Mantalai Lake: Trekking The Origin of Parvati River

By Pradeep Kapoor

Parvati valley in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the Western Himalayas. The dense forests of Deodar trees, gushing waterfalls, lush-green meadows, snow-capped mountains and of course, the mighty Parvati river attract people from across the country and the globe to this part of the world.

I am a frequent traveller to Parvati valley and have trekked up to some of the most awesome places like Malana and Kheerganga many a times. But I always wanted to go a little higher and had often wondered while looking at the Parvati river how it would be like to reach at her source, her birthplace — the Mantalai lake.

The lake is located at an altitude of around 4100 meters and the trek upto here is considered moderate meaning it’s neither tough nor easy and can be done by most mountaineering enthusiasts. But to reach here, you have to first reach the Parvati valley.

Road to Kasol

Last week, I finally got an opportunity to escape my city and headed straightway to the Parvati valley with three of my buddies. We drove down to Bhuntar, a small town near Kullu that has an airstrip but real poor air connectivity. From here we took a link road to Kasol, the beautiful Himalayan village first made famous by foreigners primarily Israeli nationals.

It took us less than two hours to reach Kasol where we spent the night. It was the last week of June but there was already a chill in the night air. Next morning we drove to Barshaini, a small village at an hour’s drive from Manikaran and also the starting point of our trek to Mantalai.

Barshaini to Kheerganga

We started from Barshaini in the afternoon as the distance from here to Kheerganga is relatively shorter. There are two ways to reach Kheerganga from Barshaini — the first one takes you through a deep forest of Deodar trees and the second one through beautiful village Nathan and the temple of local deity Rudranag. We chose the first one.

The trek to Kheerganga is one of the most popular ones among visitors and every year thousands of people take this route to happiness. Walking at a leisurely pace, we reached Kheerganga at around 5 pm and pitched our tents in a nearby forest. After cooking and eating our dinner, we got inside our sleeping bags fairly early as tomorrow was going to be a long and tough day in the mountains.

Kheerganga to Tunda Bhuj to Pandupul

We packed our tents and started off early at around 6 am. We walked in the dense forest along the Parvati river and after a while it started getting a little steeper and tougher. We moved slowly but steadily with trees, waterfalls and meadows for company.

The only people we met were shepherds at Tunda Bhuj. The shepherds spend the summers here with their flock of sheep and return to the lower mountains when winters begin to set in around October. We had our lunch near Tunda Bhuj and as we got up to resume our trek, it began to rain.

The terrain became quite difficult to climb from this point onwards as we were forced to use our hands to move ahead on the slippery land and rocks. By the time we crossed Pandupul, a ‘bridge’ of huge rocks over Parvati, it had become pitch dark. We hurriedly pitched our tents in the rain that wouldn’t stop and had to eat biscuits and chocolates for dinner. I was so tired I didn’t know when I fell asleep listening to rain pitter-pattering against the roof of my tent.

Pandupul to Odi Thaach to Mantalai Lake

The sun was shining bright when we woke up the next morning. It was the most beautiful morning of my life as I got out of my tent, inhaled the fresh mountain air and looked at the snow-capped mountains and beautiful forests. We didn’t have much time and after breakfast we were back on our feet and climbing the mountain again. From here to Mantalai is a long and arduous climb and our aim was to reach Mantalai before the nightfall.

As we walked steadily with Parvati river not far off from us, we passed by some of the most beautiful sights. We saw water streams so white and pure, you could count the stones underneath. We reached Odi Thaach by afternoon and after some rest started walking again.

After following Parvati river for around five more hours the mountains opened to form a narrow valley. We were getting nearer to our destination and in another hour we were there at the birthplace of Parvati river. We had reached Mantalai Lake by the sunset. We were tired but full of joy to be finally here. With smiles on our faces, we sat by the lake and watched in silence as the sun went down the horizon.