Valley of Flowers with GIO Adventures

I was pretty exhausted after the 15km trek from Govindghat to Ghangria, with a fever adding to the misery. A sudden dip of temperature at Ghangria didn’t help either. Staff from GIO Advenures kept a check on me, and provided tea at regular intervals, to keep me warm. I retired to bed early, after a round of medicines and an early dinner. The next morning, thankfully, I got up fit and fine to conquer even higher altitudes. There was just one problem though. My nose was running and I ignored it. 

We started the 6km trek from our basecamp to the beginning of Valley, roughly around 6:30 am. The only way to reach the Valley is to walk or take a palanquin ride. Mules or horses are not allowed inside the valley. Some of the group members preferred not to walk, but I must insist that going on your own two feet is the best way to explore the heaven that the Valley of Flowers is.

One has to get an admit card to go inside, which keeps track of the visitors. Camping or staying in the valley after 5 p.m. is not allowed. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful of the ones I have had the pleasure of visiting. GIO Adventures had arranged for a Nature Guide to go to the Valley with us, which was a great initiative as we could now get information about the flora and fauna, which the valley is so famous for. 

I began this adventure of a lifetime with huge expectations.Ninety nine percent of the times, doing that turns out to be a mistake. Not this time. The trek to the Valley of Flowers left me spellbound. With each passing bend, the scenery became more beautiful and my expectations started touching the sky. Halfway to the valley, we spotted these trees whose barks were supposed to be the anchors on which epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata were written. 

That stroke of history later, we passed many a beautiful bends, with each one of it making me want to stop and stare at the panorama for hours. My heart was overwhelmed and I could have shed a tear or two. Beautiful places force me into it. Almost every time.Not exaggerating.

Somewhere, along the way, clouds took over and we had a nice time following them to into the valley.

The camera and my runny nose slowed me down, but thanks to the GIO Adventures Team for carrying a first aid box. A D-Cold later, I was beginning to feel better. I should not have ignored it in the first place. Even something as minor as flu is capable of destroying the tempo to keep walking at a high altitude with testing tracks. The 15km long trek of the previous day had prepared me well for the one to Valley of Flowers and we entered the Valley, around 3 hours after starting, without any fatigue whatsoever. The paths we had walked on, to reach here were dangerous and tested our mettle. Our focus had to be on the ground, though it was so amazingly beautiful all around that the eyes wanted to focus anywhere but the stones we were walking on.

We had an early lunch, just before entering the Valley. Thanks to the GIO Adventures Staff for carrying it all along. This lunch, would always be remembered as one at the most beautiful location ever. It felt like a picnic of sorts, and reminded me of the picnics from the classic, Little Women. Just that there was no Laurie. 🙁 But, the pretty views kind of, made up for it.

There is no meal as satisfying as a simple one, at a picturesque place. All energised and super excited, I stepped foot in paradise. I have no other word to describe the beauty. Perhaps, even calling it a paradise is an understatement. No camera in the world could do justice to the panorama that lay in front of my eyes. Everything was a masterpiece. 

It was as if Mother Nature took time from whatever it is that she does, and created this poetry called the Valley of Flowers. To tell you an honest truth, it really was too beautiful to be described in words. The Valley weaved its magic on me, and I kept walking for the quest of more. Our group of twelve was soon divided into two, with some people heading back after the initial couple of kilometers. I was determined to go deeper inside, and a few others followed suit.

The crowd at Ghangria mostly heads to Hemkund Sahib and not many people visit the Valley. It’s a pity that they miss this amazing creation of nature, even though they’re already in vicinity. We believed we had the entire valley to ourselves, until I spotted another group of trekkers. They seemed to be having a great time. We exchanged smiles and continued walking our own paths.

I knew I would not regret further straining my already tired feet. Moving forward, the glaciers and the sky-kissing mountains seemed to be coming closer and closer. 

We encountered many a streams like this one, coming straight from the glaciers, up above. Notice the makeshift bridge for crossing the gushing waters. It was scary to stand there and pose, the water icy cold and flowing with a huge force, cutting through the rocks to make it’s own path.

The path we were walking on was a dangerous one. But, I am really happy that the valley is inaccessible in any other way. After all, one needs to make huge efforts to attain nirvana and seeing the flowers bloom like a colorful carpet is sure the closest a human can get to that.

Every few meters, the flowers kept changing. The whites gave way to the pinks and blues. Isn’t it such a magic that no one ever planted those seeds!

Our nature guide knew about them all, the names, the scientific names and how these plants/flowers were used to make different substances like shampoos, medicines, coffee and a lot of other things. I wish I had recorded her talk about the species we encountered on the way. 

The Valley kept surprising us with what the Earth is really capable of. Looking closer, we would find a different kind of flower and looking farther away, we would see yet another glacier or mountain, kissing the clouds.

An English Botanist named Joan Margaret Legge came to the Valley in 1939 to study flowers. In an unfortunate incident, she lost her life when she fell off a cliff while collecting flower samples. Her sister came to the valley later on and erected a memorial tomb near the spot where her botanist sister lost her life. The tombstone says -‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from where cometh my help”. It’s a beautiful spot to be laid to rest at. Huge, snow covered mountains guard the grave, as if narrating the story to the travelers and reminding them to be careful and watch their steps while passing through this hauntingly beautiful valley.

Moving ahead, the landscape changed colors once again and somewhat blue sky peeked from behind the clouds. I wanted to stop and savour every single step I took in this heaven and I did exactly that. I was in no hurry and that’s why my memories of the place are more beautiful than the pictures I brought back.

Even though we had been walking a treacherous path since a really long time now, the curiosity of what lay ahead kept us going. Each step we were taking, was now pushingus farther away from civilization. But, since we thought we had plenty of time in hand, we kept going further. Or maybe, the valley enchanted us and made us forget the sense of time. Somewhere along the pretty path, I realised that it was just me and a friend, rest of the members of our group were no where in sight. We shouted and created echos out of their names and got no response. But, that didn’t stop us from moving ahead.

By around 2p.m., our feet had given up but the heart desired more. All throughout our time in the valley, I remembered that we were instructed to start moving back by 3p.m. A minute detail that I forgot was, the 3p.m. deadline was from the spot where we enter the valley or a couple of kms from there and not from where we were now, deep deep deep inside. This would have freaked me out at any other place, but the the surroundings had a calming affect on me. Finally, we made a move backwards, half-heartedly. Stopping in between to just stand still for a while, and admire the surroundings, one more time was something that happened at regular intervals. A couple of kilometers and we found our friends whistling and trying to create echos of our names. They thought we had got lost inside. Legend goes that there is a magical spot in the valley, where the fragrance of the flowers is so strong that people who reach there lose consciousness and succumb to nature. People thought we reached there and won’t come back. Unfortunately, we could not find out if that’s a myth or a reality.

But, what we found was a huge variety of flowers, each one better than the others. Now, bringing to you the flowers we encountered along the way. I don’t remember the names, but beauty anyway cannot be measured by a scientific name. 

It is believed that every fifteen days there are new species of flowers that blossom in the valley. This lifecycle ensures that during the time when the Valley of Flowers is accessible i.e. from June to September, there is never a dull day. After September, blossoms give way to the vibrant colors of fall. 

It started raining while we were on our way back. To me, descending down a mountain seems tougher than heading up and the stone carved path had become slippery now. My heart skipped a beat or two, while admiring the beauty of the valley but it sure skipped many while coming down. It took huge courage to walk on those slippery rocks. It felt as if each step was like a leap of faith. The huge camera wasn’t helping, adding to the weight. My pace was extremely slow, given my fear of descending down. GIO Staff member, Surender was with me , the slowest one to retreat, all the time. A twisted ankle and a decaying will to walk anymore made it worse. But, the thought of garma garam chai and pakode kept me going. Slowly, but steadily we made it back to the village. 

That night, I could not sleep. Closing my eyes, I could re-live the entire journey and I kept playing that film in my mind again and again, throughout the night. It was one of the most beautiful nights, ever. The monochrome of the night sky, with shining stars became a canvas for the masterpiece that Valley of Flowers is. A sleepless night it was, and I knew I was in love. Finally. With the Himalayas.