The Gadsar Lake, also called ''the valley of flowers'', is a picturesque, alpine high altitude

oligotrophic lake The Trophic State Index (TSI) is a classification system designed to rate water bodies based on the amount of biological productivity they sustain. Although the term "trophic index" is commonly applied to lakes, any surface water body may be inde ...

is close to

Sonamarg Sonamarg () or Sonmarg (), known as Sonamarag (; ) in Kashmiri, is a hill station located in the Ganderbal District The Ganderbal district, or more formally District Ganderdal, is a district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, I ...

& Ganderbal town in

Ganderbal district The Ganderbal district, or more formally District Ganderdal, is a district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Ganderbal town is administrative headquarters of district. It was formed in 2007 and has 6 subdistricts (tehsils): ...

Kashmir valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...

in Jammu and Kashmir,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at an elevation of . It has a maximum length of 0.85 km and maximum width of 0.76 km.

Etymology, geography

Gadsar in

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

means ''the lake of fishes'', a natural habitat of

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

and other types of fishes among of which is the

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

. Yemsar means ''Lake of

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

''. The lake freezes in the month of November to April and is mostly covered by snow during these months, the floating ice bergs are seen even in summer. It is surrounded by alpine meadows full of various kinds of wild alpine flowers, therefore the lake is also called as ''the valley of flowers''. The lake is mainly fed by melting of

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

. The Gadsar Lake outflows through a stream flows north westwards and joins

Neelum River The Neelum River, or Kishanganga River, is a river in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. It originates in Bandipora district of northern Jammu and Kashmir in India, flows through the Neelam District of Pakistan's Azad Kashmir and then m ...

at Tulail.

Access

The Gadsar Lake is situated 108 kilometres northeast from

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

city. From

Naranag Naranag or (Nara Nag) is a tourist village and ancient Hindu pilgrimage site, near Ganderbal town in Ganderbal district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Well known for its ancient but pillaged temple ruins complex, it is located around 8 km from ...

a 28 km alpine track leads to the lake. Another track of 41 km northwest from Shitkadi

via

Vishansar Lake The Vishansar Lake is an alpine high-elevation oligotrophic lake, situated near Sonamarg in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, India, at an elevation of . It has a maximum length of 1 km, and maximum width of 0.6 km. Etymolo ...

and

Krishansar Lake The Krishansar Lake is an alpine high elevation oligotrophic lake situated near Sonamarg, in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir in India at an elevation of . It is located less than one kilometer northwest of Vishansar Lake, and has a ...

leads to the Gadsar Lake crossing two mountain passes of Nichnai and Gadsar of more than 4100 meters above sea level. The best time to visit is from the month of June to September.

Gadsar, the lake of death

The Gadsar Lake is also called Yemsar which means ''the lake of

'' and is also referred to as ''the lake of death''. A myth still unresolved.

Shepherds A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

grazing their flocks in the outskirts of Gadsar lake during summers believe that, there lives a

Lake Monster A lake monster is a lake-dwelling entity in folklore. The most famous example is the Loch Ness Monster. Depictions of lake monsters are often similar to those of sea monsters. In the ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'', entities classified as "lak ...

, a freshwater

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

which drags the creatures from shores by its tentacles into the water. There is an uncertainty in the minds of visitors, a kind of threat which prevents them going near the shores. The

shepherds A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

also chose otherwise grazing their flocks at the shores of the lake. The fishes are being caught outside the lake in a stream from which it flows out.

References

External links

Lake and around
{{Hydrography of Jammu and Kashmir Geography of Ganderbal district Lakes of Jammu and Kashmir Tourist attractions in Ganderbal district