Kareri Lake is a shallow high elevation fresh water lake located on the southern spur of the

Dhauladhar Dhauladhar ( hi, धौलाधार) () is a mountain range which is part of a lesser Himalayan chain of mountains. It rises from the Shivalik hills, to the north of Kangra and Mandi. Dharamsala, the headquarters of Kangra district and th ...

range approximately 9 km northwest of

Dharamsala Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855. The ...

Kangra district Kangra is the most populous district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch. In 1758 ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

, India.Kareri Lake

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Geography

Kareri Lake is at elevation above the

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. Snow melting from the

range serves as the source of the lake and a stream, Nyund is the outflow. Since the source is fresh melting snow and the lake is shallow, water visibility is very high and in most places, the lake bed can be seen. The lake remains frozen from early December to March–April. Kareri Lake water drains into Niyund stream, which later on drains into interconnected local water channels that subsequently drain into Maharana Pratap Sagar Reservoir situated on

Pong Dam The Pong Dam, also known as the Beas Dam, is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Beas River in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, just upstream of Talwara. The purpose of the dam is water storage for irrigation and hydroelectric power genera ...

over the

River Beas The Beas River (Sanskrit: ; Hyphasis in Ancient Greek) is a river in north India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab. Its total length is ...

Tourism

Kareri lake is best known for being a trekking destination in the

s. Kareri Lake Trek is a 13 km easy-to-moderate trek covering 5 km forest area including mixed pine and broadleaf forests followed by grasslands interspersed with pine and deodar in the second half of the trail carved into granite rocks. There is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Shakti on a hilltop overlooking the lake. A few Gaddi ''kothis'' are present on the other side of the lake, an area which is used by the gaddis as a grazing ground for their animals. Kareri Lake serves as a base for trekking further into the Dhauladhar and onward to

Chamba Chamba may refer to: People * Gilberto Chamba (born 1961), Ecuadorian serial killer * Jessica Chamba (born 1981), European activist Places Ghana * Chamba, a town in the Northern Region India * Chamba (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Himachal Pradesh ...

and

Bharmour Bharmour, also known as Machu Pichu of Himachal, formally known as Brahmpura, was the ancient capital of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh, India. Situated at an altitude of 2,100 metres in the Budhil valley, forty miles to the south-east of Ch ...

via the Minkiani Pass (4250m) and Baleni Pass (3710m). It also acts as a base camp for the popular Seven Lake Trek to the seven high elevation lakes of Dhauladhar Ranges. Lam Dal Lake is also accessible from the Kareri through Mannkiani Pass.

Etymology

Kareri Lake is named after the nearby Gaddi village of Kareri, situated 9 km south east of the lake. Kareri Lake is one of seven high elevation sacred lakes of Dhauladhar Ranges dedicated to the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. Other sacred lakes after Kareri are Nag Dal Lake, KaliKund Lake, Nag Chhatri Dal lake, Chandrakup Lake, Dam Ghodi Tal Lake and Lam Dal Lake.

Seven Lake Trek

Kareri Lake also serves as a base camp for the popular Seven Lake Trek of

. Although there are more than 22 high elevation lakes in the Dhauladhar Ranges, seven among these are popular among trekkers in this region. All of the lakes are considered sacred and attributed to

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. The Seven Lake Trek is a 5-7 day moderate-to-difficult level trek comprising trekking among the high elevation passes such as

Indrahar Pass Indrahar (इन्द्रहार) Pass is a mountain pass in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas. Located at and an altitude of above mean sea level, near the tourist town of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh ...

(4342m), Mankiani Pass (4250m) and Gaj Pass (4140m) and the seven high elevation

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s of

, namely Nag Dal, KaliKund/Kali Dal Lake, Nag Chhatri Lake, Chandrakup Lake, Dam Ghodi Tal Lake and Lam Dal with Kareri Lake acting as the base camp for the trek as well as the first point of the trek with

Triund Triund is a small hill station in the Kangra district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Triund is a part of Dharamkot. Triund is at the foot of the Dhauladhar ranges and is at a height of . See also *List of hill stations in India ...

acting as its last checkpoint.

Gallery

References

{{Lakes of Himachal Pradesh Lakes of Himachal Pradesh Geography of Kangra district