फूलों की घाटी (Valley of Flowers) Trip -- Day: 1

18-July-2015

Background:

Had been to Nainital - Kausani - Ranikhet during Jun-2011.  Was mesmerized by the Himalayas, snow clad mountains & the greenery (forest) there.

Valley of Flowers trip was pending since 2013:

-- 2013, there was devastation (आपदा) in Uttarakhand, due to heavy rains.  We had our Bangalore - Delhi flight tickets booked but had to cancel it as there was no way to go beyond Delhi.

-- 2014, I again attempted but Valley was closed as one of bridge connecting Valley to Ghangria was not yet open.
---- We went up to Delhi but had to change our plan to: Dalhousie - Dharamshala - Manali

---- Manali to Rohtang-pass & the glaciers there was again an impressive stretch.

-- 2015, finally things were falling in like & I could make this trip & what a trip it was, simply "amazing".

-- Glad that Dnyanesh decided to join me for this Valley-of-Flowers Trek.  He is the best "company" that one can have.  Always smiling, always happy & biggest thing is always cracking "practical" jokes.

---- About 6 weeks early, we started preparation for the trek.
---- Dnyanesh made a nice check-list of items to carry, like: diff kind of clothing, back-pack, food, medicine.
---- He also did a lot of googling & studied feedback from earlier travelers + instructions provided by diff tour operators.
---- We were keeping a tab on the weather as well & praying that both Sun & Rain god blesses our trip.

---- To verify our stamina, we did a trek to Nandi Hill on one Saturday evening.  Nandi Hill is our own hill-station, for Bengalurians.  We went to the base, parked our car there & started climbing the hill on foot.  It took is 2+ hrs to cover 8 KM.  I actually did 3 such attempts on 3 subsequent week-ends.
***Honestly, this 8 KM distance + the elevation of about 550 meters, proved to be very amateur compared to what was in store for us. 

Itinerary:

Day	From	To	Distance	Mode	Elevation	Elevation
					Meters	Feet
Day-1	Bangalore	Delhi	2172 KM	Flight	216	709
	Delhi	Haridwar	220 KM	Train	250	819
Day-2	Haridwar	Govindghat	295 KM	By Road	1,828	5,997
Day-3	Govindghat	Ghangaria	13 KM	1st Trek	3,049	10,003
Day-4	Ghangaria	Valley of Flowers & back to Ghangaria	6 KM	2nd Trek	3,352 to 3,658	10,995 to 12,000
Day-5	Ghangaria	Valley of Flowers & back to Ghangaria	12 KM	3rd Trek	3,352 to 3,658	10,995 to 12,000
Day-6	Ghangaria	Hemkund Saheb & back to Ghangaria	12 KM	4th Trek	4,633.00	15,200
Day-7	Ghangaria	Govindghat & to Badrinath & back to Govindghat	13 KM + 74 KM	5th Trek + By Road	1,828	5,997
Day-8	Govindghat	Haridwar + evening at Haridwar	295 KM	By Road	250	819
Day-9	Haridwar	Full day at Haridwar	--	--	--	--
Day-10	Haridwar	Delhi	220 KM	Train	216	709
	Delhi	Bangalore	2172 KM	Flight	920	3020

Uttarakhand Govt Map for "Char-Dham-Yatra"

Day-1:

Airline rescheduled my Bangalore - Delhi flight & made it leave 45 min early.  Had to start 4 AM from home.  The road was clear.  Taxi took 15 min to reach Hebbal (11 KM) & 25 form Hebbal to Airport (31 KM).

As soon as I got out of the Airplane at Delhi, even though the temp was told to be 29 C, I started sweating.  It was very humid outside.

Was surprised to see the Airport Metro service operational.  There is a shuttle bus form Terminal 1 of Delhi Airport to the nearest Airport Metro Station.  Its an AC bus it they charge रु 30/-.  Every 10 - 15 min there is a bus.

Our Train to Haridwar was at 3:30 PM.  We took the Airport Metro up to New Delhi Railway Station & kept our luggage at the Cloak Room.  Spent 3 hrs roaming at Connaught Place (CP) & came back to Railway Station.  We had one more group with trek back-packs in our train compartment.  Upon inquiring got to know that they were from Thane & were also heading for Valley-of-Flowers like us.