Trekkers Paradise - Kashmir Great Lakes

This blog on “Kashmir Great Lakes”?trek is my humble tribute to this great valley, its wonderful people, great culture, and beautiful and pristine nature.

Motivated by the success of our last years trek to “Valley of Flowers (VOF)” and “Hemkund Sahib” in Uttarakhand, in Jan 2023, the same group (almost, with minor changes) zeroed down on our next trek, on exactly same dates as last year - 12th Aug to 21st Aug 2023. And hold your breath, this time we decided to conquer the “most beautiful trek of India – “Kashmir Great lakes (KGL)”, located in northern most state of India, Kashmir – popularly known as paradise/heaven on earth. ?

We were awe-stuck and spellbound by what Kashmir Great Lakes trek has to offer. Not just by the way the trek was, but by the eternal beauty that the trail has to offer. This reminded us of a popular saying: ?

“Agar firdaus bar ru-ye zamin ast?

Hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast”

If there is heaven on earth

It is this, it is this, it is this!

Kashmir Great Lakes (KGL) Trek ?is exotic, mesmerizing and divine in many ways. Known to present picture perfect views of pristine alpine lakes, snow clad mountains & glaciers, infinite meadows and ever changing breath-taking landscape, one can only dream of.?This trek involves crossing over three mountain passes to reach multiple high altitude lakes making it physically challenging but all worth the effort. The beautiful blue/green & turquoise color of the lakes dominates this trek. Highlight of the trek was holding Indian Tricolor on top of Gadsar Pass on 15th Aug, Indian Independence Day!! :)

This trek takes you on a journey of some of the most pristine locations of unparalleled beauty, glittering lakes, sublime meadows and high altitude passes, presenting you a different side of Kashmir, one that gives you views of heaven and mysterious legends which will make this difficult trek worth every penny and effort spent.

This trek is unique compared to most other Himalayan treks. No other trek provides such pristine and stunningly lakes, high altitude passes, infinite meadows like KGL does.

• Innumerable lakes of KGL – Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar, Gangbal.
• Hike in the scented pine tree forest.
• Involves crossing of 3 high altitude passes making it physically and mentally challenging
• Walking the infinite lush green meadows for KMs each single day, clubbed with Steep ascend and descent makes the trek difficult
• Srinagar’s jewel – Dal lake dotted with 1200+ houseboats and 5000+ beautifully decorated Shikaras

?The Kashmir lakes are oligotrophic in nature meaning, these lakes are found in cold and high-altitude regions with very low nutrient levels. Being highly oxygen-rich, they support survival of lots of fishes which depends on cold, oxygenated waters. Due to low nutrient levels, there is a lack of algae and aquatic plants in the lake, making these lakes super-clean and crystal clear. Most of the lakes in KGL comes from glaciers and these glacially fed lakes reflect the sunlight making them turquoise / blue in color.

One of the largest lakes, Gadsar lake” has a very strange story associated with it. ?Gadsar means “Lake of fishes” but according to locals it has a less popular name, Yamsar, meaning “Lake of Demon or lake of Death”.??As per locals, they have sighted huge freshwater octopus living under the glimmering lake of Gadsar which preyed on their flocks of sheep which wandered to close to the lake. That’s why people refrain from fishing or going close to the lake and and also keep their herds away from this lake.

?Team: We were a team of 16 highly talented, motivated and successful professionals well known to each other. Our group had versatile and multi faceted people who could sing, dance, motivate, engage, push, lead and protect, all at the same time. ?There was not a single dull moment throughout the trek inspite of the trek being extremely strenuous, long (daily trek of 12-14 KMs on an average with steep climbs and descends and kms of meadows). Camaraderie was unparalleled!!

We had 2 amazing singers (Ravi and Sridhar), one natural leader, one professional photographer (Bhaskar, who spent more time with his camera than with the group and nature), one super energetic and professionally successful couple (DJ & Swati) who could make REELs on the fly, another family (Puneet – the most talkative and energetic, Sapna – the ultra & marathoner and their young son Ekansh who finished the trek without a complain), they can beat us all hands down when it comes to stamina and endurance, 2 role models (Nitin - a successful corporate exec and Sushant – super successful entrepreneur and best human being one can find around) for whom the trek was extremely challenging but never gave up and managed to finish. We also had our own biker, marathoner and story teller - Rajeev Radhakrishnan. There is never a dull moment when he is around. He also managed to ride a horse like his enfield bullet. ;).

Unsung hero Sunil, the entrepreneur ?(who hardly talks, is never seen but always manages to complete the trek 1st), super talented Sriram – gentlemen and highly successful professional who is turning towards social & spiritual ??

?Trek guides: We had a trek leader Faiyaz and 2 trek guides (Anwar and Aslam) who were wonderful people providing best customer service one can ever imagine in these trying conditions. They were at our service 24*7, and never said NO to anything ever. Me being in CRM/CX for last 2 decades, ?consider myself an expert & pro in Customer Service and Customer Experience, but these 3 guys showed me what Customer Service and Customer experience means. And I must accept that we are not even remotely close to what they offer/do.

?Trek details:?Trek starts from base camp close to Sonmarg valley, and ends at Naranag. It covers a distance of approx 75-80 kms over a length of 7-8 days, covering 3 passes, 10-12 lakes and never-ending meadows. Days are pretty long as we had to walk 8-10 hours each day (more on some days). This trek tests your patience, resilience and endurance. But the breathtaking views of each single day makes every bit of it worth and takes away the fatigue and pain.?

We had some excellent cooks led by chef "Golu" who provided some great food each single day at those heights and awesome campsite in difficult terrain. The best surprise was, when the cooks managed to prepare a beautiful and yummy cake (Sunil's birthday) at that height. It not only shows their creativity but also the extent they can go to delight their clients. It was a super surprise.

We also had our moment of scare, when on day 3 there was a massive rain and huge thunderstorm & strong winds, which almost took away our dining tent, sleeping tents were somehow holding on... it got us all shit scared and we were prepared for the worst. Thankfully, it lasted only few hours before it subsided and then everything was back to normal, helping us continue our trek as per schedule and without any damage.

#KGL #KashmireGreatLakes #Kashmir #Trekking Ravi Gaur Sushant Singh Nitin Mukesh Divakar Jain Swati Jain Puneet Kumar Rajeev Radhakrishnan Bhaskar Babu Sriram Sankar ????