Riya Banerjee, a young entrepreneur, plans a trek to Hampta Pass and Chandratal lake with her colleagues.
Initially, I planned on going for the trek without a guide but, the difficulty of the Hampta Pass trek demands a tour guide. We booked it for June to enjoy the diversity of the terrain at its best. Our trip to Manali was long but, we were looking forward to starting the trek. Nature creates and vitalizes its beings; when we reached Jobri, our starting point for trekking, we felt re-energized.
We met several like-minded people on the way. Most of them loved going trekking, climbing, and other adventure trips and, a few were on that trek to revisit nature. We planned the Hampta Pass and Chandratal trek to share an incredible experience. We also wanted to get a better understanding of each other’s merits and persona.
We were feeling amused by the variety of vegetation. We walked on the route that went through mixed forests of pine, maple, and birch trees. It eventually ran along the Hampta river, which was our first sight of that river. Jobri was our first campsite, we ate and enjoyed the scenery there. Jobri had some dhabas to choose from where to eat. We were camping near a dhaba which was closer to the flowing river. Setting tent on the green grasses and with a riverside location was magically beautiful. The next day, we left for Jwara.
Jwara was the most scenic campsite. We also saw a lot of famous valley shots of Hampta Pass on that route. Chika campsite is another famous one, but we moved ahead on our trek route to Jwara. That trek route was too beautiful and, the pathways were the least difficult to tread with amazing views.
Later, we crossed a river on a harness to avoid getting wet in the cold water. The river flow was medium so crossing it with the help of a rope tied across was convenient. The next day we left for Balu Ka Ghera and, the trek from there had a gradual ascend and snow patches too. It was the coldest campsite. We left for Shea Goru the next day and, its trek route goes via Hampta Pass. The trek began to get harsher as it was a high snow region.
Hills were surrounding the trail. On the Hampta Pass Trek, we gradually moved from the greener side to the landscape full of Himalayan glaciers, cold deserts, grasslands and, a vast distance of rough terrains. We had to be extra careful while stepping on the boulders as we moved ahead.
By the time we reached the end of our Hampta Pass trek, we felt too tired to keep moving, but the view we saw right in front of us was stunning. We gave ourselves some time to grasp the beauty around us. The mountains with snowy tops hiding behind the clouds look like candy floss.
The terrain had changed with the next campsite after Shera Goru. Chattru was a dry yet distinct region to trek. Chhatru had its exceptional views to adore. We took a bus from Chhatru to Batal early in the morning. Later arranged a transport to take us from Batal to Chandratal. Chandratal felt like the ultimate destination, reaching there and looking at the view of the crescent-shaped turquoise lake with a rocky bank. We looked at the majestic snow-capped mountains with mountains of scree overlooking the lake on one side and desert enclosing it on the other.
Our Hampta Pass and Chandratal trek ended with several snaps in our minds and stories that we all lived together.
