Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 4

Day 4 - Gadsar to Satsar

We have an easier schedule today. It is 6, 7, 8. We are been told that today is pretty much relaxing. A lot of meadow walk expected. When I wake up I feel feverish and there is a sharp pain in my knees and muscles. I do not pay much attention as this is expected after what we achieved the day before.

The day starts with a tricky situation. We are supposed to cross an ice bridge. It sounded very exciting to all of us. Soon news spreads that someone heard the bridge crack. This creates a lot of confusion. We might have to take an alternate way. Which means we need to walk more and also cross an ice cold stream. Nobody is interested in taking this alternate way. By now our trek mate Deepmala has crossed this tricky bridge. Javed Bhai, Dushyant and Ravi check the situation of the ice bridge which has cracked a bit and decide that we carefully cross it. I am pretty nervous, given that I'm able to walk very very slowly due to my knee pain.

With our fingers crossed, one by one we start crossing this bridge. I'm crossing the bridge at the speed of a tortoise with Javed bhai's help and all of a sudden a very sharp pain shoots through my right knee. I freeze in the frozen bridge. We all are told not to stop but keep moving slowly as the bridge is a bit tricky. I always have a situation! That too tricky! I pull up all my energy and cross the bridge and here comes another ascent. This was never accounted! This is not how a breezy day starts! I find a place to sit. My leg is not cooperating anymore. Here comes Ravi the savior. Fortunately he has a knee cap which he hands over to me. Also I take a pain killer from Dushyant and resume my trek.

There is no meadow walk today! We need to walk through the narrow path of these beautiful mountains. One more day which is a treat for the eyes. Only if my knee was not hurting I could have breezed through this path! My DSLR goes click-click-click.

I have read that Himalayas will stun you with it's vivid landscapes. Seeing is believing and I'm fortunate to have seen it.

Also we spot Nanga Parbat. It is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. That is the information I received. Here is the picture of the beautiful mountain.

Today was not as easy as expected but has been visually very pleasing and there is no 'Pass' to cross. The long walk is a bit exhausting though. Nasarullah, our trek mate, who was expecting a more breezy walk says 'Why is life throwing stones at us yaar?'. We correct him saying 'Life nahin, mountains are throwing stones at us'. Himalayas is not ready to give anything for free. We need to walk miles and miles before we sleep. The sights remind me of Silk Route.

Very soon we reach the army check post. Seeing Indian flag flying high gives me goosebumps. All of a sudden patriotism runs through my veins. Gathering every bit of energy all of us march towards the camp. Our ID cards are checked by the jawans. All of us click pictures with jawans and the Indian flag. A very proud moment for me. It feels great meeting the jawans who dedicate their lives for us. Day and night guarding us. Talking to them on their lives in these mountains gives a new perspective towards life. Why do we crib about silly things in life? Bangalore traffic is not worth dreading about. My work is nowhere challenging compared to what these army jawans have to go through. Then why do I crib so much? The talk also gives us understand that the valley is not as dangerous as it is depicted by the media. Checking out army bunkers is a new thing for many of us. Sheer excitement grips the group! Slowly we move towards our campsite.

Now comes the rough part. It is only boulders everywhere. With my hurting knee, I struggle to cross these ones. Ravi comes my rescue. I need to appreciate this guy's patience. He tries to convert his entire energy to induce some positivity in me and encourage me. On the way we trace some remains of sheeps and other animals. Wold there be mountain lions too? (Thought injected by movies/ NatGeo). We are told that this area have some wild bears. Once again sheeps flock in and create a traffic jam. A cute traffic jam.

Soon we reach our campsite at Satsar. I am dieing of hunger! My knee is in a very bad shape! There comes one of the yummiest food I have ever had. Dal-chawal-butter-sabzi-pickle! I pounce on it! Hog-hog-hog and then go for a nap.

Meanwhile the energy bombs in the group - Adithya, Ronak, Pushpam and other guys, go for India's favorite sport - Cricket. Unable to move my body, I watch the game through the window of my tent. The soundtrack from Walter Mitty movie - Don't let it pass, is ringing in my head. Here is the picture taken by Swaraj.

The day is pretty good. The group seemed very relaxed. We sip some hot tea and popcorn in the evening. Dushyant arranges for a fun session where all of us talk about our ourselves. We crib about our city life and a bunch of us get into a philosophical mood. A fun evening I must say. This is followed by a musical evening. Thanks to Aamir. The mood of the group is fun and light now. Bollywood songs topped by some cool rap from Dushyant on Yo Yo Honey Singh. I love this evening. We have a nice and fun dinner followed by ginger water (of course). Oxygen levels checked. This was the most relaxing evening of the entire trek.

Our campsite is surrounded by rocky mountains. The temperate is supposed to drop a lot but fortunately it did not. Thank God there is no snow! The photographers in our group go for some expert night-photography. I just relax and slip into my sleeping bag. 

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 3

Day 3 - The Big Day! - Gadsar Pass & Vishansar-Kishansar Twin Lakes

5, 6, 7 schedule. I wake up after a good night's sleep. Our tents are covered with a thin sheet of snow. Last night the temperature had dropped a lot. We fill up our bottles with a good amount of glucose. We need it! It's a big day! We are supposed to reach and cross the Great Gadsar Pass!

I try to incorporate the valuable lessons taught by Dushyant (also backed up by my hubby). I take very short breaks while I walk. My mind is really drifting. I feel exactly like Walter Mitty in the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. I try to frame what I'm experiencing in the form of a blog. I've already prayed to all Gods before I started the day. I am talking to myself trying to motivate me. I need to succeed today. I need to do this!

Hours into the steep ascent my heart almost stops! I can hardly breath. Each inch seems like a mile! I can hardly see through the snow falling onto my eyes. I have removed my sunglasses as it was doing more harm than help. I am frozen in this steep mountain. All of a sudden I hear someone screaming 'It fell'. I am nervous. Did someone fall and roll down the mountain??? And someone said 'Sathguru's bag fell'. For some reason in my mind it got translated as 'Anjana fell from the mountain.' I think I'm expecting that to happen at any moment.I feel the path where we are walking cannot be measured in terms of inches. I can hardly keep my feet! The wind is becoming stronger and stronger pulling me backwards. Everyone is struggling! All are trying their level best to make it to the Pass. Coming back to the bag which fell - Shravan bhai runs through the mountain, defying the term called 'gravity' and gets the bag back in minutes! This guy has immense flexibity - mountain's own child! This also gives me a confidence that even if I roll down the mountain, Shravan bhai might probably be able to rescue me. But so far noone heard the news of 'Anjana falling and rolling down'. Shravan bhai keeps chanting the 3 words - 'Chalo, chalo, chalo'. This keeps even the slowest trekker moving. In fact, if I hear 'Chalo, chalo, chalo' in my sleep, I might just wake up and start walking. We are that much used to hearing these 3 words by now. With immense support from my hubby, Shravan bhai, I somehow cross those narrowest possible paths and reach the Great Gadsar Pass!!!!

Words are not enough to explain the satisfaction and happiness I felt at that moment. Tears rolled down! I immerse in the view! Yes I climbed and reached 13,750 ft above sea level!!!!! THIS IS ACHIEVEMENT! AND I'M QUITE PROUD OF MYSELF! I thank God for helping me survive till here!

We can see the twin lakes - Vishansar and Kishansar from here. It is simply marvelous! It is truly surprising how those horses with the heavy baggage tied to them make it to this tricky Pass. I overheard someone saying that at times horses roll down while climbing this pass and have a tragic ending. Fortunately our horses came up safe!

All of us try to click as much as 'victory' pictures as possible. A couple of group pictures taken too. 

After tasting success we all are pretty charged up. There is a reason why Day 3 is called as 'The Day 3'. The ordeal is not over yet. Now starts the steep descent. You need to double your focus now. It has to be focus, focus and more focus. Nobody wants to slip and roll taking the whole team down this steep mountain. The trail is very slippery given than a good amount of snow has already melted. I take advantage of my descending skills. I do a pretty good job in moving fast.

We can see some breathtaking glaciers to our left and some stunning flora of Kashmir valley to our right. I pick those beautiful flowers to make a small bouquet. I love these small and beautiful flowers - violet, yellow, white and what not. Soon we reach a very beautiful meadow where a beautiful lake is to be seen. We are supposed to wait for the entire team here before going further. We relax here for a few minutes, click pictures of the glaciers, meadows etc.

Trek resumes. We walk past the beautiful meadows and reach Gadsar lake where we finish our lunch.

What follows from now is a visual treat. Truly stunning Kashmir valley covered in lavender colored flower blanket. My legs are unstoppable. My DSLR is getting utilized to the utmost! I'm reminded of Switzerland on one side and New Zealand on another side. Kashmir is truly paradise on earth! The unparalleled beauty of Himalayas makes me speechless! My DSLR could not do justice to the beauty of this breathtaking landscape.

After taking a short break with trek mates, I continue to breeze through this breathtaking landscape. I have already forgotten my muscle sore, congestion, cold and everything which happened an hour back. This walk has been a treat to my mind, eyes and soul.

There is an army checkpost on the way towards our campsite. Our ID cards checked. One of the jawan gives a cup of hot water which is a big relief after this long walk. It felt pretty good being at an army checkpost and have some small-talk with the jawans. Also we came to know about some notorious paths/'galis' through which militants are expected to infiltrate. These 'galis' are pretty close to our campsite. I got very excited on hearing this news!

I reach our tent with a feeling of complete satisfaction. I start to feel my muscles aching and breaking! I am feeling very feverish. I take a short nap. My evening is pretty short as I quickly finish the dinner, take a couple of medicines, ginger water and get into my sleeping bag. Temperature has dropped quite a bit. Someone said it is going closer towards -3 degrees. Oxygen level checked and again it seems pretty good. I have ensured that I drink at least 5 liters of water every single day! I drift towards sleep in no time. 

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 2

Day 2 - Nichnai to Vishansar Lake via Nichnai Pass

I am having trouble sleeping in a sleeping bag. Especially when I have to sleep in a slightly inclined surface. I am not really a claustrophobic but I'm feeling choked inside the sleeping bag inside the tent. I realize that every time I'm just about the fall asleep, I slip down into the bag and suddenly I wake up to climb back to the opening of the sleeping bag. This is a mini-trek which I'm doing inside my sleeping bag. Due to these repeated attempts of crawling inside the sleeping bag, I end up absolutely not sleeping. But again I wake up around 4.45 am. Today's schedule is again 5, 6, 7. I missed to sip the ginger water which was served the previous night and hence I have a bad throat and cold.

1 liter water done. Black tea at 5am done. 6 am breakfast done. 'Pack-lunch' done. I realize at this point of time that my DSLR, which I carried with great passion, is creating more trouble to me than expected. My 5kg day bag would have weighed a lot less without this DSLR. Also, I'm not in a condition to click pictures, given that my goal is to climb these raw and strenuous mountains. So I offload few more items from my day bag to my rucksack and decide to keep only the DSLR, rain coat and water bottles. Today I have taken more energy bars and chocolates with me than the previous day.

Our trek starts. The ascent look achievable today considering that I'm getting more comfortable with my new pair of trekking shoes. Also the sight of some green meadows and those cute sheeps is making me feel up. Dushyant has told us that we should try to take as minimal breaks as possible. This is because if we walk with minimal breaks, our body starts to build a certain rhythm. And this rhythm is important to keep us going. Plus the weather in Himalayas is pretty uncertain. We never know when there will be a heavy downpour or when it is going to snow. Talking of snow, from nowhere I start feeling snowflakes on my face. Yes it is snowing. Also there are strong crosswinds. But I see that majority of my group is not seen anywhere close to my vicinity.

Once again I struggle to breathe when I ascent this steep mountain. I'm trying my level best to not take any break. My trek pole has become my soul mate in the last 2 days. The only feeling in my mind - Why am I doing this torture to myself?! Even before this thought completely registers in my mind, I see Naseem sitting in the midway with the exact expression of what I just thought of! Why am I doing this torture to me! I take another break in the name of filling water from a nearby stream.

I'm walking through a 6-7 inch path, struggling to strike a balance. And from behind I hear the sound of horses marching towards me. Poor things are carrying all our rucksacks, kitchen utensils, tents and so on. I feel sorry for them. But at this point there is noway I can move and give them a way! Even before I finish thinking, they are already here. Just behind me and the khoda-waala says 'Side please'. OMG! Where is 'side' here??  If I move an inch I'm going to roll down! But I have to move. I almost stick to the mountain like how a lizard sticks to a wall and the horses move ahead. I need to realize now that this situation is going to happen almost always. And I need to learn to balance when they ask for 'side'.

With an iota of energy still remaining in my body, I reach Nichnai pass! This is the first pass we are reaching ever since our trek started. Pretty elevating moment for me. Yes, I reached. I did not go back so far! No pictures clicked here as I am not interested in taking my DSLR out!

After sometime it is all about descending. I love this part. I'm pretty bad at ascending but pretty good with descends. We find a point where we have our lunch.

At this point, I see some chunky rocks and we are supposed to learn how to walk on them. I am trying my skills to balance and walk but it is no good. Dushyant introduces these chunks of rocks to me as 'boulders'. This is a fairly new term to me. He taught me (and others) how to tackle them. Basically we are not supposed to spend time trying to find a balance on them. We are supposed to very quickly hop from one boulder to another almost in a zig-zag manner. This way you do not feel the fear of falling or slipping. At the same time you quickly cover some distance unknowingly. Though Dushyant gave this lecture, I have not gained confidence in his lessons yet.

Fortunately rest of the journey is a meadow walk. The landscape truely reminded me of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. I had seen the pictures in a travel magazine. In fact, I even wished to do the Yatra. Coming back to these meadows - We pass through the Manasarovar-looking-like meadows in the slowest pace possible. Farooq bhai who is coming with us with his horse has lost hopes that we will ever reach the campsite! Very soon (by around 4-4.30 pm) we get a glimpse of our campsite. That moment when we feel close to the campsite cannot be described in words! Time for a little break. Picture taken by Swaraj.

After the break, I try to increase my pace to reach the campsite and here you go. A whole stretch of boulders. It is as if the mountains have conspired to make this journey as tough as it can get!

With great difficulty and not applying any of Dushyant's lessons, we climb past the boulders and reach our campsite. The campsite is stunning! Surrounded by surreal mountains, very close to the magical Vishansar lake, I see our orange tents! This is my favorite campsite of the entire trek. I soak in the beauty and calmness of this place!

We offload our bags and take some rest in our tents. Already my trek mates have started with their DSLRs for sightseeing around Vishansar Lake. I and hubby decide to take it slow. We take some time out and enjoy the beauty and calmness of this magical place. I take out my DSLR camera which is dieing to see these mountains. I click some shots here. And slowly we walk towards Vishansar Lake with a mug of hot soup in our hands.

The Lake has a magical blue color. All lakes in Himalayas probably have this magical sapphire blue color. I fell in love with this lake at the very first sight. We click some pictures around and relax in the shore of this mystical lake.

I must say that it is very difficult to strike any pose or even smile to the camera when those
crosswinds are blowing!

It is 4.30pm and we have a briefing session about our next day's trail by Dushyant. What fascinated me was our campsite is almost 25km away from POK! That is pretty exciting.

Back from Vishansar to our tent. The whole area is 'infiltrated' by a bunch of cute sheeps now! I cannot say how happy I feel on seeing these sheeps. They are treat to my eyes! I soak in this view. I try to catch a few but they escape. This was the perfect evening for me in this trek.

Dinner at 7.30 pm followed by oxygen level checks by Ravi, followed by hot ginger water and it is time to sleep. Once again I try to master the skill of sleeping in a sleeping bag in a slope. My exhaustion levels drive me to sleep. The next day is supposed to be the most challenging day of the entire trek. With this very thought I fall asleep.

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 1

Day 1 - Sonmarg to Nichnai campsite

5,6,7 is the schedule setup by Dushyant sir for our first day.

5 is the time for tea - which means we need to get up by around 4.45 am to "prepare" ourselves for tea. I'm pretty nervous considering that I need to finish my brushing and other basic needs by 5am. And also we all need to drink at least 1litre of water early morning. This is a tough task given that the water is fresh and cold from the streams and the weather is very chilling too! But we cannot argue with Dushyant. Also none of us are interested in getting hit by AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness).

So at sharp 5am we get our garma-garam (hot) tea. All of us had brought our tea/coffee mugs. At sharp 6am our breakfast is ready. Around 6.30am our lunch is ready which needs to be packed and taken in our own lunch boxes. Officially this activity has been christened as 'pack-lunch'. At sharp 7am, all of us are ready to kick start our trek. Dushyant comes and gives a briefing session on the do's and dont's, hands over an eco-bag (which we need to always carry to keep the environment clean) and also teaches us on how to pack our sleeping bags and how to unpitch our tents. All these activities charge up the sleepy heads. I have already offloaded by 8kg rucksack but still have my 5kg day bag. I'm feeling good having taken 1.5 ltrs of water. Our oxygen levels are checked using an Oxymeter. I and hubby seem to be in very good shape at this point of time. We take this opportunity to click some pictures in and around the base camp, check out the horses seen nearby and make a couple of calls.

Needless to say that I have already started to feel a bit uncomfortable in my fleece and gloves and cap and everything else. Dushyant has already repeated the importance of sunscreen. Yes it is important. Important than almost anything else. (I realize this only at the end of the trek).

Our trek starts! Lot of energy! I get to see the trail. I cannot call this as a trail!!! This is a steep ascent and the path is only 5 inches wide! My super wide feet (I was called as Miss Big Foot when I was in China), which has become even bigger with my trekking shoes are struggling to find any space to land! My eyes try to look down and I get a vertigo! Oh my god! I cannot fall down from a small hill 5 minutes into the trek. My confidence level drops and I panic. With a lot of pep talk from my hubby, I struggle and struggle and reach a flat land! OMG! I am panting. I need water! I need an energy bar. I just had my breakfast like an hour back and I feel as if I have not eaten for days! I cannot be exhausted this early. I take some rest and now I see a really beautiful meadow right in front of my eyes.

I scan my co-trekkers and all of them look strong (except for a few). Those few make me feel good. That always happens. I am in search of "The Mississippi". Obviously I'm "The Minnesota".

We reach a break point where we recharge ourselves, take some pictures and give away some chocolates to local kids. Our trek resumes and few hours of steep ascent again. Dushyant teaches me a few tricks which will help me get through this. Soon we reach the Table-top Dhaba where we get the privilige to eat some yummy hot omletes! Also we finish our packed-lunch. We befriend a mountain dog too. All good so far.

As if the mountain Gods wanted to test our group, it starts to rain and our rain ponchos/ coats are out. My assumption that I might be able to enjoy my walk if it rains is slashed as I struggle to walk through the slushes. I slip multiple times while walking through those 7 inch muddy trails. I am not supposed to look down the slope as it might once again bring back the vertigo. This is no good for me. With a lot of help from my hubby and my trek mates I some how try to reach a point which looks flat. Beautiful streams and majority of the group has been resting for almost 10 mins now. I have just reached the point and I take a break.

My legs hurt. I have never felt these many muscles in my body. Every inch aches! We have been trekking for hours now and nobody is talking about the campsite yet! I'm almost confident that I am not going to complete this trek. I keep giving hints to my hubby who kept giving me a blank expression. Trek resumes. We walk and walk and walk. We climb and climb and climb. It is raining endlessly. Shravan bhai from India Hikes tries to help me. I am exhausted. Super exhausted. All of a sudden I breakdown. I weep, very badly. My hubby is in shock. I realize that this is not happening. Me completing this trek is a myth. This campsite is a myth. I need to go back!

My hubby takes the small Nike day-bag from me and assures that I will be fine and we will reach the campsite in no time. From nowhere Dushyant appears and takes my bag away from my hubby. So me and hubby walk a lot more easily. Nobody has seen me crying. Thanks to the rains!

I'm struggling to walk through the stones - slippery ones. And all of a sudden as if to please me and cheer me up, there comes a huge flock of sheeps. Cute ones. Really chubby, rosy, cute sheeps. I cannot be unhappy seeing these cute creatures. I manage to touch a few of them though they run away in no time.

Struggling and panting we reach our first camp site! It is raining and I'm feeling very feverish. They give me a seat in one of the tents and a cup of hot water as well as tea. One of our trek leaders Ravi is doing his level best to ensure that I'm not freaking out. But I'M FREAKING OUT!

That night it is freaking cold and I manage to have the dinner followed by litres of water and some medicines. Surprisingly my oxygen levels are pretty good. And I actually don't have fever. I'm just freaking out. We had walked almost 12kms that day! This is Nichnai campsite. We had reached almost 11,500 ft. Sonmarg (our base camp) was almost 7000 ft above sea level. We had made very good progress!

I regain my confidence and sleep for the day. Hoping to have a much better day ahead!

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - As it happened - Day 0

Let me tell you guys - all of you who have been tricked into KGL saying that it is going to be easy, moderate or easy-to-moderate. Trust me this one is not easy. It is crazy. I am not trying to scare any of you or make you change your plans, but be prepared for some really challenging high-altitude experience which has some breathtaking/amazing/spellbinding landscape. It is good if you can complete a couple of weekend treks, have a good lung capacity and manage to keep your knees as strong as you can before you get started with KGL trek.

Without further ado, I will break down the details of KGL trek day by day. As mentioned in my previous blog, I was part of a KGL-turned-Tarsar-Marsar group, which means we had a 7 day schedule and not 8.

Day 0 - Praying to all Gods possible and leaving for Bangalore Kempegowda Airport.

Once we settle down in the aircraft, our eyes (mine and hubby's) scan for co-passengers wearing Quechua shoes. There we spot 2 guys and we confirm that we have found 2 of our KGL trek mates. Introducing Swaraaj and Naseem. After landing in the Srinagar airport, we meet Shikha whose energy levels boost my peanut sized confidence. Together we get into the Sumo provided by India Hikes, pickup Anurag and PD (who look a lot more fit/confident than all of us) and head towards Sonmarg. Our driver is speeding as if all of us are dieing to see the base camp! This sort of scares us as we are not interested in this almost-killing-cab experience. On the way the driver stops at The Waterfall Punjabi Dhaba. We get to eat some really yummy Rajma Chaval and Paranthas. I sort of get carried away by the food (which later affected me). The highlight of this day is Sind River. I got pretty excited on seeing this river as I was named Sindhu (used only in my hometown) based on Sind River.

Almost 4hrs into the drive, our driver abruptly stops in an unknown place and says here is your destination. I'm expecting the base camp to have a roof. But here we see nothing around us. Paying the driver, we pickup our rucksacks and start our trek towards base camp! Soon we reach a spot which has this really bright orange colored tents which make us believe that we have found our base camp. Yes we are right. We get to chose our own tents and within minutes our documents are verified. We are soon introduced to our trek leader Dushyant. He sounded really confident and more STRICT! Looks like we are now a group of 31 people. A bunch who had dared to register for KGL in the first place and a bunch who had hoped for an easier Tarsar-Masar trek but now merging with the KGL group.

After the briefing by Dushyant, I quickly checkout the toilets - this is what has been worrying me the most! After having a really filling dinner and making a quick call to parents, we both decide to go to sleep. We need to get up at 5am the next day!!!!! 

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek - How it happened

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!