The valley of flower lies some 450 km north of delhi in the chamoli district of garhwal, west of the nanda devi sanctuary. This trek takes you through dense forests of oak, pine, rhododendron, fir and deodar, traversing bugayals - wide open meadows typical to the region which serve as high altitude summer grazing grounds - and numerous streams. En route you get truly spectacular views of the himalaya, all the way from trishul (23,496 ft/7,120 m) to the peaks of kedarnath (22,994 ft/6,968 m) with kamet (25,595 ft/7,756 m), nilkanth (21,767 ft/6,596 m), rishikot, changabang (22,651 ft/6,864 m), kedarnath and chowkhamba (23,522 ft/7,128 m), to name a few.

Today this bhyundar valley is not very different from how frank smythe first found it to be. Through strict environmental control and tight government of india regulations, the sanctity of frank smythe's discovery - the valley of flowers has been carefully preserved. If you stand at the foot of the valley, grassy meadows run down to the cleft of the stream, which, even in august, is still fringed by ice. On both sides, green slopes turn to dark rock as they vault into deep blue skies. Rising gently, the valley ends as notch on the horizon, crested by the snows of the rataban (6,166m) and nilgiri (6474m) peaks. And underfoot, the flowers that give the valley its name.

The valley of flowers is accessible from a remote village in the indian himalaya called gangharia. Getting to gangharia is a small adventure in itself. For us the starting point of this adventure is wayfarer solitaire at ranikhet in kumaon himalaya.