Kashmir... Heaven on earth... Soo many years have been wondering is it really that beautiful?? Guess it was time to find out. It had been almost two years i went on a trek.. Going on trek with your friends is a delight on it's own. Finally the decision was made to go on KGL. Jayashree, Anala,Megha , Lidiya and me. The tickets got booked couple of months before and managed to get a slot as well btw July 20th to 29th 2019.
All of us started working out and preparing ourselves for upcoming trek. Since the difficulty level mentioned was "moderate to difficult", we did start preparing ourselves well.
As the days neared the excitement got more and more but were trying to keeping it low because of all the luck we carry ;). THE DAY arrived when we had to pack our bags and leave. As usual my packing of bags happen on only rocket principle :D.
Managed to pack bags,charge camera batteries,power banks. All set... We started the previous night since we had to catch the plane at 5 AM. we landed in airport by 12.30. We had soo much time, we managed to catch of couple of seats near the boarding gate and crashed for couple of hours. Our flight was on time and we sat on plane, YES that's the time to celebrate :D :D...
Landed in Srinagar around 9 AM and we were trying to figure out way to reach Tourist Centre. We took a cab to that place. Tourist centre is a well decorated place. They have people to help all the tourist with place to wait(waiting area, restrooms), sim card and also help with this. That's very helpful place i feel. We went around in search of food. We did manage to walk around 2 kms in search. Managed to get good bfast. Ate too much to food and took loads of photos and head back.
Around 3 PM we started towards Sonmarg, our first base camp. Drove through such good scenic beauty, only pain was to see how difficult life must be for people and soldiers. There were so many soldiers all the way who were guarding everyone. Life's not easy there i know.
Enroute to Sonmarg, stopped for nice Khawa chai and pakodas.. Reached Sonmarg around 6 PM. We were camping near the bridge which is an entry point to Sonmarg. There was a nice stream next to our camp. Next to our camp was one wonderful camp. School kids had come on excursion to Srinagar. They were so much fun to watch. They all were so happy camping, whole while i thought wish i could have camped when we were of that age. They all were singing dancing for long time.. Was nice to see so many happy kids. First thing which i realised was it doesn't get dark till 8.30 PM.... That's like crazy long days. But if you look at it it's good this way, we can enjoy our camping experience.
Shitkadi(Shekdur- 11,200 ft)
Next day morning the timing was 7,8,9. 7 AM is the tea, 8 AM is the breakfast and 9 AM is when we move. We got all dressed up and started walking towards shitkadi. We were supposed to camp in Shitkadi that night. First was a jeep trail where we were walking. slowly got deviated to grassland with pine trees. Beautiful view of snow capped mountain range one side and green grasslands on the other. Slowly the terrain changed to trail in the forest. It was nice forest walk, lots of ascent and some descent on the way. I was always one of the last ones to finish the climb. We kept on walking the forest range for a long time may be couple of hours. Later we broke for lunch. I was already tired of walking :D. I apparently realised another 3 hours of walk is left. We walked up in grasslands for another 3 hours to reach Shitkadi. We camped in Shitkadi that night, was so tired ate my dinner and crashed. What i love about camping is we are always next to a stream :) :).
Nichnai (12,000 ft)
Next day morning timing was 5,6,7. We had to get up early and start walking quickly to stay in Nichnai that night. We would get to see the first lake that evening Vishansar lake. There wasn't much climb that day. More of descent and lots of walk on grasslands. while crossing a stream i did fall.. That started thee count as 1 :D. All i was worried as soon as i fell was my camera, i managed to keep my hands up in air to keep it dry.... We had cross few snow patches. I was walking without a hiking pole :D. It wasn't very easy. On our way there were soo many flowers seen. Small flowers which are yellow, purple and red. Real small ones but soo beautiful.We walked up for around 15 kms and about 8 hours to reach the Nichnai pass where our tents were pitched in. We had hot soup with popcorn and then we were supposed to walk up to see Vishansar lake. The first lake of our trek. We walked up around 45 mins to reach beautiful Vishansar lake. It was lovely teal blue in colour. Heard that the colour of the lake changes with sunlight. It was so beautiful. We took lots of pics with the lakes and head back to campsite. We were so happy to see the lakes.
Gadsar (13750 ft)
The timing for today was 4,5,6. We knew its going to be the longest day. Gadsar pass the most difficult day of the whole trek. The summit is 13750 ft. I was mentally prepared had to walk a long looong way today. Loads of steep climb, also steep downhill, loads of snow patches and also tough terrain. The most difficult thing while trekking.We climbed real steep hills and walked for a long time. Most challenging part while trekking is when suddenly all the horses and mules come and we have to make way for them :D . According to me that's the fastest climb from our end since we need to make way for him. On our way there were soo many flowers seen. Small flowers which are yellow, red,pink,white. Oh amazingly nice ones. While climbing we could see the twin lakes together so serene and so beautiful. But to capture the complete view trust me must have taken pic every 500 mtrs i climbed :D. Kept on clicking soo many, finally got a glimpse captured in my camera. Felt accomplished. While walking up kept on hoping that would be the last climb. Nah.. That was just a small turn and peak was hidden till there. Yeah we climbed up peak over peak. Was tough steep climb. Got tired a lot of times and then yeah took enough breathes and started climb again. Yippie reached the peak and felt like I achieved a great mission. Yes indeed was worth it. We clicked so many pics with soo many poses.. :D Was lovely feeling. Now comes the downhill. First challenge was the snow patch. Jaychee was a big support to climb down. I was holding onto her and walking down the snow patch. I had apparently fallen off 5 times already in snow, the 6th one was pulling jaychee along. Both of us laughed at it and started walking down. It was fun downhill climb. Lots of snow patches, so many falls and i stopped keeping count of it ;) . Then came the place where we stopped for lunch.. Wow we were dying to eat. :D Now that we stopped for lunch, Megha became "My Love". She asked someone for "MYSORE PAK". Imagine eating Mysore Pak when you are dying to eat food of your choice. I kept on giving so many kisses to Megha the whole day. She got MYSORE PAK. Can you imagine eating favourite sweet at that altitude. Just my day was made. We had a walk through a lot of grasslands. Walked through lots of sheep herds. Was a really a very long day and walked like crazy. Finally reached the camp by 6 PM types. We all met up in lunch tent, played Antakshari, enjoyed dinner and crashed.
Satsar(12,000 ft)
The timing was 5.30,6.30,7.30 for that day. It wasn't much of a walk but the idea was to reach the camp by Lunch. We started our walk, there were lots of uphills and downhills but more challenging was having to pass through boulders. Boulders i liked crossing them. Found it much easier to jump the boulders than climbing up the hill. Boulders crossing is easy but it has one big issue is it will hurt your knees. I had some strain on my knees by end of day that day. We walked for around 7 hrs and reached the camp. After reaching the camp we had lunch and had sometime off and we had to go see Satsar lake. 1 hour of walk,boulders jumping and uphill we reached Satsar. Satsar lake was so beautiful and ofcourse we were damn lucky with timing saw beautiful teal blue coloured lake. We clicked and clicked and walked back. We were being prepared for next day which had atleast 3 hours on boulders. We came back had our dinner and crashed.
Gangbal(13250 ft)
Another tough day was lined up to cross Zaj Pass. We had again a quick start today 4.30,5.30,6.30. We had to start early since this was another tough day ahead. We had to again cross boulders for 3 hours. Started crossing the boulders and uphill climb. Boulders were difficult. We had a practise session previous day and mentally we were prepared for the climb being difficult. After couple of hours of climb we reached the summit which was a snow capped mountain. People were sliding down instead of climbing down the snow. Looked lot of fun, but could have been dangerous, so didn't risk it. Jaychee my guardian for crossing the snow patch was ready :) :). Started the downclimb. It was pretty steep downhill and we started walking quickly as they were fearing it might rain. We were damn lucky till that day we never faced any rain. After downhill walk of around hour, it started to rain. It was pretty bad rain and the downhill was slippery because of mud and small stones. After walking some distance slowly the mud filled in shoes and started getting slippery. It started getting more and more difficult with time. After an hour "I FELL :(" . I fell sooo damn bad, my back was hit on the edge of flat rock. I was in tears, i just cleared myself and got up and it started hurting so bad. Thanks to our trek guide tareek bhai. He helped me walk for atleast 4 kms. He literally held me and made me walk. After some distance came near jaychee. It was cold and back being hurting so bad, i started crying like a baby. I cried till i felt better. Thanks to Jaychee and Tareek bhai, i reached the base camp. They both held me and made me walk till the camp. As soon as i came back ate my lunch and cleaned up myself and took lots of rest that day. That night was soo bad. I had taken pain killer, but it didn't work. Middle of night all i could do is to sit and cry and i was dreading next downhill to reach naranag.
RestDay:
That day was declared a rest day. It was raining the whole day and everyone had to wait for whole day to go and see Gangbal lake. I chose not to go and see the lake, because i was worried about last day's naranag walk. Whole day we had lots of fun in lunch tent, played loads of dumbcharades and had awesome fun. Inspite of all the pain i managed to enjoy the day's fun. Towards evening when everyone left to see Gangbal lake, i was just walking around slowly in the camp. I was morally very down and pain was too much. Apparently met a couple who were from the next batch, they gave me some medicine and showed me some stretches and ofcourse good pep talk. Guess that was soo needed for me to morally boost me. I felt soo very nice and good about meeting them. I felt recharged. The medicine they gave me helped with the muscle spasm and i felt a lot better the next day. Next day meant i am lots of downhill. That night we were given our certificates and we all shared our views about the trek.
Naranag
Another dreadful day since it had rained the whole night. It was drizzling when we started to walk. That morning that couple came up to me and cheered me up again and sent me.. I believe in Karma. Felt all the pep talks i have given in my life is come back to me. Much needed boost i got. All set to walk. We had cross few boulders and ascent before the descent starts. We started walking. All thanks to both my darling Anala and Jaychee. They walked hand in hand with me the whole day. Though I had pain, it wasn't as bad it was before. I did walk well. The downhill started and the EVIL RAIN started again. The downhill was all slippery, muddy and rocky. It was quiet difficult to walk down and reach the base camp. The stretch would have been wonderful and descent would have been very scenic if it hadn't rained. It was mostly through the forest. Did slip lots of times but thanks to my buddies and Tareekh bhai i managed to come down. Once i reached i couldn't believe it was over.
"YES I DID IT". Later we had our lunch in Naranag and started towards Srinagar. Reached Srinagar and stayed in a boat house. It's a different experience and the boat ride next morning was beautiful. Clicked lots of pics as well. It was indeed an excellent experience. "EXPERIENCE FOR LIFETIME"
Lidiya is just awesome inspite of being first trek she made it. Jaychee and Anala darling were as awesome as always. Megha ma rocks, since she was always on the lead and was all energetic, but brownie points for getting me Mysore pak.
Proud to say everyone in the group made it. 18 women in group of 23 people, lots of first timers as well. WOMEN POWER.
Had wonderful experience, little hurt on the back.
All of us started working out and preparing ourselves for upcoming trek. Since the difficulty level mentioned was "moderate to difficult", we did start preparing ourselves well.
As the days neared the excitement got more and more but were trying to keeping it low because of all the luck we carry ;). THE DAY arrived when we had to pack our bags and leave. As usual my packing of bags happen on only rocket principle :D.
Managed to pack bags,charge camera batteries,power banks. All set... We started the previous night since we had to catch the plane at 5 AM. we landed in airport by 12.30. We had soo much time, we managed to catch of couple of seats near the boarding gate and crashed for couple of hours. Our flight was on time and we sat on plane, YES that's the time to celebrate :D :D...
Landed in Srinagar around 9 AM and we were trying to figure out way to reach Tourist Centre. We took a cab to that place. Tourist centre is a well decorated place. They have people to help all the tourist with place to wait(waiting area, restrooms), sim card and also help with this. That's very helpful place i feel. We went around in search of food. We did manage to walk around 2 kms in search. Managed to get good bfast. Ate too much to food and took loads of photos and head back.
Around 3 PM we started towards Sonmarg, our first base camp. Drove through such good scenic beauty, only pain was to see how difficult life must be for people and soldiers. There were so many soldiers all the way who were guarding everyone. Life's not easy there i know.
Enroute to Sonmarg, stopped for nice Khawa chai and pakodas.. Reached Sonmarg around 6 PM. We were camping near the bridge which is an entry point to Sonmarg. There was a nice stream next to our camp. Next to our camp was one wonderful camp. School kids had come on excursion to Srinagar. They were so much fun to watch. They all were so happy camping, whole while i thought wish i could have camped when we were of that age. They all were singing dancing for long time.. Was nice to see so many happy kids. First thing which i realised was it doesn't get dark till 8.30 PM.... That's like crazy long days. But if you look at it it's good this way, we can enjoy our camping experience.
Shitkadi(Shekdur- 11,200 ft)
Next day morning the timing was 7,8,9. 7 AM is the tea, 8 AM is the breakfast and 9 AM is when we move. We got all dressed up and started walking towards shitkadi. We were supposed to camp in Shitkadi that night. First was a jeep trail where we were walking. slowly got deviated to grassland with pine trees. Beautiful view of snow capped mountain range one side and green grasslands on the other. Slowly the terrain changed to trail in the forest. It was nice forest walk, lots of ascent and some descent on the way. I was always one of the last ones to finish the climb. We kept on walking the forest range for a long time may be couple of hours. Later we broke for lunch. I was already tired of walking :D. I apparently realised another 3 hours of walk is left. We walked up in grasslands for another 3 hours to reach Shitkadi. We camped in Shitkadi that night, was so tired ate my dinner and crashed. What i love about camping is we are always next to a stream :) :).
Nichnai (12,000 ft)
Next day morning timing was 5,6,7. We had to get up early and start walking quickly to stay in Nichnai that night. We would get to see the first lake that evening Vishansar lake. There wasn't much climb that day. More of descent and lots of walk on grasslands. while crossing a stream i did fall.. That started thee count as 1 :D. All i was worried as soon as i fell was my camera, i managed to keep my hands up in air to keep it dry.... We had cross few snow patches. I was walking without a hiking pole :D. It wasn't very easy. On our way there were soo many flowers seen. Small flowers which are yellow, purple and red. Real small ones but soo beautiful.We walked up for around 15 kms and about 8 hours to reach the Nichnai pass where our tents were pitched in. We had hot soup with popcorn and then we were supposed to walk up to see Vishansar lake. The first lake of our trek. We walked up around 45 mins to reach beautiful Vishansar lake. It was lovely teal blue in colour. Heard that the colour of the lake changes with sunlight. It was so beautiful. We took lots of pics with the lakes and head back to campsite. We were so happy to see the lakes.
Gadsar (13750 ft)
The timing for today was 4,5,6. We knew its going to be the longest day. Gadsar pass the most difficult day of the whole trek. The summit is 13750 ft. I was mentally prepared had to walk a long looong way today. Loads of steep climb, also steep downhill, loads of snow patches and also tough terrain. The most difficult thing while trekking.We climbed real steep hills and walked for a long time. Most challenging part while trekking is when suddenly all the horses and mules come and we have to make way for them :D . According to me that's the fastest climb from our end since we need to make way for him. On our way there were soo many flowers seen. Small flowers which are yellow, red,pink,white. Oh amazingly nice ones. While climbing we could see the twin lakes together so serene and so beautiful. But to capture the complete view trust me must have taken pic every 500 mtrs i climbed :D. Kept on clicking soo many, finally got a glimpse captured in my camera. Felt accomplished. While walking up kept on hoping that would be the last climb. Nah.. That was just a small turn and peak was hidden till there. Yeah we climbed up peak over peak. Was tough steep climb. Got tired a lot of times and then yeah took enough breathes and started climb again. Yippie reached the peak and felt like I achieved a great mission. Yes indeed was worth it. We clicked so many pics with soo many poses.. :D Was lovely feeling. Now comes the downhill. First challenge was the snow patch. Jaychee was a big support to climb down. I was holding onto her and walking down the snow patch. I had apparently fallen off 5 times already in snow, the 6th one was pulling jaychee along. Both of us laughed at it and started walking down. It was fun downhill climb. Lots of snow patches, so many falls and i stopped keeping count of it ;) . Then came the place where we stopped for lunch.. Wow we were dying to eat. :D Now that we stopped for lunch, Megha became "My Love". She asked someone for "MYSORE PAK". Imagine eating Mysore Pak when you are dying to eat food of your choice. I kept on giving so many kisses to Megha the whole day. She got MYSORE PAK. Can you imagine eating favourite sweet at that altitude. Just my day was made. We had a walk through a lot of grasslands. Walked through lots of sheep herds. Was a really a very long day and walked like crazy. Finally reached the camp by 6 PM types. We all met up in lunch tent, played Antakshari, enjoyed dinner and crashed.
Satsar(12,000 ft)
The timing was 5.30,6.30,7.30 for that day. It wasn't much of a walk but the idea was to reach the camp by Lunch. We started our walk, there were lots of uphills and downhills but more challenging was having to pass through boulders. Boulders i liked crossing them. Found it much easier to jump the boulders than climbing up the hill. Boulders crossing is easy but it has one big issue is it will hurt your knees. I had some strain on my knees by end of day that day. We walked for around 7 hrs and reached the camp. After reaching the camp we had lunch and had sometime off and we had to go see Satsar lake. 1 hour of walk,boulders jumping and uphill we reached Satsar. Satsar lake was so beautiful and ofcourse we were damn lucky with timing saw beautiful teal blue coloured lake. We clicked and clicked and walked back. We were being prepared for next day which had atleast 3 hours on boulders. We came back had our dinner and crashed.
Gangbal(13250 ft)
Another tough day was lined up to cross Zaj Pass. We had again a quick start today 4.30,5.30,6.30. We had to start early since this was another tough day ahead. We had to again cross boulders for 3 hours. Started crossing the boulders and uphill climb. Boulders were difficult. We had a practise session previous day and mentally we were prepared for the climb being difficult. After couple of hours of climb we reached the summit which was a snow capped mountain. People were sliding down instead of climbing down the snow. Looked lot of fun, but could have been dangerous, so didn't risk it. Jaychee my guardian for crossing the snow patch was ready :) :). Started the downclimb. It was pretty steep downhill and we started walking quickly as they were fearing it might rain. We were damn lucky till that day we never faced any rain. After downhill walk of around hour, it started to rain. It was pretty bad rain and the downhill was slippery because of mud and small stones. After walking some distance slowly the mud filled in shoes and started getting slippery. It started getting more and more difficult with time. After an hour "I FELL :(" . I fell sooo damn bad, my back was hit on the edge of flat rock. I was in tears, i just cleared myself and got up and it started hurting so bad. Thanks to our trek guide tareek bhai. He helped me walk for atleast 4 kms. He literally held me and made me walk. After some distance came near jaychee. It was cold and back being hurting so bad, i started crying like a baby. I cried till i felt better. Thanks to Jaychee and Tareek bhai, i reached the base camp. They both held me and made me walk till the camp. As soon as i came back ate my lunch and cleaned up myself and took lots of rest that day. That night was soo bad. I had taken pain killer, but it didn't work. Middle of night all i could do is to sit and cry and i was dreading next downhill to reach naranag.
RestDay:
That day was declared a rest day. It was raining the whole day and everyone had to wait for whole day to go and see Gangbal lake. I chose not to go and see the lake, because i was worried about last day's naranag walk. Whole day we had lots of fun in lunch tent, played loads of dumbcharades and had awesome fun. Inspite of all the pain i managed to enjoy the day's fun. Towards evening when everyone left to see Gangbal lake, i was just walking around slowly in the camp. I was morally very down and pain was too much. Apparently met a couple who were from the next batch, they gave me some medicine and showed me some stretches and ofcourse good pep talk. Guess that was soo needed for me to morally boost me. I felt soo very nice and good about meeting them. I felt recharged. The medicine they gave me helped with the muscle spasm and i felt a lot better the next day. Next day meant i am lots of downhill. That night we were given our certificates and we all shared our views about the trek.
Naranag
Another dreadful day since it had rained the whole night. It was drizzling when we started to walk. That morning that couple came up to me and cheered me up again and sent me.. I believe in Karma. Felt all the pep talks i have given in my life is come back to me. Much needed boost i got. All set to walk. We had cross few boulders and ascent before the descent starts. We started walking. All thanks to both my darling Anala and Jaychee. They walked hand in hand with me the whole day. Though I had pain, it wasn't as bad it was before. I did walk well. The downhill started and the EVIL RAIN started again. The downhill was all slippery, muddy and rocky. It was quiet difficult to walk down and reach the base camp. The stretch would have been wonderful and descent would have been very scenic if it hadn't rained. It was mostly through the forest. Did slip lots of times but thanks to my buddies and Tareekh bhai i managed to come down. Once i reached i couldn't believe it was over.
"YES I DID IT". Later we had our lunch in Naranag and started towards Srinagar. Reached Srinagar and stayed in a boat house. It's a different experience and the boat ride next morning was beautiful. Clicked lots of pics as well. It was indeed an excellent experience. "EXPERIENCE FOR LIFETIME"
Lidiya is just awesome inspite of being first trek she made it. Jaychee and Anala darling were as awesome as always. Megha ma rocks, since she was always on the lead and was all energetic, but brownie points for getting me Mysore pak.
Proud to say everyone in the group made it. 18 women in group of 23 people, lots of first timers as well. WOMEN POWER.
Had wonderful experience, little hurt on the back.
10 comments:
Thank you priyanaka..well written journey of 7 lakes.. we also got to know the names of the lakes...Felt we also travelled with you.
Congratulations on your trek ... keep doing and keep doing
Lol!!!! Mysore paak was the highlight!! I let go of my inhibitions and shamelessly asked for it from a stranger!!! I attribute this to AMS! My temporary insanity!
Ha ha ha ha.. I'm soo proud of you.. cant thank u enough.. ������
Awesome post Priyanke...a trip well spent ;)
Well written pinka. After a long time v were able to spend quality time !
So true... was awesome
.
Thanks Madhu
Thanks buddy..
Wonderful. Very adventurous.
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