Bhaba Pass Trek

The trek begins in Kafnu, a small Kinnauri village best known as the base for the Bhaba hydroelectric project, where the trail initially follows a maintenance road before narrowing into a proper forest path hugging the Bhaba river. Kinnaur's distinctive apple and apricot orchards give way within the first hour to dense pine and birch forest, and the river itself, fed by glaciers deep within the valley, runs a striking blue-green through a series of gorges and wider pooled sections. Kinnauri Buddhist and Hindu cultural markers appear at intervals along the trail, from small chortens to prayer flags strung across the path, reflecting the valley's position as a meeting point between the two traditions that define much of Kinnaur district. The gradient remains manageable through most of the day, climbing steadily rather than steeply, and the forest provides welcome shade through the warmer midday hours. Wildlife signs are common, particularly evidence of Himalayan musk deer and the occasional monal pheasant darting across the trail, both species that find suitable habitat in this relatively undisturbed valley. Mulling, the day's campsite, sits on a flat river terrace surrounded by forest, and it serves as the last proper camp with easy tree cover before the valley opens into more exposed high-altitude terrain over the coming days. The evening briefing typically covers the broad arc of the coming week, explaining how the Bhaba valley trek differs meaningfully from the more frequently walked Pin Parvati crossing, following its own distinct river system and pass into Spiti's Pin valley via a route far less trafficked by trekking groups.

Beyond Mulling, the forest cover begins to thin steadily, birch giving way to scattered juniper and eventually open meadow as the trail climbs deeper into the Bhaba valley's upper reaches. This stretch is used seasonally by Kinnauri shepherd families grazing sheep and goats on the valley's rich alpine pasture, and their temporary stone shelters, some centuries old in design if not in individual construction, appear at intervals along the route. Woodsmoke from a distant shelter is sometimes the first sign of company on an otherwise empty trail, and a brief exchange of tea with a herding family is a welcome, unhurried pause in the day's steady climb. The valley widens considerably by midday, and views open up toward jagged, snow-streaked ridgelines that mark the higher terrain still to come, a preview of the more serious mountain scenery ahead. Wildflowers color the meadow through the peak summer months, with clusters of blue gentian and yellow potentilla particularly common along damper patches near seasonal streams. The trail crosses several of these streams on simple log or stone crossings, requiring careful footing but posing no serious difficulty in normal conditions. Kara, the destination for the day, is a broad meadow camp favored for its flat ground and reliable water source, and it offers a genuinely scenic setting with peaks visible in nearly every direction. The relative lack of other trekking groups on this route becomes increasingly apparent here, with encounters limited mostly to local shepherds rather than other visiting parties, lending the Bhaba valley a quieter, more solitary character compared to Himachal's busier trekking corridors. Evening temperatures drop noticeably at this elevation, and the group settles in early after a day of steady, enjoyable progress through increasingly open terrain.