Bhrigu Lake Trek — Day Two
(Next day story link at the bottom)
26th June 2022, Sunday morning.
Rola Kholi camp .. chilled river water .. toothpaste and brush .. Cold temperature and misty view.This is how a morning starts here. We all were eager for the tea and Tarun informed us that we will get it soon by 7:30 A.M. Everyone was discussing and laughing about what happened yesterday night which took the sleep away from eyes .. yes mule was the hot topic in the batch. Batchmates were annoyed with the temporary toilet arrangement in the mud and lots of flies roaming around in that tent as they had never experienced something similar before. People coming from village background must have experienced this and should be comfortable with it. Tea was ready by now and we all wanted to have it as much as we could put in the glass .. it was cold morning and a hot tea is blessing :-)
Today was going to be the summit day and we will witness the auspicious Bhrigu lake and will return back after spending some time there. Tarun informed us that we will be carrying lunch with us today and it is going to be a tough day due to initial steep ascent and rocky terrain after that. We had healthy and delicious breakfast and started our trek after a brief from guides (Tarun and one new guide joined for the day).
First ascent which was looking very difficult from our camp, we climbed it fairly well in approx 35 minutes which usually takes 45–60 minutes on an average and some groups do it in even 90–120 minutes. We thought we will get some plain but again today was an ascent day and after a while the old snow patch appeared. This is usually very slippery and accident prone patch. Past winter trekking experienced helped me to cross it without falling but 2 out of 11 hikers fell down many times while crossing it ..
This was fun time .. After snow patch it was again scary looking ascend at approx 60 degree and we were very cautious now. This was a good experience covering this trail .. few boys were exhausted and they finished their lunch here itself.
Gradually we kept climbing and finally we reached on top. After walking for 100 meters we finally had Bhrigu lake in front of us. We were at 14100 Ft height at present and 360 degree view from here was pleasant.
Tarun informed us that no one will go near the lake without removing shoes and no one will take bath in it as it’s considered to be auspicious. We agreed, unshoed and walked towards river bare feet. Water was ice cold and very clean. We were informed that we can drink this water and fill our bottles as well. We took a group photo as a summit memory with the banner which Tarun was carrying from HimTrek.
Whoever was still having the lunch box (I had), started the lunch at a good distance from the river (being auspicious). We spent around an hour here and started our downward trek towards our camp. Now it is going to be full decent until the completion of complete trek. Climbing down was fairly easy and we completed it in half the time we took to hike till lake.
We reached our camps by 4 P.M in the evening. Same view .. foggy surrounding .. zero visibility after every 5 minutes and then visibility back .. beautiful view.
Everyone is feeling very relaxed as tomorrow is going to be the last trek day and we will reach Manali for our home journey. Again routine events followed with tea, snacks, dinner and finally .. good night. Today we were aware that any obstacle or noise would be a mule or dog hence we had a sound sleep today .. without any worry :-)
