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Hiking

5 Most Exciting Hikes in Iceland

Mere mention of Iceland often conjures up images of active volcanoes & areas of geo-thermal activities, stunning landscapes, huge waterfalls & glaciers, the mysterious Northern Lights and very few people! One of the ways to soak up the beauty of this ‘Land of Fire and Ice’ is to explore on foot. We have trekked in different parts of the world including the EBC Himalayas and we think hiking always gives us best opportunities to let ourselves immerse into the surroundings and appreciate a place differently.

Hiking in Iceland

Laugavegur Trail. By Chmee2/Valtameri – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11393212

How many days to reach Valley of Flowers?

How many days to reach Valley of Flowers?

How many days do you need to do Valley of Flowers trek?

valley of flowers @lemonicks.com

Beautiful view!

Now that you have seen awesome pictures of the Valley of Flowers and awestruck by its sheer beauty, you have decided to go yourself.

That is the time the big question hits you. And you start asking.

Following are some useful tips but before that, see if your query is one of these below.

Joshimath to Govindghat & Ghangaria

Joshimath to Govindghat & Ghangaria – Day 4
You can go through journeys of earlier days in sequence.
Train journey to Haridwar
Haridwar to Rishikesh and
Rishikesh to Joshimath.

After that grueling, bone breaking bus journey sleep would not come early and when it came, it was difficult to get up early in the morning.
We were told at Joshimath that share-taxis start as early as 6 AM for Govindghat and Badrinath and they are frequent.
We got up as planned, packed and had tea at the only roadside tea cart. It helped us to recover from over groggy state somewhat. We walked to the shared taxi stand that would take us further north and further up.

taxi stand at Joshimath @lemonicks.com

A view from the taxi stand at Joshimath. I hate those electric wires.

On reaching the place we found that

Hiking to Tappiya falls

It was monsoon season when Vasu and I had landed in Batad in Ifugao province of Philippines.
Batad, as we all know, is a UNESCO Heritage place in Philippines and its claim to fame is its many hectares of tall rice terraces; all of them hand built over thousand years back and their descendants still farming here!

During monsoon reaching Batad itself is very difficult with only one trip of Jeepney per day on a muddy one lane road on mountains. Invariably it gets stuck in the mud with no one in sight except its passengers. I won’t go in details as how we reached our guesthouse down in the valley. 😀

rice terrace @lemonicks.com

View from our window. Yes, in spite of incessant rains we crossed and went to the other side. 😀

The view

Hiking tips to Lonar lake

Before reading this article, it is suggested that you go through these articles on how to reach there & where to stay and a photo feature for a better picture of the place.

Though I did not find it difficult, hiking to Lonar lake can be a daunting experience for some of us. The crater walls are steep and if you are living just a city life or are not very young, you might find it difficult to climb down or up, let alone doing a full round of the lake. Many people have returned back after trying to get down.

Some statistics of the crater lake:-
The meteoric lake is around 50 thousand years old.
The outer diameter of the lake is 1.83 kilometers.
The circumference is around 6-7 Kms.
Descent to lake i.e. distance from the rim to ground level = about 140 meters.

The water is saline in nature; my guide mentioned it has substantial quantity of sulphur and phosphorus too. How correct is this information, I have no idea.

Tips for hiking:-
Try this activity only if you are physically fit, into some hiking and do not have any kind of breathing problem. Remember, once you are down there, you need to