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| 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 |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| ... 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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