Introduction:
July 19, 2024: The airport was in a state of chaos. Flights cancelled, travellers running around, cafes and lounges overflowing, it was not a scene that I had witnessed often. The enormity of the crisis had not sunk in yet. Murmurs here and there, people talking about the world coming to a standstill and the news flashed on my mobile.
The biggest outage in the history of IT industry in the past 40 years and it had to happen on the first day of my trip to Kashmir. The trip had gotten off a tumultuous start to say the least.
Handwritten boarding pass in Hyderabad :p
Monitors had crashed, computers did not work, check-in counters scrambling for breath, communications down and it was an understatement to say that the aviation industry was in a standstill and was in no way prepared to handle the situation.
I reached Hyderabad by 1.30pm for my 2.30pm connecting flight to Srinagar and was fearing missing the connecting flight only to find out that the flight had been delayed 3 times already and could well be cancelled for all I knew.
I had my 8 day trip on the line and about 80k already spent on the trip. Was this gonna be the start of the worst nightmare of 2024?
What if I go to Kashmir and things don’t resolve by the time I start back? Will I miss my first day at Juspay? I had well and truly put on my overthinker’s hat
Trek decision and booking:
Ever since I had started doing solo trips across Karnataka and doing the odd treks here and there it had been on my mind on what’s next? What was the next natural progression after all major treks in Karnataka were done?
My fellow trek mates used to speak about how Himalayan treks challenge you mentally, physically and can’t be missed at any cost. In all those conversations, one name used to pop out the most ‘Kashmir Great Lakes Trek’.
Kashmir Great Lakes Trek – The most beautiful trek in India as it is often called, was a 100km trek from Sonmarg to Naranag traversing 10+ amazing Alpine lakes. The pictures drew me in and it was a no brainer to book it.
I finished by booking in January 2024 and started booking my stay, flights after the confirmation from the trekking company. The trek dates were from 20th to 27th July 2024 and my trip dates were from 19th July to 28th July.
Preparation:
Kashmir Great Lakes Trek (KGL hereon) is a challenging trek with multiple types of terrain along the way in the form of ice laced glaciers, slippery passes, meadows and a fair share of boulders, so you need to have the stamina and willpower to sustain the harshness of the terrain.
Anyone who’s able to run 5k within 30 mins and a 10k within 60 mins can be considered fit for the trek and that was the preparation I did.
Also, prepaid sims don’t work in Kashmir and I had to convert my JIO SIM into postpaid before leaving for Kashmir.
Why this blog now and how I reached Srinagar?
It has been almost 8 months since the trek and it’s been a whirlwind of time ever since with a job change, my marriage and plenty of travel. So this blog has been in the draft stage for quite a long time. Holi presented the right opportunity to finally finish this blog.
Coming back to 19th July 2024, my flight from Hyderabad to Srinagar was delayed by a whole five hours and I reached Srinagar by 8.30pm and had no clue if the situation would become better by the time I return from my trek.
I had carried one of my trekking sticks and made sure to lose them at Srinagar airport without fail (Peak Absent Mindedness). Rocky start and end to the day.
My parents were extremely worried about me taking this trip during such an important phase in my life and Crowdstrike made sure to increase their anxiety by another 100%.
Thankfully I shared a cab with a Program Manager from Amazon Hyderabad who was also going on the same trek and speaking to him in the cab calmed down some of my nerves.
Day 0 at Srinagar was spent at Zostel Srinagar which was quite near to the Dal Lake, surprisingly Srinagar was very hot and I had to sleep without even a bedsheet to save me from the heat.
Day 1: First camp (Sonmarg)
The trekking group gathered at Nishat Garden Parking and packed all our gears in tempo travellers. We started from Nishat by 1pm and stopped for lunch at a highway dhaba overlooking the Sind River.
We reached Shitkadi camp site which was about 5km away from Sonmarg by 5pm and had views of the amazing Malchoi glacier. If the description of the trek was anything to go by, this campsite did not disappoint.
The campsite was right next to the Sind river and there was a consistent sound of the river flowing as we slept through the night.
Everyone at the camp had to choose a tent partner and I shared my tent with Mani who was from Hyderabad. He was a very tidy person and had packed a lot of things I missed :p (sunscreen, hydration packs etc).
The first and foremost reality everyone needs to come terms with in a Himalayan trek are the washrooms. All campsites have washrooms in tents and they are holes dug up in the ground for you to relieve yourself (yes it is gross at the first attempt).
To anyone who is planning a Himalayan trek, I want them to be mentally prepared to this reality as fast as possible.
We had a briefing at 5.30pm by the trek leaders and they made sure to instill fear amongst us about how everyone needs to follow them and no one can do as they please. It was on the lines of NCC trainees being shouted upon by their trainers.
Trek leads make sure to instill fear in you so that you don’t veer away from the designated group or path.
Day 2: Start of trek, journey to second camp
Trek start time: 8am and wakeup call at 7am
Day 2 is when the actual trek starts and we had packed our bags for the day ahead. First day of the trek was supposed to be a moderately difficult day with 14-15km of walking and an elevation gain of ~4000 Feet (1.3Km approximately).
We went through army checkpost first and as we moved along the way, we saw Maple, Pine forests. The view we left behind was amazing with a valley view of Sonmarg and the newly constructed Srinagar-Ladakh Highway along with Machoi glacier in the distance.
We had a break at a maggi stop and soon found that there was a group of friends who were coming very slowly in our group. They had planned for Tarsar Marsar trek but had been put into KGL trek which is quite a big jump. Our trek leads quickly realised that the group had to be split in two and let others go in front with 2 local guides while the group of friends were taken on mules for the next camp.
After the maggi stop, we lost our network and connection with the outer world.
I also befriended Ihsan and Adil who were from Bangalore and surprisingly Ihsan (Faseel as he is called by his friends) was my batchmate at NITT. He had been doing M.Tech. during the same time I was doing my B.Tech.
Ihsan and Adil were very fast trekkers and they helped set the pace at the start of the group. I was able to hold my own against them and walk with them at ease. Successfully made 2 friends at the trek haha!.
About 5 hours into the trek, we stopped for lunch alongside the Sindh river and finished our packed lunch of poha for the day. One thing that trek groups do well is to make sure that you are well fed and have energy to complete the day. I went with Trek the Himalayas and they are known to produce the best food amongst the trekking group (more on the chef on Day 7 of the trek).
We finished lunch and trekked for another 3 hours before reaching our first campsite in the mountains at Nichinai overlooking the Nichinai Pass.
While you are trekking in the Himalayan mountains, make sure to drink atleast 4 litres of water everyday and take hydrating agents like gatorade if possible (I don’t support gatorade throughout the year though, there are varying opinions about the ill-effects of gatorade on your body).
Drinking enough water ensures:
- Keeping your SpO2 level in the acceptable range failing which you will be sent back. My Day 2 Sp02 was 90 which was borderline and I was given a stern warning by my trek leads that I might be sent back if the situation does not improve
- You don’t get fever or AMS which can screw you up from climbing the mountains
Our trek leads were very experienced (2 of them being local Pathans who knew the mountains better than anyone and others trained from mountaineering institutes across the country). They made us walk 500 feet above the campsite so that our lungs work well a the height of the campsite (Climb high and sleep low as they say).
But camping in Himalayan treks comes with one amazing thing, food within tents and with amazing people surrounding you. All the meals are cooked amazingly well and you will be amazed to see the spread that is on offer (Breakfast had atleast 4 dishes while dinner had 5 dishes and sometimes a separate curry for veg and non veg folks).
Meanwhile couple of trekkers had Sp02 in low 80s and had start puking (first signs of AMS). When you are in a small trekking party, this is a scary thing as you are psychologically affected by the possibility of you getting the same problems. It was a very scary night to sleep with the possibility of some trekkers being told to go back to Sonmarg.
Day 3: Maggi point and last point of network
Trek start time: 6am and wakeup call at 5am
I slept well through the night and woke up at 4.45am to beat the crowd to the washroom :p. It is quite a task to wake up at 10 degree celsius and gather courage to relieve yourself in the morning.
We brushed and got ready for breakfast at 5.30am. Sun rises very early during this part of the year in Kashmir and it is usually bright by 5.30am.
Treks start very early here as the camp needs to be dismantled, packed up with things and mules need to start carrying the entire camp on their back before the trekking group reaches the next camp.
All of us took packed lunches for the day and only one day of the trek had hot lunch at camp which we will come to soon.
I drank a litre of water before the start of the trek and had a hearty breakfast as well. Today was supposed to be one hour of hard climb post which it was a level meadow walk for 5-6 hours.
We went through Nichinai pass (at 13100 feet) at the top of which we had a maggi point. This was the last spot of signal and I made a call to my parents to inform that everything was good and going as planned.
Day 3 was relatively an easy day with a 12-13 km walk and we reached vishanshar camp by 3pm. The group’s Sp02 levels had also improved as this camp’s height was lesser than nichinai pass and our lungs had gotten used to 13000 feet.
Finally we had come close to touching distance of first Alpine lake of the trek – Vishanshar lake.
Day 4 was the toughest day on the trek with narrow passages to the top of Gadsar pass. So the group was mentally preparing themselves for the task that lay ahead.
Day 4: Journey to peak of the trek, Meeting army base
Trek start time: 6am and wakeup call at 5am
Today was when we had to scale the peak and we had to climb 3000 feet within a distance of 3kms meaning how steep the climb was. The peak is called Gadsar pass and to make matters worse, there was only one path for both mules and trekkers making the climb even more riskier.
There was no water stream on the way and I had forgotten to fill water in one of my bottles, so I had to go to the Kishanshar lake to pick up one more litre of water before we started ascending.
KGL is notorious for it’s changeable weather and trek leads had mentioned that the day of peak always has rains leading to slips during the ascend (as you can see from the picture above, there was rain in the air). The entire group was on it’s toes and we couldn’t afford to relax during the climb.
Our group was one of the first to leave the camp (to put into context, around 400 people across trekking groups stay at a camp at a time) so the path was relatively free and we could climb without much traffic on our way.
I have slight fear of looking at heights on the edges and the valley we were passing by was terrifying to say the least. No one dared to turn left of the valley where there was a huge 3000 feet drop into Kishanshar lake.
The climb was tough and Ihsan, Adil and myself were at the front. Ihsan had a plan in mind considering the mules traffic “Don’t stop more than 30 secs”. He was pushing both of us and we were quickly making progress but we realised soon enough that there were horses carrying people to the top and mules had also gone past us. We had to take cover at awkward positions on the valley and the ground beneath was incredibly slippery.
Finally after 2 hours intense climbing, we reached the peak of the trek and breathed a sigh of relief. The remaining 3 days were just about normal walks and there was no intense hikes like today’s. If not for Ihsan, I would have been caught in the traffic and would have easily taken another 2 hours to reach the top.
The feeling at the top is surreal and I genuinely cried seeing the sight. There were 3 Alpines lakes on one side to be seen (Vishanshar, Kishanshar and an unnamed lake) and Yamsar lake to the other side. There were glaciers to be seen and the sight was truly one to behold.
We stayed at the peak for over 2 hours to let the other members reach the peak. The mandatory peak photos were taken and just as the final member of the group reached the peak, we started seeing rain drops.
Rain was our cue to start towards the next stop which was lunch at Gadsar lake. We walked for about 2 hours and dropped about 2000 feet along the way. The mountains gave way to beautiful meadows and there were flower beds on the way with lakes in their backdrop. Today was the day we realised why KGL has so much hype and why every trekker has it on their bucketlist.
We stopped for lunch at 2pm at Gadsar lake and it was raining torrentially. It was quite scary to think what would have been the state if this rain had come when we were the climbing the peak.
Once lunch was done, we started towards Gadsar camp by 3pm which was about 10-12km from the lake and the entire way was thankfully just a plain walk. We passed a lot of winding mountains and were seeing a lot of wild boars, horses and other animals on the way. The day was about 20km in walking.
Fun fact: While the official KGL trek distance is said to be 80km, the actual distance is 100km. So have your mind prepared for that.
It took us 2 hours to reach the camp and we had to get permission from Army to enter the camp. We met the 35th Assam Regiment camp and got to know that the regiment was started in 1941. Their nickname is ‘The Rhinos’ and their regimental salutation is ‘Tagra Raho’ . If you were encounter them and they ask ‘Tagra Hai?’, respond with ‘Tagra hai Saheb’. For those who are interested, 35th Assam Regiment has been part of some of the most hair raising missions in the history of Indian Army and you can read about it the book ‘India’s Most Fearless’ (I just finished the book and the book was also an inspiration to finish this blog).
Once the Army gave us permission to enter the camp, we changed and had a nice and warm evening snack. Evening snacks are usually very heavy (something high on carbs along with a soup or something hot).
Ihsan, Adil and Myself went around the camp to see the meadows that surrounded the camp.
The entire group was in high spirits as the toughest part of the trek was done and it was just about enjoying the views from now on (or so we thought at that time :p).
Trek leads also told about how weather had been very kind to the group with little to no rain and pleasant winds through the 4 days. Khalid one of the trek lead was saying how once a group was stuck at Nichnai pass for 4 days without moving an inch due to inclement weather and had to do the entire trek over a single day as they ran out of groceries.
Day 5: Journey to next camp and not going to hidden lake
Trek start time: 7am and wakeup call at 6am
Day 5 was when we got an extra hour of sleep and we had hot lunch at the next camp. This lifted our spirits by a whole lot more.
We had to walk 12km today and today was the day when we had direct view of ‘Nanga Parbat’ which is in PoK. Nanga Parbat is 27000 feet tall and is one of the tallest mountains in the world.
We first had to do a huge U-Turn after climbing for a km from the camp. Once we passed the U-Turn, we had to climb about 20 hairpin bends post which we stopped at a maggi point.
The maggi point was about 3km from the previous camp and it was the tallest point of the trek on that day.
We quickly started trudging on to the next maggi point stop which was 5km away. The path was passing through rocks followed by small lakes. The path was fairly straightforward with very less surprises today.
By 10am, we took a break at the next maggi point and I got myself a fine hot cup of chai after almost 5 days. For some reason, the chai served at maggi points till that day were pretty bad and today was when I had a nice cup of tea.
By 10.30am, we resumed walking towards the camp and we had about 6-7km remaining to be covered. The entire stretch was covered with boulders which made walking a bit tedious.
By 12.30pm, we reached Satsar Lake and chilled in the water for about 30 mins before heading towards our camp.
By 1.30pm, the tents were up and we had started changing our clothes to casual clothes. Lunch was served hot and it felt like the most delicious meal ever :p.
There was a hidden lake near Satsar camp which was about an hour of hiking and out of the 20 member group, only 6 were interested to go. I was very tired from the walk and decided against to it. Thankfully there was no FOMO attached to it.
After 5 days of hard trekking, we had a nice rest day to be ready for the final ascend of the trek next day to Zaj pass. Additionally the next day was my birthday, so it was another motivation to wakeup the next day :p.
Day 6: Birthday, Zaj pass and final ascend
Trek start time: 6am and wakeup call at 5am
The final day of ascend and today presented one final challenge to us. There was a 2km boulder section which had to be passed before we could climb to Zaj Pass.
The trek leads for some reason could not find the trail and we had do a bit of exploration in 2-3 paths before we found the actual trail. It was an intense 1 hour bouldering experience post which we had a clear view of the Zaj pass which had to be climbed.
By 10am we were at the top of Zaj Pass and the peak gave a clear view of Gangbal and Nund kul lakes.
The trek was well and truly over with this view and a sense of accomplishment came into being.
Zaj pass was also at 13700 feet and the next camp was at Gangbal lake at 12000 feet. We started climbing down by 11am and reached the bottom of the pass by 12.30pm. We had packed lunch for today and finished lunch at a maggi point along with some Lays.
Post lunch, we went to Gangbal lake for about 2 hours and went to a small mandir on the lake.
Our camp was adjacent to Nundkul lake which was the twin lake of Gangbal. Both these lakes were fed by the glaciers in Haramukh mountain and the water in the lakes eventually reached Sind river.
By 3pm, we were at the camp and freshened up. We had our evening snacks and since it was the end of the trek, everyone started talking about their experience in the trek. Everyone received their trek completion certification and trek leads gave their speeches as well.
When I got my completion certificate, the trek leads revealed that they knew it was my birthday and there was a cake arranged for me. As I had told about the cook on Day 2 blog, the food was amazing and it turns out that our cook had worked in Taj Pune for over 10 years and he wanted to pursue his long dream of being in the mountains.
He had made a cake out of biscuits, chocolate and condensed milk.
I had planned the trek to gift myself the most unforgettable birthday but at the end, I realised that I probably missed my friends’ wishes, calls from my parents more than the trek itself. Probably there are somethings which are more important than just seeking adventure and feeling independent.
The next day was supposed to be a rest day after which we will descend on 27th July, but I had gotten homesick and wanted to skip the rest day and reach down to Naranang as soon as possible.
Along with me, 14 more folks were ready to come down, so 15 of us decided to finish the trek the next day.
We slept in the tent peacefully knowing that the trek was done and dusted. Ihsan and Adil stayed back for the rest day and wanted to swim in the lakes.
Day 7: Skipping rest day, reaching base camp (Naranang) and Srinagar
Trek start time: 7am and wakeup call at 6am
We packed our bags, got our luggage ready and started after breakfast by 7am. I bid adieu to the trek mates who I would probably not meet after this trek.
By 7.30am we reached another Army camp to give our Aadhar cards and we started heading back.
Today brought another interesting challenge to the trek. We had to climb down 4000 feet over 2 hours which meant the way was extremely steep and the mud underneath was very loose leading to very less grip.
Knees were paining a lot and I had to manage my balance whilst not falling down. The temperature now had starting raising above 25 degree celsius and we started feeling hot.
By 10am, I finally got my network back and had gotten around 20 missed calls from friends, families.
I called my mom first, both my parents wished me happy birthday and started getting emotional over the phone.
A lot of friends had wished for my birthday on WhatsApp and I started messaging them back.
By 12pm, we reached Naranang to the end of the trek and finally everyone heaved a sigh of life.
We finished lunch at a local Kashmiri hotel and boarded our jeeps back to Srinagar.
I hadn’t booked any room for 26th July, so I had to scamper at one of the hostels in Srinagar to get a private room.
If you didn’t notice, none of us had bathed for 7 days, so I had gotten tanned and was stinking to say the least lol.
So much of dirt had gathered in my hair and body and it was such a relief to bath in hot water after 7 long days.
The next 1.5 days was all about resting and shopping at Srinagar for everyone along with Dal lake boat rides.
Why you should a trek in the Himalayas?
Our trek group had people from all age groups starting with 20 year olds all the way till 65 year olds. There was a full family who had come to the trek, we had a husband and wife who had come for their first trip together after marriage, there was a group of childhood friends who had come before one of them got married, there were 5 doctors who were friends for the past 40 years who had come on a boys trek leaving their wives :p.
There was a Mother and Son duo from Pune who served as a reminder of how much I would give to stay with my parents as long as possible.
Trekking through Himalayas offers you more than views, it offers perspective on what is true value of being connected with your loved ones (be it friends, family, relatives or whoever it is). It also serves as a reminder of how small we are in the whole scheme of things and how your everyday pressures are your own doing than someone else’s.
You see the amount of effort everyone is putting to get through the trek and Mr.Bhaskar who was the oldest in the group at 65 years told about one thing which stays with me till today and ‘If there is one wealth you can accumulate without external help, it is health’ . He had come with his entire family (wife and 2 daughters). This family had finished 12+ Himalayan treks and by the time I finished writing this blog, they had finished Everest Base Camp as well.
It is for these rich experiences and physically demanding terrains that I recommend everyone to do atleast one Himalayan trek as early as possible.
Day 9: Back to Bangalore
I took a direct flight on the way back and thankfully all the issues around Crowdstrike had been solved.
Ihsan, Adil and me had the same flight thankfully and we chatted all the way to Bangalore.
It was a peaceful day overall and I prepared for my first day at Juspay on 29th July 2024.
Thanks for reading this blog and I hope to see you all soon in something interesting!
Note: Images from Google are not owned by me and have been sourced from public websites
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