Just a few days ago, my parents gave me a surprise telling me that I, along with my father, would be going to Kashmir “ Sonmarg , to be specific, for a trek to the Great Lakes of Kasmhir. I had done two Himalayan treks earlier, namely the Hamta Circular in 2016 and more recently the Sarpass Trek in May 2018. We had actually booked for this trek two years back, but it could not materialise and now, I was happy to finally explore the Kashmiri terrain.
Early in the morning, we got our flight to Jammu and thereon to Srinagar, where we met with representative of Youth Hostel Association of India, the body which had organised the trek. From Srinagar, we went to Sonmarg in a jeep. On the way, we relished the famous Kashmiri wazwan for lunch. There were so many dishes, that we could not finish them all, but the taste was very delicious. I dozed off in the jeep and got up at Sonmarg, by which times it was late evening. We freshened up , went for the campfire and slept for the night, as we were tired for the long day of travel. The next day was exercises and acclimatization. We had to get up early and taken to a meadow for the morning exercises. These were so tough, that even I, a 13-year old boy had to catch my breath! Finally, the exercises were, we had breakfast and set out for our acclimatization walk to the base of the Thajwas glacier. It was a long and tedious walk, but equally enjoyable. The guide showed us some film sets where Hind movies like ‘Satte Pe Satta’ were shot. Finally, we reached our destination and were happy to see food stalls. It was wonderful to see that the whole area was clean and free from plastic. Later, we returned to the base camp. In the evening, we went horse-riding to the nearby Sonmarg market where we feasted on local delicacies like kebabs and did some shopping.
The next day, we set for the main trek. It was drizzling, and though not heavy, the continuous shower was disturbing. Despite such weather, we began the trek, after the FD (Field Director “ he handles the trek) gave an inspiring speech and flag-off. Our destination for Day 1 was Nichnai camp at 11,948 ft. For the first 1 km, we basically had to just walk on the road, and then the climb in the hills started. It was a tough trek and due to the distance, it appeared to be never-ending. To add to it, the near-continuous rains made it even more miserable. We met the first army-camp for checking , this was to happen for nearly every day. This trek is quite near the LOC with Pakistan and hence, there are army check-points along the route to verify. We finally reached the Nichnai camp at around 5 pm, after walking for almost 9.5 hours. It was a relief to be at the camp site and relax.It was quite cold in the night and we put on the thermals and layered with coats and sweaters.
The goal for day 2 was to trek to Vishnusar Camp at 12,152 ft, after crossing Nichnai pass at 13,458 ft. This was again a long and tedious trek because it involved crossing the whole pass. Our camp was at the base of the mountains. The weather was quite windy and one could feel the cold wind even while walking.
On the third day, we had to reach Gadsar camp at 10,777 ft “ equally adventurous but less strenuous and a shorter trek compared to the previous two days. Here, we crossed the Gadsar Pass at 13,763 ft and saw the twin lakes “ Vishnusar-Kishansar, which was a delight! Everything was peaceful and the waters were very clear. We also had to cross a small stream on the way, removing our footwear. We crossed path with many sheep and the shepherds, mostly Bakarwals, who easily crossed the mountain in 10 to 15 minutes. I was very surprised and inspired by this! At one spot, we had some lunch with a Bakarwal family. They come up to the mountains with their sheep for the summer for grazing and stay with their families. They will return to the villages just before winter sets in, when the entire area that we have trekked gets covered with snow. Even now, we did not see many trees, as we were in high-altitude region above the tree-line where oxygen gets sparse. However, we were all well acclimatized and did not face any difficulties.
On day 4, the trekkers set out to Satsar camp, which was at 11,860 ft. Here we had to scale nearly three hills! We now had only two more days of trekking left, but the terrain was friendlier than before. Visiting different lakes was nice experience. Most days, we were going up, crossing a pass and coming down. So, each day, had an ascent and a descent!
Day 5 was Trek to Gangabal at 11,482 ft. From the mountain, we could see the two lakes “ Gangabal and Nandkol and the snow “clad mountain “ Mount Harmukh. Mt. Harmukh is situated at a height of 17,000 feet and is one of the highest mountain peaks in the Kashmir valley. Day 6 was our last day, we had to trek to Naranag village, from where we reached our Sonamarg base camp by road. And in such a nice way, our Great Lakes of Kasmir trek came to an end!
I look forward to many more treks “ here in Goa as also other parts of India and the world “ and perhaps one day scaling Mt. Everest!
” Adeep Sidharth Kuncalienker,
Class 8, Mushtifund HS, Cujira.
