Lamdal Lake Trek: A heavenly journey to seven sacred lakes

Lamdal trail is a footpath fit for a wilderness explorer

Lamdal lake is a beautiful lake situated at a height of 3900 meters in the abode of Dhauladhar ranges of Himalaya. This range has 22 lakes in total but this lake is most beautiful amongst all. Lam Dal is among those sacred glacial lakes here. The trek to Lam Dal Lake begins from the charming region of district Kangra. Trek starts from the village named Salli. The village itself is so beautiful that one would want to spend at least one day gazing at the quiet mountains. The cold breeze coming for the mountains will run through your brain and will make you feel that you are indifferent world away from noisy and crowded places. You will have the feel of your existence. I am sharing the experience of an amazing 5 days trek to this lake. The panorama all through the trail is certainly spellbinding.

Day 1 : Salli Village to Chagrotu – 2800Mtrs – 10 Kms – 5Hrs

We reached Salli Planmytrek basecamp at 8 am and then we took 2 hrs to relax and freshen-up. After heavy breakfast, we were ready for an adventurous trek. The trail to Chagrotu was mostly grassy and we walked through the beautiful farms with people working there. We got a chance to interact with locals they gave us some local fruits. People were very humble and they offered us tea but we did not have time. Walking through the entire village was a very delightful experience and at the same time realized that life here could be very difficult with very limited access to the resources and temperature drops to sub-zero during winters

Then the trail turned a bit rocky and the views turned from awesome to mindboggling. Khaluli river keeps up the company along most of the trek route which passes close to its banks. We have an elementary rock climbing session in the afternoon and night halt at Chagrotu. Planmytrek staff was very helpful and they even helped us with our luggage which they were not supposed to carry. Look at the pic below it is no less than a heaven on earth, one must visit this place at least once in a lifetime but I am certainly planning to visit this place again next year.

Day 2: Chagrotu to Baleni Pass (3750 meters) to 3rd Dalhi Lake – 7 hrs

We wake up to the most beautiful sunrise of my life. I spent around 20 minutes appreciating the beauty of mother nature with the hot mug of coffee. We knew that today is going to be the hardest climb among all the days. We were served healthily and tasty breakfast. So we took some time and we were ready for the challenge with our guides motivating us. The weather was nice, it was around 15 degrees in the morning with a cool breeze was blowing. We had our jackets on when we were about to start but after a while, we had to take them off. As soon as we climbed higher temperature dropped and the wind speed increased. We could see clouds flying around us and mountain ranges get lost in the dense fog.

Baleni pass which is at 3850 mt height from sea level. Hiking up to Baleni jot is a gradual uphill but the stunning views takes over the tiredness of the body and you get lost in the beauty of nature. Baleni top was full of snow and weather was cloudy so we had our lunch at the top, spent some time playing with snow and then we climbed down for 3rd dalhi (Lake) day’s camping area. Barring a few points trek to Baleni pass is easy but tiring and it tests your stamina. But if you have good guides with you who keep your mind busy with the knowledge of the place and with interesting stories during trekking then you will never feel tired and we were lucky to have such guides with us and would like to thank planmytrek team for this. Once we crossed Baleni pass we descend down to the third lake where our camps were set up for the night stay. We were very tired and hungry we were dinner with bonfire. One of the guides sang a few local folk songs and then we were into the tents and did not realize when I fell asleep.

Day 3: 3rd Dalhi lake to Lamdal Lake then back to Dhali lake – 4 hrs.

We got up to a chilly morning and I was very excited today as we will finally reach sacred Lamdal lake after the two days of tiring trek and the place we were planning to see after planning for more than 3 months. So we had breakfast early and left for the lake. The terrain was mostly rocky and it was easy but dangerous as you make one mistake and end up the broken ankle or leg in the middle of the Himalayas where it could take more than two days to reach a doctor. But the weather was very pleasant with the sun shining to its full and we could see Pir Pinjal range. One of you guide told us that there is a trail which leads to the Leh valley and it goes through many high passes and takes 30 days from Kangra to reach Leh on foot. After a few hours of the walk, we were finally here “Lamdal Lake”. It was a divine experience. When we sat there I never felt tired felt as if I have entered into the dream world. It was so refreshing.

Spending a few hours at the lake, we headed back to the camping site. We were served the hot soup with some snacks in the evening and spend some time exploring the surrounding. Then we were ready to prepare dinner as we requested our guides to let us cook today and asked them to relax. After having dinner we were back in our camps. Today’s day was very special for all of us as we walked very less but we spent the whole day in the middle of the Himalayas. We slept early at around 8 pm.

Day 4: 3rd Dalhi Lake to Baleni Pass (3750 meters) to Chagrotu – 7 hrs

Now we had head back to our camps. So we got up late 🙂 and reality bites, we were not very happy that our trek was slowly coming to an end. We were a little upset but that’s life every good thing comes to an end and this is no different. Our group of guides was very entertaining and they kept us busy with intriguing stories of the ghosts and creatures they met while trekking Himalayas. We were served lunch on the way to base camp and relaxed for a while. In a matter of minutes, we were approaching our second base champ which is Chagrotu.

Day 5: Chagrotu to Salli – 4hrs

After breakfast, we walk down to Salli village. Traditional Lunch at Local villager home. Then we relaxed for a few hours and our cabs were waiting for the pickup to Dharamshala from where we had to catch a bus to Delhi. I would certainly say that this is one of the most beautiful and adventurous treks I have done in my life. I am taking memories back with myself to Delhi. I would definitely recommend trekking with Planmytrek as they are a great bunch of selfless people who are hard to find in this world.

Reaching Salli viallage

The route of the journey is as mentioned below.

Delhi – Chandigarh– Una – Jawalaji – Kangra – Gagal – Shahur – Talh mata – Salli

If you want to travel by train then below is the route

Delhi – Pathankot (train) – Shahur – Talh mata – Salli

Mentioned below are distances between Lamdal lake and some of the known nearby towns that you will be crossing during your journey.

• Pathankot Lamdal Distance: 100 Kilometers
• Chandigarh Lamdal Distance: 300 Kilometers
• Kangra Lamdal Distance: 40 Kilometers
• Delhi Lamdal Distance: 600 Kilometers

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