Route Possibilities :
We have the following two trek route options for Chandratal. I am not considering here the complete trek of the famous Manali- Baralacha Pass route that traverse through the Hamta pass, Chandratal , topko yongma and topko gongma ) which is definitely much much better option but a 10 day trek where one starts off from Manali town climbs upto Hampta Pass , descend to chatru , walk/drive for Batal/Kunzum , camp at the Chandratal , cross through topko yongma and topko gongma and finally reach the Baralacha pass and travel back to Manali (170km )by jeep . But my intent here is to reach this beautiful lake in the shortest possible timeframe from Manali and travel as far as possible through some vehicle and still enjoying the pleasure of mountains that one only feels with trekking and hiking . So the following two options are primarily providing the same- more of a covering the distance through vehicle and then trekking for a day to reach the Lake and in-between savouring the might of the western Himalayas .
1. From Batal ... This is a measured 13km distance and more or less a straight walk ( not forgetting that this distance is situated at above 4000meters , so even a level trek at such a height is rigrous then a steep climb at 2000meters or so) . By late summers (June end or July start) the road is also properly cleaned (of any left over snow ) and clear (of any boulders those must have fallen of the mountain with avalanches in early spring ) by the authorities and one have the option of driving up to 2km from the lake .
The itinerary :
Day 1 : Reach Manali and spend the night ( should be good enough for you to acclimatise with the hills ) .
Day 2: Reach Batal / ChandraTal (if you plan to go all the way by vehicle) .
Note: the most essential part in this days plan is to leave early ( Not later then 5:00AM ) . Rohtang Pass these days becomes one hell of a traffic bottle neck and daily unimmaginable number of vehicles carrying tourist leave for the mountain pass (so if you dont leave early enough better be prepared for long 3 or 4 hours of traffic jams on the way to Rohtang ) and with the summers just about setting up the roads will not be that super sonic highways, so all in all you can't widen the road but you can be an early bird for the worm and beat all by reaching the pass well before the traffic maddens you out of your skulls .
Can stay at Batal and enjoy the hospitality of the famous Batal's Chandra Dhabba ( Read the Times of India article - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Saviour-couple-of-Spiti-valley-/articleshow/6094462.cms )
the couple that runs this Dhaba is been doing this non stop for last 35 years and every year they both trek trough the early summer snow to Batal and start this dhaba .
Day 3: Reach Chandratal : Trek 13kms to reach the moon lake and spend the night at the lake in tents . One thing to note here is that , since last few years a local Gaddi (shepherd) puts up the tent at the lake , but knowing still dont take chances do carry your own tents .
Day4: Back to Manali . If starting early in the day from Chandratal , one can reach Batal in about 4 hours and then can travel allt he way back to Manali . Or else can have the cabs or vehicle pick you up right from the lake only .
2. From Kunzum Pass...A 18km (mostly down hill ) trek from the mountain pass to the lake . The distance is debatable as some sites does put this as 8 or 10 km but believe me , I have been through this route twice its nearer to 18km but definitely more then 10km . But this route is panoramic and a little risky as compared to the Batal route as the trek route from Kunzum is merely a foot wide and at places a bit less , where as the road from Batal is as I said above motorable broad .
The itinerary :
Day 1 : Reach Manali and spend the night ( should be good enough for you to acclimatise with the hills ) .
Day 2: Reach Batal .
Note: Dont travel and plan to camp at Kunzum la .
Day 3: Reach Chandratal : Leave early for Kunzum la by vehicle and then trek to the Moon lake from the pass.
Day 4: Back to Manali
As I mentioned above both the routes are more or less the same , But my personal suggestion will be to trek from Kunzum-la and return back to Batal . The best route one can follow .
Anecdotes of my previous travels to the Lake :
Circa 2000 AD... when I come to know about this lake for the first time from a friend we immediately made up our mind and eventually went on with a trip to this lake and the Spiti Valley ( enroute Manali, Rohtang La , Kunzum La , Ki Monastery, Tabo Monastery , Kaza , Kibbar Village ) and that was the start of my little so ever trekking exposure . Our first visit was more or less come to terms with the altitude and cold as we all were some fit pahari lads with instinctive nag for the mountains and walking through them, so despite a very less and bad planning we were able to spend a night at Chandratal with no dinner and just about managed tents that we some how were able to put up by 8:00pm or so (Couldnot remeber the exact time but I clearly remember that we started putting those up after it was dark and for quite some time ), of course on the wrong side of the lake ( and yeah we never knew then what it means to be directly facing the chilling winds coming straight from the glaciers and passing over the cold waters of lake and piercing your bones ) . We were some crazy college lads who smoked cigarette packets all the way to the lake.
We did this trek from Kunzum Pass (4551 m) to Chandertal Lake ( 4270 m) of 18 km(this distance is dubious and some sites even put the trek from kunzum la to the lake to be 8km which I definitely do not agree with and I guess its more or less same as from Batal with the difference that the trek from Kunzum is windy and more panoramic ) in about 5 hours or so, though we started quite late in the day (definitely arround 3:00pm I am sure) not as a result of over estimating overselves but due to the lack of knowledge how height plays a part in killing your stamina and lack of oxygen can be that critical factor. None the less we made it all fine , stayed there overnight with empty stomach , woke up next morning to cook maggi and share some gud german breads from a german trekking group ( who were heading to Baralacha Pass through Tokpo Gongma and Tokpo Yongma ) and to our delight our cab drove over to the lake from Batal to pick us up .
We were to head to Baralacha pass – Surajtaal lake but the testing night at Chandratal did kill the spirits of few of us and we rather decided to move to leisurely comforts of the town ( Manali ) then spending one more such night in probably even worst conditions then chandertal . Hence we could not capture the magnificant Baralacha Pass and the small lake on its road head .
Circa 2002 AD ....After about 2 years I went againg to visit the Moon lake with different set of friends ( and this time to our bad luck we did not had a camera , we lost one camera to the water fall near koksar ( just below Rohtang pass ) and the other one ran out of batteries ). So no pics to capture the lake this time . But the best part of the trip was that we trekked from Kunzum pass to chandertal and back to kunzum in a day ( probably in about 6 hours or so ) .
Circa 2009 AD...Finally this time in 2009 , after 7 long years I visited the moon lake again and believe me this time it was most
