day 6:(part2) Saraswati River ,swargarohan marg, Vyas,ganesh gufah at Mana Village

Maa saraswati river and saraswati temple by side

Saraswati river originates from the mystical town of Mana village, by the Indo - Tibet border. Its rightly called as first Indian village in these parts.

saraswati river originates here and is gushing out of cave

Mana village- Indias first village

swaragarohan yatra path 

It is from these mountains of Nar and Narayan(the maharishis who prayed to lords here) in paavan bhoomi of chaar dhaam and here lies this preponderously breath taking view of Swargarohan yatra of Panch pandavas. It is said that the Panch pandavas after the mahabharat yudham proceeded to the heaven or swarg from this path. 

The story of Dharma raj Yudishtir and a dog(yama dharma raj) alone making it to the swarga while all the other pandavas and Draupadi for their various sins have to shed their human body and life. This view indeed feels like from fantasy if pic could be like this imagine how it would have looked. 

mana village path

getting lost in this view

There is  also a falls called vasundhara falls which is 7km trek and those who reach here early get to trek ,since we reached by 5pm we covered all this in short time before 7 pm and returned to resort in govindghat 1 hr away. We had done more than 20000 steps on this day which walk from ghangharia to govindghat and badri temple and mana village tour.

vasundhara falls-swargarohan marg

bhim pul

shortly after the mythical saraswati river meets the mighty alaknanda river and hence the short lived path. It goes underneath the bhim pul or bridge which was said to be constructed by Bhim for Draupadi to crossover the river saraswati

saraswati meeting alaknanda river

It is here at Mana, maharishi vedavyasa wrote mahabharata,vedas and 18 other puranas in the 5000 yr old cave here called vyas gufah. And there is another cave called ganesh gufah where its believed Ekadanta ganesha wrote mahabarata as scribe for Vyasa.

Veda vyasa statue at Saraswati mandir

vyas gufah

vyas gufah 5333yrs old

4 assisting rishis of Vyasa including Vaishampayana

inside Ganesh gufah

ganesh gufah

lovely patta gobi

swinging by the idyllic village bench

Tagda raho the moto of the military camp on the hills opposite is a striking remark and motto for these warriors risking their lives in these border lines.

military base at Mana village

Dont miss visiting this simple village during your valley of flowers trek and visit to Badrinath.

day 6: Ghangaria to Govindghat trek back, Badrinath, Mana divya darshan

 Day 6, 28th Aug 2024

 Turned out to be an awesome joyous trek back after 3 days of unlimited trekking a somewhat downslope walk back 9000ft to 6000 ft,13 km trek , a hot rapid descend starting at 7am and reaching down by 12 noon  or so and a quick refresh and changing to our hired car waiting at resort( you get to pay parking fee if needed for 3days away some 500rs) and left for Badrinath where we decided to lunch before darshan. The unprecedented road work due to rock sliding or other work , our other friends who were struck in traffic we too joined the traffic and reached in time to get 4pm darshan tickets ,park car, eat at nice cozy restaurant and head for darshan.

the clan from Tirupur to Ghangaria

Bhyunder village suspension bridge over alaknanda

A last look for this beautiful view of Ghangaria the base camp for Valley of flowers,Hemkund sahib trek

kids and posing

sun-kissed

 3km of rocky pathway ghangharia to the bridge 

Badrinath Dhaam by the alaknanda river and hot geyser tapt kund beside

After we reached the chilling badrinath temple, one of the char dham o(paanch dhaam if including hemkund sahib). The temple towns aura and vibes of the place calls for some sthala puranam. P.S :Btw you should book your e permit for badri or hem kund much before when you are doing bookings as there is a limit and you cant climb hills without this permit.

                                                 the road to badri turns & rocks everywhere

 Badrinath is called as Badri narayan Vishal and is tucked in between the valley of Nar and Narayan mountain ranges towering on either side who represent the wise sages Nar and Narayan 

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम्। देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत्।

Just as this shloka in vishnu sahasranamam goes and we pray to Nar narayan temple, the saraswati devi( River saraswati flows near by at Mana) and Vyas rishi gufah or cave is at mana we worship all of them and this shloka strikes a cord as you bow to badri vishal in this mountainous region. 

Coming from a vaishanavite family we would have covered many of the 108 divya desam without having a count of as child and this day when we went to one more that even my parents couldnt visit the feeling of ecstacy was surreal. Adi shankarachariyar reinstated this Suyambu saligrama roopam of Vishnu here in 9th century after briefly in ashoka kings regime it was converted into Buddisht temple and thus the unique architecture when it was reinstated and the dieties intact. Tapta kund below is hot geyser natural wonder and we find devotees having bucket fulls of water out, in the regulated kund which is still quite hot .

                                                    tapt kund hot geyser bubbling hot

After the divya darshan, temple outlets bhakti shopping and headed for our next hop to mana the first indian village and in our Mahabharata story, the pathway to heaven from beyond it. Look out for next post for this amazing story and the wonderous Saraswati river,Vyasa gufah and place where our Ekadanta ganesha broke his dantam and wrote mahabarata like scribe for veda Vyasar.

walkway to heaven..for pandavas and ...aint it for us

Day 5: HEMKUND SAHIB TREK

 

Wahe guru! This was my first of Gurudwara visits and that too at such high altitude 15200ft high is this serene, picturesque Gurudwara that will mesmerise you and give goosebumps worthy positive vibes moments and me off from the group who headed all ahead of me , in complete company of strangers and Teerth yatra travelling Sikh piligrims thoroughly soaked in the hike with 'sanson ka phulna' or gasping for breathe and stopping at every turn to catch the breath. Aug 27th we started around 8 am from the starting point of Valley of trek path where it cuts and from there first sent kids in Horse back as they both wanted that experience and we were mentally prepared they would be safe and our friends group had started an hour earlier and would reach uphill before us and shared phone no, with the ghoda wala. And it was when Prabhu got a call at point where they reached 90% above the younger one started his cribbing and fighting with elder one so from that point where 20% we had covered he decided to go uphill fast and by 3 hrs total record timing he reached up while the younger one was cranky and refused to smell the camphor given and in fathers company vomited the Langars dal porridge. I took a nice watching my pace 6 hrs for uphill and 3 30 hr for downhill. 

Hem kund sahibs Sarovar

World's highest Sikh shrine, Hemkundsahib at the height of 15,200 ft. and has a glacial lake surrounded by seven mountain.There is an ancient Lakshman Temple on a bank of the lake. The starting point of the trek from Ghangaria village via the point where the valley of flowers trek begins ahead started the nicely cobbled pathway leading to hemkund sahib trek. From 9000 ft elevation of Ghangharia hotel we achieve an elevation gain of 6000 ft around a single day so one needs to check your SPo2 levels to heart rate and all at check we had our covid time oximeter and smart watches and had a check in beginning of day and later on reaching there. The cobbled path then leads to rocky terrains where steep ascents or stairs needs to be taken.The whole 6 to 8 km path seems longer than that atleast and its mind boggling to choose 

1.  1182 steps to gurudwara entrance
2.  2km walk or path for the horse rides and those who avoid steps

So we all ofcourse took the steps and with all the panting and wahe guru jaijaikars and motivation from those cilmbing down(me i was on steps at 1 45 like and in 15mins they will close gurudwara).

So when i came up Prabhu quickly took me to the Gurudwara first where after us they closed the entry and had nice prayer and  headed for the glacial lake to click these pics

Divya teertham

 

My first visit to A Gurudwara,divine calm

15200ft elevation Surrounded by snowclad mountains and blanket of chill

My first visit to A Gurudwara,divine calm

Enroute the cobbled path you have this nice water falls near the steps and below much before is the glacial frozen river. The views are breath taking and the walks and catching up for breath and halting is much needed. Had good company of another Punekar lady and these bengaluru based Sikh piligrims like one in pic, and telugu IT friend groups from Bengaluru and native of Hyderabad, with some friendly motivations ,chats and stops kept pushing. They say when you walk a lot one cant stop was true, while our friends group were stepping down for downhill we 4 headed downtoo after my very short stop of 15-20 mins and headed down as it was closing time too. So while planning trek if you are slow walker choose to start 6am like ,some where leaving 4am to 5am all. The journey downhills are always interesting and easy just wear your right shoes like we had these hiking shoes which had ankle twist protection and gave good support while literally racing down, me and my younger one were doing it.  All along i have stayed near gurudwara in chennai ,Hyderabad or while in US passed by,but never got to visit one though we had Punjabi friends, this one visit turned out super special, they tell in tamil ,கொடுப்பினை, kodupinai ,for getting darshan of a God that destined time and luck is needed, it happened on this day.

waterfalls enroute,not frozen

frozen stream/river water from Glacier above

and before many of them signing off as not upto ones fitness level, keep in mind there isnt anything unattainable or undoadble, all needs some gentle push,rearing and routine to set oneself to it, its not for athlete or regulur fitness oriented alone to take up such beautiful routes, and hike or trek . set into the routine of 30min to 1hr 5 days a week workout to walk or any form of excercise and do some 5km  walks in your home town to hill temples closeby and get atuned. For those looking for backups there is that pittu or basket wala and horse back option and there were very elderly octagenerians doing palnquin or pallaku to Hemkund too.

soul stirring journey

 

 Feel the eerie silence and heights that don't deter you but push you to reach the summits and take back rich experience to last a lifetime and this life isn't about just living ,for its one life time you will remember now, so live it to fullest with such rice experiences and in lap of beauty mixed with our hard efforts put in that makes it worthwhile joyous cherishable moments to last. And do take your kids and travel in your 30s 40s to 50s while you can relish this experience without any fatigue or ailments, good if the same zeal continues you to feel motivated to do your nth or 100th trek into your 60s or 70s.

day 4:VALLEY OF FLOWERS TREK

Day 4 : VALLEY OF FLOWERS TREK

 Aug26th 2024,Janmashtami day

Flowing river, valleys encompassing beauty to take in, snow capped glacier in the far sight mighty tall, hemkund sahib peak giving holy vibes on the other side. It was all an adventure to unfold from inception to the day throughout. We started early 6 30am to 7 am like to walk upto starting point entry gate of valley of flowers trek after some standard breakfast in the inn kubera annex, there are plenty of them in the humble neighbourhood and this one seemed to be the premium choice of lot. We hired a bittu wala (basket ) for our lil one and out we went. Starting the 8km to 10km valley hike up and down the rugged rocky pathways carved out of stones and mud.

by the entrance gate to Valley of Flowers national park,a UNESCO world heritage site

start of trek

lovely hues of the valley welcoming

the teen always a step ahead of us

my partner and prankster

adventurous beginning

As we stepped into the UNESCO world heritage site of Valley of flowers national park a profoundly wild enthusiasm runs in to embark with cheerful promptness to tread our way through the serpentine well-trodden trails checking out the different flora and river gullying about underneath the bridge.  The mountainous path which gives us over 2000 ft elevation gain compared to 10000 ft at ghangaria base camp. Little did we know that the rains by 3pm that made us rush back by 4 30 pm to room was a regular and an indicator for flashfloods that didn’t occur that day but ensued on thu while we read aboutit in papers on our stay at Dehradun and we had at next table tamil senior citizens who narrated it to us how some of their friends who went were stranded till CRPF stepped in to make a new makeshift bridge in place of the one we stepped over to cross and had our lunch by the cavern there.

this was one high peak and  such peaks pushed us to scale more

pensive cloud of thoughts

the serpentine Pushpavati originating from glacier we could sight

forest trail ahead and towering range on the other side

mighty pushpavati flowing by VOF

a day to remember for the boys

lil man all up for posing

with pretty flora of VOF

valley view from starting point

The whole trail is dotted with such pretty flowers orchids, poppies and such multitude of flora that can leave you wanting to keep walking ahead to chance upon on more of them. The locals tell how if we start much earlier we could have gone further deeper in the valley till we could see ahead another 4 to 5 km  ,from where all the tourists had stopped by for the final u turn point, which was post lunch and by 3pm the tiny drizzles turned into nice downpour and we started back the trails in a better faster pace as most parts in that rocky terrains it was still slightly downhill.

First Himalayan treks have special place for most of us and this one was sure to hold such a place in our hearts. The only option of packed lunch we get here are paranthas with aloo sabji so get ready to be bored or bloated on it, they tell anything else doesn’t stay good for travel.  And you can pack your snacks and consciously bring back any wrappings covers to hotel unlike the very few we sighted fallen on these pristine paths.

the black and white image of Snow capped mountains at other end of valley

It was Frank Smythe author of a book on this valley of flowers  in 1931 whose chance detour while climbing down an expedition the other way round that led to its discovery. By 1982 it was open for all as a national park to be cherished and enjoyed for its exotic Himalayan flowers native to this place and visits allowed only between june to September and hence a monsoon trek.

 Tip for trek: carry light essentials like snack,lunch packed,water( you can fill stream water between),rain coat or poncho essential, extra socks(mine got wet but didn't change),good trekking shoes we had decathalon ones that had great grip and prevents sprained leg and all ,the trails are all rocky.

And by end of day some oil maalish for legs took, and soaked salt in hot water(did only at Govindghat after soarness kicked in).

 

Tirupur to VOF- the group

wadiyan mein kho jaana...surreal feels amidst the blooms

the family pic at the last point of return for us at VOF