Kashmir Great Lakes Trek (Alpine Lakes and Meadows)

From Srinagar, we board a cab to Shitkadi - the road head for the trek. Shitkadi is just 4 km before more popular place of Sonamarg. Starting early from Srinagar isn't a bad idea at all as you may take some valuable time out to visit Sonamarg, the Thajiwas glacier and also relish some of the Kashmiri Wajwan in Sonamarg. Similarly, you can also take some time to wander around the streets of Srinagar and then start late for your drive to Shitkadi. 

Once you reach our Shitkadi, one of our team member will guide you to our beautiful camp site with a hot welcoming Kawa - the local way !

In the evening, we will give more details on the trek and issue personal equipment to be used in the trek and returned after finishing it.

After a good night's sleep, it's time to hold your cup of hot Kashmiri Kahwa ( tea) and enjoy the lovely morning view in the Paradise of Kashmir. Everything around is slow and sometimes you need this slowness to enjoy the beautiful things in life. The views surrounding the campsite are just perfect and get the shutterbugs busy right away. The beautiful bright sun greets you with a warm smile. The Thajiwas Glacier surrounded by its sharp rocky peaks shines bright with the morning rays. Far at a distance, the rays of light create magic passing through the clouds and the conifers to touch the lush green meadow. The grazing horses join hands to further add to the beautiful view making it a perfect frame all around. it's very easy to get lost here, so we remind you of our trek for the day and serve you the much-needed hot and tasty breakfast.

Soon we find ourselves on the trail. As we start the trek, straightaway we start climbing up steep switchbacks under the cover of the conifers to reach Shekdur - after which the route completely changes. It takes us about 2 hours to reach Shekdur which is marked by a uniquely bent birch tree. It appears either to be stretching itself in a Yogic pose to touch its toe, or offering its saddle to take you on a horse ride. We spend some time here to reward ourselves for completing the first hurdle on this trek. There is a makeshift tea and Maggi stall in Shekdur where you can munch a few snacks. Do remember to dispose properly and also make the owner aware of proper disposal of the plastic waste generated by his shop.

After some rest and light snacking we again hit the trail which now gradually climbs down through the forest to take us down to the bed of Nichnai river. We need to be careful on some patches of this trail as we would be walking over wet/dry leaves which can be slippery. It's about an hour's walk from Shekdur to Nichnai riverbed which is an excellent place to break for lunch. Do remember not to spoil the river water with your organic or inorganic waste. Carry them to our campsite and dispose it off in the waste bin we fix on the campsite.

After this point, the trail forward climbs up gradually winding up through the boulders and humps to get us to the base of Nichnai Pass where we call it a day. It's just the first day of the trek and we take it easy ending the day with hot snacks and dinner.

Today is an exciting day as we will see beautiful lakes and walk on some of the best meadows in our country. The day starts with a full-hearted motivation to cross the first barrier ahead in front of us, and that's the Nichnai Pass. As we start our trek, the trail gradually starts ascending to the top of Nichnai Pass after crossing the Nichnai river over a snow bridge. A continuous push for about an hour and a half takes us to the top of the pass. Just before reaching the pass top, beneath the pass, look out for a lake that is shaped like India's map on your left. This is the first lake we see on the trek and we named it 'India Lake' as it resembles so much similar to the map of India.

From the top of the Nichnai pass, the view of the valley on the other side of the pass is very beautiful. The early days in the month of July can have good snow cover on the top and make the descend exciting as we slide down to descend the pass in about a minute. If there isn't any snow, getting down the pass offers a good trekking challenge and we need to be cautious initially. After some careful steps, the route eases out soon and it turns into a long leisure walk over the lush green meadow to reach our campsite beside the Vishansar Lake.  

The route is long but flattish and very comfortable to walk on. We choose a suitable place to have our packed lunch nearby a water source. Walking further brings us to a vast tableland with a soft velvet of green grass cover beyond which the route splits and we turn left. The beautiful black peak named 'Vishansar peak' allures your heart and excites you to go closer to it. You can keep staring continuously at this beautiful mountain hovering over the Vishansar lake, which is still not visible. As soon as you take the left turn, your campsite is visible at a far distance. We cross the stream which comes out of the Vishansar lake and camp beside the Vishansar river on flat ground, just 10 minutes before the Vishansar lake.

The Vishansar lake campsite is big enough to play football or a volleyball game. Also, both the Vishansar lake and river is full of Himalayan trout fish. In the evening, we take an excursion to the serene Vishansar lake. If you schedule your trek for the full moon, it is much better as you can spend more time and click even better photos.

An amazing day is about to end but not before a lovely dinner of some Kashmiri Wazwan before we get into those warm comfortable sleeping bags. As we close our eyes, memories of the day flash taking us into a dreamy world. Have a wonderful sleep!

We wake up to an exciting morning and today we are all geared up to take the challenge of crossing the Gadsar pass. This is the highest altitude of this entire trek. The route was visible right from our campsite of Vishansar Lake - a narrow pencil mark of switchbacks climbing up on a barren, rugged muddy mountain top. The route passes by the twin lakes of Vishansar and Kishansar before we hit the steep switchbacks that climb up to the top of Gadsar Pass. It gets challenging and needs good motivation. The first rule is to concentrate on the next steps and take some time to be appraised by the surrounding views. Once you are on the mountain, do keep an eye back to view both the lakes of Vishansar and Kishansar together, looking like two eyeballs. The black shiny dome of the Vishansar peak motivates you enough and keeps your tiredness at a bay.

It takes an effort of some 2 hours or a little more to reach the top of the pass. Here you are very high! The views get you even higher. After all, you are on the highest point on this trek !!. We spend a good time on the top of Gadsar pass and then start to tackle our downhill climb. Snow helps us an easy climb down and soon we reach the flat trails curving through the lush green meadows beautified by myriads of tiny wildflowers.

Three lakes are seen from the pass top and as we keep getting down, the amazingly interesting shiny black wall of the mountain continuously catches your attention as you walk towards your camp. A mix of snow on the black rocks, which shines very bright as a thin film of water from melting snow above it due to the bright sun makes it look wonderful and tickles your imaginations. Down below is a beautiful lake and the scary appeal of small glaciers. You will be compelled to spend some time here to absorb the beauty of nature.

However, we got to get moving as the campsite for the day is still far away and we haven't yet have taken our lunch!. Slowly the descend gets easy and we land on a flattish meadow. Soon, we reach the mighty Gadsar Lake, which looks very scary. It's like a deep large well with big chunks of ice floating over it. The background of the lake is equally scary as a tall black rocky mountain hovers right over the lake. The locals fear it and name it Yamsar and do not go near to it, believing that it's the lake of 'Yamraj' - the God Of Death as per the Hindu belief.

We break for lunch here by the side of a stream that drains its water to the mighty Gadsar Lake. This land is full of tiny wildflowers of yellow and purple colour. Do remember to refill your water bottles as after this point you will find no water source until you reach the campsite.

The trail to our campsite after Gadsar Lake is straightforward and is an easy walk that leads to our campsite. It's been a long but rewarding day today. We are served some hot snacks with coffee and then some hot and tasty dinner to give us that comfortable, cozy sleep for the night.

It's an easy and beautiful day today. A day dominated by clouds, lakes, meadows, and mountains as we cross by at least 5 lakes of Satsar (group of seven lakes. there are actually 11 lakes around which we cannot cover, unfortunately ) before reaching the designated campsite called Maingandop by the locals, referring to clouds and sun.

From the campsite of Gadsar, we start the day by crossing a narrow snow bridge which often remains throughout the season as a result of continuous shadow over it. We then need to traverse the mountain and follow its turn to the left with which we enter a new valley. The trail remains simple for the initial first hour before coming across few switchbacks. Soon, we cross the first lake, and other lakes of Satsar start to pass by one after another. We pass by an Army camp where we re-validate our identities and share a friendly bond.

It's a beautiful walk by the side of the lakes and after crossing the fifth lake, we turn a little right to reach our lovely campsite of Maingandop. It's one of the best campsites on this trek route.

We have been walking on soft grasses for too long and today it's time for a little different experience which is adventurous and we need to apply caution. As we start the day's trek, we cross the river beside which we camped the last night and head towards the biggest lakes on this trek - Gangbal. However, to do that, we need to a boulder section right after crossing the river and it takes some careful steps to cross safely. Once we cross the boulder sections, a gentle climb for another hour gets us to the top of Zach Pass, which is the last pass on this trek route. We spend some time on the top of the pass after which we start the sharp descend down the pass. In some 30 minutes' time, we reach the comfortable ground and may break for lunch here by a narrow stream.

After this, its a simple walk over the soft meadows again to the campsite of Gangbal. It takes about 5 - 6 hours to complete our day's trek and we will rest for some time.

Gangbal is surrounded by many other big and small lakes and all of them drain their water into the Gangbal lake. Some of them are the Atmas Lake, Khushsar - the lake of Happiness, and Shokhsar - the lake of grief. Beside the Gangbal lake is another big lake of Nandkul under the shadow of Harmukh - One of the famous peaks of Kashmir. This is one of the most picturesque campsites on a Himalayan trek. In the evening, if time and body allow, we explore some of the nearby lakes which should take about 2 - 3 more hours. Do note that here sunset happens late around 730 PM.

It's a full rest and exploration day today. Spending as many days on this campsite will always fall short. Such beautiful this wonderland is. The previous day we explored the Northern lakes of the Gangbal lake, today we will explore the North Eastern Lakes - name Atmas, Kalesar, and Poshsar. It involves climbing up a small hill straight in front of us following a stream. We then turn left where the Kalesar lake is. To the right is the Poshsar. At a little more distance, is the Atmas lake. We head back to Gangbal and if we make it to Gangbal in good time. Today, we will also move to Nandkul lake and camp beside it, just for a change and rest out the night.

While most people end their trek by getting to Naaranag from Nandkul Lake and then to Srinagar to save a day, we understand that you won't get a chance to come here again and again and hence extend our route to witness a few more beautiful lakes and meadows. We camp in the beautiful Malish Meadow after spending some good time in Koulsar. The summit dome of Harmukh dominates the first half of the day.

Today, we trek down to the beautiful village of Chatragul, near Kangan and then we drive further to Srinagar bringing an end to a beautiful trek. We further drive to Srinagar