Rudranag
What it is
A waterfall on a side stream of the Parvati with a small shrine to Shiva beside it and a dhaba on the footbridge below, about two hours on foot above Barshaini on the path to Kheerganga. It is the halfway mark of that walk and its lunch stop — the last easy ground before the forest climb — and a destination of its own for a shorter day in the gorge.
Photos: ArjunChhibber01 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photos Worldwide (CC0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Getting there
From Kasol, 37 minutes by road to Barshaini, then on foot up the true left bank: Nakthan in one to two hours, then less than an hour more along the gorge to the footbridge below the fall. No road, no shortcut. The path is well used and needs no guide in clear weather.
The day
As a stop: tea or lunch at the dhaba, a look at the fall from the bridge, and on up — the climb from here to the meadow is three hours or more through forest. As a day out: up from Barshaini by nine, lunch here, and back down to the road by mid-afternoon, which gives the gorge and the waterfall without the long climb. The Kheerganga plan passes through twice, on the way up and the way down.
When to go
April to June and September to November, with the path clear and the fall full. In July and August the stream is high and the path mud; from December to February the path above Nakthan is snow and the dhaba is shut.
Around it
Nakthan below; Kheerganga above; Kalga and Pulga near the road-end; Barshaini at the bottom. The walks guide has the whole path.
Plans that include this
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Nearby places
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Questions people ask
Where is Rudranag?
On the Kheerganga path above Barshaini, past Nakthan, where the path crosses a side stream on a footbridge below the fall. It is about two hours up from the road-end at a normal pace, and the halfway mark of the walk to the spring.
Can I walk to Rudranag and back in a day?
Yes, easily: two hours up from Barshaini through Nakthan, lunch at the dhaba on the bridge, two hours down. It is the short version of the Kheerganga day for anyone who wants the gorge and the waterfall without the climb through the forest above.
Is there food at Rudranag?
A dhaba on the bridge in season — tea, maggi, parathas, dal-rice — and nothing in the winter months when the path above Nakthan is under snow and the family goes down. Carry water from Nakthan; the dhaba sells bottles but not always, and the stream below the fall is the only other source.