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