The original plan was to wake up really early, and start the trek to Ghangaria. That wasn’t how it really happened. By the time we woke up, finished our breakfast, the early bird already had the worm!

The good thing that happened was, that most pilgrims had already left and were way ahead of us so there was little crowd while trekking up. The bad thing was, that they left behind a whole lot of horse shit on the path!

Although, to be fair, the EDC karamcharis on the path were cleaning it up with fair regularity, but the rains messed things up a bit.

For the entire duration of the trek, it was raining like crazy. And trekking up with two backpacks wasn’t making things any easier. The trek up was really slow and had a lot of stops on the way. All along the trek route, there are shops where you can get parathas, maggi, cold drinks, nimbu paani, water etc etc etc, so food and water along the trek to Ghangaria isn’t an issue at all.

Pilgrims take a break en route to Hemkund Sahib

Pilgrims take a break en route to Ghangaria

Trekking along the Lakshman Ganga river - Hemkund Sahib

Trekking along the Lakshman Ganga river – Valley of flowers/ Hemkund Sahib trek

The first 10kms of this 13Km trek are easy to negotiate. However, the last 3 Kms are quite steep and makes on question the basics of life!
Eventually we finished the crazy 3Kms incline and saw some a colorful campsite in the distance. That was our destination for the day. Soon enough, we were at the camp and checked in and were out of wet clothes and sipping some nice hot tea amidst the mountains and rains.

After a long trek, if you’re able to find a nice warm comfortable bed, things just look so much nicer. Sleeping to the sound of rain falling all around somehow manages to work wonders for me and I get the most restful sleep during those times.

And if it rains during the night, and the skies clear up by the time you wake up in the morning, it just makes life so much more blissful
This is the view we got as soon as we stepped out of our tents in the morning…
Snow clad peaks behind us….

Snow clad peaks in Valley of Flowers, Uttarakhand

Snow clad peaks in Valley of Flowers, Uttarakhand

and…

Room with a view - Valley of flowers trek

Room with a view – Valley of flowers trek

Since the weather had cleared up reasonably well, we decided to “make hay while the sun shines” and decided to head to the Valley of Flowers…

Next up… colors in the Valley of Flowers and the Trek to the Valley

 

Also, if you want to Experience the Valley yourself,

See Trip Details