Trekking to the Valley of Flowers ,Uttarakhand.

                               VALLEY OF FLOWERS---UTTARAKHAND.

Valley of flowers in Uttarakhand is located across the Bhyunder Valley,an 8km long glacier coridor in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand... This area is surroundedby snow capped mountains & carpetted with 500 species of flowers & is a protected site.
     The nearest airport is Jolly grant( Dehradun). From Rishikesh onehas to drive to Joshimath ,which is 290kms. After a night halt at Joshimath ,one has to drive upto Govindghat. One should start early from joshimath as the traffic is controlled one way every 2hrs.... orelse might get stranded inbetween. From Govindghat one need to trek upto Ghangaria which is 13km. At Govindghat ,one need to leave their big luggages behind in their vehicle & take the bare minimum luggage they might require for the stay at Ghangaria & the trek ahead to Valley of Flowers & Hemkhund Sahib.
NOTE: Its better to book a GMVN tent/room at Ghangaria prior to travel orelse ,there's hardly a good hotel to stay at Ghangaria... orelse might have to spend a nightin the corridors of the Gurudwara at Ghangaria.

The trek from Govindghat to Ghangaria:--
         After crossing the Alakananda river on a hanging bridge...the zigzag mule track straightens thru' an ascending valley of terraced fields &vegetation. In the midst, Laxmanganga tumbles down in a haste to join Alakananda...3kms further is the small pretty hamlet ,PHULNA. Beyond this the trek becomes more exciting- the laxman-ganga becomes swifter & between green, rocky mountains, u can catch the glimpseof snow-clad peak. The 7km trail from Pulna to Bhyundar village is full of natures scenic splendours including cascading waterfalls & cold-water springs. Shrubs &wild rosesgrow abundantly...Rhododendron colour the area.
      After restinga while ,the trek on the right bank of Laxman-ganga continues thru' rich vegetation till the log bridge,supporting a huge bolder is reached. Crossing over theleft bank,the trail becomes steeper & 2 kms from here on ,one reaches Ghangaria ,the base camp for VOF & Hemkhund Sahib.

     MY EXPERIENCE ACROSS THIS REGION ,THRU' MY CAMERA LENS----
My journey to the Valley of flowers-----

 Enjoying on our trek towards VOF.............

 My husband enjoying his trek thru' the glacier.....

 THE VALLEY OF FLOWERS-rightly called the NANDAN KANAN----

        After a tiring day of trekking thru' this rough terrain from govindghat to ghangaria, we checked into our prior booked tent stay ....It felt as if we were lost somewhere ; No mobile connectivity ( only BSNL landphone available in 1 shop nearby,which was also out of order).... We were very tired & after asimple meal  we just slept off in our tent....Since we booked prior a toilet was provided to us orelse its the Gurudwara that supports millions of pilgrims travelling to Hemkhund thru' this place. At high altitude ,one doesn't feel the hunger pangs...but need to make sure we have our food. It was a chilling night in our tent.......... Morning  next we got up early to trek to the Valley Of Flowers.... Only a handful of tourist prefers this trek,which is some 9kms or so--.Mostly people coming to Gangaria to trek upto Hemkhund .We were very enthusiastic,got our tickets to enter the road leading to VOF....we kept capturing the pic's of wild flowers growing across the region.... soon there wasn't anymore pathway to go thru'. we need to cross the Glacier stretch............ & again upward climb across the slopes of the mountains.........its the stick that kept supporting us onto our climb.....It was up & down climb over & over again until we reached another bigger glacier ..............After crossing it...its the NANDAN KANAN... Mt. NANDADEVI at the backdrop & the valley of flowers in its lap.......... what-a sight ; Worth travelling to capture its glimpses by ones eyes.............Though a tough one for a first timer but worth trying out ones.