SARU TAL
TREK
Saru Tal is a high altitude Lake located at 4200m in Western Garhwal. The Lake is visited annually by local village folk who consider the Lake as sacred. This treks is predominately a ridge walk over long meadow stretches offering wide views of the Gangotri Peaks in the distance and Swaragrohini, Kalanag and Banderpunch in close proximity. The local folk refer to Saru Tal as the 5th Dham with the other’s being Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yumnotri. Another reason for referring to Saru Tal as the 5th Dham is that this is the only location from where you can see all the 4 temples in a direction sense. Which means from the Lake region one can see towards Kedarnath towards the right, Bandinath towards the middle, Gangotri towards the left and Yumnotri down below. The trek starts from Sankri and over the first 3 days of the trek the trail climbs over the peak of Kedar Kanta (3800m) which is a well known peak in the region and offers wide views of the area. Over the next 2 days the route leads to Saru Tal. After visiting the Lake rather than retracing steps back there is an option of crossing the Fachu Kandi Pass ( 4500m ) and walking to Hanuman Chatti.
REgion
Western Garhwal
FIRST TRIP
May 2011
Trip Grading
3
Trip DURATION
8 Days
Best Period
June, September and October
Side TRIPS
Cross Fachu Kandi Pass and descend down to Hanuman Chatti
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
1. Scenic approach through long meadow stretches to Saru Tal
2. Super ridge walk on Day 3 of the trek
3. Demanding approach to Saru Tal if traversing in snow.
4. Great views from Fachu Kandi Pass, seldom visited region by trekkers