After weeks of anticipation, planning and rescheduling it was only two of us left out of group of five friends for the Kareri Lake trek. As I had already applied for leaves and to break the monotonous office schedule there was no option of backing out from the plan. So me and my friend decided to give it a shot.
We were ready and had everything including booze except bus tickets. We had no prior bus bookings and were late to reach the bus stand. Also due to long weekend buses were full and there was a heavy rush. As we could not find a bus to Dharamshala, we decided to go to Mandi and do Parashar Lake Trek, but in vein. At last we decided to board a bus to Pathankot and reach Dharamshala from Pathankot.
We started our journey at 23:00 HRS.
After a long and hectic journey we reached Pathankot at 14:00 in the afternoon and went straight to the bus stand to board the bus to Dharamshala. We found one and were very happy as the bus cruised through the roads. But nothing goes as per your plans. Bus clutch was broken and soon we were left without any options to reach Dharamshala in the middle of deserted road.
But luckily we got a local HRTC bus to Kangra. We took the bus and deboarded it at Gaggal. As we were hungry we took little bit of snacks at Gaggal and boarded a bus to Dharamshala. We reached Dharamshala at 18:00 HRS and booked a hotel as we were extremely tired. A nearby Domino's was our saviour for the night. The view from the hotel balcony was amazing. The whole town of Dharamshala could be seen with snow clad mountains in the background. It was very pleasing to the eyes. After few pegs with old evergreen music of Jagjit Singh, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and admiring nature's beauty we slept at 2:00 HRS.
We were late to get up. We woke up at 10:00, got ready by 10:30 and were at Bus Stand for our bus to Ghera. But the bus had already left. So we had a little breakfast and hired a taxi to Kareri Village. The taxi fare are usually ₹ 1500 from Dharamshala Taxi stand to Kareri Village. It is about 40 minutes ride to Kareri Village. For cheaper options one can take local bus from Dharamshala to Ghera and shared taxi from Ghera to Kareri Village. Consult the locals for bus timings.
At Kareri Village we had some snacks @ Out of the World Cafe. The owner Mr. Sansaru was a nice and polite man. We booked out camps, sleeping bags and a guide from the same cafe for ₹3000.
We started our trek at 12:30. At first you have to walk 2-3 kms through Kareri Village to reach the starting point of the trek. The mobile signal vanishes at this point isolating you from the virtual world. But wasn't that the reason we were there? To come out of the chaotic & monotonous life and enjoy the mother nature to the fullest. To disconnect from the internet and make a connection with nature giving us pleasure and inner peace.
From there one has to trek through the lush green forests filled with chir and chilgoza pines, narrow trails with steep ascents and Nyund Nallah with a pleasing sound as your companion. There are many river crossings and mesmerizing views for you to click pictures. One gets a chance to witness rare fauna and flora as you ascent. There are some cafes available for you to take break, have snacks and tea.
About 3 hours later we reached the midway of trek "The Rioti Village". Rioti is around 8 kms from the starting point. As we were extremely tired we decided to take a break. We barely had any energy to move forward and were hot and breathless from the exertion of climbing uphill. The description of beauty of the lake from the descending trekkers was the only ray of hope to move forward and cover the remaining 5 kms.
After about half hour rest we decided to move forward. If a person is unfit or exhausted he can camp at Rioti. From Rioti, the steep rocky trail starts. The trek became extremely difficult as we were tired. The evening air was chilly and we shivered involuntarily making our way through the rocky trail,taking multiple short breaks and without any hint of the "heaven" we were trekking for.
After about 2.5 hours we witnessed snow clad mountains, sun-kissed, with snow glittering as diamond. We knew our destination was nearby. Then after few minutes we were infront of the Kareri Lake - The Paradise on Earth.
We woke up early in the morning and decided to explore the place after having breakfast. Clicked some pictures and were up for climbing the snow clad mountains infront of us. The snow was making it extremely difficult to walk and our phones battery also drained out very fast. So we decided to drop the idea and started to retreat.
We walk downhill was little bit tricky as the trail was slippery. But we managed to get down in about 3 hours.
After having little bit snacks at Sansaru's cafe we left for Dharamshala, hired a bus to Delhi, back to our homes.
We bid Adieu to the mountains, only to return back and explore more hidden gems in Dev-Bhoomi Himachal.
