A view of Gobindghat from the beginning of the trail to Hemkunt Sahib. Hemkunt is an additional 6km from Gobindghat (again I think this was computed linearly on a map and didn't take into account slope and switch backs).
Every sight on the way up was gorgeous.
Our trek to Hemkunt also served as our view of the valley of flowers. We aimed to go to the valley of flowers but it was too foggy in the afternoon on the day we went to Hemkunt and it was raining the next morning when we decided to trek back to Gobinddham. We talked to some people who went toHemkunt on the same day as us and who had been to the valley of flowers the day before. They told us that they saw pretty much the same thing in the valley of flowers as they did on the way up to Hemkunt, as demonstrated in this photo.
Did you ever think you'd see a sky this blue in India? I didn't.
Half way there, there were lots of stalls selling water and food.
More Beautiful views.
The stream that comes from Hemkunt Sahib.
At this point, we found what I'd been wishing for, a trail were horses/mules weren't allowed. The last 1km to Hemkunt has two options, a set of stairs or more switch backs and animals. You can infer which one we took.
The stream coming from Hemkunt actually comes down a pipe and goes through this mini hydro-power station.
The water gushing out of the hydroelectric station.
The pipe that delivers the water to the hydro-power station.
Every good has its bad. This makeshift dump is right near the entrance and you can see the entrance to the Hindu temple in the background.
The trail itself is kept clean by vigilant sevadars, but the trash has to go somewhere and I don't think it is bagged and taken out as quickly as it comes in.
Another interesting thing you see just before the entrance is the bathroom on the right. After hearing about Hemkunt my whole life I came to think that the aesthetics would be fussed over as much as they are at the Harimandir Sahib, but the trash and bathroom sites just before the entrance seem to show otherwise. Of course this could also be a cultural thing. What I see as sites which should be hidden behind a facade (or made more beautiful), might be seen by the average Indian as the things that merely exist in places but shouldn't in anyway be related to the greater site to which they belong (i.e. Hemkunt starts after this point). I'm just speculating here, it could also be that greater beautification just isn't possible because of lack of resources or difficulty of terrain. I do know, however, that culture has a huge impact on what is viewed as beautiful. There are so some many things in India with lights and plastic decorations, which in the US would be typically viewed as tacky but in India are seen as beautiful adornments.
The entry way from the stair pathway.
About half way down the rain stopped and we had to ditch the raincoats because they were keeping us hot, even the the morning air was cool.
As you can see I took the bigger backpack down as well as up, but if you think Sita had it easy, think again, she was as sore as me at the end of this. I think the way down is what left us sore as we had to use all our leg muscles to resist against gravity and allow ourselves controlled steps. It was atually so gruelling that I'm still slightly sore 5 days later.
Back at the car we left Gobind Dham around 9 am. It took us only 2 hours to get down from Gobind Ghat to Gobind Dham.
After about an hour and a half on the road we had to stop and wait for an hour. The delay was a protest by local villagers to the urge the government to improve their conditions.
One can't complain much about being delayed anywhere in this area as they'll still have great views of the beautiful Himalayan mountains.
I made sure I got at least one photo of one of the many protruding rocks we drove under on this route.
A few more pics on the way to Rishikesh.
The view from the veranda next to our room at our hotel in Rishikesh. It just got dark as we arrived in Rishikesh.
