A short trip to Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand Himalay
A Long and Beautiful Road Journey to Govindghat
I was ready to leave for our full-day journey by 6:30 AM, but my friends, Manish and Rishabh, were running late. They also discovered the main road was closed due to heavy rainfall the previous night and had to take a bypass to our Jabarkhet meeting point. We finally started our 14-hour, almost 350-kilometer drive to Govindghat around 7:30 AM. After just 10 minutes, we stopped for fuel and then for breakfast at Suwakholi around 8:45 AM, where we met some friends, Journey ahead was certainly a long one but the beauty of the landscape made the long 14 hours fly by as drive was incredibly beautiful, taking us through five districts and many picturesque locations. We passed by the Tehri Dam, Peepal Dali, Pokhal, Srinagar, Dhari Devi Temple, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Nandprayag, and many other places that begged to be explored. We stopped for lunch in Srinagar.
Just 10 minutes after lunch, the main highway was closed due to a landslide, causing an almost 10-kilometer-long traffic jam. We took a 30-kilometer-longer bypass, which helped us circumvent most of the traffic and reach the other side of the landslide. Many cars were still stuck in the jam. After waiting for about an hour, the traffic finally cleared, and we continued our journey. We were already very late. Navigating through many places, traffic, and obstacles, we finally reached Govindghat around 9:00 PM.
After having dinner at a local restaurant, we decided to camp since we couldn’t find a budget-friendly stay. We quickly found a good spot, set up our tent, and fell asleep.
Trek to Ghangaria Village (3,000m / 9,800ft)
The next morning, July 12th, we woke up around 6:30 AM. The plan was to take a shuttle taxi for 4 kilometers to Pulna Village, then hike 9 kilometers to Ghangaria, gaining 900 meters (2,952 feet) in elevation. From there, we planned to explore the Valley of Flowers with another 5-kilometer trek, gaining 500 meters (1,700 feet), and then return to Ghangaria. We quickly packed our tent, and Rishabh made morning tea using an MSR stove. By the time we were ready to leave, it was already 8:00 AM.
We took a shared taxi to Pulna Village at 2,100 meters (6,900 feet), the last road-head. Upon reaching Pulna, we refilled our water bottles and had breakfast at a local restaurant. There, we met a local guide who told us about another beautiful and untouched valley. We told him we would definitely explore that area along with Kagbhusandi Lake on our next trip and asked him to join us.
After breakfast, we began our trek to Ghangaria, the base village for the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. It was a beautiful trek along the river, though a bit steep uphill. This 8-9-kilometer journey offered outstanding views of forests, towering mountains, and waterfalls that looked like water falling from the sky. After hiking for 1.5 hours, we reached Bhyundar Village and then crossed a giant bridge, finally arriving at Ghangaria Village around 1:30 PM. The village is nestled at an elevation of 3,000 meters (9,800 feet).
Unfortunately, the gate to the Valley of Flowers was already closed for the day. We initially decided to hike to Hemkund Sahib early the next morning and then explore the Valley of Flowers. However, we were a little tired, and the next day was going to be tougher. So, we checked into a local homestay and took a nap, waking up around 7:00 PM. We had dinner at one of the dhabas in the village.
We then decided to only do the Valley of Flowers trek, as doing both treks and then descending to Govindghat and visiting Mana Village and Shree Badrinath would be too hectic. We explored the village and went to sleep around 11:00 PM, planning to start the hike to the Valley of Flowers at 6:30 AM the next morning.
Exploration of the Valley of Flowers
On the morning of July 13th, we woke up late, as we were tired from the previous day’s hike. It was already 7:00 AM, and we were still in our quilts. I asked Rishabh to wake up and get ready. He woke up and made tea for all of us. He is very helpful when it comes to work and arranging things during our travels—the best supporting hand, I would say.
We all started packing our lunch items into one bag and left our other bags at the homestay. We reached the entry point at 8:15 AM, signed the register, got our tickets (200 rupees per person), and proceeded with the hike. Our initial plan was to cook tea and breakfast after hiking a little, but we had to leave our cooking stuff at the entry gate, as it is not allowed inside the park. So, we started hiking without having anything to eat, carrying only some biscuits.
The Beautiful Geography of the Valley
After just 30 minutes of hiking, I fell in love with the area’s biodiversity—one of the best I’ve ever seen. The trail is made of stone, with hundreds of flowering plants and bushes on the sides. We entered a beautiful forest with old silver firs, spruces, deodar trees, and Bhojpatra and viburnum bushes. This is a perfect habitat for Himalayan Brown Bears, so it’s dangerous to walk here late in the evening. After this forest patch, the trail leads to the bank of a river. We crossed a bridge, and the trail became a steep, zigzag uphill path for 1.5 kilometers, which felt like 5 due to the gradient, a little difficult part of the trek.
After an hour of hiking, we reached a valley viewpoint. The view was breathtaking—big green meadows with some flowering plants, and towering snow-capped peaks visible on both sides. We walked for another hour, reaching the middle of the valley. Though peak flowering time was still a few weeks away, we saw around 30 species of Himalayan flowers. We climbed a rock to enjoy a 360-degree view, took some photos and videos, and then hiked for another 20 minutes before starting our journey back to Ghangaria.
We picked up our cooking stove from the entry gate and found a nice spot to cook some noodles—we were all super hungry.
Into the Green Valley
It was quite steep, but we didn’t feel it was tough, as the scenery was amazing and the uphill part was forest-covered. We were so engaged in talking and discussing many things, like climbing the big rocky face visible on the other side of the valley. After hiking for an hour, we finished the uphill part and reached a valley viewing point. The view was amazing—big green meadows with some flowering plants were visible, and towering snow peaks were visible above these beautiful meadows on both sides of the valley.
We walked for another hour and reached the middle of the valley, where we explored around. Many beautiful flowers were blooming, though the peak flowering time was still three to four weeks later. We saw around 30 species of Himalayan flowers. We climbed a rock to sit on, as the view was 360 degrees from the top. We did some photography and videography and then hiked for another 20 minutes.
Then we started hiking back to Ghangaria. A lot of the way back to Govindghat was quiet and long, so we quickly started heading back. We reached the entry point and picked up our cooking stuff. We walked a little towards the base village, found a nice place to sit, and cooked noodles. We were all super hungry, so we decided to cook and eat.
Descent to the Road and a Visit to Mana Village
After having Maggi, we packed our things and started heading down. After two hours of trekking, we stopped near Bhyundar village, opened up our MSR stove on a bank of the river below the giant bridge near the village, and made tea and had some bread and biscuits. It was amazing to sit near the river with a hot cup of tea.
After hiking down for 20 minutes, we took a break near the Laxman Temple and then continued, reaching Govindghat around 4 PM. We started the drive towards Badrinath, as the plan was to visit Shree Badrinath Temple and take a bath in the hot water spring, then visit Mana Village and Bheem Pul, and camp nearby.
After reaching Badrinath, we went directly to Mana Village and explored it. We returned to Badrinath around 8:00 PM. Rishabh and I visited the temple and took a bath in the hot water kund. It was very hot, and after taking a dip, all our tiredness disappeared; it was so refreshing. After that, we returned to the main road where Manish was waiting for us. We had dinner and decided to drive two to three hours towards Srinagar instead of camping there. We started heading towards home, drove for two hours, and camped near a village. We woke up, had a cup of tea, and now we were not too far from Srinagar. Around 12:00 PM, we reached Srinagar, had lunch, and drove back home.
It was an amazing experience.
Stay tuned and read more blogs here