Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - Sep 4-10, 2022
Anu and Samir did a beautiful trek in Kashmir from Sep 4-10, 2022. We had heard that Kashmir is pretty. When we visited, we realized that it is indeed "Jannat-e-Kashmir" (heaven on earth). Lush green valleys, tall mountains in the Greater Himalayas and beautiful lakes. It was a memorable trek.
Trek Statistics
We went with the India Hikes trekking organization. We had a 23 member team, 1 trek leader (22 years), 2 trek guides, 4 kitchen staff and 8 horseguys.
- 75 km in 6 days
- 3,500 ft of total climbing for 5 days
- 4,000 ft of descent on the last day
- Max altitude 13,800 ft
- 3 mountain passes (Nichnai pass, Gadsar pass and Zaj pass)
- 5 lakes (Vishnusar, Kishansar, Bramhasar, Yamsar, Gadsar), followed by Satsar that comprises of 7 lakes (we saw 4), and then finally 2 lakes (Gangabal and Nandkhol)
- Daily routine
- Wake up at 5 am every day. Brush, toilet, no bath, breakfast, packed lunch, pack the tents
- Start the trekking between 7.30 am – 8 am every day
- End the trekking between 2 pm to 5 pm.
- Altitude Sickness
- 90% of people had altitude sickness on the first 2 days.
- Nausea, lack of sleep, headache, troubled digestion
- Starting the third day, mostly everyone was fine.
- Bangalore: Kalyan Murmu, Abhishek Bagade, Mohan, Sangeeta, Rameshwar, Ajay, Amrita, Jasimuddin, Hari, Ramkumar Marriappan (Tamil patriot), Lakshmi, Vamsi, Puneet (hotel owner)
- Kolkata: Shayan, Soham Rudra Roy (National Geographic Photographer), Simantini Roy, Prakhar
- Mumbai: Krishna Biswal, Swapnil, Netra
- Hyderabad: Anita
- Pune: Anu Palnitkar, Samir Palnitkar
Our 22-year Team Leader was Lay Naik ("lay" meaning rhythm in Hindi). He was from Navsari, Gujarat. Having finished his graduation in Mechanical Engineering, he was doing this full time for the past 12 months and led 30 treks. Great leadership experience at such a young age.
Trek Days
We were on the trek from Sun, Sep 4, 2022 to Sat, Sep 10, 2022.
Here is how our itinerary went
Day 0: Sun, Sep 4: Drive from Srinagar to Naranag. Stay in Naranag overnight. Visited local temple.
Day 1: Mon, Sep 5: Drive from Naranag to Sonmarg. Trek to Nichnai base camp. 11.6 km
Day 2: Tue, Sep 6: Nichnai pass, camp at Vishnusar. 13.5 km
Day 3: Wed, Sep 7: Gadsar pass, 5 lakes, camp at Gadsar. 16 km
Day 4: Thu, Sep 8: Satsar lakes, camp at Satsar. 11.5 km
Day 5: Fri, Sep 9: Zaj pass, Gangabal, Nandkhol. Camp at Nandkhol. 9 km
Day 6: Sat, Sep 10: Nandkhol to Naranag. Steep descent. 13 km. Drive to Srinagar, reach by 4.30 pm.
The Great Lakes
During the 5 lakes (Vishnusar, Kishansar, Bramhasar, Yamsar, Gadsar) on Day 3, followed by Satsar (seven lakes) on Day 4, and then finally 2 lakes (Gangabal and Nandkhol) on Day 5.
We camped at Vishnusar on Day 2 (Tue) evening. All these lakes were glacial lakes.
We saw Vishnusar again when we climbed to Gadsar pass on Day 3 morning. The color looks quite different.
More Vishnusar views as we climbed towards Gadsar pass on Day 3 (Wed)
Bramhasar (nearer) and Yamasar (farther) visible on the other side of Gadsar pass. In this particular view, Gadsar lake is not visible. But 5 lakes are visible from Gadsar pass, two lakes (Vishnusar and Kishansar) on one side and three lakes (Bramhasar, Yamasar and Gadsar) on the other side.
When we descended on Gadsar pass, after passing the two lakes, we arrived at Gadsar lake. Gadsar also means the lake of fishes.
As we started walking away from Gadsar lake on Wed, Day 3, we saw some green views of the lake and the glacier.
On Thu, Day 4, we saw Satsar lakes (seven alpine lakes fed by glaciers). Three lakes were on our path. Two lakes were off to the left from our campsite. Two other lakes were behind the mountains and not reachable.
On Thu, Day 4 after the reaching the campsite, at around 5 pm, we did a special side trek to see the other two Satsar lakes. Since it was getting dark, we managed to see only one of the two Satsar lakes.
As we were approaching this Satsar lake, some of our team members including Anu and Samir also clambered up a boulder just for fun.
On Fri, Day 5, as we reached Zaj pass, we saw two lakes Gangabal and Nandkhol. This lake is considered sacred in Hinduism, and as one of the home of Lord Shiva. Kashmiri Hindus perform annual pilgrimage called Harmukh-Gangabal Yatra. A yatra had finished on Aug 15, 2022. We saw some remnants of the yatra.
Water was ice cold.
Some of the younger team members still had a swim in the lake and enjoyed themselves.
The Mountain Passes
We crossed 3 mountain passes during the trek. Nichnai Pass at 13,229 ft on Day 2, Gadsar Pass at 13,715 ft on Day 3 and Zaj Pass at 13,276 ft on Day 5. Out of the 6 days, we had 2-3 hours of climbing on 5 days.
Nichnai Pass (13,229 ft)
Green mountains as we approached Nichnai pass on Tue, Day 2.
At the top of Nichnai pass, there was Maggi point where we could buy Maggi, Kahwa tea, milk tea, omlette etc. Lots of trek members enjoyed the trek.
Gadsar Pass (13,715 ft)
The path up to Gadsar pass looked difficult as we climbed up on Day 3. In the picture below, it is possible to see the path leading up to the pass.
At the top of Gadsar pass on Day 3, we could see 5 lakes, two on one side and three on another. One of the best views during the trek.
Zaj Pass (13,276 ft)
As we climbed Zaj pass on Fri, Day 5, we saw some red wildflowers.
As we reached the top of Zaj pass, we were greeted with a spectacular view of Nandkhol and Gangabal lakes.
We saw lush green meadows as we descended from Zaj pass towards Gangabal lake.
Wildflowers
We saw lots of wildflowers during our trek. Here are some assorted pictures.
Notable Memories
Here are some notable memories during the trek.
We saw Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters height) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). It was 200 km away from where we were. Lots of cloud cover. it is usually not visible. But we managed to see a rare sight. Look at the center-top of the photo below and you will see a small peak showing between the clouds.
Grazing sheep were a routine sight during the trek. Lots of shepherds seen along our trek route.
Lots of green slopes and meadows during the trek. This was unlike what we did Ladakh or California.
Pine trees visible at lower altitudes. Looked great.
We would often pass through the clouds. The clouds would fly fleetingly past us.
It was a great feeling to see the Indian tricolor. We encountered 4 army camps. They had a pre-submitted list of trekkers, they checked everyone's ID and then let us go. Sometimes, they also cursorily looked through the backpacks. Since this area is close to PoK, infiltrators are a common problem. Even walkie talkies are not allowed for communication.
We encountered beautiful streams and rivers during our trek.
Our campsites looked like these. The blue tents at the back are the toilet tents. We slept 3 people in one of the yellow tents. Little cramped, maybe 2 people to a tent would have been better.
The kitchen tent and the dining tent was separate. The cooks prepared the meals in the kitchen tent, and they slept there as well.
Our group spent a lot of timing in the dining tent. Though we did not know each other from earlier, we were able to strike up great conversations with the fellow trekkers. 70% of the group was less than 30 years old. But Anu and I had a great time.
The food was really good. Every meal was different and very tasty. On the 5th day, they made Panipuri for snack. They fried the pooris in the kitchen tent.
Srinagar Memories
We spent time in Srinagar, the evening before we left for the trek (Sat, Sep 3) and the day after we came back from the trek (Sun, Sep 11). Here are some moments from the visit to Srinagar.
Evening in a Shikara on Dal lake.
Kahwa Tea at a cafe near Dal Lake. It is a special flavor with crushed almonds.
Kahwa tea with rose leaves. A seller pulled up in a shikara next to our Shikara and sold us this Kahwa for Rs. 50.
Going through the floating market on a shikara. You can get off at a shop buy stuff and get back into the shikara.
The shikara was very comfortable.
We also got some pictures taken on a mobile shikara photo studio. They pulled up alongside, we went to that shikara and they took a bunch of photographs.
When we came back from the trek, we stayed in Srinagar on Sat, Sep 10 and Sun, Sep 11 nights. We stayed in a houseboat on Dal lake.
Houseboat stay was an amazing experience. It was a 5-star stay. There was a living room at the entry.
The houseboat staff cooked a highly personalized dinner for us, homecooked food. Very delicious.
On Sun, Sep 11, 9 of us from the trek did a day tour of Srinagar. We started with Shalimar bagh. The Bagh was built by Mughal Emperor Jahangir, for his wife Nur Jahan, in 1619.
We followed that by going to Nishaat Bagh. The Bagh was designed and built in 1633 by Asif Khan, elder brother of Nur Jahan.
We then went to Shankaracharya temple. The structure is considered as the oldest temple in Kashmir.
Final stop was Pari Mahal. Pari Mahal is a seven-terraced garden located at the top of Zabarwan mountain range, overlooking the city of Srinagar.
This was a great way to end our trip to Kashmir. We took a flight from Srinagar to Pune on Mon, Sep 12 at 10.40 am.
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Day by Day Details
Here are the daily details. These details are included in this blog for the sake of completeness of documentation. You can skip this section if you are not interested in daily details.
Day 0, Sun, Sep 4: Srinagar to Naranag
12 noon. Meet at sheikh feroze tours. Left at 1.20 pm. Reached Naranag at 3.45 pm.
Yellow tent sites. By Jhelum river.
Went to see Assra temple, archeological site at 4.45 pm, back by 6.10 pm
Dinner at 8 pm. Detailed briefing from 8.30 pm to 10 pm.
Slept at 10.30 pm.
Day 1, Mon, Sep 5: Sonamarg to Nichnai Base Camp
Started driving from Naranag 7.45 am. Reached sonamarg at 9.00 am, around 50 km.
Started walking from Sonamarg at 9.15 am. Assam rifles sentries stopped is for ID check. Also made people register for a Twitter account and follow Kashmiri diaries twitter handle. That was silly.
Reached tabletop, maggi point at 12 moon. 6 km, 2,000 ft climb. Drank Kahwa. It was raining all the way.
Our horse guides wanted to pitch tents at tabletop. They were saying it was too dangerous for horses to proceed. 2 hour long argument. Finally convinced them to proceed.
Left tabletop at 2.15 pm. Long climb to Nichnai base camp. Anu had altitude sickness symptoms. We reached camp at 5.30 pm.
Dinner at 8.20 pm. Slept at 9.30 pm. 12 km, 3,500 ft elevation gain. Very hard day.
Day 2, Tue, Sep 6: Nichnai Base Camp to Nichnai Pass to Vishnusar
Left at 8.15 am. Steady, steep ascent about 2,000 ft to Nichnai pass. Difficult climb. Reached at 10.20 am non stop climb. Ashraf, Anu and I were the 3 people who reached first. Ate maggi and kahawa. Maggi Rs. 120, kahawa Rs. 60
Others from our group came around 11. Left at 12 noon. Continued on down to Nichnai valley. Had lunch at 1.30 pm near the stream.
Left at 2 pm. Walked along the meadows. Reached Vishnusar at 4 pm.
Went in evening to vishnusar lake at around 5 pm. Came back at 6 pm.
Slept at 9 pm.
Day 3, Wed, Sep 7: Vishnusar to Gadsar Pass to Gadsar Camp
Left at 7.35 am. Started a long, arduous climb to Gadsar pass. Reached at 10.35 am. Went non stop.
At Gadsar pass, visited a small hill nearby. Came down and took some pictures.
We could see Vishnusar and kishansar on one side, as well as bramhasar, yamasar and gadsar on the other.
Group sat around and everyone was expressing gratitude towards people. Sun was beating down on us.very hot. Left at 12 noon.
Started climbing down into the valley. Saw the three lakes. Gadsar lake was awesome. Glacier in the background.
Blue flower fields. Marmots coming out of their burrows.
Gradual walk along the meadows. Long walk till we reached Gadsar campground 4.15 pm. Lot of campgrounds in the same area. Very congested.
Day 4, Thu, Sep 8: Gadsar to Satsar
Started at 8.10 am. Had to cross a cold river as we started. Steep climb initially. Reached 9.40 am.
Reached a view point where we saw Nanga Parbat, 200 km away in Pakistan. Very beautiful. Stayed till 10.40 pm.
Walked along a nice valley for miles. Saw sheep on the slope. Saw lakes Satsar, 1, 2, 3.
Immediately, we arrived at the Satsar campsite at around 1.10 pm Gujarati kadhi, pagoda and rice, papad for lunch.
Visited the other two lakes at 5 pm. It was a 40 min climb. Lots of boulders. We also clambered up a massive rock. First the trek leader, then Samir, Anu and most others.
We continued to the first satsar lake. Great views. Decided not to continue to the second lake because it was getting dark.
Beautiful campground. Ate dinner at 7.30. Slept at 9 pm.
Day 5, Fri, Sep 9: Satsar to Zaj Pass to Gangabal
Woke up at 5 am. Started trek at 7.35 am.
A huge boulder section with a climb. Took us 45 mins till 8.20. Waited for 10 mins.
Started at 8.30 am. Gradual climb to Zaj pass. Reached 9.40 am. Beautiful views of Gangbal and Nandkhol lakes. Anu and I climbed a small hill nearby at Zaj pass.
Left at 10.20 am.steep descent and then an ascent to Gangbal lake. Reached at 11.55 am. Men took bath at gangbal. Water was very cold.
Started from Gangbal at 12.50 pm. Reached nandkhol campsite at 1.30 pm. There was a small river crossing before the campsite
Small hailstorm and then heavy rain till 3.15 pm. Water seeped into the tent floor. After that there was no rain.
Day 6, Sat, Sep 10: Gangabal to Naranag to Srinagar (last day of trek)
Started at 8.10 am. Constant descent to an army camp. Our Aadhar cards were checked there.
Total descent was about 5,000 ft on the last day. Some places it was steep. We were accompanied by a lots of grazing sheep along the way.
Reached Naranag at around 12.50 pm. Reached the place where we got on to our transport to Srinagar.
We started around 1.45 pm from Naranag and drove for a couple of hours and reached Srinagar at 3.45 pm. This was the end of our trek.
2 comments
नेहमी प्रमाणे अप्रतिम फोटो आणि लिखाण 👍
ReplyDeleteBeautiful scenery . Excellent information.
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