Prashar Trek - An Unplanned expedition

*View of Prashar lake

I was visiting my hometown, and to spend some time with my college buddies I made a 4 day stop in Delhi. Spontaneously on a  Friday evening, we decided to go for a trek somewhere north. Upon dwelling for some time over the internet we finalized our destination to be "Prashar Lake". Within two hours, we booked our bus, boarded that night, and reached Mandi by the next morning. We took the local vehicle to reach Bagi from where we began our trek through dense forest on foot.

*On the way to Bagi from Mandi 

*Getting ready for a trek on foot.

Our destination was visible from where we started, but we knew we had to put some efforts to reach our destination as we were completely unplanned, and also we had decided to complete this trek on our own without any guide or other help. It was a stressful task for both our mind and body. There were high chances of getting lost or stuck in the middle of the forest.

*Destination as visible from bagi

Our trek started on a rocky pathway which was a bit tough to navigate through because there was water flowing through the hills and the current were significant. We had to anyhow navigate through (but that was a very pleasant experience as the cold water running and giving a smooth musical sound is an experience something I always admire)

Navigating through rocky paths and river

 Upon traveling for some distance we found an alternative route, we started our journey through the new route, and at the very initial stage itself we lost our path in the woods. It took us some time to get back to the track and continue our journey ahead. Meanwhile, the rain showering started for which we were completely unprepared for, we stopped for some time under trees to let the rain stop, but still, we got drenched in rain and it took us some time to get dry, still, we continued our journey as time was a big constraint, we wanted to get to our destination before sunset. 

*Passing through dense forest

 *In between our journey

The climb was stiff and not very easy in the rainy season, the paths were quite slippery and tough to walk through. I had an unfortunate cramp in my left leg due to some ankle twist somewhere in the middle of our journey. The cramp made me much slower than others in the group, and I had to put extra effort on my end to make up for that. This was making me more exhausted and tired. I kept hydrating myself to avoid any further muscle cramps. At some point in time, it became very difficult for me to climb that stiff routes, but it was more about mental toughness than my physical ability, I kept going though. We reached our destination just before sunset, and the temperature started declining all of sudden. In the end, there was a small local tea seller, where we had our tea, before going to the ashram temple for our night stay. It was time for some rest as it was already dark all around and we were tired from our 6 hr long journey through jungles and hills.

*Tea at Prashar Lake

At night around 12-1:00 AM we woke up to see the milky way, as the sky was very clear we were lucky enough to have that astonishing experience of viewing outer space through our naked eye in such detail. Unfortunately, we did not carry any high-end camera with us to capture the beauty in a frame. In words, I won't be able to describe that sight.

*Prashar Lake in the morning

The experience of Prashar was so mesmerizing and blissful, calmness all around was so enriching that it felt like meditation by just being present there. The lake has a very significant historical story associated with it, which we came to know while interacting with the locals there. We visited all around the lake the next morning to have great views of hills and clouds around.

*View from hilltop next to the lake

We started our descent by noon, came back to Bagi on foot following the same path we followed while climbing the hills. We reached Bagi by evening, it took us 3 hr for the descent which was much easier than the ascent phase. We took a bus to the Mandi, from where we booked our bus back to Delhi by Monday morning we reached Delhi. The journey was short but the experience had an everlasting experience on me, and I will definitely take time to visit Prashar again with much more time in hand. 

The overall trek was easy to moderate, just our level of preparedness and rainy weather made it a bit tough for us. The ascent can be completed on normal days with the right equipment within 3-4 hours. It is a must-have trek for all trek lovers because you will get to see a lot of fascinating landscapes in a very short duration of time. 

Thanks for reading...

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