Gr8 Lakes of Kashmir----My encounter with Beauty Bliss and Nirvana----Day 5: Gadsar (12000 feet) to Satsar (12000 feet)

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.

Today's trek was supposed to be the most picturesque among all days.... The timings were  again 0530-0600 and then 0730. We were told by Suman that to get best place at the Satsar camp site our horses need to start early ahead of other groups. Also today we shall meet the second Army camp and again teh identification and documents check will happen. To  let go the Horses we needed to unpitch the tents even if our rucksacks were not packed and as can be seen in the photo,all of us were packing in open reminding me of the scene immediately after the Muncipal corporation raid evicting illegal hutments in any major city.

सर के उपर छत  नहीं …सब बेघर 

Just above the trail we were suppose to follow, I found a very beautiful snow formation 

Todays trail was supposed to be a mild ascent and then looooong walk through meadows covering a distance of 12 kms with no net altitude gain but we would be ascending 1500 feet before descending again.

As usual we needed to start the trek by crossing the stream and then climbing a snow bridge to reach the trail traversing the mountain. From our interaction with army jawans yesterday, I recollected that we will be going to the opposite side of Gadsar lake. The jawans also told us that they simply climb the mountain to reach the other side where they have a camp and the place where we headed,only difference being that we would be taking a long circuitous route.Immediately after hitting the trail,we were spoilt for choices as to which side and where and what to click. So many different varieties of wild flowers at our disposal.

Its extremely lush green carpet covered by yellow and purple wild flowers 

The stream and the snow bridges from the mountains

After a walk of 45 minutes we encountered now infamous Switch Backs or Zig Zags again... I tried to take shortcuts as much as possible ...

Its nice to see down below...

but then you look up and see how much more you need to climb 

We were walking just above the treeline and after a while we did see a ONE TREE HILL...Its the first tree after three four days ...

The sheep of different types, colour and breed were our constant companions.They were extremely shy n afraid of the presence of unknown human beings.

We continued traversing the mountain and wild flower beds, keeping the river stream to our right for some time more. 

Afterwards the trail moved left leaving the stream n valley. Down below far off we could see the tree line again.

The landscape ahead was captivating. Isolated mountains stand in front. Towards the right was a small ridge. In between was a flat green bed with a stream flowing in between.

Once we turned left , the valley opens up and its a vast meadows we needed to pass trough covering more than what we did on the other side of mountain.The good thing till now was that everyone was in good spirits, one because the climb was mild and second because of the flowers. We started walking as fast as we could on flatlands to cover the maximum distance. Now the Sun was getting  a bit too harsh and all our winter gear was now redundant.... we continued  spotting different flowers , crossing streams in between,helping each other, puling legs, chit chatting etc.....

on the way We met one shepherd who was carrying this cute little baby lamb ...He told us that she was just 3-4 days old....Almost everyone from our group could not help but take her in arms and seeing this her mother who was a bit far away started wailing... Mother Child bonding on display...

 These flowers were growing near the stream but on a very very thin soil...

After crossing the stream and walking a distance of maybe two kms, we reached our second army Camp on a small hillock. We were clever now with previous experience ,but this was a bit larger camp.The third in line of defense against the infiltrators ....We had to wait for Suman to get the documents ,who had been left too far behind. We strted interacting with Army Personnel. Again they were more than happy to meet us One Soldier offered us Chocolate,one welcomed us with warm water . I guess they just wanted to talk about something different ... and we were in awe of them which was anyways ego boosting for them.... I must mention one incident here which defines what predicament these Armymen are facing... It so happened that while we were at the camp three people approached the  camp with some ID papers with them... One of the person's documents had some issues....I happened to sneak a peek in one of the ID papers and it was pretty elaborate giving details about where they entered, which area they will be going and how many days the permit is valid etc... Now this guy claiming to be a shepherd had made entry in one of the checkposts yesterday but the permission was only for a day. He had overstayed because his herd got dispersed and few sheep were missing . Now he was too far away from a area he was suppose to be and  his papers were clearly showing that he is at wrong place. The other two shepherds  in Kashmiri were trying to explain and convince the Armyman about his innocence.....It was a clear cut situation of "Damn if you Do and Damn If you Don't"....You have to be extremely delicate ... To add to the situation, we learned that just yesterday there was an attempted infiltration and 17 people were caught  .....While you don't want to harass an innocent shepherd, there is know way of knowing that he is not the one infiltrating... They all look same... There were frantic calls on wireless to other camps to check the veracity of his claims.......Just one very very small incident but We knew the difficulties faced by these Armymen... Of course its only one side of the story about whats happening there...

Anyways, after identification was done we moved on....Today I was not feeling like eating packed lunch so had not taken any... Aashish and Santosh also decided to have the lunch at campsite only which supposedly was two-three kms ahead. From the Army Camp as we moved downwards the terrain suddenly changed ...It was rocky ,bare and devoid of any greenery....

SatSar as the name suggests  are 7 lakes. We did not know that these lakes were in between the camp and our camp site....We did spot 3-4 small and big lakes but did not pay much attention... As always we were now more focused on reaching the campsite.

One of the Lake

After jumping over many rocks , we finally saw our camp  and unlike what we were told in the morning, there was absolutely no space crunch  and surprise surprise ...there was no lake at the campsite...though as was the norm,it was besides a stream...

We saw a Horse sleeping...New revelation for me

At the campsite, apart from usual Tang, our cooking staff also offered us pahadi variant of  Kashmir tea...it was salty but good...suppose to be helping in removing the pain and tiredness ...

Our Staff who served us extremely well...in the relaxed moments

The temperature was moderate here and all of us decided to have lunch by the stream. Chinmaya ,who was walking with us was also carrying the lunch for the three mates, rajesh and Parikshit. They reached early but had to wait to have lunch till Chinmaya reached the camp. Though I did not take any lunch at the start, like a true trekker I did shared whatever Aashish and Santosh had bought for them ....

First time during the entire trek we saw some cloud formation ..but it was not to rain....

The army Jawans had said that their boss will be camping with us to give additional protection... and we saw them erecting a tent on the other bank of the stream....The Major and Captain had a very good interaction with all of us and other groups...

We had a lot of time to kill and hence chatting with different groups enjoying the sun or just sitting on stones with legs in icy cold stream water which after a while felt pleasant....The mere thought that we are able to idle away  totally cut off from civilization  while our colleagues in office must be slogging like mad was enough to give us a HIGH....

I saw santosh offering "Arghya" to sun and clicked a photo...

While a little distance away, one of our staff was offering a Namaz... Dr. Parminder spotted this and I tried to get both of them in one frame......Different religions , different means but same goal

Our disappointment of  not having a lake was short lived  as we savored the landscape, played antakshari, I even learned a new game as wel. 

Santosh alongwith the Banglore team went  exploring the camp site while myself and Aashish stayed back in tent.

A view from our tent..

While in the evening , when we were having Soup , we saw one foreign couple approaching the site....They were welcomed by the Major and asked to present the identification....After the process these guys crossed the stream and within moments they had there tent pitched ,and both vanished inside....We were speechless....An American couple in Kashmir , on an unknown path ,trekking alone....Gr8...Though we accepted that the modern gadgetry didn't make  you feel alone the contrast was very stark between them and us...We with all the support staff, mules and what not while they were only a couple all independent...


To be continued...