This was my maiden trek and I am glad I chose Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Saheb. I carried home tonnes of great memories from the trip that I will cherish for my life. Serene Nature, Splendid weather, a great company of cousins, new friends we made and the team who lead the trek made a perfect mixture to cherish. While the chirpy young kept the team charged, the conviction of the others was inspirational to the rest. I am also glad that Thrillophillia conducts this trip which I came to know after reading thrillophilia reviews. The field team lead by Yogi and Sandeep was awesome. At some point or other everyone in the group were amazed with their knowledge, patience, perseverance, untiring efforts to make the trip a memorable and comfortable one for the entire team. Their daily briefing was quite interesting. Valley of flowers amazed us with the nuances it offered every minute. The continuous rain, the chill of the breeze, narrow steep path, rolling stones, changing landscape every minute, moving clouds around you, crossing the river over narrow bridges…. The list goes on and on Hemkund Saheb is another marvel. This place left most of the team members ecstatic. What a bliss. The only place I have seen made many people cry with joy. A place that one must visit atleast once in their lifetime. The trek(mule ride), the hospitality at the Gurudwara were breathtaking. It was a testimony to what faith can bring out of people. We could see people of all age groups from 3 to 70+ trek all the way from Govindghat to Hemkund Saheb, carrying children and luggage on shoulders and sometime on mules. Wow… We were exposed to a new world of Ghangaria which come alive in March and sleeps over from October. A town that has everything active only for 4 months.
19th to 23rd January 2019 can’t forget, can’t explain the experience in my life !! The Brahmatal trek is unforgettable in this lifetime!! Yes, we faced some mighty powers of mountains and skies , when we were at Brahmatal camp at 12000feet severe snow storm was hit !! Yea we wanted live snowfall we were praying for it since we booked for the trek but the holy nature gave us so much snowfall that’s enough for one lifetime!! It was almost 4 to 5 feet snow outside our camps !!! we experienced temp of around -15 to -20 degree !! we took shelters in chacha ki dhukhan (small shop with wooden roof covered with tarpol)! The best part was our guides when all others trekking companies like India hike, trek the Himalayas team went down in snow storm our team stayed back up until the 36hours storm was gone and descended with a view that can be remembered every day in this lifetime !! Thinking about the hike up the mountain, right before the peak, the pain is unbearable. The trek has been long and the journey has been uphill against snow filled rocky terrain. Just before you reach the top, you feel as if you’ll never be able to take another step, yet you do. You forget ahead and just as the desire to give up becomes strongest, you reach the top. The light, the view is incredible, and you can finally see clearly what you’ve been fighting for. Suddenly, the next part of your journey is clear. It's beautiful, and its all laid out in the sight ahead and below. You are renewed, you know now where you are going. Today, if you are in a season where you are heading uphill and all you see is the mountainous terrain ahead, I hope to inspire you to keep going. Take small steps, but don't stop and don't dare go backwards. When it feels like you can't move, take a deep breath, and cry out for strength to just take the very next step. You will reach the top of your mountain and your joy will be great!! You are moving forward and your destiny awaits! After this trek, my confidence has boosted for sure !! I would like to thank my trek guides from bottom of my heart Raju bhayia, Praveen bhai who took very good care of us overnights and days in that severe snow storm and motivating on each and every step which was very difficult on the way back !! Again I Repeat this experience “Cannot be explained and cannot forget” in this lifetime!!
Guys from experience I recommend you to carry all the trekking gears without fail or u gonna suffer REAL bad in those mighty mountains especially must if u are doing in peak winter ... (don't forget to see the forecast )
imp gears are Minus temp waterproof outer jacket, down jacket .thermal inners, lots of t-shirts at least 4, thermal pants, trek pants 2 , track pants , walking poles , WATERPROOF SHOES ( very imp ), 4 pairs of thermal socks , GATERS u can't walk without it in snow, in safer side carry one meter of tarpol that can be used in heavy snow as gaters (telling with experience) , woollen caps, glove inners, waterproof gloves ..
Be mentally prepared for the worst !!!u will really enjoy it and ur confidence will be much more then what you were !!
MUST DO TREK!
All the arrangements, food, logistics, and support was superb. Both our trek guides especially Mr. Narendra supported and took very good care, continuously motivating and helping throughout the journey.
This trek requires good fitness and endurance, it would have been good if we were given a heads up about the steep trails and low oxygen. Other than that I loved and enjoyed the experience. Happy with Thrillophillia team. Devashish was also very patient and helpful.
Roopkunda, one of the most mysterious and surprising trek each and everyday a different surprise waiting for you on next turn. I have done this trek on May 2017. That trek contains everything from nature forest, meadows, snow, rain and hailstorm too.
Trek begins from the day you land on Kathgodam. Its a 10 hrs long and beautiful journey passing via beautiful hill stations of Uttrakhand. Once you cover that part you reach WAN/Lohanjung, a small peaceful village where you will forget all your tiredness of 10 hrs long journey. You will meet your guide here and from next day the real adventure begins.
Day 1: WAN - Ran bugad - Didina 4-5 hrs trekking - easy trek with gradual uphill and downhill through dense mountain forest. Campsite at Didina is amazing. We reach there by mid 2 PM and then enjoyed rest of the day here.
Day 2: Didina - Ali bugyal - Bedini Begyal, 4-6 hrs, moderate day, very steep ascent in some part, most of the part is via dense forest, you need lots of stamina and water in first half, in later part you will trek on asia's largest green meadow with amazing view of snow capped mountains. When we reach Bedini it starts raining very hard for 2-3 hrs. It was thrilling as temperature is freezing during rain, 10C
Day 3: Bedini - patharnachuni - easiest day. Trekking on almost a flat track and downhill. I enjoyed a lot on that day, singing, photography, everything we did during this part. No difficulties at all apart from height gain. So you need to be relax. It took 4 hrs to complete.
Day 4: Patharnachuni - Kalu vinayak -Bhaguwabasa, One of the tough day. Trekking on Mud and snow at a very low temperature. Here we got really tested with our stamina and fear of height. Till Kalu vinayak its a difficult part as it was on mud and snow mixed slippery narrow and rough trek (steep climb) On kalu vinayak we felt relax and enjoyed Ganesha's arti. After kalu vinayak, till campsite trekking was on fresh snow, comparatively easy (descent only) but trek was narrow so you need to be very careful while stepping.
When we reach baguwabasa it starts raining or I can say hailstorm which lasts for 3 hours. Out campsite got completely covered in snow. I haven't seen that much snow in my life. Once hailstorm stops, we came out from tents and started playing on snow, you will fall in love with this campsite. However you will feel headache here, fortunately we didn't face this for a long time. Only precaution drink as much water as you can and cover your self with woolen temp is 0C and below here.
Day 5: Bhaguwabasa - Roopkunda- Bhaguwabasa - Patharnachuni - Bedini
Summit day, for which we were awaiting for a long time, a very long day almost 10 hrs of trekking. Started very early at 4 AM on that day our guide provided us crampon to wear on shoes as it was slippery and soft snow on trek. Crampon helped us a lot, without that it was almost impossible to trek from bhaguwabasa to ropkunda it took 3 hrs most difficult part of trek as it was on narrowest edge of mountain covered with snow, very sharm turn where you have to be very very careful, without guide it is pretty difficult on some turns I thought to moving back but our guide motivate us and finally we were able to complete. I was speechless when I saw roop kunda, lost in its beauty and peace for 10 mins and was senseless, I wasn't that much excited and emotional when India won world cup, finally all the efforts were paid a beautiful result. we enjoyed there for 30 mins and then started back to reach Bedin. We covered maximum distance and reach Bedini in late afternoon at Bedini we were welcome with a massive hailstorm which turn the entire green meadow in white layer it starts raining from patharnachuni, raincoat is must here.
Day 6: Final day: Bedini - Neel ganga - Wan - steep descent via forest and then 2 km gradual ascent - easy day, lots of walking, enjoyed a lot during forest pass you can hear birds singing. Once you finish downhill part you will reach Neel ganga river, we had a break and rest in neel ganga river water. Freezing cold but relaxing. After that gradual climb for 2 km and then 1 km downhill to reach WAN.
Best part of entire trek: Quick weather changes and maggie at every point.
Must carry: raincoat, woolen and drink lots of water
About me: I am 31 year old guy with normal physique, not a regular gym guy with normal stamina, but I must say that you should practice lots of walking and running before hitting this trek, it was my first trek and I enjoyed this a lot.
"it was incredible experience. VOF is famous for its 80 and more rare flowers species. trek was 12000 ft above from the sea level. It was not easy but when I saw the colors of flowers it inspired me to go ahead and explored more.."
I recently went to Ranikhet with my colleagues and we booked this stay from Thrllophilia at the best reasonable price online provided with activities. Our cottages was very cozy and comfortable full of all the basic amenities required for a perfect stay. The staff was so polite and cooperative they have provided us their banquet on very short notice for our team activities. We also enjoyed our nature walk and our short hiking trails to explore the beauty of the city. Everything was perfect and well managed. Thanks to Thrillophilia for the wonderful experience.
The stay at the Seclude Wildside was one of the best experiences. We booked this place from Thrillophilia at the best price as compared to other sites. The ambiance was so beautiful, the rooms were nice, cozy and the entire property was well maintained with colonial style architecture all around. Great Hospitality, the food was very delicious. Do visit Goddess Kali temple it is the true beauty of Indian architecture. Also, we even enjoyed the visit to the Village.
I did this trek with my friends and we all enjoy this very much, the view was superb, the guide and food were fantastic, the adventure activity was amazing, but the best part was the Roopkund Lake. The very beautiful whole covered with ice. Mesmerizing. camping was very comfortable and I never forgot this adventure. Worth doing it.
It was a unique experience when I was surrounded by the snow so we friends start playing with it and we trek nicely. camping was good and we take many pictures for memories, the guide was professional but the food was a little bit spicy but overall we can say this was one of the best vacations I spent.
When I was in Uttarakhand with my friends so one of them suggest me to do roopkund trek so I book the trek from Thrillophilia and this gives me lifetime experience, the location was good relaxing, the guide was funny and polite in nature and food was ok-ok but we had a memorable experience.