Namaste 🙏
Hope you all are doing great!!!
It was day 4 of my journey to the inner Himalayas and I was at Rauli Kholi with my two other friends. We had a sound sleep last night and were ready for summit today.
The weather was quite pleasant today as previous days and we were expecting a smooth summit trek today. It was going to be the most difficult part as we had to go through a tough terrain today.
The first part was quite easy. We hiked in meadows for about an hour before we reached at the rockey terrain. We were quite highly elevated now with around 4000m of elevation from sea level. We could see a lot of high peaks that were covered with snow now.
The start of loose rocks-
The most difficult part of the trek was right in front of us now. It was all rocky terrain with partial meadows till the summit now.
One good thing was that there were arrows painted on the rocks so that we wouldn’t lose the track as it was quite easy to get lost in such difficult terrain without the sense of proper direction.
While hiking, we came across some stones that were piled on top of each other to make a structure. Those structures are believed to fulfil the wishes of the person who makes them and also serves as a checkpoint for trekkers.
Today our walking speed was faster than our usual pace because firstly we left our heavy bags at the Rouli Kholi campsite and secondly we were exited for the summit today.
So we kept on walking. The weather was now changing as it usually does around midday here at the mountains because of evaporation from the valley below.
The kind of weather that was there at that time was my kind of ideal weather for a hike. A little bit cloudy with no rain and no sunlight. I can walk all day in this weather.
We had to cross the whole mountain to reach to the lake and this part was the trickiest one.
We needed to be super careful around here as it was quite easy to meet with an accident here because of loose rocks.
While we were approaching the last part of the trek, we met one of the hiker from our first day camp at Bethar Dhar. He was coming back from the lake till Raoli Kholi with his guide. He told us that it was a perfect day to visit the lake today and it looked amazing.
The conversation with him motivated us even more. Now we desperately wanted to see the lake!
One other thing that he told us was that the trek was not that easy because of loose rocks. He told us to be extra cautious about it as one of his friend got injured there.
We kept following the arrows and didn’t lose our pace at all. We were tired but we decided that we would only rest at the summit now.
The terrain was getting steeper now with every step we took. The views were also getting better with each step.
We couldn’t wait so witness the mesmerising beauty of the beautiful Bhrigu Lake so we kept pushing ourselves harder.
The most difficult part of the trek-
At this point, the arrows were also pointing straight up!!!
We needed to climb now instead of hike. It was the most difficult part of the hike.
We had to be really careful at this point because if any loose rock falls, it could hurt the people that are below us.
Now even clouds were below us. We were officially above the clouds and gaining altitude quickly as we hiked up those loose rocks.
We met some guys who were coming back from the lake. They told us that it was the last push and lake was only 10 mins away.
We kept on walking and walking without getting tired.
The Bhrigu Lake-
Here we were!!!!
When I saw the lake for the very first time, I was full of joy. It looked mesmerising to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was a beautiful lake situated between high mountains. Everything looked so dreamy.
The lake had a greenish hue to it and the colour combination of the lake with sky and nearby terrain looked so good.
Some people were courageous enough to take bath in the icy cold water but we were more than happy just to see it up close.
We spent a couple of hours here meditating and just looking at the views. That what Bhrigu Rishi did after whom this lake is named. While we were meditating here, we found the kind of peace that was impossible for us to find in cities and towns where we lived.
After meditating, I went on a solo journey to summit the mountain above the lake. I’m going to write about that adventure in next blog.
That’s all for today.
Thanks for your time.
Peace.
