Valley of Flowers vs. Har-ki-Dun

During our trek to Panch Kedars in Sept'92, 'Bhook Hartal' bus was virtually our 'official' carrier from Gourikund to Soneprayag (for Trijuginarayan), Sonprayag to Ukhimath ( for Madhmaheshwar), Ukhimath to Chopta (for Tungnath) and Chopta to Gopeshwar ( for Rudranath). The bus started from Gourikund at 05.30 a.m., reached at Sonprayag at 6.00 a.m., at Ukhimath at 8.00 a.m., at Chopta at 9.30 a.m. and at Gopeshwar at 12.00 noon. Since it is a local bus with many in-between stoppages for passengers and picking up frieghts, it takes more time to reach final destination of Badrinath than any other GMOU buses on a longer routes. Hence most of pilgrims don't prefere this bus.

Sadanand

No prob ...apparently teh taxi driver did call home from Mori!

No electricty is actually welcome ...one can go to bed early!/.. those on a drinking binge can enjoy more by candle light?

Yes, 60 bucks ...actually Rs 1 per minute wiuth Minm Rs 20/-

Here is quick update on my Valley of Flowers trek of 23rd July 2007. I am filing this post from Srinagar, after returning today from Ghangaria to Srinagar.

First the bad part:

The trek from Govidghat to Ghangariya is horrible! There were too many of Pilgrim crowds going to Hemkund. There must have been thousands of pilgrims and hundreds of horses/ponies (to carry some of them) on the trail from Govindghat to Ghangaria. Consequently there was slush and dung all over the place and the route stinks of Horse/Khacchar-shit. I felt sorry for the pilgrims and for myself. The 13km route is well paved in parts (60%) and rest parts are stony and slushy due to recent rains. The stink is a bit too much!


The good part:

The 6+6 km trail to and fro Ghangaria to VOF is an excellent trek. On the day I went, I think there were only some 15 people visiting VOF. The trail path is in good condition. And the scenery from the trail awsome. There are two short snow bridges to be crossed. But easy. Actually the previous night rain had created some minor land slides, but the VOF entry gate staff preceded me (in a gang of 6 workers) to set that right! They asked me to go with them and cross when the path was set right. The VOF staff are excellent and guided me a where to go to see the flowers etc.

The Wild flowers in VOF are awsome and I saw whole meadow full of them. The visit to VOF is really enjoyable ... both the trek from ghangaria and the meadows/Flowers itself. It was misty the whole morning and drizzling while returning ..so i needed to use the Rs10/- plastic poncho I bought at Govind ghat. Also the walking stick I bought in G-Ghat was useful to steady myself. The flowers literally grow into the stony trail path in VOF so the stick helps to steady your footstep.

The weather was rainy on all days ...not a heavy shower but a steady drizzle. The clowds meant i couldnt see any surrounding peaks from VOF. I was told late Aug/Sep is better time to visit by the VOF Park staff to see the entire valley.

My plan was to climb to Hemkund too ... but seeing the pilgrim crowds; I decided not to go there. For me the trek is as important as the destination. I don't mind the crowds, but the the horse-shit smell makes the whole trek unpleasant! Plus the hazar dhabas every 2-kms asking you to sit down rest have tea and eat ... and the kachhar-walas every 200m asking you to hire one ...is a bit irksome.

One plus point... I did'nt see a single begger anywhere on the route! I was surprised by that. (same was also partly true for Ganagotri-Gaumukh and Yamunotri)... But I was surprised that most of the trail-cleaning staff wielding long brooms were asking for "daan" for their seva! I never saw any the them actually at work cleaning the trail! Most of the time, they were just standing, leaning on the broom, waiting for the pilgrim... saluting and extending their arm for Daan! But on the whole The Sikh Gurudwara's have organised the trek trail pretty well for pilgrims.

The VOF is worth visiting and enjoyable. Despite the Givindghat-Ghangariya stretch. If there was an alternate trail path to VOF (seperate from the pilgrim trail), it would have been ideal! But thats too much to ask for. I asked the VOF staff how many pilgrims also visit VOF ... not many it seems!

I hope to be back in Mumbai by 25th night or 26th. Any followup questions from VOF trekker's planning for near future... I can answer after 26th.

- KS

PS: After coming back from VOF today, I read in local Hindi papers here, about an earthquake in Uttaranchal, on Monday maesuring some 4.8 Richter scale ...causing damages in Yamunotri areas and Chamoli. I didnt notice any tremors in VOF/ Ghangaria. Nor any damages due to that on the roads anywhere. In fact the the pilgrim crowd during my return trek today (24th) was as large as in last few days. I guess they are also not concerned with the earthquake news!

This will be a problem for trekkers in any pilgrims' trails - particularly in rainy season. The Kedarnath trek - particularly from Gaurikund to Rambara is one such place where the stink is too much.
I have gone in the month of Aug when the number of pilgrims were few on Govindghat-Ghangaria trek but throughout the trek, it was heavily raining.

Sadanand

These were my first few treks in pilgrim routes ...... I had no past warning of these conditions. I had mostly done Kumaon treks, which were *pure* trekker's routes. As per your comment gaurikund-kedarnath would have also been bad ... luckily that too I dropped, as I had to come back fast for personal reasons. Fortunately Har-Ki-Dun was great! On my night stay at Har-Ki-Dun I was alone there! (apart from my porter and the GMVN caretaker boy)

Dear Sadanand, Rajkumar, Dilliwalla and All Other IMers .... who were kind enough to advise me and provide details of the VoF and HKD treks:

Here are the links to pictures of my recent 4 treks in Uttaranchal:

1. Har-ki-Dun (Valley of Gods) - 6 Days 78 Kms Trek
ks_bluechip's slideshow on Flickr

2. Yamunotri - 1 Day 10Kms Trek
ks_bluechip's slideshow on Flickr

3. Gangotri-Gaumukh - 3 Days 36 Kms Trek
ks_bluechip's slideshow on Flickr

4. Valley of Flowers - 3 days 42 Kms Trek
ks_bluechip's slideshow on Flickr


Updating my Travel Blog, for these 4 treks, will take a week or so.

- KS

KS,
Thanks for uploading pictures. It was so nostalgic after viewing your pictures of HKD that I thought I must tell you what I felt about your HKD trek,before I see your other pictures.
(1) Your pictures are excellent and I am sure, like me, they will take any viewer to a virtual trek to HKD.
(2) It seems you have come across more varieties of flowers than what I saw in 1994. I have not seen some of the flowers of purple, yellow and red colours in my trek.
(3) In one of the pictures, I saw two shepherd's huts which reminded me of the place we took a short break for having fresh milk at their huts .

Now I will view your other pictures .

Sadanand

ksb thanks for the pics, much enjoyed.. and still am.

KS,
Equally nice pictures of your other three treks.
From your pictures it looks like:
(i) in this July, VOF was more beautiful than HKD.
(ii) more structures have been built in Ghangaria than what I saw in 1990. May be more hotels have been opened now.
(iii) the frontage of Gangotri temple has now silver colour. In 1989, it was of the golden colour. See attachment.

Is it correct that there is now a taxi stand in Janaki Chatty as described in one of your pictures?

Sadanand

SK, In that picture you will see Tikkam Singh's figure standing between the two cottages ... He said those two huts belong to him and his brothers ... they don't stay there, but mostly use those two huts to store feed stock for winter. Those two huts are about mid-point of a steep climbing section. While I rested and was catching my breath .. Tikkam went to examine his two huts and see if everything is in order.

Capt. Mahajan, thanks for seeing and appreciating my pics!

..... KS

SK,
1) Yes VOF certainly had more flowers. But the Peaks around HKD were visible and towering! At VoF due to rains clouds couldnt see much of Peaks above valley.
2) Yes, Ghangaria must have grown lot since 1990. The GMVN Caretakes mentioned that at peak pilgrim season in June the town can accomodate upto 15,000 pilgrims & tourists.
3) OK you must be right. The Gangotri temple here was not crowded.

Sorry SK that was incorrect. I shall correct those picture labels too. Actually, I reached Hanuman-Chatti by share-jeep from Barkot and had to change to another 4WD-Jeep that operate in the really rough & muddy portion of H-Chatti to Janaki-Chatti. While waiting, I saw a "booking" Sumo leaving for Janaki Chatti with just 4 Pax. I asked the driver, if he would take me? He checked with his Pax (elderly NRI's from USA) ... they did'nt object, so he asked me to get in the back portion, along with his assistant. I think I saved an hour's waiting time there.

-KS

Excellent pictures KS...they are charging me up

Bhaswaran , Thanks for appreciating my Pics.

I have a few 360* Views in Video Clips (each less than 1 min plays) taken during my recent trip. They may give a good audio/video experience to IMers. I particularly liked the one where Bhagirathi is falling in a roaring torrent, at Gangotri.

Wondering how to share those. What is the best & simple way to do that? Via YouTube?? Or some other way???

.... KS

You are correct. In fact, while scrolling through my photo CD, I guess, I have a picture of Tikam Singh's huts. Pl see picture on left below.
The Shepherd's huts I was referring to are also located in mid-point between Seema and HKD but at around the inter-section of the trek that goes to Ruinsara Tal. The picture is on the right below.

Sadanand

I could not upload the second picture in my earlier post. The picture is now attached.

PS: There seems to be some problem in uploading the picture. I have now given up. But you can see at:

http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s...ser/20752/sl/s