This guide is about the Kedarkantha Trek — dates, price, day-by-day itinerary and booking are on the trek page.
Quick answer: Juda Ka Talab is the lake campsite on the Kedarkantha trail at 2,773 m (9,100 ft), 4 km above Sankri. The walk takes 4–5 hours on Day 2, and you camp beside it twice, on Day 2 and Day 4. The trek page says it freezes solid in winter and puts that under its December to February section.
What is Juda Ka Talab, and where is it?
Juda Ka Talab is a high-altitude lake inside a wide, bowl-shaped meadow on the Kedarkantha route in Uttarakhand. It is the first camp after Sankri, the road-head village at 1,950 m (6,400 ft). The trail to it climbs through pine and oak forest, and the Kedarkantha trek page describes the meadow appearing after a lunch break at a ridge clearing, when the trees thin out.
The lake is not a separate destination on our trek. It hosts two of the three tent nights: you sleep at the lake, move up to the base camp, go for the summit and come back down to the lake again. For the whole route with every leg, see the Kedarkantha distance and height breakdown.
Why is it called Juda Ka Talab?
There is no official record of how the lake got its name. The Kedarkantha trek page does not explain it, and the Wikipedia entry for the lake gives no origin either. Local guides tell their own story about the name on the trail; ask yours beside the lake on Day 2, when the group reaches the campsite with the afternoon still ahead.
How far is Juda Ka Talab from Sankri, and how long is the walk?
The distance is about 4 km on foot. The trek page lists Day 2 as 6,400 ft to 9,100 ft, about 4 km, 4–5 hours, through dense pine and oak forest. That is a gain of about 823 m (2,700 ft) in 4 km.
Coming down on Day 5 is the same 4 km in reverse. The trek page gives 3–4 hours for the descent and says the walk down through the pine forest "passes quickly", followed by the 8–9 hour drive to Dehradun.
| Point | Altitude | Distance and time | Trek day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sankri (road head) | 1,950 m / 6,400 ft | About 200 km, 8–9 hours by road from Dehradun | Day 1, guesthouse night |
| Sankri to Juda Ka Talab | 6,400 ft to 9,100 ft | About 4 km, 4–5 hours | Day 2, first tent night |
| Juda Ka Talab to base camp | 9,100 ft to 11,250 ft | About 3 km, 2–3 hours | Day 3 |
| Base camp to the summit, then down to Juda Ka Talab | 11,250 ft to 12,500 ft, down to 9,100 ft | About 9 km, 8–9 hours for the whole day | Day 4, second night at the lake |
| Juda Ka Talab to Sankri | 9,100 ft to 6,400 ft | About 4 km, 3–4 hours, then the drive to Dehradun | Day 5 |
What are your two nights at the lake like?
The two nights at Juda Ka Talab sit at opposite ends of the trek, and the trek page writes them differently. The first is an arrival; the second comes after the summit, which you reach for sunrise at 3,810 m (12,500 ft) after a 2:00 AM wake-up call at base camp.
| Night 1 (Day 2) | Night 2 (Day 4) | |
|---|---|---|
| You arrive from | Sankri, after 4–5 hours through the forest | The summit and base camp, by late morning |
| At camp | Tents pitched beside the lake "as the sun drops and the temperature plummets" | The same lakeside site, now after the summit |
| Evening | Dinner, then the first night in tents beside the lake | "Overnight camping at Juda Ka Talab with a celebratory dinner" |
| Next morning | On to base camp, about 3 km in 2–3 hours | In winter, sunlight on the frozen lake; then 4 km down to Sankri |
In winter the Day 2 text points you to the ice itself: "you may notice the ice has captured tiny air bubbles mid-motion, like a photograph of water itself." The last morning, on Day 5, the page has you wake "to sunlight already moving across the frozen lake, turning the ice from grey to pale gold."
Tents are shared by three trekkers, with men and women in separate tents, and the sleeping bags are rated to -20°C. Drinking water at camp is boiled or treated with chlorine tablets, the trek page says.
Does Juda Ka Talab freeze, and in which months?
The trek page says it does. In its December to February section, headed as the peak season, it states: "Juda Ka Talab freezes solid." It does not say whether the lake is still frozen in March and April, or whether it freezes in November. For those months it talks about the upper trail instead: residual snow on the upper trail and summit in March–April, and first snow on the peaks from October. Plan on a frozen lake only for December to February; for the other months the page makes no claim either way.
How much snow and how cold is it at the lake?
The trek page has no snow-depth figure for the lake itself. What it does say about the forest below it: between December and February heavy snowfall covers the trail, "the pine forests carry several feet of snow on their branches", and January and early February bring the heaviest snowfall. Its snow FAQ adds that the trail to Juda Ka Talab "is laden with winter snow". For the month-by-month snow picture, read when it snows on Kedarkantha.
The trek page gives temperatures for the camps by season, not for the lake on its own, and Juda Ka Talab is the lower of the two camps. For December to February it prints days of -2°C to 8°C and nights at camp of -15°C to -10°C. Nights are milder at -6°C to -2°C in March–April and -8°C to -2°C in September–November.
The Wildlife Institute of India's page on Govind National Park puts the 1,700–3,500 m band of the area in its temperate zone, which includes the lake's 2,773 m, and says the area "experiences extreme cold and snow during the three to four months of winter." Permits for Govind Pashu Vihar National Park are part of the trek fee.
What should you carry for a winter night at Juda Ka Talab?
A night at -15°C to -10°C is the planning figure. The trek page asks for:
- two sets of thermals, two fleece layers, a waterproof shell, warm trousers and three to four pairs of socks
- a woollen cap, a balaclava, two pairs of gloves, UV sunglasses (category 3 or 4) and SPF 50+ sunscreen
- a headlamp, a power bank, personal medicines and cash in small notes
- water bottles, one of them insulated so it does not freeze overnight
Kedarkantha is on our Free Trekking Gear list: Decathlon trekking shoes, a -10°C jacket, trekking poles, gaiters and microspikes, against a ₹3,000 refundable deposit plus a ₹200 washing charge. Our winter trek packing list explains the layering in detail.
How do you get to Juda Ka Talab with Trekkaro?
You join the 5-day Kedarkantha trek, which starts and ends at Dehradun Railway Station. The fee is ₹9,000 + 5% GST, which comes to ₹9,450 per person. Transport is not part of the fee: we help the group book a shared cab from Dehradun at 06:30 AM, at ₹1,000 per person each way, paid directly to the driver. With the cab both ways, the trip costs ₹11,450 per person.
Each trekker brings a medical certificate signed by a doctor; the form is in My Bookings. Because the trek returns to Sankri, the trek page lets you leave luggage you don't need in Trekkaro's store at the base camp free of charge. See the trek page for live batch dates.
See Kedarkantha Trek dates and book | Kedarkantha day-by-day guide | Kedarkantha in December
Frequently asked questions
What is the height of Juda Ka Talab?
The lake camp sits at 2,773 m, which the Kedarkantha trek page gives as 9,100 ft. That is roughly 823 m above Sankri, the village where the walk starts.
Can you visit Juda Ka Talab without doing the full Kedarkantha trek?
With Trekkaro you reach it on the 5-day Kedarkantha trek, where it is the first and last camp: Day 2 on the way up and Day 4 after the summit.
Is the walk from Sankri to Juda Ka Talab hard?
It is short but uphill all the way, about 4 km with roughly 2,700 ft of climb in 4–5 hours. In winter the forest path carries snow, so walk with poles and wear microspikes when the guide asks.
Is the lake frozen in March?
The trek page links the frozen lake to winter and to its December to February section only. It does not say the lake stays frozen in March, so do not plan a trip around that.
How many nights do you spend at Juda Ka Talab?
Two, out of the trek's three tent nights. You sleep there on Day 2 on the way up and again on Day 4 after the summit, with base camp in between.
