A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and
expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures
the depth of his own nature. The fluviatile trees next to the shore are the
slender eyelashes which fringe it, and the wooded hills and cliffs around are
its overhanging brows.” – David Henry Thoreau.
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| Prashar Lake |
After having a lavish weekend trip at Tirthan Valley and successful trek to Serolsar Lake from Jalori Pass, it was time to bid adieu to Himachal and return to Delhi. But a trip is never over until you reach home. So here we were on our way discussing which place to visit on our return journey. Yes, we need a place for our return journey also, the traveler inside us was still hungry for something.
Soon we saw a sign board for Prashar Lake in Mandi (a town in Himachal Pradesh). None of us had seen this beauty, so in a matter of minutes we decided to divert our vehicle to Prashar Lake route. Prashar Lake lies 50 km north of Mandi. The lake is at a height of 2730m above sea level.
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On the way to Prashar Lake
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Well maintained roads to
IIT Mandi
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| IIT Mandi |
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| Adventure on the way to Prashar Lake |
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Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi lies on the way to Prashar. The road till IIT-Mandi is very well built and maintained (for obvious reasons). You will not feel that you are travelling in mountains while driving on such smooth roads. But as soon as you cross the IIT-Mandi, welcome to typical Indian roads! The journey till Prashar Lake is a steep one with most of the roads in bad condition.
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| Group pic on the way |
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| Adventurous roads through forests |
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| Beautiful scenery on the way to Prashar |
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| Curvy roads |
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But here it’s not the journey that matters, it’s the ultimate destination that
will blow your minds. We reached the lake in about 2 hours. We saw a huge
number of vehicles parked at the entry point. As it was a Sunday, a lot of
locals must have come to enjoy the beautiful weather.
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| Beautiful forests |
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| Description board of Prashar saga |
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| Group pic at the entrance |
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| Parking Level 999 |
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After climbing a little
upward terrain, you get the first glimpse of the Prashar Lake. The first words
that came from the mouth – “Bhai Heavy!!”.
Surrounded by imposing Dhauladhar
ranges in Kullu Valley was this pristine blue water lake. The pictures will do
more talking.
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| First view of Prashar Lake from the hill top |
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| A mini island in the middle of Prashar Lake |
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Adjacent to Prashar Lake, is
a 13th century 3
storied pagoda like temple dedicated to sage Prashar, and hence the name Prashar Rishi Temple. The sage
meditated here and that’s how this Lake got its name. The
lake has a floating island in it and it is said to be unclear how deep it is,
with a diver not being able to determine its depth.
We went inside the temple
to offer prayers. The lake and temple area is maintained by a trust and is
fenced all around with barbed wire.
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| 3 storied Pagoda temple |
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| Entrance of the temple |
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| Prashar saga idol inside temple |
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| Are O sambha - Kitne aadmi the |
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The weather
was getting more beautiful. We decided to spend some time relaxing near the
temple absorbing the beauty of this place.
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| Relaxing near Prashar Lake |
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| Description board near the Lake |
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| Warning board near the Lake |
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| Group pic near the Prashar temple |
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After resting for a while, we climbed back to entry point. Near the entry point
you will find few tea stalls which offer tea, coffee, Maggi/noodles, Rajma
Chawal, Kadi Chawal, Dal Chawal and lots of other variety of item to feed your
hungry bellies.
We also saw
few horses and sheep roaming around. Capturing enough digital memories we left
the place resting the traveler inside us till the next journey.
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| Sheeps grazing on the
hills near Prashar |
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Sheeps and flowers on
the hill
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| White horses on the
hills |
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| Pile of stones |
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As has been
with us most of the cases, as soon as we left a place the weather decides to
take a U-turn. On our return journey we reached Mandi in about an hour. For all
those travelling to Himachal Pradesh, everyone should follow traffic rules
strictly. Our car driver was issued a challan for not wearing the seat belt and
not in proper uniform.
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| Beautiful weather in Mandi |
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| Heavy rainfall at Prashar Lake |
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| The place where our car was issued a challan |
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| Mandi town |
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The Prashar
Lake trek is very famous with trekking enthusiasts, especially the winter trek.
There is a 7.5 kms trekkable route with starting point at Bagi village. The
trek is mostly uphill through the dense forest. During winters it is possible
to trek to Prashar Lake along the closed Bagi-Prashar road. The trek is 16.5
kilometers from Suda village to Prashar Lake and it is moderately difficult. However the presence of a
road ensures that the route is easy to navigate and the trek does not contain
any sharp ascents or descents.
In winters
the Lake is completely frozen and the temple is buried in heavy snow. Only the
top of the temple is visible. I am attaching few pictures (Source: Internet)
which will give you an insight of this white beauty in winters.
Prashar Lake in winters (Source : Google)
In case you are planning to visit this majestic beauty in Himachal Pradesh, you
can contact us @
1 comments:
Your blog was good and informative. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, keep posting!.
P.K.residency
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