My Trek Experience- Never Limit Yourself

People said walking is the best exercise, but I was not so fond of it.

One fine morning, I have heard that a group of friends are planning for trekking to Valley of Flowers, and seriously, with a thought of challenging myself, to check my limits or I would say to push my limits, I joined them for the Trek- Valley of Flowers & Hemkund Saheb

Today, would like to share my incredible experience with you all, It's impossible to share all the minor details into a small blog post but I'll try to justice my experience. Would love to hear from you in the comment box. All suggestions are welcomed.. :) 

 We all know that trekking means to face the inner fears of limitation out of our own comfort zone. We started our journey from Ahmedabad to Dehradun- Rishikesh. 

At Rishikesh, we chose to stay at Swaminarayan Ashram at Ganga Ghat. On hearing about Ashram, the first thought came to my mind is, why Ashram..??  but when I saw this beautiful place and it's location, I was mesmerized. 

We stayed here for one night, tasted Swaminarayan food too as prasad. Believe me, to have food without garlic and onion was also a challenge for me but I enjoyed the delicious food that evening.

When you're in search of peace, sitting alone at night is an awesome option to have deep conversation with self but if you're sitting at one of the Ghats of the pious river bank at night, it's really a soulful experience. The sound of flowing river will work as a meditation music itself.

Day:1 Rishikesh to Joshimath

   We started our journey for Joshimath early in the morning from Rishikesh in a tempo traveler. It took us more than 11 hours to reach Joshimath due to landslides on our way but when the journey is beautiful who will bother to reach the destination in hurries...!!! :) 

We passed through the Tehri Dam, the tallest dam in India on way to Joshimath.

 

This was the view from our accommodation in Joshimath.

Day:2 Joshimath to Ghangharia (Pulna to Ghangharia 10kms approx.)

To reach Valley of Flowers you need to make your base camp at Ghangharia. We reached Pulna by tempo traveler, this is a last place till where you would find any vehicles. Ahead of it, either you need to walk or you can hire a mule or basket to reach Ghangharia.

We hired a mule for our luggage, we chose to trek, obviously we went there to trek :D. We started around 8:00 am

With the support of stick, slowly we started trekking the sloppy area and the mesmerizing view of beautiful streams, greenery all around and drizzling in between. The peace you'll feel all the way up to Ghangharia, I can't describe in words. I was so in love with view around me, the chirping of birds, the burbling of brooks and the most importantly no network coverage :D. 

We walked for 10 kms. that day with short breaks in between for food and water. When someone from the group was tired, we used to offer them dry fruits, chocolates, water and obviously the encouragement. 

Around 4pm we reached Ghangharia-our base camp for 3 days, last 2 hours we kept walking in rain, wearing ponchos and enjoying the rain and tiredness too. But believe me, the scenery was too ravishing in rain, the wet giant rocks, brooks streaming in between, Rain was pelting and even though, we were in raincoats, we were drenched. Finally, we saw some tents around us, but one more km to go.. Legs were shaking, body was shivering and I felt, I didn't have any energy to climb 15 more stairs to reach to my room, but no option...!!

As we were on height, some felt headache, dehydration and cold, but enough water in-take could relief us from such pain. In my surprise, We all fell asleep around 7:45 pm after having dinner at 7:00 pm as next day, we have to be ready for Valley of Flowers...

Day-3 Valley of Flowers ( 5-6 kms one way approx.)

Early morning we started our journey to see the flower treasury. We walked through sloppy rocks, narrow trails, passed beautiful brooks and trek to the valley. We felt, It was too ascending until we started HemKund Sahib..!

Finally, at 12:00 we reached Valley of Flowers.

The scenery, I'm trying to portray the beauty of this place, but I'm unable to justify it's captivity.

We started descending after our magnificent lunch in the valley between the flowers, and reached safely to our base camp, Ghangharia.

Day:4 Ghangharia to Hemkund Sahib (8-9 kms one side approx)

Our Instructor explained us, how difficult the path would be, the precautions and our oxygen level also been checked before we started, as we had to achieve 14000ft that day.

The trek to Hemkund Sahib was felt to be the toughest one, as the path was too much ascending, and we had to get hold on our breathing, and the stamina.  Zig-zag walk was helpful to us.

 

As we were reaching near to our destined place-Hemkund Sahib- World's Highest Gurudwara, we were getting lost ourselves in nature, amidst the clouds, glaciers, a thin layer of glace on the mountains was winning our hearts and we were feeling worth taking efforts to see this amazing nature at that height. We were thrilled to see the path which we climbed. 

 I could feel the complete lost of my mind, body and soul in the nature!

We spotted Brahm Kamal- State flower of Uttarakhand at Hemkund Sahib. It's considered as a sacred  flower.

Finally, We reached at HemKund Sahib, midst the clouds, in a different world, I would Say...

Sometimes, you need to disconnect from everywhere, to connect with yourself. 💙💙💙

By achieving this peak with my two kiddos, one is 14 years young and second one is 12 years young was really a great achievement for me. Most Importantly,  when you're reluctant for walk even as an exercise  and you achieve 14000ft, It indicates, Nothing is Impossible and Only You're the one who limits yourself. 

When are you planning your trek...??