There's a lake in the far west of Nepal that most Nepalis have never stood beside — turquoise water sitting at 3,612 meters, boxed in by cliffs so dry and stark they could pass for the Tibetan plateau, because geologically, they basically are. Getting there took eight days: two overnight buses, four jeep transfers, three days of hard walking, and one short flight home. This is that trip — to Phoksundo Lake, deep inside Shey Phoksundo National Park.
Nepal's Only Trans-Himalayan Park
Shey Phoksundo isn't just any national park — it's Nepal's largest, and its only trans-Himalayan one. That second detail matters more than it sounds: sitting in the rain shadow of the main Himalayan range, the terrain here feels closer to the high, arid Tibetan plateau than to the green, terraced hills most people picture when they think "Nepal trek." Established in 1984, the park spans 3,555 km² (1,373 sq mi) across the remote districts of Dolpa and Mugu in Nepal's Mid-Western Region, with elevation climbing from 2,130 m to 6,885 m (6,988 to 22,589 ft). Its centerpiece, and the reason anyone makes this trip at all, is Phoksundo Lake itself — sitting at 3,612 m (11,850 ft), and one of the deepest, clearest bodies of water in the country.
Read more about the park on Wikipedia →
Who Made the Trip
I didn't do this one solo. Two trek partners signed on for the full eight days — and by day four, somewhere between our second jeep breakdown and our first real river crossing, I was very glad they had.
- Ashish Bikram Lamichhane
- Bipin Poon
The Route, Day by Day
Eight days, four jeep rides, roughly thirty-five hours of walking, and one flight — here's how it actually broke down.
Kathmandu → Rukum (Rari) — the trip starts before the trek does: a night bus grinding west out of Kathmandu, the kind of ride where you stop counting hours and just wait to see what the sunrise looks like somewhere unfamiliar.
Rari → Tallu → Khadang → Tripurakot → Dunai (4 jeep transfers) — one of the longest jeep days of the whole trip, broken into four separate legs and ending in Dunai, the last real town before the trail begins.
Dunai → Kageni → Chepka → Rechi (10 hours on foot) — this is where the trek proper starts, and it doesn't ease you in. Ten hours following the Suli Gad gorge as the trail narrows and the villages thin out to almost nothing.
Rechi → Ringmo → Phoksundo (5 hours on foot) — a shorter day through Ringmo village, and then, finally, Phoksundo. Every bus, every jeep, that ten-hour slog the day before — it's all just the entry fee for this view.
Phoksundo → View Point → Rechi (8 hours on foot) — one day at the lake before turning back: up to a viewpoint high above the water, then back down to Rechi, eight hours round trip and worth every minute of it.
Rechi → Suligad (6 hours on foot), then → Jhupal Airport (1 hour by jeep) — the last walking day, followed by the first sign in a week that civilization, and a flight home, actually existed.
Jhupal Airport → Nepalgunj → Kathmandu (flight) — two legs, one flight, and eight days of dust, jeep rides, and lake water behind us.
Budget & Difficulty
Watch the Trip
Photos From the Trail
Some treks you do for the view. Shey Phoksundo, you do for everything it takes to get there.