Situated between Langtang and the Tibetan Border, the Jughal Himal is an overlooked group of shapely mountains northeast of Kathmandu. Accessed by road through Melamchi, most trekkers and Hindu pilgrims usually hike no further than the group of five beautiful holy lakes of Panch Pokhari (13,300ft). Leaving the lakes behind, challenging and rarely traveled trails take us along the Balephi River, through the ‘Shangri-La’ valley of Ne-Pemachhal and upwards to the Jughal Himal Base Camp at Yang Kharkha (15,420ft). Alongside the Jughal Glacier and overlooked by the encircling snow-clad giant peaks of the Jughal Himal, this is a dramatic location seldom visited by foreigners. The heart of this region offers a pristine landscape of cascading streams, mature forest, sacred caves, hidden shrines and soaring peaks.

This trip is only suitable for experienced trekkers:
The Jughal Himal Base Camp has remained off the radar for adventure travelers, in part because the Jughal group of peaks were not opened for climbing by the Nepal Mountaineering Association until 2023. The roads we travel on this trip are not well maintained and the trails above Panch Pokhari are not well-established, so group members will need to be comfortable negotiating long sections of poor trail across unconsolidated landslide areas with steep, slippery and overgrown sections, as well as riverside boulder hopping and unbridged river crossings. The final short stage to Jughal Himal Base Camp involves some basic scrambling, protected by fixed ropes and cable in places. This will be a challenging adventure suitable for experienced mountain trekkers.