There is something about Kashmir Valley which fascinates me. It cast a spell on me when I visited it in April 2015. Now it is September 2015 and I have already visited this place one more time.
So my last visit to Kashmir was as a tourist - Wearing fancy clothes, relaxing in a Shikara (the beautiful and cute boat), clicking breathtaking pictures at the Tulip Garden, doing my little shopping (which later emptied my pocket), getting awestruck by the beauty of Gulmarg, my first experience with Skiing, sipping hot Kashmiri Kahwa tea, munching those yummy parathas/ paneer followed by a crazy trip to Leh. But once I came back to Bangalore and settled down and started thinking where my next trip should be, I (and my husband) went pretty clueless. We wanted the next trip to be more exciting than the one which we just did. So the best bet seemed to be going back to Kashmir itself! But this time we did not want a "touristy" experience and that is when the idea of trek struck us.
As I do not belong to the fit/super-fit club, I ensured that we register for an easy-pretty-enjoyable trek - The Tarsar Marsar Trek. I did my bit of training sessions which is like 1hr of yoga/ exercises for 2-3 weeks. This is assuming that the trek is going to be light and I can sort of manage with my current fitness level.
We spent a fortune at Decathlon buying those Quechua trekking shoes, balaclavas, caps, thermals, water resistant trousers, gloves, socks and what not. And then a fortune again on our fleece (Thank God we got this one on a sale!). So our rucksacks are ready with the recent purchases and we are pretty satisfied with our fitness levels and seeing those pictures in FB (posted by other Tarsar Marsar trekkers), we both feel confident. 3 days to the trek, we receive an email from India Hikes (with whom we have registered) that there is a situation due to which they are cancelling our Tarsar Marsar Trek and those who are still interested can go for the KGL trek. That is nothing but the Kashmir Great Lakes Trek!
I'm in a deep shock as I know that KGL is not known to be a breezy, easy-peasy trek. Moreover it is for 8 days! Since all the Tarsar Marsar trekkers have already booked our to & fro flight tickets, India Hikes is saying that they will make the 8 day trek into 7 (the rest day is cut!!!). I immediately tell my husband to drop off from this plan but he is so excited that he is no more doing a simple trek instead got an opportunity to do a more challenging one! Negotiations fail and I agree to go with the new plan. My fitness level cannot be called as 'fitness level' anymore as I'm now going for KGL!!! My first ever high-altitude trek! And I have never ever trekked before!
My sister who has become a trek-expert overnight after completing the daring Roopkund trek assures/consoles me that KGL is supposed to be one of the most beautiful treks in India. And she also says that by the end of this trek I am going to fall in love with the mountains. I had to trust her and my husband as anyway I was left with no choice. With this, my journey to Kashmir Valley begins with me praying to all the Gods!
So my last visit to Kashmir was as a tourist - Wearing fancy clothes, relaxing in a Shikara (the beautiful and cute boat), clicking breathtaking pictures at the Tulip Garden, doing my little shopping (which later emptied my pocket), getting awestruck by the beauty of Gulmarg, my first experience with Skiing, sipping hot Kashmiri Kahwa tea, munching those yummy parathas/ paneer followed by a crazy trip to Leh. But once I came back to Bangalore and settled down and started thinking where my next trip should be, I (and my husband) went pretty clueless. We wanted the next trip to be more exciting than the one which we just did. So the best bet seemed to be going back to Kashmir itself! But this time we did not want a "touristy" experience and that is when the idea of trek struck us.
As I do not belong to the fit/super-fit club, I ensured that we register for an easy-pretty-enjoyable trek - The Tarsar Marsar Trek. I did my bit of training sessions which is like 1hr of yoga/ exercises for 2-3 weeks. This is assuming that the trek is going to be light and I can sort of manage with my current fitness level.
We spent a fortune at Decathlon buying those Quechua trekking shoes, balaclavas, caps, thermals, water resistant trousers, gloves, socks and what not. And then a fortune again on our fleece (Thank God we got this one on a sale!). So our rucksacks are ready with the recent purchases and we are pretty satisfied with our fitness levels and seeing those pictures in FB (posted by other Tarsar Marsar trekkers), we both feel confident. 3 days to the trek, we receive an email from India Hikes (with whom we have registered) that there is a situation due to which they are cancelling our Tarsar Marsar Trek and those who are still interested can go for the KGL trek. That is nothing but the Kashmir Great Lakes Trek!
I'm in a deep shock as I know that KGL is not known to be a breezy, easy-peasy trek. Moreover it is for 8 days! Since all the Tarsar Marsar trekkers have already booked our to & fro flight tickets, India Hikes is saying that they will make the 8 day trek into 7 (the rest day is cut!!!). I immediately tell my husband to drop off from this plan but he is so excited that he is no more doing a simple trek instead got an opportunity to do a more challenging one! Negotiations fail and I agree to go with the new plan. My fitness level cannot be called as 'fitness level' anymore as I'm now going for KGL!!! My first ever high-altitude trek! And I have never ever trekked before!
My sister who has become a trek-expert overnight after completing the daring Roopkund trek assures/consoles me that KGL is supposed to be one of the most beautiful treks in India. And she also says that by the end of this trek I am going to fall in love with the mountains. I had to trust her and my husband as anyway I was left with no choice. With this, my journey to Kashmir Valley begins with me praying to all the Gods!
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