Kareri Lake
Kareri Village is another interesting
place neighboring Triund Hill. Kareri village is approximately in following
co-ordinates 32° 16′ 50.93″ N 76° 16′
50.77″ E and is just 3km from Ghera village. Total distance to Kareri village
from Dharamsala ISBT is about 22km.
From Kareri village, the Kareri Lake
(Locals of Kareri call it Dal Lake) is at a distance of 13km to 15km and
approximately in following co-ordinates 32° 19′ 18.52″ N 76° 16′ 37.06″ E and about 2934 meters above sea level.
Best time to trek to Kareri Lake is
between March to October month as after October the weather around there gets
colder and even mild snow in November and heavy snowfall after December to
March.
Kareri Lake is a high altitude lake with
low depth and its primary source of water is snow melting from Minkiani Peak,
with Lyond (Nyund) stream as its main outflow in Dhauladhar region. Since it is
a fresh water lake and shallow, transparency of water is very high with
visibility of lake bed in most of points. By the side of Kareri Lake, there is
a SHIVA and SHAKTI (Kareri Devi) Mandir and 4 open rooms, 1 shop, 2 enclosed room and one kitchen and but
enough to give you shelter for a night, if you have sleeping bags. Beside these
there are around 8-10 Seasonal Gaddi Huts.
You can reach Kareri village from
Dharamsala via Ghera village, since at present Ghera is the only nearest
village which is connected to Dharamsala with road (poor road condition). For
Ghera you can board a direct bus from Dharamsala ISBT leaving at around 08:40AM
and fare is 30 INR or alternatively by a shared taxi first reach Chari village
(taxi fare up to Chari is 20 INR) and from there another shared taxi to Ghera
village (fare is 20 INR).
Or if you love to walk you may like to
start your Kareri Trail from Dal Lake to Satowari village and then a forest
trail (full of seasonal leeches) first up to Ghera.
From Ghera you need to cross the
incomplete dirt road and a concrete bridge and take another forest trek after
two turns (no leeches) since the road is still in scratch.
After a climb of about 20 to 30 minutes,
you need to take a left downward turn leaving the half complete road going
north-east. You go through the fields, homes and Children Day Care Centre of
Nora village and reach a small stream.
Here you can either jump over the rocks
to reach other side or cross a small concrete bridge a little further to start
the steep trail to Karei village. After a walk of about 2 hours or more you
reach Kareri village.
Alternatively there is a Home Stay that serve homely food and provides guide and stay option.
From Kareri village the trail to Kareri
Lake (or Dal Lake as local mention) is 13km and the trail goes from the side of
the Rest House and after crossing the water tank you come across the unfinished
road and a bridge.
If you are going alone you need not to
worry (but recommended is 2 person) and follow the simple trail adjacent to water tank and catch up the
unfinished trail. It will be a comfortable walk. (If you could capitalize this
simple and straight trail you can cover 10km out of 13 km within 45 minutes and
reach Kareri Lake early).
After a walk of 1 hour you will come
across a much wider concrete bridge and weak wooden bridge to the left side
ignore that trek and turn to the stairs like trail to your right side and climb
a moderate trek, further ahead you will come across two directional trail here
ignore the right hand trail and take left side trail which goes through Lyond
stream without any bridge, you need to carefully cross the slippery rocks to
reach the other side.
From there just follow the trail and
after a walk of 1 hour you’ll come across a weak metal bridge to cross the
wider Lyond stream. After crossing the bridge you will get a single trail
beside Lyund stream that will lead you directly to the beautiful Kareri Lake.
Note:-There is work in progress of road
construction up to Kareri Rest House from Salli village due to this the most of
the trail to Kareri Lake is simple.
