In a world full of Chandrataal, Tso-moriri, and Gurudongmar, Bhrigu Lake might not be the most gorgeous one; especially, in the last week of September when it’s not half-frozen. However, if you believe that “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey per se,” then this 3-day-2-night trek is a must for your very first high altitude himalayan trek. From meadows to moraines, everything and anything imaginable - you name it, you get it all on this trail.
On day 1, first you have to drive from Manali to Gulaba. On this short road trip along Leh-Manali Highway, the Beas river, the Seven sisters peaks, and innumerable apple orchards will accompany you. After that, your trek will be started through a forest section. Keep the treeline on your right while hiking and you will enter the grasslands in no time. I believe no other himalayan trek takes you from a roadhead to a vast alpine meadow in just 20 to 30 minutes . Now you just have to cross meadows after meadows to reach the first waterfall crossing on this trail called Kolang Nala. While walking on this meadow section, whenever you look back, you will always find the Pir Panjal and the Dhauladhar range kissing the skyline. On a clear day, you will spot all the peaks of these ranges including Hanuman Tibba (5390 m) , the highest one, and Friendship Peak (5287 m) along with Ladakhi peaks. In these alpine meadows, you will find various wild flowers like himalayan blue poppies, yellow poppies, and pink fleeces; you will meet flocks of sheep and wild horses grazing around the trail. They will stop for a minute to look at you with their keen eyes and then will be back to their grazing actions; maybe that’s how they welcome you. But the best part of this section has to be the flowing clouds. Every now and then the whole meadow will be shrouded with scuds of clouds creating zero visibility. But don’t worry, they soon will be moving to embrace another neighboring meadow. This saga will continue for 3 to 4 hours. After crossing Kolang Nala, you will have to cross another streamline. From this point an hour of walking will reach the campsite from where you will get to see the Raula koli stream that you will be crossing the next day. If you are into astrophotography, it’s your chance to capture the clearly visible Milky Way in the evening sky from the campsite.
On day 2, start your day with a surreal sunrise over snow capped Nag-tibba and Friendship Peak. Wake up by 6 am to watch the ranges change their colour and the sunrays slowly propagate towards you. Once the rays hit your campsite, the trek starts. Today you will be covering a total trail of 10 km and gain an altitude of 1500 ft. First you have to cross the Rauli Khola, a moderately large streamline. Then after hiking for a few more hours you have to negotiate a Boulder field ; this section is going to be hard. So take time and watch your steps and eventually you will reach the last leg of the trek. This last part to the lake is like a flat surface; walk on it for 5 to 10 minutes and voila! you have finally reached the pristine Bhrigu Lake. Spend some time here and head back to your campsite traversing the same route that you’ve followed earlier.
On day 3, you will be getting down from Raula Kholi to Gulaba. Also, today you will be getting a golden opportunity of treasure hunting . While going up you must have seen some plastic wrappers, water bottles, or something else that doesn’t belong to the nature. So while getting down you can collect them and make the trail cleaner. From Gulaba the car will drop you at Manali.
Now let me add some brownie points here. Unlike other trekking agencies Bikat chooses to complete the trek in 3 days instead of 4. This decision saves you from unnecessary campings. And this practice is highly appreciated within the trekking communities. Also this itinerary gives you every taste of high altitude himalayan treks and that too without tiring you too much.
And that’s how your Bhrigu Lake Trek will be like in the month of September.
