Preface

This beautiful lake has been situated in the lap of Himalayas at an altitude between 2600 to 2700 mts in Mandi district. There is situated a Temple which dedicated to Rishi Parashar and was built in unique 3 tier Pagoda style. This place provided the magnificent view of adjacent snow clapped peaks.

The plan to this lake had been in mind from a long but never got a chance to visit this beautiful place. Finally this Christmas weekend endorsed me enough spare time to plan for this lake. I had called my friends Ricky (Rahul Bhatnagar) and Anik in Delhi and discussed with them about this plan. Anik having some kind of urgency at home so he set back but Ricky agreed to this.

Ricky had arrived Chandigarh on 25th night with his wife Deepti in his newly bought Swift VDi. Earlier I was thinking to go in my car for this trip but Ricky later on told me to take his car instead.

Journey

Day0: 25th December 2009:

Ricky's plan to come Chandigarh initially seems to be uncertain as he got late to start from Delhi but many thanks to Deepti who pressure & ready him for this trip (Indian wife having capabilities to change his husband's mood and decision at anytime:):)). He arrived late in night at 11:00 PM around at Chandigarh. I and my wife had packed our stuff in no time and fall asleep as we have to leave early in the morning to avoid rush at Ropar and Kharar.

Day1: 26th December 2009: Chandigarh --> Parashar Lake --> Kullu

We left Chandigarh at 5:40AM and soon passed Ropar and Kiratpur Sahib in no time. The roads are in bad conditions from Kharar to Ropar due to widen process. This is the high time for fog but to our surprised we didn't faced any such conditions and the visibility was fair enough. The ride was smooth and cozy. What a relief in a chauffeur driven car ;-). He really drove very fast but safe. There was little bit fog at Swarghat but that would managable.



We reached Bilaspur at 10AM and had our breakfast at 'Him Shikhar' dhaba which was situated just after crossing Bilaspur. We had Egg, Onion & Aloo parantha there and though I missed Amul butter on the top of them but each item was very delicious in taste.

Reached Mandi at 11:30AM we had enquired about the road conditions for Parashar Lake as I heard that the road is in bad shape and not suitable for small car. People told us that there is no problem in taking our car till lake though the road is under maintenance and Kacchi, all the way till the lake.

Note: Here I described the detailed route for this lake for your convenience - You have to cross Mandi and take the bridge that is situated on your left after you crossed the Mandi Bus stand. Mandi bus stand is situated in NH21 to your right side.

Take left when as you crossed the bridge. Soon after you will find diversion, take the upper road. There is 2nd diversion ahead and you have to take the upper road again (a signboard also put up there).

After traversing several kms you will find another diversion and now you have to follow the lower road as the upper road leads to Kullu. The kacchi road starts soon after.

The road was in pathetic condition just after 2-3 kms. The debris scattered all around which is not a problem for Car but makes a bike to negotiate this kind of terrain. One can observe the maintenance activities that going around improving the road conditions but this will take time, perhaps few years now on.

It's very hard for Ricky to negotiate those graveled path with Swift but he is very skilled driver and slowly we proceed further. We had covered almost entire 23kms stretch mostly on 1st or 2nd gear. Had it been a slight mistake and we would strand there for another 1-2 days.

We could felt the temperature dropped drastically as we moved further up towards Lake. It took us complete 2.5 hrs to cover only 43kms, now you can imagine the kind of road we travelled. There is a trek path also there for adventure loving people. This trek of 9kms starts from Baghi and is very scenic. Normally an average person can take 5-6hrs to reach Parashar Lake by trekking. But due to lack of time and spirit we would rather preferred the road over trek.

We reached Lake at around 1:45PM. The view from there was amazing. You can witness the 270 degree view of snow clapped mountains from there. What a splendid pay off for this hectic and tiring 8hrs ride! There was some celebration going on and on enquiring people told us that their village's deity comes to meet local deity of the Parashar Lake. This is a routine that every year, deities from all the villages nearby, visited this place to meet deity of Parashar Lake.



The first view of the lake was amazing, same as what we heard & looked about this place from different people and on internet. The lake was partially frozen by this time. The small grassland was floating into this lake at one corner, completes the picture. The temple was closed when we reached there & many people waiting outside the temple for their turn.




The temple is beautifully located at one end of the lake. This temple is small in structure but provided the best view from any angle. There is huge constructions going around the temple area and I hope to have the accommodations facility for every people visited, in next few years. This will enhance the staying options at the lake and reduced the dependency on FRH there, which is up to now the only option available there for accommodation. Obviously this place will be more crowded than now but can provide the full facilities for other devotees.

Note: All leather & electronics items prohibited inside temple though no one can ask you about this. This is your own belief and devotion that you must fellows this tradition.

We were little bit disappointed due to lack of snow as this was the high time for finding snow here. People there told me that once snowfall happened in November and it might again happen at anytime depending upon the weather.

Though it's a sunny day, the freezing waves flowing at their full pace, which made things worse to worsen. I felt pain in my jaws and ears due to extremely cold temperature. Earlier we were thinking to stay at the FRH but guys there told me that the water was frozen and we could face difficulties there. So we decided to move back to Mandi for accommodation.

We had Maggie and Rice there and after some quick photo sessions, moved back to Mandi. We reached at a place (diversion) some 6kms short of Kataula and instead of moving further toward Mandi we decided to move to Kullu instead. Kullu is 38 kms from there by keeping thought to visit Manali tomorrow. The road is narrow single lane but good in shape and bypass Aut to meet NH21 at Bhuntar.

We rent a room on the hotel there in Rs600 per night (Hotel guy offered initially the same room in Rs1000 but we negotiated it to Rs600). This hotel (earlier name was Lake View now they changed it to Airport Inn) situates just at the back side of Kullu-Manali airport. The rooms and bathroom are big enough and very clean with warm water facility. It has its restaurant names 51milesstone. The snacks were not so testy but amazingly the food was quite good.

We were played some card games in the room but were so tired that we doze off quickly. This was very needy at that time as Ricky driving all the way to Kullu from Chandigarh and faced the hard terrain of Parashar Lake.

Day2: 27th December 2009: Kullu --> Chandigarh

Ricky woke me up in the morning at 7:30AM (Na khud sota hia na kisi ko sone deta hai) and told that we have to moved back to Chandigarh. We all were bit disappointed but there was no second option. We reached Chandigarh back in 8hrs flat with few jam at Swarghat and Ropar.

Itinerary: Chandigarh (135kms) --> Bilaspur (70kms) --> Mandi (48kms) --> Kataula --> Parashar Lake (23-25kms is gravel road)


FRH Booking number: D.F.O. Mandi 01905-235360


Tolls: Rs11 at Ropar, Rs5 at Kiratpur Sahib & Rs30 at Swarghat (one time on entry to Himachal Pradesh)