deepakdilme
Super User
thats toooooooooooooo beautyful pics
Kashmir High Altitude Lake Trek
- Thread starter Prajakt_23
- Start date
singhgp62
Active Member
Hi Prajakt,
Mesmerizing stuff, beautiful pictures---- heavenly vistas.
Thanks for showing us the unexplored parts of Kashmir.
What I feel and others have also pointed out about the inadequacy of text posted, otherwise this log is a class in itself--- fit to be classified amongst top 5 logs of 2012.
Would like to know about
The number of trekkers, and names if possible
And hailing from which place(s)
Their ages and their prior trekking experiences.
A map of the region-- if can be posted would be a big help
Please give description of the various pics posted
The number of guides and porters and the no. of horses/mules
The expenditure incurred
Any memorable events, any sad memories
Any accidents or injuries sustained
Did you achieve what you had set out to achieve
Am asking this as I try to go through the whole text posted
Marvellous log I must say (once again)
Regards
Gurpreet S
Mesmerizing stuff, beautiful pictures---- heavenly vistas.
Thanks for showing us the unexplored parts of Kashmir.
What I feel and others have also pointed out about the inadequacy of text posted, otherwise this log is a class in itself--- fit to be classified amongst top 5 logs of 2012.
Would like to know about
The number of trekkers, and names if possible
And hailing from which place(s)
Their ages and their prior trekking experiences.
A map of the region-- if can be posted would be a big help
Please give description of the various pics posted
The number of guides and porters and the no. of horses/mules
The expenditure incurred
Any memorable events, any sad memories
Any accidents or injuries sustained
Did you achieve what you had set out to achieve
Am asking this as I try to go through the whole text posted
Marvellous log I must say (once again)
Regards
Gurpreet S
Prajakt_23
Active Member
Thanks Gurpreet for complements. If you hover mouse pointer over any photo, the tooltip that I had mentioned gives a good idea of what that photos is all about, although I agree that its not a detailed discription. About our group, we were 13 people from Mumbai and the most senior people in my group are aged 70 and 72. The rest of the details would be available in travelogue, which I am positing today evening or tomorrow and then you will find it very simple to corelate all the photos that I have attached to the entire travelogue. Trust, this would help.
Prajakt
Prajakt, excellent. You did what I intend to do for last one year, but would not be able to do for another year, as my daughter is too young for this.
Congrats, you are the first on BCMT to do this.
I have arranged the same trek for my brother Manu (author of my logs : http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-north-india-f61/dirty-dozen-survived-ladakh-t6046/ & http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-north-india-f61/har-ki-dun-juda-lake-winter-trek-adventurous-himalayan-siesta-t14295/ : ). He's going with a team of 7 from 15th Aug to 20th Aug. I shall ask him to post log on his return.
Congrats, you are the first on BCMT to do this.
I have arranged the same trek for my brother Manu (author of my logs : http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-north-india-f61/dirty-dozen-survived-ladakh-t6046/ & http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-north-india-f61/har-ki-dun-juda-lake-winter-trek-adventurous-himalayan-siesta-t14295/ : ). He's going with a team of 7 from 15th Aug to 20th Aug. I shall ask him to post log on his return.
Prajakt_23
Active Member
Ok... Here is what you all had been waiting for... Some writeup on my experience of this trek. Once you go through it, you would be easily able to corelate what you have seen in photos till date. I hope, its not a big boring traveloue for everyone...
In the quest of exploring beautiful landscapes of Kashmir, we all again planned and completed this trek in Sonmarg region of Kashmir.
After completing Kolahoi glacier trek beyond Pahalgam, in April 2012, I was much amazed by beauty of Kashmir. I was certain that this High Altitude Trek as well, will be memorable enough for all of us. Total 13 people opted to join this trek. This was perhaps for the first time; I had been part of a big individual group who had planned this trek on their own without help of any travelling / touring agency. Milind, Raju, Manju, Anand, Sachin, Vighne, Mhatre, Chati uncle were my old trek mates. Magesh and Hemant met me for the first time on this trek. They had trekked Bhabha Pass with this group in last season. Dada and Manish also decided to join this making the count to 13.
Riyaz, who was our guide and point of contact for this trek was well known to me due to my past trek. We had a lengthy discussion to finalize the itinerary of this trek but we had to prepone the start date of the trek to 7th July since we wanted to return back before Ramzan starts. Also it was decided that the trek should start from Kangan / Sonmarg side than Narnag side to avoid initial steep ascent. The details were communicated to Riyaz well in advanced and we booked our return flight tickets for 7th July from Mumbai and for 16th July from Srinagar. 9 members from this team planned to meet Shubhada and Mrs Chati in Srinagar on 15th July evening to continue sight-seeing for another 5 days including Gulmarg, Yugmarg and Pahalgam.
This was our finalized trek itinerary for this trek :
Day 1 – 7th July 2012 – Morning flight from Mumbai to Srinagar. Reach Srinagar by 11.30pm. Pickup from airport. After lunch, we will buy groceries and necessary stuff, perhaps load tents and other items on 2 sumos and leave for Sonmarg. It’s around 3 – 3.5 hrs drive from Srinagar. We should reach Sonmarg by 5pm. Overnight in guesthouse / basic hotel
Day 2 – 8th July 2012 – Sonmarg to shekdur (2hrs) and shekdur to Nichnai 4000 meters (3 hrs)
Day 3 – 9th July 2012 – Nichinai Pass to Vishnusar Lake at 3810 meters (12 kms - 7 hrs). Overnight stay at Vishnusar Lake (4300 meters). Since Vishnsar is one of the best campsite and military checking takes more than 2 hrs, we are adding one rest day here.
Day 4 – 10th July 2012 – Rest day at Vishnusar Lake for exploring area around.
Day 5 – 11th July 2012 – Vishnusar Lake -> Krishnasar lake -> Gadasar Lake (3962 meters) -> Gadasar camp site (13-14 kms 7 hrs)
Day 6 – 12th July 2012 – Gadasar-> Satsar Lake overnight stay. 10-12 kms – 6 hrs stretch
Day 7 – 13th July 2012 – Satsar lake to Gangabal lakes (3400 meters) 12kms (6-7 hrs) stretch. Overnight at Gangabal lakes
Day 8 – 14th July 2012 – Rest day at Gangabal lakes since this is the most scenic place. Either trout fishing or sightseeing to Harmukh Glacier
Day 9 – 15th July 2012 – Gangabal to Narnag (11 kms descent – 6 hrs) and from there 3 hrs drive to Srinagar. Overnight stay in Srinagar in basic hotel
Day 10 – 16th July 2012 – Catch return flight back to Mumbai at around 1 pm.
Those who want to stay back can relax and opt for sightseeing.
Finally we all met in early morning on Mumbai airport on 7th July and reached Srinagar by 11:30 am or so. Riyaz had arranged for 2 Qualis Jeeps and we were all set for our journey towards Sonmarg. It was a bright sunny day and while we were passing by Dal Lake, we could feel good humidity. All were very hungry and wanted to eat something. Perhaps Riyaz had some other plans and hence it took us another 2 hours to reach a dhaba on our way. We decided to enjoy hot aloo paratha and a cup of tea, while others were having feast at Chole Bhature. On our way to Sonmarg, we came across large army trucks which had started from Kargil to reach Jammu. There was a traffic jam and our jeeps were struggling to find way through it. Soon we reached a diversion where military stopped us from taking a regular route to Sonmarg and asked us to take alternate road assuming we were also going for Amarnath yatra. After a heated discussion with military officials, Riyaz finally convinced them by showing the permission taken for all of us for this trek. This helped us to continue on our original road beyond that point. Soon we crossed Kulan village and our jeeps slowed down due to increasing elevation of road. After continuing slowly for another 15-20 minutes and crossing JKTDC Gagengeer café, one of our jeeps started giving some trouble. Drivers decided to break for some time so that they can inspect this issue and meanwhile the engines would also cool down. The road was almost parallel to the river which was carrying melted snow water from higher glaciers. We all spent some time there, took some photos and continued. Soon we crossed a big cantilever bridge near Kangan village. Then our jeeps took a side road on left side and got down on a muddy trail. The road was along the river and at a distance we could see some traditional houses with shiny roofs. I could also see mosque along the side of the river. Our jeeps stopped and we unloaded our sacks and started walking in the direction where Riyaz was walking. Within next 2-3 minutes we were in front of newly constructed 2 story house. Riyaz introduced us to Mansoor as the head horseman for our trek. We understood that this house was built by Mansoor next to his own house for making arrangement of trekkers. While we were moving towards this house, kids from around area were looking at us with utter curiosity in their eyes. A narrow staircase took us to the upper floor of the house, which had a room on either side. Team immediately rushed in to secure best spot for night’s sleep and we unloaded our sacks in one corner of the room. Due to recent rain, there was some problem with the local electricity plant. Mansoor told me that most probably the electricity issue would be fixed and we would have lights in late evening. And it was like my fear coming true since the current never came back till we left this place in next morning. Although I had charged my batteries in previous night, I really wanted to charge them once again before we set out on actual trek. But luck was not on my side that day.
This location was very beautiful and Sonmarg was just another 10 minutes away from this place. My Casio wrist watch measured around 8600 feet at this location. Riyaz informed us that since he had another last minute group to attend, he won’t be joining us on this trek but his younger brother Safeen, who was an excellent cook and Mansoor would be taking care of every aspect of this trek for us. After a hot cup of tea and recharging our mood, we set out to explore this village before it gets dark. It was a very small village and there were hardly 15-20 houses in it. A common road twists through these houses and we can climb up from there to reach the actual highway which connects Sonmarg. While walking I took couple of photos of locals. One thing which I consistently observed in all my previous 3 trips to Kashmir was, majority of faces from this geography, have very good features. Eyes have a very different shade and noses are sharp as well, with pink glow on faces.
Soon we were back in our rooms and decided to sit together chit chatting till the dinner is served. It began to rain and mercury had dropped substantially. Couple of team members decided to enjoy drinks and other were busy playing cards in candle light. Much later than our expectation, the dinner was announced and was served in the same room where we all were sitting. The food was hot and delicious and we enjoyed every bit of it. Soon it was time to go to sleep since we actually wanted to start early morning on next day. In night, there were sounds of snoring all-around and to my surprize, there was an audible contribution from team sleeping in opposite room as well.
By 4 – 4:30, it was light everywhere and the village was already awake doing their regular activities. We were served our early morning tea and everyone was fast in completing their daily routines and assembled back. As usual, there was confusion around on breakfast, since non-veg members enjoyed the Aloo Parathas prepared for veg members and then went on to eat their omelettes. Soon we had a detailed discussion with Riyaz about the daily routine of bed tea, breakfast, packed lunch, dinner etc. Horsemen were all out for bringing horses to load our sacks and food items, tents. We waited for some time but there was no sign that they will come back in time. Finally, we all started with Safeen leading us. Since Chati uncle, dada and I had asked for a dedicated horse on this trek, we decided to walk for some time and then horsemen were supposed to catch us. We took our first group photo before we begin and all started walking towards the bridge to cross the river since the trail was going up on the opposite mountain. When we reached the opposite side of the river, we could see horsemen gathering at Mansoor’s house. After walking for another 30 minutes, we reached a platue, which was exactly opposite and above Mansoor’ house. Since there was no point in walking further distance, we three decided to wait there for horses to join us and the other team walked ahead. It was after a long wait of an hour or more, we saw a boy started walking from Mansoor’s house with 3 horses. He took another 30 minutes to reach us on the platue. Although in past, we had been riding the horse once in a while for couple of minutes, this was for the first time we would be riding the same horse for another 7-8 days. There was a big black horse “Chetak”, which was assigned to me considering my body mass and there were other two brown horses, “Price” and “Badshah”. By the time we started from this point, a big group from Srinagar school had reached us and went ahead. Since we were on horse this time, we could immediately overtake them and went ahead on the trail, which was continuously going up on the mountain. We went ahead for some time and at one point, our horseman decided to stop the horses for rest. We got down from horses and looked back. The entire Sonmarg valley was visible from that point. The left side was full of meadows and right side was occupied by a glacier and snow covered mountain. It was very beautiful landscape and soon we saw those school students jumping on the rocks below the ravine.
We looked up but we could not see any of our team members. So we decided to cut short our break and started on our horses once again. Now we were walking through a dense forest and some horses and cows were grazing on the slopes. Soon we saw Magesh walking all alone of stones. He looked very tired since it was a very first day of the climb. We stopped with him for some time. After giving him a bit of electrol powder, we moved ahead. Now the climb was over and we were on a relatively flat surface. On our back, we could still see Sonmarg meadows. There was a stream flowing around and on left side of that stream, we saw couple of cows relaxing. Next to them on incline, there were few shepherd houses. People were looking busy in their activities as usual. At a distance, the trail was again moving up the mountain and we saw Manish and other two people on that incline. We started to walk but soon we could here yelling and whistles from all around. Soon we saw three armed military personnel waiving at us to stop there. Knowing the gravity of the situation, we decided to stop there to understand what they were trying to communicate. This place was traditionally known as Shekdur camp site. Soon they caught up with us and asked us plenty of questions about our identity proofs, permissions etc. We explained them our trekking plan in details. Then they took our photograph along with our horseman to ensure our safety. They told us that they keep on patrolling this area and intervene any foreigner travelling along with a local horseman. There were some untoward incidents in the past, which they wanted to avoid going further. The funny question that I felt laughing at was they wanted to know father’s name of each individual travelling with us, which was anyway beyond capacity of my memory.
Soon, we were let go and we started our trek to meet our team resting on the next incline. They were fortunate enough to skip the interrogation. Now the trail was going down the mountain through thick silver birch trees. The trail was muddy and very soft. I was leading the queue on Chetak and was worried about my horse’s grip. Suddenly I heard a heavy sound at my back and saw dry leaves flying around. Before I could understand anything, I saw Chati uncle’s horse skidding and falling on his left side. I feared the worst but fortunately uncle actually fall in slow motion and escaped unhurt. Now I was even worried about my fortune of riding horse for rest of the trek. Soon the trail started to go further down the mountain and reached the edge of the mountain from where it descended further in the valley below. This was the last place on the trek where I remember seeing trees except for the last day. I took couple of photos there and continued down. Now were surrounded by snowy mountains on both the sides and the river was almost covered with snow bridges. To add to this, the entire trail was going through huge boulders and we had to part our horses to continue walking on them. It was around 2 pm by now and team was really feeling hungry. There was no sign of our horsemen carrying tents and food while we looked back. We decided to continue for some more distance to look for a place where we can rest and wait for horses to catch on. Immediately next, was a big snow bridge with few big holes in it, giving us the view of freezing cold water flowing beneath it. Although the snow looked thick enough, nobody was ready to step on it to test its strength. We started on the edges of it where it was slightly melted and we could step on the boulders below it. After crossing this, we decided to wait for our horses, which we could see at far distance. Soon they caught up with us and we were served cooked rice mixed with some gravy. Since it was a bit spicy, couple of folks avoided eating it and others were swallowing it with water.
I recollect, we had already crossed 10,000 feet mark and altitude had started taking toll on us. Couple of us were facing difficulty in breathing and minor headache. After continuing on boulders for an hour or so, we again came across a big snow bridge. It was really very slippery but the horses were crossing it very swiftly. At that point, we felt very comfortable since the ice was not breaking even with a horse’s weight. By now, our luggage horses had crossed us and went further on the trail. Everyone was very tired since nobody anticipated that our first day of trek would be so tough. After couple of minutes passed, we saw one of our luggage horse grazing around and his horseman sleeping next to his luggage on the ground. After inquiry, we understood that even this horse was a victim was altitude sickness and hence was relieved from carrying any further luggage. For couple of places, we tried riding our horses, but within next few minutes the horse was reaching another set of boulders and we were forced to get down. In one of the places, Dada and I moved ahead and Chati uncle’s horse stopped at one place looking for his master. Since that boy was not in sight, this horse stopped there for almost half an hour. Uncle tried all sort of humming noises and signals we learnt since morning but with no luck. Finally this guy came back and the horse moved. It was now 4 pm and still we were walking unable to find our camp for the day. Mansoor came with a replacement horse from opposite side and told us that the camp was just a kilometre away. That kilometre was almost equivalent to another 10 kilometres for all of us. Soon we three reached a place where our luggage horses had unloaded our sacks and tents. I saw them putting up a colourful red tent, which we decided to occupy for Dada, Manish and myself. Fortunately, later we gathered that this was the only 4 men tent that Riyaz had arranged for. Rest all were 2 and 3 men tents. It was almost 5 pm when I saw heads coming up one by one from valley below. Team settled near tents and relaxed a bit. This was for the first time that I realized ours was a big group with 13 trekkers, 13 horses, 6 horsemen and 3 cook cum support staff including Safeen. It was already late and sun was going down fast. We were on a platue next to the river and we saw the Krishnasar Pass in the opposite mountain which we were planning to cross on next day. The altitude at this point was around 11,500 feet. After some time, it started drizzling. Nobody was in mood of eating dinner. Couple of us were down with headache, mountain sickness and hence we were all back in our tents winding up our dinner fast. To my surprize, there was a good light around till 8:40 pm in the evening.
I woke up early morning by 4 – 4:30, just to find that there was already light around everywhere. I came out of my tent and saw that there were ships grazing all around us. On opposite side of the river, there were couple of shepherd houses and each one of them was having a herd of around 2,000-2,500 ships each. Some ships were enjoying morning sunlight sitting on ridges. Soon these ships were set free in the meadows near the pass for grazing. The trail was crossing the freezing river and moving up in the opposite mountain to cross the pass at 13,000+ feet height. Team negotiated with the horsemen to carry them on horses to cross the river since no one wanted to start a day’s trek with wet shoes and freezing feet. Soon we all crossed the river on horses and team started walking towards the pass. We covered the initial height very fast and then we stopped the horses for some rest. From here, the scene behind was looking fantastic. We could see tents being packed up, luggage being loaded on horses from ridge above. On opposite mountain, our horseman showed us a small blue lake formed by stream water. This lake has apparently taken shape of India and we carefully looked at it, we were surprized at the analogy.
Once again, we were riding our horses and gained height. Soon we reached a set of boulders. A stream was flowing through the boulders and on right side we had a 50 feet high slippery snow wall along the mountain side. The horsemen decided to take on the height and we all were crossing the pass through the freezing water. The view of horses walking on that wall was very breath-taking but I could see them crossing it comfortably. Soon we caught up with our horses and it was a time to explore the snowy terrain riding on the horse again. While we were riding our horses, we met one Australian couple who was coming from opposite side. Soon we were on a thick snow covered valley at around 13,000 feet. On both sides, we would see snow being dragged down from higher reaches in this valley. We had to get down at couple of places where the horse was not able to grip on ice with we sitting on him. At some places, the snow was very soft and we were more than knee deep in snow while walking. After a couple of turns in that snowy valley, we reached a ridge from which we could see our cook walking on the trail in meadows below. We were again back on our horses and started to descend. After an hour or so, we reached fresh green meadows on a platue where team was already waiting for us since we had decided to take lunch together. On our way down, we had actually met our luggage horses team and hence we were hoping that they would soon reach us in no time. But it took them more than an hour or so to be there. When we checked with them, Mansoor told us that one of his horses died after crossing the pass and they had to shift that luggage to another horse. It was a very sad moment for all of us and Mansoor was also very upset with it. We managed to eat the same Dal Khichadi and continued on the trail ahead. Now we were in very vast landscape and we could see mountains everywhere till horizon. I took couple of photos here and we continued forward. Soon we had reached the river once again and got to know that our camp site was very near after crossing this spot. This time team decided to cross this stream by taking off their shoes since the luggage horses were way back. I could see the expressions on each face, as soon as they entered the freezing water. Till that point, we saw Safeen getting back Mhatre and Sachin who had picked up wrong trail post lunch. They had reached the other bank of the river and were crossing it in much wider current. After crossing the river, we took left turn and reached a place at the feet of mountain covered from all three sides. Although the Krishnasar lake was at 10-15 minute’s walk ahead of us, we could not see it since it was located behind a small mountain in front of us. We decided to camp there next to water overflowing from Krishnasar lake. On each side of this big stream, Shepherds had put up their tents and their livestock was grazing all-around the place. We reached there by 4 pm or so and started to occupy our tents as soon as they were put up. Clouds were gathering fast and we could see the sign of showers and thunderstorm. The altitude was again around 11,600 feet at this place. Before all tents were set up, it had already started raining but still we could manage to enter tents well in time without getting much wet.
After 10:30 pm or so, we were called for dinner. Most of us were already sleeping and hence skipped dinner on that day. The next day was a rest day. We woke up early as a regular routine but today we were in no hurry. I prepared Pohe for breakfast for the entire group and we had a feast. Then we started to walk towards the lake. It was a bright day and yesterday night’s rain had cleaned up the weather. As we approached closer, everyone was feeling anxious to see this beautiful lake. Till last minute, this lake remains hidden from sight and then suddenly once you cross the small mountain, there it is… It was perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen in my life. The sky was clear blue and the sunlight was shining on snow peaks opposite to the lake. The mountains around were snow covered to some extent and the greyish shade of rock was visible wherever snow had melted. The reflection of the entire range was visible in crystal clear bluish green water. We roamed there for an hour or so and took many photos. We saw couple of boys trying to catch fish standing on other side of the lake. Soon we returned back to our tents and spent our afternoon bathing and washing clothes in overflowing water from the lake. In the evening, we went to the other side where there were many shepherd huts. One of the local guys agreed to catch trout fishes in the running water for a minimal sum. He gave us 6 fishes which Safeen cleaned up and fried, marinated with black pepper. Our team enjoyed the taste of fresh fish in the same evening. Soon it became cloudy and we came back to our tents before it started raining. Safeen had cooked delicious dinner to end that day with a smile and relaxed faces.
Next morning, we woke up early and got ready since today was a long and tiring day ahead. We were soon off the tents and crossed the stream created by overflowing water from lake. Since the trail was full of boulders, we all were walking on our own and horseman was trying to push his horses through the boulders. The trail was going up in opposite mountain from where we could clearly see the blue water of Vishnusar lake from top. Soon we reached a platue which was located at the feet of another series of mountains. That area was heavily snow covered and the elevation at this point was more than 12,000 feet. Soon we were walking next to Krishnasar lake which was in semi frozen state. I took couple of photos there and we moved further. The Gadasar pass was visible now and was a very thin line in consecutive “Z” shaped trails. It was very exhaustive climb and we were taking break after every 20-25 steps. The views at the back were as magnificent as they could have been. Soon we could see both Krishnasar and Vishnusar lake from the trail but the weather was cloudy enough to take any beautiful snap. Soon we reached the top of the pass and the altitude at this point was around 13,200 feet plus. We could see couple of Himalayan marmots at that height and I could capture one of them on camera. The weather had turned really bad and there were clouds everywhere. We decided to start our descent but were stuck at the view of the trail in front of us. It was snow all the way wherever we could see. The first part itself was a big saucer shaped hard snow with some dry areas in between. Safeen had to cut steps in that ice with walking stick so that we could maintain grip on it. Considering this situation, I had to put my camera in Safeen’s sack to avoid it from getting damaged and wet. We got down from that saucer successfully and stopped on those dry stones in-between. Now weather had become very bad and it started drizzling. We all were freezing in rains and trying to get down from the pass. The snow was so hard at times that it was looking as a transparent slippery ice sheet. Raju slipped on it initially and then perhaps most of us were following him. Soon Safeen and Mansoor both rushed to help us and got everyone out of such patches. By now, our luggage horses crossed the pass and they wanted to move ahead of us since they were carrying load. We had tough time securing safe spots for us to allow horses to pass us without pushing us in valley below. Now the trail was all wet and muddy and we were slipping on mud and snow. By now, all were completely drenched in rain and still we were far away from Gadasar camp site. Now the rain was slowing down and we could see snow clad valley on our left side. After walking for an hour or so, we were in valley which was fully covered in yellow and violet coloured flowers. But since I had kept my camera in Safeen’s bag, I could not take a single photo in that area. Soon we reached Yamasar lake, which was fully frozen and there was no visible sign of running water. We crossed this place and soon we were walking next to Gadasar lake. One thing I must admit that it had a bluish aura around it and I could make out that the lake was something special. Again I could not capture a single snap of this place but I asked Dada to get a photo from his camera for me. After walking for another 45 minutes or so, the weather cleared up and we would see military check post at a distance. There were 2-3 green tents set up there on the way and we could see soldiers moving around that place. We were greeted very pleasantly there and offered hot drinking water. Since we were ahead at this time, we three showed our ID cards and explained them our trek route. But since the rest of the group was behind, they asked us to move ahead and camp in the open place after getting down that platue. After reaching there, I requested our cook to make some hot coffee for all of us. Soon everyone else joined us after meeting military officers at Gadasar post. Safeen was carrying special trekking permission for all of us, which he showed to military along with regular identification proofs. This time our tents were put next to river at the base of mountain. From this location, we could clearly see the stream through which Pakistani intruders try to enter Indian territory. This was exact point opposite which our military has put a check post which we saw earlier. We soon had some hot pakodas and soup to brighten our faces and I enjoyed sitting on a smooth rock in river bed enjoying its beauty. Soon in late evening, few military officers came to our tents to meet us and to inspect our overall behaviour. Some of them were Marathi and hence we all could gel with them easily. They explained and allowed us to hold their AK47 and couple of us got good photographs holding it.
We retired early to bed since it was a long and eventful day for all of us. The next day morning, all of us started together to cross the big frozen river. Since we three were travelling with horses, we decided to wait so that horses could cross this very slippery portion. The other bank of the frozen river was directly facing a trail which was inclined at least at 45 degrees. I was not sure if the horses would make it. But to my surprize, after some time, I could see our horseman with all three horses on that ridge. Have you seen “Avatar” movie? Do you recall Neytiri’s relation to her dragon, Seze? This was the same feeling I had for my horse Chetak after spending so many days with him. When we used to cross any difficult patch, I could feel that our hearts were beating in the same rhythm. I could read his expressions, when he used to wait before deciding the least risky track in some cases. The only difference was, he was walking on his own at his will than mine!
After crossing the river at Gadasar, the trail climbs the mountain opposite and the trails routes on the edges of subsequent mountains for more than hour or so. There are some spots where you are actually worried to the core when you are sitting on the horse when he balances himself on those edges while you could see the deep valley thousand feet below. Soon we had to get down from horses, because the trail had become exhaustive even for our strong animals. After walking for 15-20 minutes, the trail took left turn and we reached a comparatively flat platue. Now the meadows were looking very beautiful and we could see ships grazing around in those meadows. According to Safeen, this place is very prone to lightning strike and to verify his point, he showed me many huge holes of around 50 to 100 feet diameter, bored in those mountains where the lightning had actually struck previously. They were looking very similar to the holes that get created after meteor hits earth. These holes were now snow covered while we were walking next to it. Since it had already started pouring, I could not take any good photo in this region. We also came across dupta pani (hiding water) which was a similar big hole through which all the entering stream water was disappearing in the crust of earth. It’s said that this water comes out of the earth at some 50 kms away, which is probably in Pakistan.
Soon we reached Gadasar military check post which remained hidden behind a small mountain till we actually got very close to it. They have put a small stone hut on the top of the ridge to monitor any intrusion and movements across the region opposite. We were greeted very warmly by the military. We were offered hot drinking water and one of the tastiest tea I had on this trek. We met their head officer, took some photos, finished our packed lunch and moved forward. Even at this place, we had to provide our ID cards, names, addresses etc for records purpose. From this post, the route comes down to Satsar lakes. It starts with a very big lake with both sides touching the snow clad mountains. Our horseman took horses to cross this lake from left side whereas we started to cross it through huge boulders on right. At this place, the boulders were more than 6 to 8 feet tall and were scattered randomly as if some superpower had thrown them from top and they are lying there in its current form for centuries. The worst part was, the boulders are part of Satsar lake and hence we could see deep crystal clear water while jumping from one rock to another. After a challenging 30-40 minutes’ walk through this, we reached a snow covered platue. We continued for another 15 minutes and the trail was going down the mountain near the ridge. This was our camp site for the day. It was a very beautiful location. On left side and ahead of us, we could see the ridge was separating us from the valley and on right side of us, we could see beautiful green meadows full of yellow flowers. Horsemen were already on their job and were setting up tents for us. Soon clouds gathered and the valley was full of fog and visibility was reduced to 20 feet. It started raining and we all were constrained to be inside our tents for an hour or so. When rain stopped, I could capture some of the most beautiful photos of this camp site. The next day’s trail was going up the opposite mountain after crossing the stream in-between. Again in night, it rained a lot but fortunately in morning, the weather was comparatively good.
On next morning, we started towards the opposite mountain after crossing the stream just to realize that we were still in the same region of huge boulders. Teams took different routes this time since everyone knew that ultimately we all were supposed to meet at the top of the mountain to pass the Gangabal pass. After an hour or so, I could see my horseman trying to convince all 3 horses to navigate through the boulders to take the trail up. I could capture him from top at that location. Milind, Manish, Sachin and Anand had taken up the toughest route up which was a near vertical ascent. Fortunately, Dada and I could manage to locate one “Z” shaped trail which was comparatively easy way up. After almost 2-3 hours of strenuous climb, we all could meet up on a flat platue. From there we would see the snow covered pass. There were few people who were coming from opposite side and were getting down and sliding from the snow covered pass. This time, I could take the lead and I could reach the pass to capture everyone from top. Soon we all reached the top of this pass where the altitude was more than 13,000 feet. On opposite side of the pass, we could see twin Gangabal lakes at a distance. I could manage to take a photo or two here before the entire valley was covered by dark clouds. Now from this point onwards, the trail descends to take us near to the lake. This was another strenuous descent of more than 1500 feet. After walking for few minutes, it again started raining and the visibility had actually reduced to couple of feet. We were split into groups and we could not locate anyone else due to dense fog. Dada, Manish, Sachin, Raju and Mhatre were with me while we were struggling our way down. Soon everyone was much worried about whether we had selected correct trail or not since we could not see anyone else walking ahead of us. After crossing couple of slippery snow streams, we stopped for a minute. Just then as if a flash, clouds cleared the way and we could see our luggage horses standing at the far end of the trail near the valley. This was the most positive thing we had witnessed on this day which gave us idea that the trail we had selected was indeed the correct one. After struggling with poor visibility, we continued for another hour or so and could finally reach the place where we had seen those horses standing. But to our surprize they were not there now! For a minute, we thought that it might have been just an illusion that we had initially seen those horses but decided to keep that idea aside since no one was in mood to climb anywhere up from this point. After waiting there for 10 minutes, we could hear someone riding the horse in fog. Then Safeen’s figure came out of that dense fog and we were really relieved to see him riding Chetak. He took us on the right trail and after crossing couple of ridges, we could finally see Gangabal lake in front of us. It was raining hard and the Harmukh peak was covered in clouds of different shade. The water of this lake was appearing mystical green in colour. I carefully tried to capture one photo of it in heavy rains. As we started towards the lake, the rain stopped and I could see our team setting up tents near the edge of the lake. There were few small tents other people had already put on other side of the lake. They had travelled there from Narnag side by climbing for a day or so. I met Mansoor on my way to lake, who was heading back to mountain to search for the reaming trekkers. Soon we all were sitting next to Safeen’s stove heating ourselves and sipping hot cup of coffee. Since we had already decided that the next day was going to be the rest day, we all were pretty relaxed now.
On next day when we woke up, it was a very clean and pleasant weather around. There was no sign of rain and it was hard to believe that this was the same place where we had to reach yesterday full drenched. It’s said that irrespective of the weather condition, the Harmukh peak always remains cloud covered. To my surprize, I could see these words coming true at least for two days of our stay there. I could take some of the fascinating photos of this trek on this day. After a quick discussion with Safeen and Mansoor, it was decided that after breakfast, we all would set out to see Nundkol lake and while returning back, we would proceed further on trail so that we would be able to reduce the next day’s descent by more than hour or so. After crossing one ridge and the stream which fills Gangabal lake water from overflowing Nundkol lake, we reached Nundkol lake and were mesmerized by the beauty of this lake. Some guys were trying trout fishing on its bank while others were just sitting on huge rocks viewing the vast beauty of this lake. After resting there for an hour or so, we began our journey back. By the time we came back, horses were getting ready for our next destination which was supposed to be campsite next to newly constructed forest department’s hut on the way down. We walked for more than 1.5 hrs to reach this place where we stayed on that day. We would still see Harmukh peak in the background which was cloud covered all the time. In the evening, the weather was very bad and we decided to wind up our day early.
On last morning, we all started very early, at around 6:30 am. Everyone was eager to reach Narnag, from where we could call our dear ones. It was very strenuous descent of another 4.5 hours in which, we would only see two good water sources and one resting place where locals have put a very small hotel for serving tea and Maggie. By 11 am we reached Narnag village from where many other travellers were starting their journey up towards Gangabal lakes. We settled our financial accounts with Safeen and offered all horsemen, cook with tips. By now, three jeeps were waiting for us to take us to Srinagar. Our luggage was loaded onto these jeeps and we all very extremely happy that we could complete this trek in good health and without any untoward incident.
The story never ends here.. On our way, Milind and I were thinking about what could be our next trekking destination for 2013…
Kashmir High Altitude Lake Trek
In the quest of exploring beautiful landscapes of Kashmir, we all again planned and completed this trek in Sonmarg region of Kashmir.
After completing Kolahoi glacier trek beyond Pahalgam, in April 2012, I was much amazed by beauty of Kashmir. I was certain that this High Altitude Trek as well, will be memorable enough for all of us. Total 13 people opted to join this trek. This was perhaps for the first time; I had been part of a big individual group who had planned this trek on their own without help of any travelling / touring agency. Milind, Raju, Manju, Anand, Sachin, Vighne, Mhatre, Chati uncle were my old trek mates. Magesh and Hemant met me for the first time on this trek. They had trekked Bhabha Pass with this group in last season. Dada and Manish also decided to join this making the count to 13.
Riyaz, who was our guide and point of contact for this trek was well known to me due to my past trek. We had a lengthy discussion to finalize the itinerary of this trek but we had to prepone the start date of the trek to 7th July since we wanted to return back before Ramzan starts. Also it was decided that the trek should start from Kangan / Sonmarg side than Narnag side to avoid initial steep ascent. The details were communicated to Riyaz well in advanced and we booked our return flight tickets for 7th July from Mumbai and for 16th July from Srinagar. 9 members from this team planned to meet Shubhada and Mrs Chati in Srinagar on 15th July evening to continue sight-seeing for another 5 days including Gulmarg, Yugmarg and Pahalgam.
This was our finalized trek itinerary for this trek :
Day 1 – 7th July 2012 – Morning flight from Mumbai to Srinagar. Reach Srinagar by 11.30pm. Pickup from airport. After lunch, we will buy groceries and necessary stuff, perhaps load tents and other items on 2 sumos and leave for Sonmarg. It’s around 3 – 3.5 hrs drive from Srinagar. We should reach Sonmarg by 5pm. Overnight in guesthouse / basic hotel
Day 2 – 8th July 2012 – Sonmarg to shekdur (2hrs) and shekdur to Nichnai 4000 meters (3 hrs)
Day 3 – 9th July 2012 – Nichinai Pass to Vishnusar Lake at 3810 meters (12 kms - 7 hrs). Overnight stay at Vishnusar Lake (4300 meters). Since Vishnsar is one of the best campsite and military checking takes more than 2 hrs, we are adding one rest day here.
Day 4 – 10th July 2012 – Rest day at Vishnusar Lake for exploring area around.
Day 5 – 11th July 2012 – Vishnusar Lake -> Krishnasar lake -> Gadasar Lake (3962 meters) -> Gadasar camp site (13-14 kms 7 hrs)
Day 6 – 12th July 2012 – Gadasar-> Satsar Lake overnight stay. 10-12 kms – 6 hrs stretch
Day 7 – 13th July 2012 – Satsar lake to Gangabal lakes (3400 meters) 12kms (6-7 hrs) stretch. Overnight at Gangabal lakes
Day 8 – 14th July 2012 – Rest day at Gangabal lakes since this is the most scenic place. Either trout fishing or sightseeing to Harmukh Glacier
Day 9 – 15th July 2012 – Gangabal to Narnag (11 kms descent – 6 hrs) and from there 3 hrs drive to Srinagar. Overnight stay in Srinagar in basic hotel
Day 10 – 16th July 2012 – Catch return flight back to Mumbai at around 1 pm.
Those who want to stay back can relax and opt for sightseeing.
Finally we all met in early morning on Mumbai airport on 7th July and reached Srinagar by 11:30 am or so. Riyaz had arranged for 2 Qualis Jeeps and we were all set for our journey towards Sonmarg. It was a bright sunny day and while we were passing by Dal Lake, we could feel good humidity. All were very hungry and wanted to eat something. Perhaps Riyaz had some other plans and hence it took us another 2 hours to reach a dhaba on our way. We decided to enjoy hot aloo paratha and a cup of tea, while others were having feast at Chole Bhature. On our way to Sonmarg, we came across large army trucks which had started from Kargil to reach Jammu. There was a traffic jam and our jeeps were struggling to find way through it. Soon we reached a diversion where military stopped us from taking a regular route to Sonmarg and asked us to take alternate road assuming we were also going for Amarnath yatra. After a heated discussion with military officials, Riyaz finally convinced them by showing the permission taken for all of us for this trek. This helped us to continue on our original road beyond that point. Soon we crossed Kulan village and our jeeps slowed down due to increasing elevation of road. After continuing slowly for another 15-20 minutes and crossing JKTDC Gagengeer café, one of our jeeps started giving some trouble. Drivers decided to break for some time so that they can inspect this issue and meanwhile the engines would also cool down. The road was almost parallel to the river which was carrying melted snow water from higher glaciers. We all spent some time there, took some photos and continued. Soon we crossed a big cantilever bridge near Kangan village. Then our jeeps took a side road on left side and got down on a muddy trail. The road was along the river and at a distance we could see some traditional houses with shiny roofs. I could also see mosque along the side of the river. Our jeeps stopped and we unloaded our sacks and started walking in the direction where Riyaz was walking. Within next 2-3 minutes we were in front of newly constructed 2 story house. Riyaz introduced us to Mansoor as the head horseman for our trek. We understood that this house was built by Mansoor next to his own house for making arrangement of trekkers. While we were moving towards this house, kids from around area were looking at us with utter curiosity in their eyes. A narrow staircase took us to the upper floor of the house, which had a room on either side. Team immediately rushed in to secure best spot for night’s sleep and we unloaded our sacks in one corner of the room. Due to recent rain, there was some problem with the local electricity plant. Mansoor told me that most probably the electricity issue would be fixed and we would have lights in late evening. And it was like my fear coming true since the current never came back till we left this place in next morning. Although I had charged my batteries in previous night, I really wanted to charge them once again before we set out on actual trek. But luck was not on my side that day.
This location was very beautiful and Sonmarg was just another 10 minutes away from this place. My Casio wrist watch measured around 8600 feet at this location. Riyaz informed us that since he had another last minute group to attend, he won’t be joining us on this trek but his younger brother Safeen, who was an excellent cook and Mansoor would be taking care of every aspect of this trek for us. After a hot cup of tea and recharging our mood, we set out to explore this village before it gets dark. It was a very small village and there were hardly 15-20 houses in it. A common road twists through these houses and we can climb up from there to reach the actual highway which connects Sonmarg. While walking I took couple of photos of locals. One thing which I consistently observed in all my previous 3 trips to Kashmir was, majority of faces from this geography, have very good features. Eyes have a very different shade and noses are sharp as well, with pink glow on faces.
Soon we were back in our rooms and decided to sit together chit chatting till the dinner is served. It began to rain and mercury had dropped substantially. Couple of team members decided to enjoy drinks and other were busy playing cards in candle light. Much later than our expectation, the dinner was announced and was served in the same room where we all were sitting. The food was hot and delicious and we enjoyed every bit of it. Soon it was time to go to sleep since we actually wanted to start early morning on next day. In night, there were sounds of snoring all-around and to my surprize, there was an audible contribution from team sleeping in opposite room as well.
By 4 – 4:30, it was light everywhere and the village was already awake doing their regular activities. We were served our early morning tea and everyone was fast in completing their daily routines and assembled back. As usual, there was confusion around on breakfast, since non-veg members enjoyed the Aloo Parathas prepared for veg members and then went on to eat their omelettes. Soon we had a detailed discussion with Riyaz about the daily routine of bed tea, breakfast, packed lunch, dinner etc. Horsemen were all out for bringing horses to load our sacks and food items, tents. We waited for some time but there was no sign that they will come back in time. Finally, we all started with Safeen leading us. Since Chati uncle, dada and I had asked for a dedicated horse on this trek, we decided to walk for some time and then horsemen were supposed to catch us. We took our first group photo before we begin and all started walking towards the bridge to cross the river since the trail was going up on the opposite mountain. When we reached the opposite side of the river, we could see horsemen gathering at Mansoor’s house. After walking for another 30 minutes, we reached a platue, which was exactly opposite and above Mansoor’ house. Since there was no point in walking further distance, we three decided to wait there for horses to join us and the other team walked ahead. It was after a long wait of an hour or more, we saw a boy started walking from Mansoor’s house with 3 horses. He took another 30 minutes to reach us on the platue. Although in past, we had been riding the horse once in a while for couple of minutes, this was for the first time we would be riding the same horse for another 7-8 days. There was a big black horse “Chetak”, which was assigned to me considering my body mass and there were other two brown horses, “Price” and “Badshah”. By the time we started from this point, a big group from Srinagar school had reached us and went ahead. Since we were on horse this time, we could immediately overtake them and went ahead on the trail, which was continuously going up on the mountain. We went ahead for some time and at one point, our horseman decided to stop the horses for rest. We got down from horses and looked back. The entire Sonmarg valley was visible from that point. The left side was full of meadows and right side was occupied by a glacier and snow covered mountain. It was very beautiful landscape and soon we saw those school students jumping on the rocks below the ravine.
We looked up but we could not see any of our team members. So we decided to cut short our break and started on our horses once again. Now we were walking through a dense forest and some horses and cows were grazing on the slopes. Soon we saw Magesh walking all alone of stones. He looked very tired since it was a very first day of the climb. We stopped with him for some time. After giving him a bit of electrol powder, we moved ahead. Now the climb was over and we were on a relatively flat surface. On our back, we could still see Sonmarg meadows. There was a stream flowing around and on left side of that stream, we saw couple of cows relaxing. Next to them on incline, there were few shepherd houses. People were looking busy in their activities as usual. At a distance, the trail was again moving up the mountain and we saw Manish and other two people on that incline. We started to walk but soon we could here yelling and whistles from all around. Soon we saw three armed military personnel waiving at us to stop there. Knowing the gravity of the situation, we decided to stop there to understand what they were trying to communicate. This place was traditionally known as Shekdur camp site. Soon they caught up with us and asked us plenty of questions about our identity proofs, permissions etc. We explained them our trekking plan in details. Then they took our photograph along with our horseman to ensure our safety. They told us that they keep on patrolling this area and intervene any foreigner travelling along with a local horseman. There were some untoward incidents in the past, which they wanted to avoid going further. The funny question that I felt laughing at was they wanted to know father’s name of each individual travelling with us, which was anyway beyond capacity of my memory.
Soon, we were let go and we started our trek to meet our team resting on the next incline. They were fortunate enough to skip the interrogation. Now the trail was going down the mountain through thick silver birch trees. The trail was muddy and very soft. I was leading the queue on Chetak and was worried about my horse’s grip. Suddenly I heard a heavy sound at my back and saw dry leaves flying around. Before I could understand anything, I saw Chati uncle’s horse skidding and falling on his left side. I feared the worst but fortunately uncle actually fall in slow motion and escaped unhurt. Now I was even worried about my fortune of riding horse for rest of the trek. Soon the trail started to go further down the mountain and reached the edge of the mountain from where it descended further in the valley below. This was the last place on the trek where I remember seeing trees except for the last day. I took couple of photos there and continued down. Now were surrounded by snowy mountains on both the sides and the river was almost covered with snow bridges. To add to this, the entire trail was going through huge boulders and we had to part our horses to continue walking on them. It was around 2 pm by now and team was really feeling hungry. There was no sign of our horsemen carrying tents and food while we looked back. We decided to continue for some more distance to look for a place where we can rest and wait for horses to catch on. Immediately next, was a big snow bridge with few big holes in it, giving us the view of freezing cold water flowing beneath it. Although the snow looked thick enough, nobody was ready to step on it to test its strength. We started on the edges of it where it was slightly melted and we could step on the boulders below it. After crossing this, we decided to wait for our horses, which we could see at far distance. Soon they caught up with us and we were served cooked rice mixed with some gravy. Since it was a bit spicy, couple of folks avoided eating it and others were swallowing it with water.
I recollect, we had already crossed 10,000 feet mark and altitude had started taking toll on us. Couple of us were facing difficulty in breathing and minor headache. After continuing on boulders for an hour or so, we again came across a big snow bridge. It was really very slippery but the horses were crossing it very swiftly. At that point, we felt very comfortable since the ice was not breaking even with a horse’s weight. By now, our luggage horses had crossed us and went further on the trail. Everyone was very tired since nobody anticipated that our first day of trek would be so tough. After couple of minutes passed, we saw one of our luggage horse grazing around and his horseman sleeping next to his luggage on the ground. After inquiry, we understood that even this horse was a victim was altitude sickness and hence was relieved from carrying any further luggage. For couple of places, we tried riding our horses, but within next few minutes the horse was reaching another set of boulders and we were forced to get down. In one of the places, Dada and I moved ahead and Chati uncle’s horse stopped at one place looking for his master. Since that boy was not in sight, this horse stopped there for almost half an hour. Uncle tried all sort of humming noises and signals we learnt since morning but with no luck. Finally this guy came back and the horse moved. It was now 4 pm and still we were walking unable to find our camp for the day. Mansoor came with a replacement horse from opposite side and told us that the camp was just a kilometre away. That kilometre was almost equivalent to another 10 kilometres for all of us. Soon we three reached a place where our luggage horses had unloaded our sacks and tents. I saw them putting up a colourful red tent, which we decided to occupy for Dada, Manish and myself. Fortunately, later we gathered that this was the only 4 men tent that Riyaz had arranged for. Rest all were 2 and 3 men tents. It was almost 5 pm when I saw heads coming up one by one from valley below. Team settled near tents and relaxed a bit. This was for the first time that I realized ours was a big group with 13 trekkers, 13 horses, 6 horsemen and 3 cook cum support staff including Safeen. It was already late and sun was going down fast. We were on a platue next to the river and we saw the Krishnasar Pass in the opposite mountain which we were planning to cross on next day. The altitude at this point was around 11,500 feet. After some time, it started drizzling. Nobody was in mood of eating dinner. Couple of us were down with headache, mountain sickness and hence we were all back in our tents winding up our dinner fast. To my surprize, there was a good light around till 8:40 pm in the evening.
I woke up early morning by 4 – 4:30, just to find that there was already light around everywhere. I came out of my tent and saw that there were ships grazing all around us. On opposite side of the river, there were couple of shepherd houses and each one of them was having a herd of around 2,000-2,500 ships each. Some ships were enjoying morning sunlight sitting on ridges. Soon these ships were set free in the meadows near the pass for grazing. The trail was crossing the freezing river and moving up in the opposite mountain to cross the pass at 13,000+ feet height. Team negotiated with the horsemen to carry them on horses to cross the river since no one wanted to start a day’s trek with wet shoes and freezing feet. Soon we all crossed the river on horses and team started walking towards the pass. We covered the initial height very fast and then we stopped the horses for some rest. From here, the scene behind was looking fantastic. We could see tents being packed up, luggage being loaded on horses from ridge above. On opposite mountain, our horseman showed us a small blue lake formed by stream water. This lake has apparently taken shape of India and we carefully looked at it, we were surprized at the analogy.
Once again, we were riding our horses and gained height. Soon we reached a set of boulders. A stream was flowing through the boulders and on right side we had a 50 feet high slippery snow wall along the mountain side. The horsemen decided to take on the height and we all were crossing the pass through the freezing water. The view of horses walking on that wall was very breath-taking but I could see them crossing it comfortably. Soon we caught up with our horses and it was a time to explore the snowy terrain riding on the horse again. While we were riding our horses, we met one Australian couple who was coming from opposite side. Soon we were on a thick snow covered valley at around 13,000 feet. On both sides, we would see snow being dragged down from higher reaches in this valley. We had to get down at couple of places where the horse was not able to grip on ice with we sitting on him. At some places, the snow was very soft and we were more than knee deep in snow while walking. After a couple of turns in that snowy valley, we reached a ridge from which we could see our cook walking on the trail in meadows below. We were again back on our horses and started to descend. After an hour or so, we reached fresh green meadows on a platue where team was already waiting for us since we had decided to take lunch together. On our way down, we had actually met our luggage horses team and hence we were hoping that they would soon reach us in no time. But it took them more than an hour or so to be there. When we checked with them, Mansoor told us that one of his horses died after crossing the pass and they had to shift that luggage to another horse. It was a very sad moment for all of us and Mansoor was also very upset with it. We managed to eat the same Dal Khichadi and continued on the trail ahead. Now we were in very vast landscape and we could see mountains everywhere till horizon. I took couple of photos here and we continued forward. Soon we had reached the river once again and got to know that our camp site was very near after crossing this spot. This time team decided to cross this stream by taking off their shoes since the luggage horses were way back. I could see the expressions on each face, as soon as they entered the freezing water. Till that point, we saw Safeen getting back Mhatre and Sachin who had picked up wrong trail post lunch. They had reached the other bank of the river and were crossing it in much wider current. After crossing the river, we took left turn and reached a place at the feet of mountain covered from all three sides. Although the Krishnasar lake was at 10-15 minute’s walk ahead of us, we could not see it since it was located behind a small mountain in front of us. We decided to camp there next to water overflowing from Krishnasar lake. On each side of this big stream, Shepherds had put up their tents and their livestock was grazing all-around the place. We reached there by 4 pm or so and started to occupy our tents as soon as they were put up. Clouds were gathering fast and we could see the sign of showers and thunderstorm. The altitude was again around 11,600 feet at this place. Before all tents were set up, it had already started raining but still we could manage to enter tents well in time without getting much wet.
After 10:30 pm or so, we were called for dinner. Most of us were already sleeping and hence skipped dinner on that day. The next day was a rest day. We woke up early as a regular routine but today we were in no hurry. I prepared Pohe for breakfast for the entire group and we had a feast. Then we started to walk towards the lake. It was a bright day and yesterday night’s rain had cleaned up the weather. As we approached closer, everyone was feeling anxious to see this beautiful lake. Till last minute, this lake remains hidden from sight and then suddenly once you cross the small mountain, there it is… It was perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen in my life. The sky was clear blue and the sunlight was shining on snow peaks opposite to the lake. The mountains around were snow covered to some extent and the greyish shade of rock was visible wherever snow had melted. The reflection of the entire range was visible in crystal clear bluish green water. We roamed there for an hour or so and took many photos. We saw couple of boys trying to catch fish standing on other side of the lake. Soon we returned back to our tents and spent our afternoon bathing and washing clothes in overflowing water from the lake. In the evening, we went to the other side where there were many shepherd huts. One of the local guys agreed to catch trout fishes in the running water for a minimal sum. He gave us 6 fishes which Safeen cleaned up and fried, marinated with black pepper. Our team enjoyed the taste of fresh fish in the same evening. Soon it became cloudy and we came back to our tents before it started raining. Safeen had cooked delicious dinner to end that day with a smile and relaxed faces.
Next morning, we woke up early and got ready since today was a long and tiring day ahead. We were soon off the tents and crossed the stream created by overflowing water from lake. Since the trail was full of boulders, we all were walking on our own and horseman was trying to push his horses through the boulders. The trail was going up in opposite mountain from where we could clearly see the blue water of Vishnusar lake from top. Soon we reached a platue which was located at the feet of another series of mountains. That area was heavily snow covered and the elevation at this point was more than 12,000 feet. Soon we were walking next to Krishnasar lake which was in semi frozen state. I took couple of photos there and we moved further. The Gadasar pass was visible now and was a very thin line in consecutive “Z” shaped trails. It was very exhaustive climb and we were taking break after every 20-25 steps. The views at the back were as magnificent as they could have been. Soon we could see both Krishnasar and Vishnusar lake from the trail but the weather was cloudy enough to take any beautiful snap. Soon we reached the top of the pass and the altitude at this point was around 13,200 feet plus. We could see couple of Himalayan marmots at that height and I could capture one of them on camera. The weather had turned really bad and there were clouds everywhere. We decided to start our descent but were stuck at the view of the trail in front of us. It was snow all the way wherever we could see. The first part itself was a big saucer shaped hard snow with some dry areas in between. Safeen had to cut steps in that ice with walking stick so that we could maintain grip on it. Considering this situation, I had to put my camera in Safeen’s sack to avoid it from getting damaged and wet. We got down from that saucer successfully and stopped on those dry stones in-between. Now weather had become very bad and it started drizzling. We all were freezing in rains and trying to get down from the pass. The snow was so hard at times that it was looking as a transparent slippery ice sheet. Raju slipped on it initially and then perhaps most of us were following him. Soon Safeen and Mansoor both rushed to help us and got everyone out of such patches. By now, our luggage horses crossed the pass and they wanted to move ahead of us since they were carrying load. We had tough time securing safe spots for us to allow horses to pass us without pushing us in valley below. Now the trail was all wet and muddy and we were slipping on mud and snow. By now, all were completely drenched in rain and still we were far away from Gadasar camp site. Now the rain was slowing down and we could see snow clad valley on our left side. After walking for an hour or so, we were in valley which was fully covered in yellow and violet coloured flowers. But since I had kept my camera in Safeen’s bag, I could not take a single photo in that area. Soon we reached Yamasar lake, which was fully frozen and there was no visible sign of running water. We crossed this place and soon we were walking next to Gadasar lake. One thing I must admit that it had a bluish aura around it and I could make out that the lake was something special. Again I could not capture a single snap of this place but I asked Dada to get a photo from his camera for me. After walking for another 45 minutes or so, the weather cleared up and we would see military check post at a distance. There were 2-3 green tents set up there on the way and we could see soldiers moving around that place. We were greeted very pleasantly there and offered hot drinking water. Since we were ahead at this time, we three showed our ID cards and explained them our trek route. But since the rest of the group was behind, they asked us to move ahead and camp in the open place after getting down that platue. After reaching there, I requested our cook to make some hot coffee for all of us. Soon everyone else joined us after meeting military officers at Gadasar post. Safeen was carrying special trekking permission for all of us, which he showed to military along with regular identification proofs. This time our tents were put next to river at the base of mountain. From this location, we could clearly see the stream through which Pakistani intruders try to enter Indian territory. This was exact point opposite which our military has put a check post which we saw earlier. We soon had some hot pakodas and soup to brighten our faces and I enjoyed sitting on a smooth rock in river bed enjoying its beauty. Soon in late evening, few military officers came to our tents to meet us and to inspect our overall behaviour. Some of them were Marathi and hence we all could gel with them easily. They explained and allowed us to hold their AK47 and couple of us got good photographs holding it.
We retired early to bed since it was a long and eventful day for all of us. The next day morning, all of us started together to cross the big frozen river. Since we three were travelling with horses, we decided to wait so that horses could cross this very slippery portion. The other bank of the frozen river was directly facing a trail which was inclined at least at 45 degrees. I was not sure if the horses would make it. But to my surprize, after some time, I could see our horseman with all three horses on that ridge. Have you seen “Avatar” movie? Do you recall Neytiri’s relation to her dragon, Seze? This was the same feeling I had for my horse Chetak after spending so many days with him. When we used to cross any difficult patch, I could feel that our hearts were beating in the same rhythm. I could read his expressions, when he used to wait before deciding the least risky track in some cases. The only difference was, he was walking on his own at his will than mine!
After crossing the river at Gadasar, the trail climbs the mountain opposite and the trails routes on the edges of subsequent mountains for more than hour or so. There are some spots where you are actually worried to the core when you are sitting on the horse when he balances himself on those edges while you could see the deep valley thousand feet below. Soon we had to get down from horses, because the trail had become exhaustive even for our strong animals. After walking for 15-20 minutes, the trail took left turn and we reached a comparatively flat platue. Now the meadows were looking very beautiful and we could see ships grazing around in those meadows. According to Safeen, this place is very prone to lightning strike and to verify his point, he showed me many huge holes of around 50 to 100 feet diameter, bored in those mountains where the lightning had actually struck previously. They were looking very similar to the holes that get created after meteor hits earth. These holes were now snow covered while we were walking next to it. Since it had already started pouring, I could not take any good photo in this region. We also came across dupta pani (hiding water) which was a similar big hole through which all the entering stream water was disappearing in the crust of earth. It’s said that this water comes out of the earth at some 50 kms away, which is probably in Pakistan.
Soon we reached Gadasar military check post which remained hidden behind a small mountain till we actually got very close to it. They have put a small stone hut on the top of the ridge to monitor any intrusion and movements across the region opposite. We were greeted very warmly by the military. We were offered hot drinking water and one of the tastiest tea I had on this trek. We met their head officer, took some photos, finished our packed lunch and moved forward. Even at this place, we had to provide our ID cards, names, addresses etc for records purpose. From this post, the route comes down to Satsar lakes. It starts with a very big lake with both sides touching the snow clad mountains. Our horseman took horses to cross this lake from left side whereas we started to cross it through huge boulders on right. At this place, the boulders were more than 6 to 8 feet tall and were scattered randomly as if some superpower had thrown them from top and they are lying there in its current form for centuries. The worst part was, the boulders are part of Satsar lake and hence we could see deep crystal clear water while jumping from one rock to another. After a challenging 30-40 minutes’ walk through this, we reached a snow covered platue. We continued for another 15 minutes and the trail was going down the mountain near the ridge. This was our camp site for the day. It was a very beautiful location. On left side and ahead of us, we could see the ridge was separating us from the valley and on right side of us, we could see beautiful green meadows full of yellow flowers. Horsemen were already on their job and were setting up tents for us. Soon clouds gathered and the valley was full of fog and visibility was reduced to 20 feet. It started raining and we all were constrained to be inside our tents for an hour or so. When rain stopped, I could capture some of the most beautiful photos of this camp site. The next day’s trail was going up the opposite mountain after crossing the stream in-between. Again in night, it rained a lot but fortunately in morning, the weather was comparatively good.
On next morning, we started towards the opposite mountain after crossing the stream just to realize that we were still in the same region of huge boulders. Teams took different routes this time since everyone knew that ultimately we all were supposed to meet at the top of the mountain to pass the Gangabal pass. After an hour or so, I could see my horseman trying to convince all 3 horses to navigate through the boulders to take the trail up. I could capture him from top at that location. Milind, Manish, Sachin and Anand had taken up the toughest route up which was a near vertical ascent. Fortunately, Dada and I could manage to locate one “Z” shaped trail which was comparatively easy way up. After almost 2-3 hours of strenuous climb, we all could meet up on a flat platue. From there we would see the snow covered pass. There were few people who were coming from opposite side and were getting down and sliding from the snow covered pass. This time, I could take the lead and I could reach the pass to capture everyone from top. Soon we all reached the top of this pass where the altitude was more than 13,000 feet. On opposite side of the pass, we could see twin Gangabal lakes at a distance. I could manage to take a photo or two here before the entire valley was covered by dark clouds. Now from this point onwards, the trail descends to take us near to the lake. This was another strenuous descent of more than 1500 feet. After walking for few minutes, it again started raining and the visibility had actually reduced to couple of feet. We were split into groups and we could not locate anyone else due to dense fog. Dada, Manish, Sachin, Raju and Mhatre were with me while we were struggling our way down. Soon everyone was much worried about whether we had selected correct trail or not since we could not see anyone else walking ahead of us. After crossing couple of slippery snow streams, we stopped for a minute. Just then as if a flash, clouds cleared the way and we could see our luggage horses standing at the far end of the trail near the valley. This was the most positive thing we had witnessed on this day which gave us idea that the trail we had selected was indeed the correct one. After struggling with poor visibility, we continued for another hour or so and could finally reach the place where we had seen those horses standing. But to our surprize they were not there now! For a minute, we thought that it might have been just an illusion that we had initially seen those horses but decided to keep that idea aside since no one was in mood to climb anywhere up from this point. After waiting there for 10 minutes, we could hear someone riding the horse in fog. Then Safeen’s figure came out of that dense fog and we were really relieved to see him riding Chetak. He took us on the right trail and after crossing couple of ridges, we could finally see Gangabal lake in front of us. It was raining hard and the Harmukh peak was covered in clouds of different shade. The water of this lake was appearing mystical green in colour. I carefully tried to capture one photo of it in heavy rains. As we started towards the lake, the rain stopped and I could see our team setting up tents near the edge of the lake. There were few small tents other people had already put on other side of the lake. They had travelled there from Narnag side by climbing for a day or so. I met Mansoor on my way to lake, who was heading back to mountain to search for the reaming trekkers. Soon we all were sitting next to Safeen’s stove heating ourselves and sipping hot cup of coffee. Since we had already decided that the next day was going to be the rest day, we all were pretty relaxed now.
On next day when we woke up, it was a very clean and pleasant weather around. There was no sign of rain and it was hard to believe that this was the same place where we had to reach yesterday full drenched. It’s said that irrespective of the weather condition, the Harmukh peak always remains cloud covered. To my surprize, I could see these words coming true at least for two days of our stay there. I could take some of the fascinating photos of this trek on this day. After a quick discussion with Safeen and Mansoor, it was decided that after breakfast, we all would set out to see Nundkol lake and while returning back, we would proceed further on trail so that we would be able to reduce the next day’s descent by more than hour or so. After crossing one ridge and the stream which fills Gangabal lake water from overflowing Nundkol lake, we reached Nundkol lake and were mesmerized by the beauty of this lake. Some guys were trying trout fishing on its bank while others were just sitting on huge rocks viewing the vast beauty of this lake. After resting there for an hour or so, we began our journey back. By the time we came back, horses were getting ready for our next destination which was supposed to be campsite next to newly constructed forest department’s hut on the way down. We walked for more than 1.5 hrs to reach this place where we stayed on that day. We would still see Harmukh peak in the background which was cloud covered all the time. In the evening, the weather was very bad and we decided to wind up our day early.
On last morning, we all started very early, at around 6:30 am. Everyone was eager to reach Narnag, from where we could call our dear ones. It was very strenuous descent of another 4.5 hours in which, we would only see two good water sources and one resting place where locals have put a very small hotel for serving tea and Maggie. By 11 am we reached Narnag village from where many other travellers were starting their journey up towards Gangabal lakes. We settled our financial accounts with Safeen and offered all horsemen, cook with tips. By now, three jeeps were waiting for us to take us to Srinagar. Our luggage was loaded onto these jeeps and we all very extremely happy that we could complete this trek in good health and without any untoward incident.
The story never ends here.. On our way, Milind and I were thinking about what could be our next trekking destination for 2013…
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Prajakt_23
Active Member
Thanks! I am sure he would be back with much better photos than what I could take on this trek. The weather would be just perfect in August!
How can one take better pics than the best.
Yours are few of the best pics I have seen from the region.
PS : I'll read the complete story at my own pace.
Prajakt_23
Active Member
Hahaha. These are just good photos for me. Had it been a good weather, photos might have come outstanding. Since he is going in perfect weather conditions, he should be able to get more perfect shots, especially at Gadasar lake and poshpatri valley of flowers. And thanks for the complements!How can one take better pics than the best.
Yours are few of the best pics I have seen from the region.
PS : I'll read the complete story at my own pace.
Prajakt
Prajakt_23
Active Member
Did anyone get chance to go through this travelogue?
Yes. I did.Did anyone get chance to go through this travelogue?