Gaumukh and the Valley of the Flowers

Cayle

I've long been considering a trip to Gaumukh, the Valley of the Flowers or both at different times. What seems to be unclear to me is the best times to visit both places and how suitable they are for children.

As to timing, I've read that after the monsoon ends, the skies clear up and you have a window of clear skies before the first snows set in. Looking at the kids' school calendar, they have an 11 day break for Dussera at the end of September/ start of October. Is this too late? It is probably too late for the Valley of the Flowers, but what about Gaumukh?

For the valley, I read that the flower are in bloom mostly in July and August. This coincides with the rainy season. What kind of weather could I expect in August?

Lastly, children. Before coming to India, I did some reasearch on the topic of trekking in the Himalayas on the net, but Google always leads to tour operators, most of which don't cater to families. I resume that we'll have to blaze out own trail, metaphorically speaking. Our kids are enthusiastic trekkers and have spent a lot of time above the tree line in the Alps. Does anyone have experience with kids in these places, or has anyone seen kids in these places?

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jyotirmoy

End September would be good for your Gaumukh trip. Much less crowd then and clear sky. You don't need assistance of any tour operator for visiting Gaumukh. From Gangotri it is a well marked & well trodden trail. Get in touch with Garhwal mandal Vikas Nigam(GMVN) and book your accomodation at Bhujbasha, Gangotri & Uttarkashi.
The best time to visit valley of flowers is first week of August when the valley is in full bloom. It will rain often and chances of land slides are quite high.

spicetrekker

End of Sept - early Oct is a good time to go to Gaumukh. If possible do trek to Tapovan as well. As Jyoti mentioned at Gangotri and Bhugbhasa you can book rooms at GMVN. At Tapovan if you decide to go there, a few ashrams exist but it is a good idea to carry tent. How old are your children - if more than 8 yeras old and not suffering from any medical condition, there should not be any problem

jyotirmoy

But I would recommend taking a guide for the Tapovan trip specially for the first timers and those with children with them.

Cayle

Thanks for the replies.

My daughter is 8, but my son is only 5. That might be iffy. With the valley of the flowers, you never sleep above 3000m, so that is easier. We have been up to 3500 meters in the Alps with no problems and if given time to acclimate to the altitude, it might be okay, but I'll have to research it more. I've seen at least one hotel at 2500m that won't accept reservations from families with children under 12, while mountain huts run by the German Alpine Club - at similar altitudes - routinely host small children with no problems.

We'll just have to keep a flexible itinerary.

Cayle

I took a peek at bookings calendar for the GMVH hut at Ghangaria. I see a dorm that has available beds and I also see a, FGH4 and an FGH10 - what appears to be four and ten bed rooms. Considering that the dorms are completely empty during that time period, but the smaller rooms are almost completely booked out, my hunch is they are booked out by tour operators for foreigners.

Does anyone gave experience with the dorm in the GMVH hut at Ghangaria? How are the dorms and can I expect them to be noisy and crowded during Dussera? What other huts are there at Ghangaria?

Is the prebooking in Ghangaria as sign that I should just give up self organizing and plan the trip through a tour operator? The problem that I have with this is that the tours that I have seen are outrageously priced - even by the standards of a well paid expat - and seem designed with upper class folks living in the west and vacationing in India in mind. They also tend to skimp on the time spent at Ghangaria (one day at VOF, one day at HK) and add strange things like side trips to Agra. Agra?!?!

My goal is a relaxing family hiking/trekking trip in mountains that we would not normally have an opportunity to visit, not a whirlwind of north India. For such a trip, we'd drive ourselves anyway

paanwallah

The altitude thickness is not age dependent, thus childern are not more prone to it.
Accomodation in Ghangaria is very basic dont't expect much. From Govindghat to Ghangaria you can hire a pony, should your kids object to the long walk but I haven't seen ponys offered to the valley of flowers, only to Hemkund. To the valley of flowers the walk is not very strenuous. In Ghangaria I have seen a lot of kids from the families of Sikh pilgrims

Dilliwala

Read this thread by nyraghu - his daughter was a little older than yours at the time. You cud also PM him for more details if necess, he will surely reply.
Also, these threads might be useful:
http://www.indiamike.com/india/trekk...august-t40348/
Valley of Flowers & H Sahib with a 2 yr Old Kid

Go thru this thread, specially the posts by ks_bluechip. He went to VOF and Gaumukh last July, i.e. peak-season, and found GMVN Ghanghariya almost empty as I recall, after having been informed of exactly the same situation you describe - sold out, but for GMVN's own tours.
Later in the year you shud face even less of a problem, so to answer your other Q - on NO account shud you think of a tour operator (hey, what the hell are we here for? )
ks is on a trek himself right now, but you can post more Qs for him here if necess and I'm sure he'll reply once he's back (or gets near an internet connection ).