These are some of the colorful wildflowers seen at Valley of Flowers
Day-1 : Govindghat to Ghangariya Trek - 14 Kms
22nd July 2007 - At 5:30AM packed a small backpack and left the main luggage at GMVN Joshimath. At 6:00AM went to the Gate and caught a Bus going to Badrinath. Hopped off at Govindghat at 7:15AM. A huge rush of Sikh pilgrims, were headed to Hemkund. Walked thru narrow street of Govindghat, to reach the suspension bridge (next to the Gurudwara) that crosses the Alakananda river. This is where the trail to Ghangariya starts.
Govindghat ...... Suspension Bridge entrance (L) and Gurudwara (R)
Govindghat - the hill in front has hundreds of ant-like Pilgrims ... climbing series of switchbacks that rise steeply up the hillside. The river Hem Ganga (right) joins Alakananda (left) coming from Badrinath
Sahil and Muskaan ... two kids of Pulana village, on way to Ghangaria
The last slushy & rocky stretch into Ghangariya .... arrived 3:15PM
Day-2 : Ghangariya to Valley of Flowers .. and back - 14 Kms
23rd July 2007 - At 5:30AM, I started the trek to VoF, with a pack-lunch of Alu Parathas. The Sikh pilgrims going to Hemkund too were all up and there was great rush and bustle on the trail heading out of Ghangaraiya.
The initial 500M out of Ghangariya, is a common trail for VoF & Hemkund
Looking back at Ghangaria ...... 30 minutes into the VoF trek
The Bhuyander valley bathed in sunshine, from the snow bridge
One of the many streams.... flowing thru the misty cloudy valley
The small white tombstone in the green valleyis of a British botanist
By 10:30AM it started drizzling strongly, so I headed back the trail towards Ghangariya. On the way met several other trekkers too enjoying this beautiful green valley even though it was raining. But in all only about 20 people visited the VoF that day; a very small number compared to the thousands going to Hemkund on that day. I reached Ghangaria by 1:00PM and had lunch of at one of the many Dhabas there and then back at my GMVN dorm bed.
Day-3 : Ghangaria to Govindghat - 14 Kms
24rd July 2007 - Seeing the huge rush of pilgrims, I dropped the idea of climbing up to Hemkund and decided to head back to Govindghat. So by 5:30AM started back on the paved trail and made good speed as it was downhill all the way. I reached G'ghat by 10:30AM. Walked to teh highyway and was able to get a bus heading to Joshimath. At Joshimath got another bus to Rudraprayag and then another bus to Srinagar. Arrived Srinagar at 6:00PM and checked into the GMVN there.
******** End of VoF Trek *******
