Scrolling through Social Media and just staring at the photos of other travelers finally pissed me off. And one day, when I’d had enough, I called 2 of my friends. Kasol and Kheerganga were two goals that came immediately to our brains!
Kheerganga Trek (3050 meters) lies at the extraordinary finish of Parvati valley. It is a blessed spot with a hot water spring, a small temple of Lord Shiva, and a bathing tank. It makes a rare combination for any trekker to bath in hot spring water when everything is covered by snow.
Details Of Our Trek To Kheerganga
Trip Type: Group adventure
Budget: INR 3,000 per person
Our Kheerganga Trek Route
Karsog to Kasol (174 km) – Kasol to Manikaran (4 km) – Manikaran to Barshaini (16 km) – Barshaini to Kheerganga (11 km)
Almost four years back, when I went there with my childhood friends (Abhinav and Nitul). I was getting bored sitting in class, so I called my friend and we planned to go somewhere. Kheerganga was always on my bucket list, so we decided to go there. I was in Shimla and my friends were in our home town. So we decided to meet in Mandi, which was the center for both of us.
Around 3;00 pm I started my journey from Shimla to Mandi, and they started their journey around 4:30 pm. They were coming by car, when they met with an accident, the glass of the window was broken. Around 8 o’clock we met in mandi. Then we started planning what to do next. In the end, we decided to continue our journey with a broken mirror. We packed the snacks and continued the journey while having drinks. Around 11:00 pm we reached Kasol, by then the market of Kasol was closed. And then we continued our journey to Manikaran. At 11:15 pm, we had reached the Manikaran Gurudwara. And spent the night there.
The next morning we decided to park the car there in gurudwara parking. Because it was not safe to take the car to Barshaini with the broken window mirror. The first bus to Barshaini was at 7 o’clock in the morning which we missed. We started our journey on foot so that we can take a lift from a car on the way. Luckily After 4-5 km walk, we got a lift from a trucker. We reached Barshaini at 10:00 am and had our breakfast there.
Around 11:00 am we started our Kheerganga trek. The trek was extremely fun and had a lot of tourists going along the journey listening to music on their portable speakers. We continued our trek, crossing the village of Nakatan and the temple of Rudra Nag. Both places are ideal to take short breaks. On our way to the top, we walked through the majestic landscape along with a splendid sight of nature. We passed a few wooden bridges. We captured several mesmerizing views.
We reached the top of Kheerganga bang on time! It took 3-4 hours to complete the trek. We took a refreshing dip in the hot spring that washed off all our tiredness and leg pain from the journey. After that, we went to the temple. We stayed for 2 hours to admire the beauty of the hills and ate Maggi.
We started the trek back to Barsaini after tea at 4:30 pm which took us 2 hours. After that, we took a taxi to Manikaran which cost us INR 800. We reached there around 7:300 pm. After that, we stopped for shopping in Kasol market and then we returned to Manali for the next stay.
With an easy to moderate difficulty level, the Kheerganga trek is as much about the journey as it is about the destination.. While the biggest attraction of the trek is the hot water spring that awaits at the end of the trek, the journey to the top is also one to remember.
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