DAY 3: GOVINDGHAT-PHULNA TO GHANGARIA & oxygen deprivation story

 DAY 3: GOVINDGHAT-PHULNA TO GHANGARIA

Aug 25 2024,With the road travel previous day stay at the Govind Ghat gives enough acclimatization vs those who fly the helicopter to base camp Ghangaria or to Badri which is close by. So that left us well prepared for the 8 to 9 hrs long trek from Phulna village out side 100m ahead of our Ganga homestay resort to Ghangaria the base camp village for valley of flowers trek and Hemkund sahib dhaam. 

lovely view from room ,Mandir valley river view

valley view

towering flower patches

organic vegetable garden thats cooked for our dinner

river Pushpavati flowing behind further down

 A special note on this Resort, location and owner. Location is amidst gorgeous valleys of Nanda devi national park and Pushpawati river flowing below and divinely peaceful surrounded by their temple and organic vegetable garden and huge flowers patches. Owner Arvind Singh ji is most welcoming and  lively man and his wife Maheshwari ji  cooked some excellent food for us which was very delicious, hygienic and homely. Hotel rooms were very clean and mountain and river view with enough warming and hot water, good rajais(blankets) all. Advantage of this property is its 100m above the Phulna village point beyond which vehicles are not allowed so we parked our car here and with bags enough for 3 days and 2 nights luggage proceeded down the path and took the government auto service or the jeeps to trek starting point 3 km away. 

some view it was walking along Ganga (Pushpavati river) and watching waterfalls

pics dont do the justice but it looked magnificient and towering on us

Phulna to Ghangarias trek path cobbled first half

snack breaks,healthy stuffs

mom and kid catching our breath at break points, you have these at most corners till bridge

From here we took the Bittu service(for placing luggage) and started our trek walk the winding paths running parallel to the meandering Pushpavati. It was very hot and thermals are not needed during this part of the trek as its swelting walk. Our younger one took the bittu after some 1/3rd distance of the 14km trek. Around 11am we started walking and as is usual of teens my elder one who was walking way ahead of us beyond the half way point of the trek where we cross the bridge and he did end up getting dehydrated with no water point though had money but like many menfolk walked empty handed and water was in bittu luggage, so this makes one realise the importance of water and how elevation and speed dont go hand in hand , maintain a steady pace and get acclimatised. so when at  6 pm we entered the village and caught upto him at first cafe near helicopter point at Ghangaria his splitting headache started and we reached our hotel Khuber Annex the near by pharmacist doctor found his o2 level at 60 or so and gave just few gasps of oxygen and his headache went and he was better, before that we gave lot of water, did oil head massage and nilgiri thailam nothing worked because oxygen deprivation especially in kids is very crucial cause for such pains or aches in kids. So having reached Ghangaria the base camp surrounded by hills and snow capped mountains in distant view(btw in winters every where from Govindghat will be snow covered and this place is closed for winter until opening in summer).

The elevation gain from Govindghat-phulna-Ghangaria is 2104m to 3049m(or 10003 ft :O )

The rooms are simple cozy modest and neat with thicker rajai ,room heater(additonal payment), ice cold climate, and all of us had nice leg or shoulder or tel maalish in the patio which is all clustered and it was nice like back in Tirupur all 10 of us chatting away over pakodas and hot beverages. The chills gave me some nostalgic feel of the biting cold i used to enjoy while in US or while we went to Kashmir 12 yrs back with 1.5 yr old kid. And its time to put on those socks and some jacket of sweater, still we had the men folk not feeling the cold and in their tees ;) 

And like all cold places people go to sleep soon by 9pm to rise at dawn for the 6am trek starting times and early breakfasts.

And this 14km trek for those who cant walk this 6 to 8hrs one can opt for bittu if kid or lightweighted else there is horse ride. for us the walk we took 7.5 hr with all the in between tapri wala(small stalls) breaks we had snacked on our theplas,corn,coconut kernels,sundal,manga,cucumber,fruits,nimbu paani and snacks from tirupur and some maggi and parantha the only avl foods kind there along the trek path.