Trek to Gomukh: At the Source of the great Gange

For those who are wondering and whom I can see frowning, a full two weeks had elapsed between the two treks. Plus Gomukh is in the Indian part of the Himalayas, not in Nepal which I had left two days before ending up in Gangotri. The town takes its name from the river which darts through it, with quite an impressive waterfall. 'Tri' might mean something like 'source' or 'spring', as I noticed a place called Yamunotri, which marks the location of the source of that other great Indian river, the Yamuna.

But I digress.

In order to see the actual site of the source, one needs to walk up to the glacier, near Gomukh, at a height nearing 4,000 meters and a distance of some 18 kilometers. The trek in itself isn't difficult at all and the path, though not clearly indicated, is easily recognisable, which must make the glacier one of the easiest accessible in the world.

I started out at the dot of 4 in the morning, making my way by moonlight (hence the very first pictures in the series, which I tried to make as clear as possible, but as I still don't own a tripod, they tend to be a little fuzzy). Some spots are a little adventurous, as rivers are to be crossed on fell tree-trunks and some bends bring you quite close to the edge. But overall it is very safe and immensely enjoyable. It took me a few hours to reach the glacier, and I spent a long time there, taking my lunch under the shade of the glacier (I noticed only upon leaving that a huge chunk of it was cracked - cf pictures - and could fall and crush anything under it anytime). I came back to Gangotri at around 2 in the afternoon - all in all a ten-hour trek, which isn't bad.

I really hope you will enjoy the pictures as much as I did taking them. I also had an amazing time gazing at the clouds up there, they were really beautiful. The silence was a real treat. Add a pinch of wild animals here and there and the fact that I came across four people on the way...you'll get a pretty good picture of how it went.

That's about it concerning this amazing trek, but because you're a bunch of nice people, I'm throwing a video of the mountains in the bargain! Enjoy.