AGAR FIRDAUS BAR RU-E-ZAMIN AST, HAMI AST O- HAMI AST O- HAMI AST.
IF THERE IS HEAVEN ON EARTH, IT IS HERE, IT IS HERE IT IS HERE.
The most important day of the trek was ahead of us. We have heard during our treks in Sahyadris many many times "Its not we who conquer the mountains but but they allow us to reach the Summit". The reason I remembered this was today we needed all the possible help first from Weather in terms of No rains and then from the Mountains to allow us 32 lesser mortals to safely negotiate the Gadsar Pass at 13750 feet.
We started early after completing the formality of checking the pulse and oxygen saturation, breakfast of Dalia coffee n bread. Today was also going to be our first hand interaction with Indian Army Camp. For the purpose of identification we were required to give the ID proof as mentioned in the excel sheet which we had filled up before commencement of the trek.
All formalities done and dusted we started the days trek on the same route we had taken yesterday to Visit Vishnasar Lake. It was Divinity personified in morning sunlight and we clicked and clicked and clicked...
Keeping Vishnasar on our left we climbed a not so small hillock to reach a plateau where we came face to face with the other Twin , Kishansar Lake.We could hear a constant noise of stream down below on the left while ascending.
I would be lying if I say it is as beautiful as Visnasar, but it has its own beauty. Vishnasar had the first mover advantage and it is much bigger than Kishansar. Also Kishansar is not as much surrounded by mountains as Vishnasar. It was bathing in morning Sunlight. Another round of photo session ensued ....
It was interesting to note that apart from its own glaciers feeding it, Vishnasar was also getting an overflow from Kishansar.
Now the simple part of morning trek was over and it was our MIND which was going to take us past the Gadsar Pass not our Body....right in front was our first challange....Again my favorite Zig-Zags ...
This is were all the Good Will the rest of my trek mates came into use. We needed a good crisp and sunny weather and it was Tailormade for us by the Almighty . It was cool enough for us not to tire away quickly but devoid of rain and full of Sunshnie. again a famous dialogue from Om Shanti Om by SRK --"अगर आप कोई चीज पुरे शिद्दत से चाहो तो पुरी कायनात आपको उसे मिलाने में जूट जाती है …. So very true
The above site evoked a unanimous response from almost everyone... Oh My God ...It can't be-- some expressed it some chose to keep quiet...It was classical TINA factor at work...We could not go back so we had to move on.....We were suppose to follow one of the pencil thin traverse tracks which would be taking us on the top of the ridge ....
The only incentive was the combined visuals of the Twin lakes....
Clicking the Twin lakes was good enough an excuse to stop now and then to catch our breath. The view of the lakes was visible even from the Gadsar Pass.
We also partly realized why there was a rest day kept here. One or two heavy showers and it would have been nightmarish to climb up or down here. Again thanking the Almighty for this tailormade weather we trudged on and on and on ...Just before the final climb to Gadsar Pass you hit the snow again.As i could see the people ahead of me reaching top and basking in the Sun, instead of trying more for the last few feet ,the relief of reaching drained the energy and resolve ...The last 50 odd feet thus became even more torturous..The view from top was excellent.
On one side you could still see the Twin Lakes and on the other side was a steep descent covered with snow. Without worrying for what lay ahead of us ,we savored the beauty around us.
There were quite a few of us still ascending, we had enough time to rest. It was cold and windy out there and we had partially wet clothes due to sweating...heady combination for catching cold and falling sick. We adequately covered ourselves with windcheater and monkey cap .
The first lake we see after the descent is called Yamsar with obvious reference to Yama...afterwords we do come across one -two nameless lakes..
the valley here is much narrower with mountain ranges on either side
Today morning we were told that we would be getting lunch on the way and not a packed one. Actually there is shortage of space at Gadsar campsite. Now this is extremely funny to understand...I have been writing about vast empty never ending meadows all throughout and now we were told about the space crunch....the real reason for the lunch not prepared by kitchen staff.... An hours walk on the meadows and we were almost at Gadsar Lake. Chauhan had stopped us near the stream feeding the Gadsar lake . We freshened up in the stream and had lunch ...Pulao in the open meadows along the ice cold fresh water stream.....
After a quick lunch we pulled ourselves up again as the campsite was much much further and in between we were to be checked by Army Jawans at the Army Post. I was enthusiastic about it...a good motivation to carry on walking.
Just after our lunch site on the left we came across one of the prettiest lake on the trek (Its Cliche'd i know)... The colours are straight out of Asian Paints colourbook...You call it Azure, Sea Green , Aquamarine, its breathtaking....I was cursing why we did not have a lunch break here.....The Ice floating in it makes even better picture...
Yamsar, the other nameless lake and Gadsar are all connected by the stream near which we had our lunch.
The underlying theme of all the alkes is same...A mountain with glaciers feeding the lake which overflows and streams connect the other lakes...
None of us took a detour to go closer the lake except Jowel and Anish ...I sincerely regret not doing so... and partially blame the Guide Chauhan... If we had been briefed during lunchtime we could have surely spent some time exploring the lake. Since we were not aware of the distance remaining ahead of us, kept walking...
Anyways, we reached the Army Camp after one and half hours of trudging up and down through meadows in an un eventful journey...
I had some totally wrong ideas about how the Army camp would belooking like ...In reality it was an chek post with two-three hut like structures manned by 8-10 Jawans . They were extremely courteous and helpful clearing all our silly doubts and answering all questions very patiently. They even served us Tea. Naturally we were overwhelmed by these gesture. The checking of documents did not take much time but our questions were too many.Later on while still in the influence of the visit we thought that this must be the only change in their otherwise drab routine of surveillance and looking out for intruders. We were actually a welcome change.
The campsite was visible from the Army camp ... A difficult day's end in sight ...Surprisingly we had one person giving Rasna on the way, I did'n realize that he is from Kitchen staff and some clever mind had asked him to be near the Army camp so that we can have a cold Rasna Orange...Bless the soul...
Aashish had reached the camp early and we put the luggage in a tent selected by him and drank more Rasna Orange....
To be continued....
IF THERE IS HEAVEN ON EARTH, IT IS HERE, IT IS HERE IT IS HERE.
The most important day of the trek was ahead of us. We have heard during our treks in Sahyadris many many times "Its not we who conquer the mountains but but they allow us to reach the Summit". The reason I remembered this was today we needed all the possible help first from Weather in terms of No rains and then from the Mountains to allow us 32 lesser mortals to safely negotiate the Gadsar Pass at 13750 feet.
 |
| Mirror or Water?? |
All formalities done and dusted we started the days trek on the same route we had taken yesterday to Visit Vishnasar Lake. It was Divinity personified in morning sunlight and we clicked and clicked and clicked...
 |
| Reflections |
Keeping Vishnasar on our left we climbed a not so small hillock to reach a plateau where we came face to face with the other Twin , Kishansar Lake.We could hear a constant noise of stream down below on the left while ascending.
I would be lying if I say it is as beautiful as Visnasar, but it has its own beauty. Vishnasar had the first mover advantage and it is much bigger than Kishansar. Also Kishansar is not as much surrounded by mountains as Vishnasar. It was bathing in morning Sunlight. Another round of photo session ensued ....
It was interesting to note that apart from its own glaciers feeding it, Vishnasar was also getting an overflow from Kishansar.
Now the simple part of morning trek was over and it was our MIND which was going to take us past the Gadsar Pass not our Body....right in front was our first challange....Again my favorite Zig-Zags ...
This is were all the Good Will the rest of my trek mates came into use. We needed a good crisp and sunny weather and it was Tailormade for us by the Almighty . It was cool enough for us not to tire away quickly but devoid of rain and full of Sunshnie. again a famous dialogue from Om Shanti Om by SRK --"अगर आप कोई चीज पुरे शिद्दत से चाहो तो पुरी कायनात आपको उसे मिलाने में जूट जाती है …. So very true
The above site evoked a unanimous response from almost everyone... Oh My God ...It can't be-- some expressed it some chose to keep quiet...It was classical TINA factor at work...We could not go back so we had to move on.....We were suppose to follow one of the pencil thin traverse tracks which would be taking us on the top of the ridge ....The only incentive was the combined visuals of the Twin lakes....
 |
| Almost an hour into the climb and the most lovely view is in front of you |
We also partly realized why there was a rest day kept here. One or two heavy showers and it would have been nightmarish to climb up or down here. Again thanking the Almighty for this tailormade weather we trudged on and on and on ...Just before the final climb to Gadsar Pass you hit the snow again.As i could see the people ahead of me reaching top and basking in the Sun, instead of trying more for the last few feet ,the relief of reaching drained the energy and resolve ...The last 50 odd feet thus became even more torturous..The view from top was excellent.
On one side you could still see the Twin Lakes and on the other side was a steep descent covered with snow. Without worrying for what lay ahead of us ,we savored the beauty around us.
There were quite a few of us still ascending, we had enough time to rest. It was cold and windy out there and we had partially wet clothes due to sweating...heady combination for catching cold and falling sick. We adequately covered ourselves with windcheater and monkey cap .
Before starting today's trek, Suman had categorically told us that Gadsar Pass being the highest point of the trek, we all would be singing our National Anthem . Our trek guide Chauhan knew this but I don't know if he was tired of waiting or he was fearing the rains and impending difficulties in getting all 32 trekkers down safely, he decided to take the first batch and move on..Even some trekkers were worried about their bodies getting cold and then it would be difficult to warm up again.....Anyways, so few trekmates with Chauhan moved on but we were waiting for the remaining trekkers. When finally they reached the Pass and Suman realized what has happened he was naturally upset but with the remaining guys we did sing our National Anthem at 13800 feet. National Anthem at any point fills you with pride be it at Cinema Hall or otherwise, but the location of Gadsar Pass and being in Kashmir and that to closer to LOC made this one very very special. I am certain we all had goosebumps and surely not because of the icy winds.... I could not help but remember the National Anthem film made by Bharat Bala shooting in Siachen at -30 deg.C...There was no comparison just a remembrance....
Next ahead of us was a very very steep descent that too initially on snow which was on the verge of becoming slush due to harsh Sun.
The secret of Himalayan trekking is, if you anticipate walking on snow, do it as early as possible so that the snow is hard due to overnight cold.
One good thing was, easy or difficult notwithstanding, we were going to go fast since the steep descent won't allow us to be slow.
We negotiated the descent quite wel and quite quickly. Once the snow was finished it was much much simpler.
Now it would be test of our patience more than anything else.
Like previous days, we had a never ending walk ahead of us interspersed with snow patches, streams and carpets of wild flowers.
 |
| Long Descent through the valley |
the valley here is much narrower with mountain ranges on either side
 |
| Carpets of Wild Flowers |
 |
| Sheep Grazing around |
After a quick lunch we pulled ourselves up again as the campsite was much much further and in between we were to be checked by Army Jawans at the Army Post. I was enthusiastic about it...a good motivation to carry on walking.
Just after our lunch site on the left we came across one of the prettiest lake on the trek (Its Cliche'd i know)... The colours are straight out of Asian Paints colourbook...You call it Azure, Sea Green , Aquamarine, its breathtaking....I was cursing why we did not have a lunch break here.....The Ice floating in it makes even better picture...
Yamsar, the other nameless lake and Gadsar are all connected by the stream near which we had our lunch.
The underlying theme of all the alkes is same...A mountain with glaciers feeding the lake which overflows and streams connect the other lakes...
None of us took a detour to go closer the lake except Jowel and Anish ...I sincerely regret not doing so... and partially blame the Guide Chauhan... If we had been briefed during lunchtime we could have surely spent some time exploring the lake. Since we were not aware of the distance remaining ahead of us, kept walking...
Anyways, we reached the Army Camp after one and half hours of trudging up and down through meadows in an un eventful journey...
I had some totally wrong ideas about how the Army camp would belooking like ...In reality it was an chek post with two-three hut like structures manned by 8-10 Jawans . They were extremely courteous and helpful clearing all our silly doubts and answering all questions very patiently. They even served us Tea. Naturally we were overwhelmed by these gesture. The checking of documents did not take much time but our questions were too many.Later on while still in the influence of the visit we thought that this must be the only change in their otherwise drab routine of surveillance and looking out for intruders. We were actually a welcome change.
The campsite was visible from the Army camp ... A difficult day's end in sight ...Surprisingly we had one person giving Rasna on the way, I did'n realize that he is from Kitchen staff and some clever mind had asked him to be near the Army camp so that we can have a cold Rasna Orange...Bless the soul...
Aashish had reached the camp early and we put the luggage in a tent selected by him and drank more Rasna Orange....
To be continued....
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