Pundrik Rishi Lake

What it is

A shelf of water above the Sainj valley, sacred to the sage Pundrik, which has almost finished turning into a meadow. The surface carries a thick floating mat of grass and reed; in the wet months there is water visible beneath it, and in the dry months it reads as sodden ground. The map types it a wetland, and the map is right.

Where it sits in a trip

It is not the reason to come to this valley — that is the meadow at Shangarh — but it is the best thing to do with a second morning if the park's gate at Ropa is not what you came for. The two-day plan has room for it in place of the drive down.

Why go to a lake with no lake in it

Because the walk and the pocket it sits in are the reward, and because a hill lake closing over is a thing worth seeing while it is still legible. The sage's wooden temple stands in deodar at the edge, and the hamlets around it farm these slopes. The paths between their fields are the paths you walk in on.

Anyone selling you a photograph of blue water here is selling you somewhere else. Come for the forest, the shrine and the quiet.

Getting there

Drive up the valley through Neuli and past Shangarh to where the Upper Neahi road gives out — 13 km and about 26 minutes from the Sainj village, and worth allowing 35 on a road that narrow. Everything past that point is a path: 4.2 km on foot, about two hours up and just over an hour back down. With an hour at the water, that is most of a morning rather than something to fit around lunch.

Manners

It is a living shrine on a village's own ground, not a picnic spot. Leave it as you found it, carry out what you bring, and on a festival day stand at the back and photograph the place rather than the people in it — the same rule that applies at the meadow at Shangarh and at its temple.

Plans that include this

All Sainj itineraries →

1 night · 2 days · First visitslow-travel

Two days in the Sainj valley — up to the meadow at Shangarh on the first afternoon, the park's gate and the river on the second

Two days in the Sainj valley: the meadow and temple at Shangarh on the first afternoon, the park's gate at Ropa on the second, with realistic drive times.

Best Mar–Jun · Sep–Nov

See the plan →

2 nights · 3 days · walkerstrekking

Three days into the park from Sainj — the permit at Ropa, the walk up the river, and a night where the road has already ended

Walking into the Great Himalayan National Park from the Sainj side: the permit at Ropa, a homestay at Neuli, a day upstream on foot, and what to expect.

Best Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct

See the plan →