Day 01 :

Manali to Bogi Thach (2400m) - 3-4 hours:

We meet you at the hotel in the morning. Once you are done with your breakfast, we load your baggage on our vehicles and depart to the starting point at Jagatsukh. It is a 30 mins drive to get there by jeep. We meet the rest of the trekking team here, which includes cooks and horsemen. We leave our baggage with them to put that on horses. We start our walk, which passes through few villages. We visit one of the villages below the Bogi Thach to experience culture of Himachal Pradesh. On the way to Bogi Thach we also visit a temple of snake god, which has beautiful wood carving on its doors and walls. A fair takes place at this temple in the month of August. First day is very short but it is kept short for the reason that it is the first day and we require plenty of time to pack horses for the first day to distrubute the load on horses and also as camping goes with the source of water and next camping is too far for the same day where there is water. We reach camping at Bogi Thach around 12o’clock where we will have lunch and by the time we finish our lunch, our horses arrive and we set tents and settle in. Rest of the day is spent in exploring the surroundings. This camping is in forest and which is surrounded by big trees and offers great views of big snow-capped mountains around.

Day 02 :

Bogi Thach to Lamadugo (3000m)- 5-7 hours:

Day starts with breakfast. We leave this camp and head up left side of our camping sight. Most of the day it is up hill walk which passes through few summer settlements of Gujars (nomads) who live here for few months of summer to graze their animals in these high Himalayan pastures during the monsoon time. Their main earning comes from milk and its products (butter and cheese), which they sell in the market. We pass Jumari Thach, which is again a Gujar settlement, and from here we climb few more hundred meters up and then cross the river. This area is all loose rock so we need to be careful with walking. Climb is also steep though short after the river crossing but soon we start descending down to our camp at Lamadugo. Lamadugo is a small camping place in the woods. Water source here is supposed to be holy so locals allow no bathing near the source. One can bath few meters away from it.

Day 03 :

Lamadugo to Deo Tibba base (3475m)- 5-7 hours:

We start our day with an uphill trek and leave the tree line below. We try to get to the top of the ridge as much as possible as it gives us a great views of this area. Most of it is basically going up hill. We can see Bara bangal range and Manali town from our trail. We finally reach one of the camping place which is known as Rouli Khouli though we don’t camp here. It is huge meadow for camping and usually full of horses from local villages of Manali who are left here to graze all summer. From here we start heading down to the river and it is pretty steep downhill at many places. We reach the river where we cross it over a rock bridge (naturally rocks has piled on the river and has built a bridge) After crossing the bridge we walk downstream few hundred meter and reach our beautiful camping place by the small fresh water stream. It is a beautiful camping surrounded with many colorful flowers and when you look upstream, you can see Deo Tibba Mountain. There is an option of going further to the next base camp. In that case we don’t cross the river and just stick to the true left bank of the river. A little uphill and then down hill takes us to big wide grassland in the shadow of Deo Tibba Mountain. We can camp here too though it can be little more colder than camping down stream.

Day 04 :

Rest day or excursion to Deo-Tibba glacier (3700m)- 3-4 hours:

It is a relaxed day. We get up nice and easy and after breakfast, head up to the glacier of Deo-Tibba Mountain. People who want to take it easy, can stay in camp to relax. By 10am we get a good light on the entire mountain in case you want to take some good pictures. Deotibba glacier is full of moraine and boulders so it is not very fascinating but according to locals this place has white and black crystals though difficult to find. Once we are there we all can try our luck to find a white or black crystal. Anyway it is good to have a closer look at the Deo-Tibbba Mountain. We head back to camp where we will have hot lunch waiting for us. After lunch we can do some washing and bathing if needed.

Day 05 :

Deo Tibba base to Chhibba (3000m)- 5-6 hours:

Day starts with a gradual uphill trek from left side of the camp. Up hill walk brings us up high on the ridge, which gives us opportunity to enjoy the great views of Himalaya. In the front we have Hanuman Tibba peak and if we look back, we have Deo Tibba standing still and eternal. We reach a point after 45-60 minute walk where there are some beautiful rocks to climb. If some one is in to climbing, can try a hand of climbing here. It is also a great viewpoint. After spending half an hour here we head further down to our camping. Walk starts getting gradual downhill and later it is little steep down to the riverbed. Once we reach the river, we will have a break for the lunch there and little rest. After half an hour break, we start following the river up stream. It is about half an hour walk when we reach a river crossing point. Usually there is bridge (locally made) but some time people may have to cross the river without bridge as it gets washed down with monsoons sometime. Another river crossing follows one river crossing. After crossing the different channel of the river, trail goes up for 5 minutes and gets gradual up to the camp. It is nice camping place at the confluence of two rivers. One can also walk up to the big waterfall and which offers great view of the camp.

Day 06 :

Chhibba to base of Hampta pass – Balugera (3700m)- 5-6 hours:

The day is supposed to be gradual up hill up to the camp at the base. We cross the stream coming from true right of the valley, which is also known as chhibba Nala. Up hill begins right after crossing the river over a small bridge made of two logs and flat rocks are placed on it. The valley is narrow until we reach a summer settlement at Jwara. Right before Jwara, there is Small River to cross on foot, as there is no bridge. Sometime there can be a bridge here built by local villagers who live here for the summers with their cattle. After Jwara, trail keeps climbing up for an hour and then it gets bit flatter. After an hour we reach the base camp. It is a beautiful place in the shadow of Indrason peak (6000m). Camping is set up on the true right side of the valley. There is lake there, which is fed by a river, which has come down from the glacier of Indrason. You also can see the Hampta pass, which we cross next day. Once we have settled in our tents, we can spend the after noon to explore the surroundings or bathing if any one is interested as place is surrounded with few glacier streams….cold

Day 07 :

Balugera to Sheraguru (3815m) via Hampta pass (4200m)- 5-6 hours:

We stick to true right side of the valley, which is the same side of our camping and start heading up to the pass. We cross the river, which is feeding the lake to get a clear slope for the walk. It is a little hard walk as we start gaining altitude. There is another river crossing to the true right side of the river before we start the final climb to the pass. The pass is only 4200m from the sea level and not so difficult to climb as long as there is a good weather. Other side of the pass is very steep down hill and it is very tricky for horses. It takes about 2 hours from the top to get to the camp. It is a beautiful camping sight with a flat ground and river running close by. Up stream and down stream both the sides offer great views of Himalaya.

Day 08 :

Sheraguru to Chatru and drive to Manali (walk time: 3 hours, Drive time: 4-5 hours):

Morning starts with a river crossing to true right side of the river, which is a bit painful in the morning if there is no sun. It can be avoided by crossing the same day when we cross the pass. The river can only be crossed if we manage to cross the pass early enough otherwise in after noon water level goes high and it is very difficult to cross the river with so much force of water. After river crossing it is mostly downhill, which leads us to road head where we have our vehicles waiting for us. We reach the road head and say good byes to our horse team as they take the same route back with their horses to reach their villages. Board our vehicle and drive back to Manali, which takes us over Rohtang pass (3800m). this place offer nice views of the mountains in the surroundings and valley of Manali. Our trip finishes at the arrival in Manali.

Driving Direction

From Delhi to Manali >
Take Hamilton Rd/Zorawar Singh Marg to NH44 in Kashmere Gate 4 min (850 m)
Follow NH44 to Banur Rd/Banur - Shambhu Rd/Jhansa-Tangori Rd in Mehmadpur   3 h 17 min (213 km)
Continue on Jhansa-Tangori Rd to Kharar   43 min (39.7 km)
Follow NH205 and NH154 to NH3 in Manali   7 h 25 min (290 km)
Manali, Himachal Pradesh