Trekking Garhwal Himalayas Uttarakhand: All you need to know

Trekking Garhwal Himalayas Uttarakhand – The Valley of Flowers trekking and Hemkund Sahib trekking, was one of the most memorable trip I ever took with friends – not mine, at the time of taking this trip though!

This was our second couple trek, back in the days when our 2 monsters hadn’t joined us. As a family now, we undertake much easier treks (more like walks really). This trek is not advisable with younger children, although 13yrs+ may be able to manage it with frequent stops. Since horses/ ponies are available throughout the treks, one could possibly try with a little younger kids too.

Our Route for trekking in Uttaranchal

• Mumbai – Delhi (flight) – Haridwar (train)
• (Haridwar doesn’t have an airport, so one can take a train or just drive to Haridwar. This drive can also be a road trip in itself; check out this post to know more)
• Haridwar – Joshimath – Govindghat [350 km] (by road)
• Govindghat – Ghangaria [13km] (Trek) ~6-7hrs
• Ghangaria (base camp) – Valley of Flowers Trekking and back to Ghangaria [5km] (Trek) ~2hrs one way
• Ghangaria (base camp) – Hemkund Sahib and back [6km] (Trek/Horse) ~5hrs
• Ghangaria – Govindghat and back

Where to Stay

GMVN (Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) wins hands down in this regard. The best hotels you could find in the most remotest of places would be those of GMVN. Trekking in Uttaranchal will be very difficult without GMVN: Very clean rooms, good food, extremely hospitable people; I would recommend staying in the deluxe rooms that they have since those are much superior to the economy ones at a minimal differential.

Oddly enough, while booking we were unable to get GMVN hotels but every time, we had to make a detour or change plans due to landslide we ended up staying at a GMVN hotel where our dynamic travel plans took us.

Travel Planning

Valley of Flowers trek best time

Plan with buffer time: The Uttarakhand police doesn’t allow any road travel by night so plan your trekking in Uttaranchal accordingly.
July – August: Best time to visit the valley of flowers are also the most landslide prone months due to monsoons so always keep some buffer in your plans.
Haridwar at this time was packed with Kanwars (people who carry Gangajal from Gangotri etc to any of the shiv temples of their choice mostly on feet). Sometimes in such cases, the authorities might not allow any vehicle within Haridwar/upto the station so you need to be sure how you would be carrying your luggage from/to the station or plan if there’s a way to bypass Haridwar and catch your train/ get down from the train elsewhere.
If you intend to travel from Haridwar by train, you could also get return tickets done for more than one day; that way you would have the flexibility in case of any natural calamities or change in plans; the cancellation charges are minimal.

What to Pack

Pack Raincoats or Ponchos or buy one from there: These months are monsoon months so ensure you have protection against unforeseen weather.
Ghangaria at night and Hemkund (at any time) are very cold. Make sure you pack your fleece and woolen accordingly. Do carry a jacket at all times to avoid even accidently catching a cold. 

Where to eat

Be ready to eat Maggi and Aloo Parantha – these are the two things you’ll find everywhere and sometimes the only things during the trek when your feet are soar and stomach is rumbly. When on a trek, we did not bother checking the cleanliness of the vessel, and the dirt under the nails of the guy cooking our aloo paratha. Let go.. should be a mantra during these times and honestly it could go a long way in building some immunity too.

For breakfast and dinner, we stuck to GMVNs for their quality of vegetarian food.

After Trek Massage

Even if you think you’re not the sporty kinds who can manage long treks, know that trekking Garhwal Himalayas Uttarakhand is no mean feat. Be doubly sure you would prefer a horseback ride to a trek especially on steep declines since it could lead to bum aches, back aches and blood clots on thighs and legs sometimes. The Hemkund Sahib trek is more strenuous, although shorter than Valley of Flowers trekking.

There are masseurs who will be visiting your hotel in the evening for a leg massage, foot massage and back massage for guys. Absolutely go for it, very relaxing and of course this makes one think we end up paying 10x this amount just for the ambience J

For Photographers 

Keep your gear handy at all points in time, you never know when you might want to take a pic.

Both a macro and wide angle would be useful but in absence of any other lens make sure you carry a zoom. I had a Canon 450D and I carried my Canon EF-S 55-250mm telephoto zoom lens lens which helped me take a lot of closeup shots and pretty sharp profile shots for people. I did face issues in the absence of a wide angle lens but you can make do with the kit lens instead then.

A camera bag like Case Logic DSLR Camera Sling bag was an excellent choice as I stuffed a lot of other things in it apart from my gear and taking and putting the camera back in was not a hassle.

Cost

At the time of writing this post, trekking in garhwal himalayas on this route would have set you off by around 40k – 45k per head.
This includes return flight and train fare, assistance used during trekking, boarding and lodging, a 12 seater hire charges and basic miscellaneous expenses.