot where she died in 1939, while collecting flower samples. Truth be told, reading these facts mean nothing, compared to the actual experience of trekking to the Valley and reading the following words written on Legge’s grave:

“I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
Unto The Hills
From Whence Cometh
My Help”

Having actually felt the silence, beauty and solitude of the this Himalayan paradise, I can confirm that the above words touch something deep inside you. In spite of bad weather, a tough ascent and chilly winds, the Valley filled our hearts and minds with peace and satisfaction. The government of Uttaranchal has done a good job  in ensuring that the sanctity of the place is preserved. All along we felt we were in the lap of Mother Nature, and not in some artificial man made park.  Apart from a path paved in stone, the entire region is as Legge would have seen it. This actually means a lot, considering the crowd that visits the more popular destination adjacent to the Valley – Hemkund Sahib. In fact, having lost a day, we chose to visit the Valley twice, skipping Hemkund completely. Because the choice really was between walking in the clouds through flower beds, v/s mingling with horses and pilgrims huffing and puffing up the mountain to the gurudwara at 13800 feet. Of course, Hemkund Sahib has its own fairytale like history. It is situated in an equally splendid location as well. Apparently one can see 7 snowy peaks on a clear day from Hemkund, apart from the beautiful high-altitude lake. Vivek from our group visited Hemkund, although he was not treated with any spectacular views owing to foggy weather. He did the ascend on a horse, which he found quite an experience. Our journey to the Valley of flowers had its challenges,  but it was a fun and satisfying overall.

The Itinerary:

Ours was a well planned trip. The tour was customized with Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam – Uttarakhand’s tourism department. In their Bangalore office sits a very interesting character called Anurag Dangwal. Our interaction with Anurag started almost a month in advance. During our first meeting with him we fixed a tentative itinerary, decided on what kind of rooms we will stay in, and what kind of vehicle we will travel in. He gave us a quote which more or less suited us. Before our second meeting we schemed on how we could bargain on the quote and went prepared for it. But even before we could speak, he gave us a new figure which was almost 10% lesser than the first one! Satisfied with this quote, we paid an advance to book the tour.  GMVN was responsible for hotel and travel booking starting from Haridwar. Here is how the itinerary looked like:

Dat 1: Bangalore (BLR) – Delhi (DEL) by flight. Haridwar by train. This is when we had our taste of cattle class, traveling by second sitting instead of AC chair car because of a ticketing mistake from yours truly.

Day 2: Haridwar – Rishikesh – Joshimath by vehicle. On this day, the least anticipated and most ridiculous thing delayed our entire trip.

Day 3: Joshimath – Govindghat by vehicle. Govindghat to Ghangaria on foot. 14 km of ascent up the mountains!

Day 4: Ghangaria – Valley of Flowers trek.

Day 5: Ghangaria – Hemkund trek.

Day 6: Ghangaria – Valley of Flowers trek.

Day 7: Ghangaria – Govindghat trek. Govindghat – Birahi (beyond Joshimath) by vehicle.

Day 8: Birahi – Rishikesh by vehicle.

Day 9: Spare/Travel to DEL

Day 11: DEL – BLR by flight