Valley of Flowers Trek

The valley of flowerstrek  lies in front of you as an absolutely radiant canvas. It is home to a bewildering variety of plants; in a few square kilometers there are a hundred species to be seen. Spread over an expanse of 87sq km, this valley is in Chamoli District owes its name to the lush carpet of flowers that bloom in the region after the monsoon. The valley of flowers trek is home to as many as 472 species of herbs, 41 species of shrubs, eight species of trees and 500 specious of flowering plants. Some of the commonly found flowers are blue poppy. American wood lily, brahma kamal, white anemones, pink potentials, the cream-colored Polygonum polystachyum and the pink Impatiens sulcata. Amongst the seven major protected areas in the Indian Himalayas, the valley has the largest number of medicinal plants.

The valley has the largely unknown to the outside world until Frank S Smythe, a British mountaineer and botanist, stumbled upon it by chance. In 1931, a group of explores led a successful expedition to Kamet - the highest summit scaled at that time. Frank Symthe decided to return through Bhuindhar, a high pass (5,150m) to the south of Kamet. After crossing the pass, they descended to the north Bhuindhar valley, which was in full bloom then. The colorful flowers of the Rolling Meadows came as a surprise to smythe after the barren and hostile slopes of Kamet.

After the brief visit in 1931, Smythe returned to the valley in 1937 and stayed on for four months. He established a large and comfortable camp there with regular supplies arriving from Ranikhet. He collected botanical specimens, catalogued them and then sends them Edinburgh, where a greenhouse was set up nature the plants. Inspired by this work, botanist Joan Margaret Legge went to the valley in 1939. While collecting floral samples she slipped on a rocky slope, an accident which these words were inscribed. “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”

As interesting attraction of the valley is ‘Bamani Dhaur’ (cave of the Brahmin). Legend has it that a Brahmin, Who used to dwell in the cave, foretold people’s fortunes and drew their horoscopes by studying the shadows they cast on the meadow across the river. The time when the shadow had to observe depended on the date and time birth of a person.

Above Ghangaria village, located en route to the valley of flowers, there is the picturesque lake of Hemkund, also known as Lokpal. It is belived to be the place where Laxmana , the younger brother of Ram in the epic of Ramayana, had stopped to meditate. The lake was thus named after Laxmana, who is also known as Lokpal.

In Dasham Granth, a scripture of Sikhs, Guru Gobind singh mentioned that in his past life, he had meditated next to the lake surrounded by seven peaks.

The structure was built in 1939 and expanded in 1974. It was christened Hemkund, which means ‘Lake of snow’. Over the years, Hemkund has become an important place of worship of Sikhs and every year, from June to October, several thousand of devotees trek to the shrine.

Plan your trek to valley of flowers trek and get lots of memory