The Valley of Flowers- Third Time Unlucky?

 Frank Smythe was the man who identified a region that he named the "Valley of Flowers", now a protected park. He once said: “If everything we do in life is to be measured in terms of money, then life would be a very poor thing. The greater ambitions and desires of mankind are actuated by something deeper and finer than the desire to amass material wealth.”

This is so true of the Valley of Flowers.  This was the third time I went there, see my earlier blogs on the Valley of Flowers here and another here. So was I third time unlucky, read on to find out.

In the Valley of Flowers (VoF)

So I took a seat taxi from Rishikesh to Govindghat, and started walking up the nine kilometres from Pulna. I met a lot of interesting people along the way, a kathad sardar from Rohtak, we could hardly understand each other, a sardar railway employee from Indore and his two daughters, an IT professional from Delhi.

...my porter on the way up

There were a lot of Sikhs on the way, going up and down, because Hemkund Sahib at about 4000 metres, is one of the holiest Gurdwaras and many Sikhs do a pilgrimage here. There are young and old, boys and girls, many of them chanting aloud and many whispering a prayer in their hearts.

Clouds descend over Ghangariya helipad.

There is a helicopter service from Govindghat to about a kilometer short of Ghangariya. The flight takes about four minutes and there are 10-15 sorties in a day, depending on the weather. So a four or five hour trek is cut short to a few minutes if one were to take the helicopter. 

A board showing the main species of flowers put up at the forest chowkey at the entrance.  

Everyone gets a pass for three days at the VoF, but most people go up only once, (I went up twice).  At Ghangariya the path splits and one goes to Hemkund, a six kilometre vertical climb, and one goes to VoF, about four kilometres away.

Sunrise at the base of VoF

After crossing the forest chwkey, which opens for ticket sales at 7am, I walk along undulating terrain for about two kilometres.  It was here that I saw and photographed Pika last time, but this time there were probably too many people around.  I was walking along a valley and the rising sun played lovely light on the mountains around.

Gushing water in the Pushpawati River

Then I crossed a bridge across the Pushpawati River which had a lot of water due to the recent rains and snow melt. There was much more water in the river this time compared to the last two occasions I had to come here. The sound of the river is loud and the water moving fast.

The bottom of the gorge is in darkness as the sun illuminates the mountains higher up.

The contrast is wide, dark at the bottom of the gorge as the sun has yet to reach here and higher up the mountains are illuminated in sunlight. I have always been fascinated by this contrast and on every trip photograph the sunlit mountains through the dark valley.

Clouds drift across the mountain face 

The weather is totally unpredictable, bright sunshine one moment and cloudy the next. Though it was dry on the first day I went up. on the second day it was drizzling right through.

VoF, Tipra Khark and Mount Rataban in the distance.

This time there was an unusual phenomenon in that the clouds would descend up to a point on the mountain side and there they would remain. After the bridge and a steep climb of about a kilometer, one starts seeing VoF, and a sight to behold it is.

The colours in the valley change every week or so

The sight of  VoF is beautiful, it is a riot of colour, blues and purples and mauves dominate.

Pithoo at Shepherd's Rock

The sad thing is (selfish I know) that there are too many people now in the valley. The guard at the forest chowkey  told me that on an average 500-1500 people come to VoF each day. Compare this to the four or five I saw on my first visit here. I won't go into the reasons as they are controversial, selfies, pandemic, local income, tour companies all have a part to play.

Mist shrouds the mountainside outside my room.

On the second day it rained heavily the whole day, so I decided to stay in my room. I modified my plan and decided to go to the VoF after a day's break. I would go to Hemkund the day after subject to weather, but as it turned out it kept raining and I didn't go up to Hemkund Sahib having been there twice earlier. Please see my earlier blogs.

Pollen laden bee on Angelica flower

The flowers change every week or ten days, and with it the colours in the valley. I had earlier been up in June and the colours were very different.  This time the purples and mauves dominated with white and blue interspersed. 

Cyananthus Lobatus 

...and don't ask me the common name....

Morina Longifolia 

The flowers are beautiful and a rose by any name .....

Heracleum  with the mountains of VoF in the background

Geranium...

Ligularia  a common flower growing everywhere

Pedicularis Hoffmeisteri

Joan Margaret Legge's memorial

Joan Margaret Legge (Leggy as the locals call her), was a botanist who came to study the flowers of VoF.  She lost her life here and her sister set up this grave in the VoF. Having been to the Valley of Flowers for the first time in 2015 and again in 2018, I have been bitten by the bug, each time I think will my last, but I go there yet again.  Have I been unlucky? You decide....

To quote Frank Smythe again: “Nature is honest, there is no meanness in her composition, she has no time for fools, there is no place in her code for weaklings and degenerates. Out of her strength we gather our own strength. And it is good to be strong, to be able to endure, not as a brute beast, but as a thinking man imbued with the spirit of a great ideal."

Who Says There are No Flowers in the Valley of Flowers?

A sign at the Entrance to the Valley of Flowers (VoF) says it all
The passionate forest guard at the gate told me that he had been scolded by a senior officer that the VoF had no flowers, and that he, the forest guard, should put up a sign warning everyone so.   The experience I had was entirely different, I saw a myriad flowers blooming and a tranquil Valley.  And I thought to myself that: they are really blind those who will not see. These flowers were very different to to those I had seen on my earlier trip in August 2015, view my photographs of the earlier trip at the link here and my blog of that trip over here

Flowing water everywhere
A kilometer after buying a ticket at the forest check post, I cross the steel bridge across the Pushpawati River and begin the ascent into the VoF. The ticket is valid for three days of which I will visit on two.  The mountainsides are striated with waterfalls fed by the melting snow, which in turn feed streams, all flowing into the Pushpawati River.

A Glimpse of Snow
From the dark depths of the entrance across the bridge, I get a fleeting view of the snow clad mountains that rim the VoF.  The deeper ravines are initially dark, in the shadow of  the tall mountains around, but the sun suddenly illuminates the dark valleys, a spectacular natural light show accentuated by the sharp clear mountain air. 

Blue Poppies
Another forest guard walking by, told me that the rare Blue Poppy had begun to bloom along the way, and almost as soon as he said it this lovely plant came into view on a rocky hillside. Had he not told me, I could have easily missed this cluster as did many others walking by.

Fragile and Translucent petals
make the Blue Poppy a rare sight to behold. Blooming at only a few rocky places, one needs to know where they are to be able to enjoy their delicate beauty.  This flower is the signature plant of the area.

The Path to the Valley
When I had come to VoF in  August 2015, I was told that a major flood and landslide the previous year had caused the path to be realigned.  At that time the path had been mud which the August rains had turned to a glutinous morass. Now it is paved with meticulously laid rocks which allow the water to drain through easily.  It is an easy climb up to the Valley.

An Inquisitive Pika  
feeds on grass while watching me. There are many of  this large mouse looking animal living in the rocks along the way.  They are bold and as I stand still they come quite close.  The fur is brown and grey, with some of them having a distinct line where the colour changes, probably a thick winter coat changing to a lighter summer one.  I saw many birds, Blue Whistling Thrush, Variegated Laughing Thrush, Himalayan Bul Bul are some I could not identify.  There are the elusive Red Fox and bear in this area too.

Flowers Everywhere
Spring has come to the Valley and the flowers are blooming, predominantly blues and purples. I admire the view on a bright and sunny day over breakfast at Shepherds Rock, eating packed puris and sabzi that I am carrying from the GMVN guest house where I am staying.  This is possibly the neatest and most reasonably priced staying option in Ghangariya.

Small Flowers and Big Flowers
Ghangariya is the base from where I do my trips to VoF and Hemkund sahib.  It is at the base of two Valleys, each of which lead to either Hemkund sahib or VoF.  This year the tourist season seems less but remains crowded with pilgrims, tourists, mules, porters and many others.

Single and in Bunches 
There is an intermittent mobile signal here, mainly BSNL, but no data connectivity.  The market has many STD booths (I thought those were history!) from where one can call outwards.  The electricity can go off sometimes so make sure that your phone and camera batteries are charged at all times.  The weather has been delightful, bright and sunny every morning, with very light showers on two afternoons. A late lunch of parathas and sabzi  again at Shepherds Rock.

By the side of the path and ....
At one end of town the horses and porters line up and in the morning they waylay me.  I take a mule to Hemkund Sahib, but walk twice to VoF.  The mule I hire to take me to Hemkund eyes my rather portly frame with a resigned look, but takes me up and down rather uncomplainingly.  There are government rates for everything so one has to haggle only a little.

... on it, the stones along the path are interspersed with these little violets
There are fresh blooms and dried tall plants, presumably the relics of last year. The forest department hires people to continuously remove weeds from the Valley as these are said to threaten the indigenous flowering plants.

Who said there are no flowers?
The flowers bloom and whither in hours, days and at most two weeks. I did two hikes over 48 hours and saw Angelica buds the first time and blooms the second.  Other flowers had begun to grow, and some were slowly fading.  I don't know or remember the names of the flowers I saw, I simply reveled in their beauty. The typical 'season' is July-August, but  at this time too there are many flowers.  On my previous trip in August 2015, I saw many different flowers, clearly indicating that one must visit the Valley in different seasons.

Mount Ratavan in the distance
is at the head of the Valley, at the lower reaches of this mountain is the Tipra Glacier, and below that is the 'Tipra Khark', presumably the moraine. The entire Valley is about 8 kilometers long after entering and one can walk to the end, but that has to be a single minded purpose, as time does not permit one to smell the roses and walk to the end. From Ghangariya the total distance would be about 11 km each way. One can enter the VoF at 0700 and must be out by 1800 hours, overnight stays are not permitted.

Signboard on the way 
put up by the forest department indicates the bifurcation for 'Tipra Khark'  and Lady Joan Margaret  Legge's grave memorial  (Leggy as she is known here).  In 1939 Joan Margaret Legge was studying the flora of the Valley of Flowers  while traversing some rocky slopes she slipped and lost her life. Her sister created this memorial/tomb to her. The Valley is at an average height of about 3500 metres, this is high altitude and it is smart to be acclimatised, particularly if you are going up from sea level as I was.

The Path to the River
Though I could not walk to the 'Tipra Khark', on my second visit to the Valley I did some photography and then walked  to the river crossing. About 2 km short of the 'Tipra Khark'  the Pushpawati River crosses the Valley, over here the ground is more rocky and there are less flowers.  The entire path is paved with stones which have sharp edges and points, at the end of a 15 km round hike, the soles of my feet were sore.

Farewell to the Valley
as I recross the bridge to return to Ghangariya, I have to be out of the Park by 1800 hours and the gate is about a kilometer away. The water in the river has risen as the snow in the higher reaches has melted during the hot and sunny day, I stop for a few more photos before hurrying on my way...  At the gate I meet my friend the forest guard and he asks me "so, did you see any flowers?" I think the dreamy smile on my face tells him all.

Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.     

-Jim Carrey