My mind was confused, probably with 2 things — watching my friends chant some prayers after touching and sprinkling some water from the lake..
..and trying to figure out how pure the surroundings could possibly be !
The summer of 2017 was blazing and we decided to escape to the Himalayas to breathe. We planned a trek to a tranquil place filled with peace and this trek commenced from Jalori pass.
I knew I was going to explore a serene piece of land adorned with a hidden lake.
Situated at an altitude of 3100 metres above the mean sea level, in the beautiful state of Himachal Pradesh in India, this lake is considered to possess some medicinal properties (as believed by the locals). My brain was well equipped with the geographic information about the tarn, however, there were many other mythical tales associated with this holy lake which I was completely unaware of initially.
The infamous Serolsar lake is surrounded by a dense forest cover and is considered an arduous trek in the winters due to the hostile climatic conditions and unapologetic snowfall. On the contrary, during the summer time, the trekking trail becomes hiker friendly and offers some spectacular and breathtaking views.
This trekking path which starts from Jalori Pass, is around 5 kms and can be covered in a single day however, we (a group of 7 friends) decided to camp in the mid way under the stars. So we started the hike pretty late in the afternoon. The hiking path goes through dense forests covered with tall conifers. The trail would engulf you in a complete silence and would disconnect you from the technological world.
After organising and packing all our camping gears and with lots of gossips and giggles, we all started walking together. Gradually we got disconnected from the pragmatic world with no mobile network, sight of less human beings and celestial views of the setting sun. The sound of laughter and natters were falling weak and feeble. The hike that started with lots of talks and tales was slowly taking the shape of a silent walking. Our souls were engrossed in the tunes of nature’s melody.
After walking for some time, we spotted a small tea stall. There was an old man who greeted us with a cheerful grin and prepared the perfect tea for us. A sip from the earthen cup overlooking the sunset felt heavenly. It was already getting dark by then and we decided to pitch our tents beside the tea stall. With this decision of ours, the tea stall owner was already jumping with joy. In his words, he closes the shop everyday after 6 pm however, he decided to keep it open for the rest of the night only to assist us with our camping materials so that we can make ourselves comfortable. The amiable nature of this man lighted up the environment with kindness. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of this old man. The rest of the evening and night was spent chit chatting and listening to various stories of this old gentleman. He truly made us feel at home in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning we commenced our trek after thanking the old gentleman who didn’t let us leave without a proper breakfast. We will be ever grateful to this man for his generosity and assistance :)
The trail after our campsite had some different sights to offer. There were a couple of ancient abandoned houses that were built under huge rock masses and the sight was weirdly spectacular. After exploring this area, we again commenced our dawdling towards the lake and we reached this tarn which looks concealed from the outside world, just within some minutes. We realised we camped really close to the lake :)
Serolsar Lake is an oval to near circular shaped lake with crystal clear water. It’s so clean that you won’t even find a leaf on the surface of the lake. There’s a temple at the corner too. The place looked so serene and tranquil, filled with the sound of murmuring leaves and chirping of birds. We never felt so close to nature ever before.
This trek is highly recommendable for the absolute peace seekers !!