Hampta Pass Trek

The base camp is set up at Jobra. Taking an hour drive from Manali will take you to Joba pass which is placed at an altitude of 2,987 metre from the sea level. The trek is an easy one. You don’t need to be a habitual trekker to cover the distance. There is a river along the trail which can be used to refill the water botels. If you’re allergic, you can carry your own water bottle from the base camp. The meadow near Jobra has Rani Nallah river flowing along. If you come around winters, you may get lucky to find some snow by the side of river. There are a couple of waterfalls in Jwara that are visible from Chika. The snow-clad mountains of Dhauladhar range is visble from Chika. The campsite is situated at a 2.5hr trek amid the forest-lined trail. Lunch and transport will be on us.

This trek would take you around 6-7 hours of moderate trekking. The distance is just 8 kilometre but the boulder section takes up a couple of hours to cross. The terrain is full of rocks. It takes around an hour to cross the valley. To catch your breath, you can rest at Chota Balu Ka Ghera and have a quick bite. Balu Ka Ghera is a bed of sand, as the name suggests. The ground is composed mainly of sand that is washed down by the river on its course. A camp is set at this site, where you can watch the sun set behind the snow-clad mountains.

This is the toughest part of the trek. It takes around 9 hours to travel 6.65 kilometre of distance. An hour of gradual ascnt which becomes steep uphill till you reach Hampta Pass, followed by a 2 hour descent. There are no water sources, hence you are adivsed to carry at least two litres of water from Balu Ka Ghera. You can take a small break on the top of th pass to catch some breath. The lunch is served at Hampta Pass, after which you begin your descent. The complexity of descent depends upon the snow. During the snow, it can get slippery. Sliding down is also an option if there’s snow. The camp is finally set at Shea Goru which has a river alongside for water needs.

As you move closer to the road, the descent gets more slippery. There are couple of places with soil very slippery, so you need to be very careful to prevent yourself from getting hurt. This section would take around 4-4.5 hours. Chhatru is a beautiful camping site with the lovely view of mountain ranges. It is around 50 kilometre away from Chandratal. From here, you will take a drive to Chandratal to see the moon lake. The journey takes about 3 hours and the road is not very smooth.