Chitkul to harsil over lamkhaga pass
Chitkul is the last village in the baspa valley, at the upper limits of tree line, it is chilly, wind- swept even in early autumn. It is 24km from sangla and the starting point for most of the treks including kailash Parikrama, Har Ki Doon and Bhagirathi in Uttrakhand. From chitkul it is a pretty trek winding through green pastures towards Rani kanda which is an extensive pasture on the baspa's left bank. From rani kanda the next destination is at Dumti. Moving upwards the Baspa Dumti pastures is thirty km's from Chitkul. As this trek is used very often therefore it is difficult to define all the treks with a name. From dumti we go much further to gundar( 4,400m) which is the suitable camping site before continuing the journey to the base camp on the other side of Lhamkhaga pass( 5,280m) which is a long day journey and seems to be never ending at the last part of the trek. Moving downwards the lhamkhaga stream the trail curves gradually as the tail of the valley is approached. The only indication for the turn is the frozen lake, campsite at kiarkoti is among the busy willow clumps. Kiarkoti is brown bear country. The next destination after kiarkoti is Gangnani which is again a pasture country, which is approached by crossing the jelandhari tributary of bhagirathi river on the left bank. The last days trek is a steep descend along the right bank of jelandhari taking us to harsilon the banks of bhagirathi river. The bhagirathi is one of the two himalayan arms of the mighty ganga, and the gangotri glacier at its head is revered as the source of the ganga river. Harsil is surrounded by deodar forests.