Dhankar Tso is a lake situated at a height of 13580 feet and is a freshwater lake in the high altitude desert od Spiti. The trail to Dhankar Tso lies North East to the
Dhankar village. You will find the trail going up from the part of the Dhankar village which lies on the opposite side of the Dhankar Monastery, overlooking it.
Just a little before the village ends you will find a trail going up on the mountain side from the Dhankar Schling Road at around 12700 ft . This is the trail to the Dhankar Tso. It criss-crosses it’s way up and at 13180 ft you will find that the trail diverges into two. Don’t worry. Both of them will take you to the Dhankar Lake. The one to your right will be the easier of the two. It will take you over the ridgeline and then ascend to the lake. The one to your left runs on the same mountain face and will take you to a vantage point. From this point onwards you will be able to get a holistic view of the Dhankar Lake and then you might descend to the Lake after taking a few pictures. It is advised that you start your journey to the Dhankar lake in the morning hours as the waters are very calm and you will get great reflection shots at the lake. The area around the lake is picturesque. The lake area makes for a great camping spot and a day spent here will be one you’ll remember as always, If you do decide to camp here and spend the night remember to Camp at least a 100 meters away from the shore of the lake. This is a way of ensuring the sanctity of the lake remains.
To get a hawk’s eye view of what to do and where to stay in the Dhankar Village you can plugin to our Guide for Dhankar Village. Similar, but smaller lakes can be found on the way to
Kanamo Peak from
Kibber Village. It is yet another exciting trek in the Spiti region that takes you to a height little less than 6000 meter and is also the highest trekkable summit in the Spiti Valley.