Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib- 1

Though strictly not a road trip, the unique travel experience bears sharing!

Socially awkward, shy or even reticent.. all these are the words I would use to describe myself.

I painted this water-colour of VoF from a picture off the internet.. and it made me want to see the valley for myself!

Yet I chose 'realistic' (with a little help from the bestie) as a prefix for my name; as the word that describes me the best in a game our trek leader made us play after the first day's trek was done. The game was an ice-breaker and designed to familiarize ourselves with our trek-mates. Each of us was supposed to prefix our name with an adjective, preferably starting with the same letter as our first name and recall all the adjectives along with the names repeated. After walking 12 kilometers (all uphill) and having gained an elevation of just over 5000 ft, my muscles were screaming as we sat crossed legged on the corridor of the guest-house in Ghangria, from where we would trek to the valley of flowers and then to Hemkund Sahib. I still couldn't believe that it was actually happening! The three of us, the husband, the bestie and I were on this trip together. After months of planning and several stressful moments when the bestie almost backed out, we were finally doing this together!

On the way to Delhi

We would be spending a total of four days trekking and the commute to the base camp to and fro would take a total of four days. So effectively, we would be away from our workplaces for a total of eight days. From never even considering the possibility to me trekking to actually being on this trek, I had come a long way. Our itinerary went something like this:

Day 1: Fly from Pune to Delhi and take a train to Haridwar on the same day.

Day 2: We were required to assemble at the Haridwar railway station, from where transportation was arranged by Indiahikes to take us to Govindghat, which was the base camp.

Day 3: Trek would begin. First day involved trekking for 12 kilometers to Ghangria, with an elevation gain of over 5,000 ft.

Day 4: Trek to Valley of flowers, which was at a distance of approximately 3-4 kilometers from Ghangria. The valley itself is quite huge and the total distance travelled for the day would be around 10 kilometers, with not much of an elevation gain.

Day 5: Trek to Hemkund Sahib. Distance was around 6 kilometers but the altitude gain would be a further 5,000 ft, bringing us to the highest point of the trek @ 15,000 ft.

Day 6: Trek back to Govindghat.

Day 7: Drive back to Haridwar

Day 8: Train to Delhi and finally flight to Pune.

The husband and I had been planning this for a long time. From almost signing up a couple of times to actually doing it, it took us almost a year, and we finally did it in September 2016. Trekking was totally unfamiliar territory, especially to me, and so I did what I did best in these situations- research! After reading up all the possible blogs to watching all the informational videos on the Indiahikes website, I felt I was at least mentally prepared. Then came the tough bit, the physical preparation. The husband works out regularly at the gym and already met the required criteria for the trek, which was being able to run 4.5 kilometers in 30 minutes. I was a looonnngg way away from this benchmark. We had registered for the trek almost three months in advance, and I thought that would be enough time to train sufficiently. The training started off very well and continued as planned for two months. Then our cook decided to come late and it all went downhill from there! You see, she was our wake-up call and would wake us up at the ungodly hour of 6 am, which gave me more than enough time for an intense session of yoga and some cardio. With a month to go, my physical preparation started taking a backseat. As a last ditch effort, I started climbing four flights of stairs to our apartment twice at a stretch. The trek date got closer and closer, and due to the lack of preparation, I started feeling as though I was appearing for an exam  unprepared. When we set out on the trek, it was foreboding mixed with excitement that dominated my mood. 

This it where it all started!

Finally, the day arrived! Our flight took off as scheduled and we reached Delhi on time. There was a joyful reunion at the airport when the bestie arrived. I was meeting her after over a year and was extremely overjoyed. Was very glad too that she had actually made it! The train journey to Haridwar was a lot longer than expected and hence very boring. When we finally reached, it was 9.30 pm. There was only enough time to eat, have a hot bath and sleep as we were expected to start quite early the next day. 

The long and nauseating road trip from Haridwar to Govindghat

I was slightly nervous as we reached the Haridwar station the next day as I usually am while meeting new people. We met most of our trek-mates there, even though we were familiar with each other on account of the WhatsApp group that was formed before the trek. There were a few SUVs and a Tempo traveller which were waiting for us at the Haridwar Railway station. We set off from here on a very long, nauseating and a pretty boring journey to Govindghat. Even though the route was scenic, the motion sickness killed it for us. Since we were in a SUV, there were three more people with us (who were a trio again, consisting of a lovely couple and an extremely sweet brother) and a part of the journey was spent in getting to know each other. The other part of the journey went in battling motion sickness. With multiple stops slowing us down, we were amongst the last ones to reach Govindghat. After spending over 12 hours in the SUV, we were craving for food and sleep. But that was not to be. The trek leader called us for the first of many briefings, where he gave us some basic information about what to expect, how to pack a backpack and what precautions to take on the trek. We were also introduced to the guide and co-guide, who would be joining us on the trek. The guide was supposed to take care of the trail and the co-guide would stick with the weakest trekkers and stragglers, so that none of us would lose our way. When we went to bed that night, I was too excited and nervous to actually sleep soundly. Since we had taken Diamox to prevent Acute Mountain Sickness, I kept waking up multiple times to pee. The feeling of appearing for an exam unprepared had intensified and I just wanted the next day to arrive and the trek to finally start!