Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise

Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise

The Valley of Flowers

  

Climbing the last kilometer is strenuous, I sweat despite the mild cold, the thin drizzle permeates my clothing with dampness and the wet mud is slippery.  As I round a bend in the mountain side rapt in my misery, almost theatrically a wide vista unfolds showing a wide lush green valley with patches of colour and Mount Rataban proudly at its head.  It is magical, the tiredness of the climb falls away and the spellbinding view makes the arduous climb of two hours so very worthwhile. 

Angelica with cloud veiled mountains in the background

My trek to the Valley of Flowers (VoF) has been a dream for many years, a dream that I was determined to turn to reality for a week in August 2015.  There are many travelogues of ‘how to and where to’ on a trek to VoF so it is not my intention to replicate these. I will put together a kaleidoscope of thoughts and suggestions giving more of a flavor than a guide.

The trip started on Day One on a flight from Mumbai via Delhi to Dehradun and then a taxi to Rishikesh.  At Rishikesh I stayed at the Garhwal  Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) guest house at Bharat Bhoomi, it is basic but neat, spacious and clean with very friendly staff. That evening I scoured the market for ways to get to Govindghat, I went to two taxi stands and a bus stand.  The taxi stands were misleading (and I suspect self servingly dishonest).  Quite by accident I discovered two important aspects, one that all visitors to Ghangaria were required to do a photo-registration at a booth near the bus stand, which I did.  The second was that there are direct taxis from near the Gurudwara at Rishikesh to Govindghat, I booked myself on one starting at 5 am next morning (Rs 500 a seat).  These are shared Tata Sumo with 10 passengers to a taxi which is a seriously tight squeeze, so I purchased an extra seat to make space for myself. 

On Day Two our taxi started at 5 am and it was a long, hot, dusty ride along rough roads with few halts, reaching Govindghat at 2.40 pm. Along the way passing through tiny towns which read like the index of a book by the redoubtable Jim Corbett who had shot some of his many man-eaters here,   Devprayag, Rudraprayag and Chamoli went by.  All along we followed the Alaknanda River till Govindghat.  This long taxi journey is perhaps the only tedious part of an otherwise lovely trip. A few kilometers short of Govindghat most network signals cease.

At Govindghat I cast around and found a nice hotel, Bhagat, and prepared for the trek next day. Repacking my day pack for trekking as opposed to travel by air and road, for a guideline of what I carry when I trek, please see my blog here:

 http://xerxespa.blogspot.in/2015/08/the-fashionate-trekker.html

Madan, my intrepid porter
 and I on the way up

The track going from Govindghat
 to Ghangaria

Up early on Day Three, my hotel manager hired a porter for me (Rs 790), he would carry my large pack to Ghangaria.  The porter and I walked about 1.5 km down to a bridge on the Lakshman Ganga from where a taxi would take us four km to the start of the trek. I started trekking at 8.20 am along a broad stone path which is undulating in its initial stages till the river bed. Earlier floods had washed away many bridges so the path went across causeways and stony river beds.  Being the monsoon, there are beautiful waterfalls on the opposite hillside, including a mighty three stage fall of at least 2 to 300 metres .  The path is largely well defined, shady and the walk pleasant. 

The route has many dhabas and I enjoyed the stuffed paratha and lemon tea, the latter being a very refreshing drink while trekking. After crossing the river, the climb is nearly continuous for about two hours till Ghangaria. There are many people on the route, Sikh pilgrims and tourists giving the place a carnival air. I trekked about 12 km, climbing from about 1800 meters to 3100 meters, reaching at about 2.30 pm.

A la carte - the menu at a decrepit dhaba

At Ghangaria, again it was hotel hunting time and after much looking around I settled for the slightly ‘up market’ Nand Lokpal. It wasn’t exactly five star, but moderately clean and comfortable.  Ghangaria has a very short season of about four months and everything is brought up by mule or porter hence food, water and commodities are expensive, so carry up what you can or be prepared to buy it at the prevailing rates.  An NGO called EDC is doing sterling work in managing waste in that fragile environment, it is vital that we add our mite to keeping the waste under control.

another waterfall along the route

At 3100m one has entered high altitude and it is important to take sensible precautions in acclimatizing for trekking higher to VoF and Hemkund.  Remember that Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) can kill you or ruin an otherwise lovely trip; on the other hand a few sensible precautions can mitigate the risk considerably.  Before starting, have a doctor check you thoroughly to ensure that you are fit enough to undertake such a trek. Then follow an exercise programme a few weeks prior to make sure you are moderately fit to walk and climb at high altitude (there are many programmes on the net).

I did not buy water; instead I used water sterlising tablets the evening before to prepare two litres of water for each day’s trek. I do this whenever I am outdoors as it ensures I don’t have to buy plastic bottled water and so reduce the garbage in ecologically fragile areas.

Panacea for sore muscles
at the end of each day

Day Four saw me make an early start; I was out by 6 am and after a brief climb reached the forestchowky by 6.30 am to buy my VoF pass, (Rs 150 for 3 days). It was a bright and sunny morning and so that day there were many visitors and the trail up was a carnival.  The climb was ardous, but rounding a final bend the panorama is more than a reward for the ardour of the preceding two hours. I was at Shepherd’s Rock, a landmark in VoF, by 8.45 am and ate my packed breakfast (greasy sabzi- puri).  

Here I saw a jarring sign of the “great Indian tourist", the forest department had diverted  a mountain stream so that trekkers could fill water bottles. Right next to this someone had left a big, bright blue bar of washing soap, slowly dissolving into the pristine stream. A little further on I saw the shine of silver foil discarded after someone’s breakfast, lying among the flowers. I also met the guide/owner of a very large agency specializing in VoF; he boasted of his 400 GB of photos and his undying love of the Valley, all the while playing loud music on his phone!  We are somehow hell-bent on destroying our environmental heritage.

A list of some of the flowers
 to be seen at VoF

The VoF is truly spectacular, cloud veiled mountains stand sentinel around a green and lush valley through which the Pushpavati River flows, this valley in turn is dissected laterally by glacier fed mountain streams; all making for an idyllic scene. There is a stony path made by the forest department which meanders through the vegetation and one gets to see the flowers along this path. One path goes on to Joan Margaret Legge’s Memorial; she was an early pioneer into the Valley and the other path to the end of the Valley.

Joan Margaret Legge's Memorial

The flowers are spectacular, but I am no authority on flora and much has been written about the flowers in VoF, so I shall not dare tread there.  The common plants I saw were Balsam, Angelica, Bladderwort and Large Bellflower among stands of other beautiful flowers.  For my pictures please see these links to Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129459215@N08/albums/72157657562803801

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129459215@N08/albums/72157657142242599

As is normally the pattern in the mountains, the weather rolled in at about 12.30 pm, clouds roiled up the Valley, wreathing the mountain slopes in white.  Shortly it began to rain, almost signaling me to begin my return journey which took about two hours in very slippery slush. I was back in Ghangaria by 4 pm.

Glacier and stream emanating from it in Vof

Ghangaria is a small town, and most mobile call services do not work here, there is no data service at all, so forget Whatsapp and e-mail. STD booths (I had almost forgotten these!) abound and I got a scratchy connection most evenings.  That evening I had a wholesome meal of rice, dal and chapatti in the langar at the Gurudwara. An interesting interlude was that every night a Himalayan black bear with two cubs would come looking for garbage behind the hotels or langar, some people saw them, but I didn’t!

On Day Five I went to the Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara, this is at an altitude of about 4400 meters and I did not feel acclimatised enough to trek up, so I hired a mule (Rs 1150 for the return trip). The trek up can be anything upto 4 – 5 hours, but the mule got me up in about two and a half hours.  I started at 6 am and was up by 8.30 am.  There was a silver lining to to reaching early; I reached before the clouds descended at about 10 am, giving me ample light to get in some spectacular photographs. The mule driver stops at the mid-way point to give the mules a breather and here I grabbed a paratha and lemon tea for breakfast.

The Sarovar at Hemkund  - simply breath-taking

No description or photographs do justice to Hemkund SahibSarovar, it is breath-takingly beautiful. The Gurudwara is a modern structure (Not very appealing, I prefer the old traditional architecture of Gurudwaras though), however when I went in to mathaa teko (pay obeisance) there was a group of Raagi’s  singing followed by the reading of the  paath.  It was a beautifully calm and serene moment which I sat down to absorb.  Next to the Gurudwara is a very old Lakshman Mandir, not as imposing as the Gurudwara, but the panditji had a wonderful charm and it was another very lovely moment. 

The Lakshman mandir

The Gurudwara

The Sarovar (lake) is truly awe-inspiring, very cold, calm and with the mountains around mirrored in the still water it is a sight to behold. The water is so cold that I could not put my hand in for more than a few seconds without excruciating pain, and here I saw the absolute tolerance faith inspires, an elderly Sikh pilgrim was having an unhurried bath in this icy water! 

Emerging from a bath in the icy water

After enjoying the lake, I trekked up the hillside behind the Gurudwara to see the famed and rare Brahma Kamal flower which was in full bloom. 

The famed Brahma Kamal

I had khichdi and tea for lunch at the Gurudwara langar, and then began my mule odyssey down again. A word about riding a mule at these altitudes, the path is narrow and the mule goes so close to the edge that its head is out over the abyss.  This is very scary at first, more so when descending when the mule does a little hop down every step.  It is important to lean forward a bit when going up and lean back with legs straight when descending, this gives the mule balance.  These are very sure footed animals and there is nothing to fear, sit loose and the mule will take care of everything.  I was down by 1.30 pm.

That afternoon I joined a birder group walking down about a kilometer towards the helipad where we saw a mixed hunting party of birds.  My sightings on the trip included Himalayan Vulture, Large-billed Crow, Oriental Turtle Dove,Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, Coal Tit, Black Bulbul, Grey-bellied Tesia, Variegated Laughingthrush, Whiskered Yuhina, White-cheeked Nuthatch, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Blue Whistling Thrush, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail, Pink-browed Rosefinch (very common), White-winged Grosbeak and Bar-throated Siva.

The lush, green Valley

On Day Six I went again to the VoF, after reading many articles and blogs, I had always wanted to go the the end of the Valley. I made a very early morning start at 6 am in pouring rain but when I was on top by 8 am the rain had miraculously cleared, after a brief stop for breakfast at Shepherd’s Rock, I moved on. Being the first up in the Valley I was rewarded by the sight of a family of Pika playing in a rocky nullah. 

The path to the end of the Valley

As I had vowed not take my camera out till I reached the end of the Valley so as to save time, I managed a couple of pictures on my phone.  After walking about four kilometers, the trail tapered off and ended at a river with no visible crossing point.  A quick reconnaissance showed an old path across, so I moved on another 3 km along this path, but I could not see the end, so at 1 pm I reluctantly turned back, exiting the VoF park at 5 pm.

The path from Ghangaria to Govindghat

Day Seven was the day when all good things came to an end, the day of my descent to Govindghat. I had planned to spend the night at Govindghat hence made a late start at 8 am. The same porter I had on the way up came and took my heavier pack as I was trekking with a daypack. It was a pleasant five hour walk down to the taxi stand where I learnt that a landslide had isolated Govindghat from the direction of Joshimath. It was important for me to cross that slide as I had onward reservations from Rishikesh. So, along with a couple of others similarly stranded, I walked another six kilometers to a taxi on the other side of the slide driving as far as Chamoli. The next day it was back to Rishikesh, Delhi and regrettably home.

Memories of Paradise