[vijayols]

Originally Posted by trippytragopan

Great frames. Thanks for sharing.



What is the best time to avoid the crowds on this trek?

If you guys are into trekking Himalayan lakes, I'd recommend you to hike Temso lake. This ~5000 meter high lake is in Kinnaur. Explored by very few people.

There are actually two more lakes near Temso Lake. Only one is most frequented by the local people.

@trippytragopan there is no best time to avoid the crowds.This is the most glamorous trek advertised in India so expect crowds as the window for the trek is small (only in the rains).However the crowds are more for people doing single day one leg treks on mules or walk and so it is best to avoid long weekends for your first or last day of the trek(one day treks could be the first or last leg of the KGL trek).

Have never done multiple day treks alone so need to check if the Temso lake in Kinnaur is a day trek so can combine that with a drive to kinnaur or wait for a trek group to start a trek there.Thanks for the heads up.

Originally Posted by niranjanprabhu

The photo labeled as "And its the season of juicy kashmiri apples." is that of pomegranates! Please see again
Brilliant post. Thanks so much for sharing.

Mom already pointed that out.So sorry.Would try to edit that.

Thanks for the appreciation.That is the fuel for future blogs.

[kns008]

Fantastic post! I had initially planned to hike the more well-known KGL, but someone recommended Tarsar Marsar Lake to me, which is a bit less popular.

We took on this trail last August, and it was refreshingly uncrowded. The weather was generally pleasant, although we did experience a few days of rain.

Before we take on KGL, we're planning to explore Nafran Valley, which is nearby. Fingers crossed!

Here are some photos from our journey on the Tarsar Marsar Lake trail:

[n33rav]

Beautiful photos Sir!

You might have met my trek friends who were camp leaders at KGL this year, Malay and Satya.

KGL, Sarpass and winter Kedarkantha are in my to-do list but due to their extreme popularity, not convinced to do it yet.

I often do treks with YHAI. I choose treks that doesn't get fully booked. Love their management except for the Valley of Flowers trek.

This year I did Chanderkhani pass trek. It was summer trek but due to bad weather, become almost winter trek, with many batches not able to cross the pass due to excess snow.

[vijayols]

Originally Posted by kns008

Fantastic post! I had initially planned to hike the more well-known KGL, but someone recommended Tarsar Marsar Lake to me, which is a bit less popular.

We took on this trail last August, and it was refreshingly uncrowded. The weather was generally pleasant, although we did experience a few days of rain.

Before we take on KGL, we're planning to explore Nafran Valley, which is nearby. Fingers crossed!

Here are some photos from our journey on the Tarsar Marsar Lake trail:

Attachment 2503905

Attachment 2503906

Attachment 2503909

Attachment 2503910

The photos are breathtaking.Had done the Tarsar Marsar a few years ago and generally the kashmir treks are pretty similar in nature.

The KGL is a notch different only due to more lakes being there and its a wee bit more tougher.

The Nafran valley I heard is amazing and so are the new treks Pir Panjal and Bodhpatri which too boast of 7 seven lakes and more.

Best of luck on more treks in Kashmir and else where.Its so refreshing to see so many trekkers in Team Bhp.

[vijayols]

Originally Posted by n33rav

Beautiful photos Sir!

You might have met my trek friends who were camp leaders at KGL this year, Malay and Satya.

KGL, Sarpass and winter Kedarkantha are in my to-do list but due to their extreme popularity, not convinced to do it yet.

I often do treks with YHAI. I choose treks that doesn't get fully booked. Love their management except for the Valley of Flowers trek.

This year I did Chanderkhani pass trek. It was summer trek but due to bad weather, become almost winter trek, with many batches not able to cross the pass due to excess snow.

Attachment 2503918

Thanks for the appreciation of my photography skills which has got so much simpler with phones enhancing the quality and of course the breathtaking natural beauty of the himalayas.Its now simply point and shoot.Couldn't capture the beauty of the starry night skies with the Star light making its appearance every night at 8 pm sharp.

Missed seeing Satya and Malay as camp leaders probably because we were at the fag end of the season being the 35th of the 36 batches so likely that they would have called it quits after being more than a month stuck in the same camp.Instead had the sprightly Mukherjee sir @72 who had more energy than any of us and the highly knowledgeable Shoy Joseph who had penned the Lohaganj route to Brahmataaal to be later used by India Hikes.

Nandan and Gulzar at the base camp were also amazingly knowledgeable but personally and a few others too probably would look to trek with someone more professional in their standard emergency SOP like having a couple of horses at the disposal for the group as well as trained Guides in case of an evacuation needed as we did for one of our team.Hitesh a strapping young lad from Shimla unfortunately had a stomach issue due to either food or water causing de hydration which caused AMS and oxygen levels dropping to 58.The local horse owner and the guide though they tried their best were not best equipped as they did not know how to use the oxygen cylinder and lost their way to boot at night but luckily all ended well.

Looking at the bright side heard Sar pass and Kedarkanta are awesome routes for their snowfall and trust you are able to complete the whole set of treks and hope to catch up in one of those.

[Samfromindia]

Lovely post & beautiful pics
Rated *****

[vijayols]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Lovely post & beautiful pics
Rated *****

Thank you @Samfromindia.

[haisaikat]

Vijay, you have nailed it again, wonderful trek log true to your style of travelling and hiking with some out of the world places and their photos, deserves nothing short of a Top star rating. You got Gurez valley as a picture perfect bonus, well done with planning. The sight of Gangbal Lake and trek through Gadsar Pass seems mind blowing for the views it is offering.

Its a kind of travel that I know I would never be able to do, so wherever I find an account of travel like yours I dive in to soak myself in to the experience. Please tell us more about food and life in general beyond the day time trek like what you all did in the evening and night, do share any pics / video if you have. For example that hailstorm that cam untimed, how did you all manage to save yourself? Also is it just me or that guy selling local made breads have some similarities with you in beards and specs

You have the habit of setting up new examples for yourself, so would like to see more such accounts from you in days to come. Do you have any plans for treks to places which have cosmic significance for meditations (like Kagbhushundi Lake)? I have watched several videos by Dr Sumit Kesarkar explaining this, you are already doing the 80% job of trekking to places that are otherwise unreachable for most of common people, you have the 80% advantage already may be in future you might consider it, just a thought.

[vijayols]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Vijay, you have nailed it again, wonderful trek log true to your style of travelling and hiking with some out of the world places and their photos, deserves nothing short of a Top star rating. You got Gurez valley as a picture perfect bonus, well done with planning. The sight of Gangbal Lake and trek through Gadsar Pass seems mind blowing for the views it is offering.

Its a kind of travel that I know I would never be able to do, so wherever I find an account of travel like yours I dive in to soak myself in to the experience. Please tell us more about food and life in general beyond the day time trek like what you all did in the evening and night, do share any pics / video if you have. For example that hailstorm that cam untimed, how did you all manage to save yourself? Also is it just me or that guy selling local made breads have some similarities with you in beards and specs

You have the habit of setting up new examples for yourself, so would like to see more such accounts from you in days to come. Do you have any plans for treks to places which have cosmic significance for meditations (like Kagbhushundi Lake)? I have watched several videos by Dr Sumit Kesarkar explaining this, you are already doing the 80% job of trekking to places that are otherwise unreachable for most of common people, you have the 80% advantage already may be in future you might consider it, just a thought.

Thanks Buddy.And here I was wondering when you posted that wonderful travelogue which someone rightly pointed out as the best for some time around,that how you could have the patience to post so may photos?I guess when the place demands it the photos automatically follows.

Biking in Gurez was like icing on the cake but truly back breaking with a 12 hour near non stop ride pushed by my co rider Sameer.

The lakes in Kashmir were truly mind blowing and every some distance we travelled the color and the looks varied and fascinated the eyes.

Evenings after we reached camp was generally spent exploring locations near the camp and singing after dinner time with Sharmaji who was an exceptional singer regaling us with old Kishore Da songs.Star gazing and checking the Star light Satellites sharp at 8pm was another ritual and then an early night as usually wake up was between 4-5 am.Post trek the team had a blast with liquor flowing

The hailstorm experience was fun as I look back.The snow pellets on the grass and mud path was nice to look at and the path slippery like crazy.The under part of the shoes instantly had a thick layer of wet mud which we had o scrap off using stones.Since we all walked at different pace I was among the lucky ones in front of the team.Figured out soon that between trying to keep the feet on the edge of the path and walking on the wet grass the grass was a better place to walk without tumbling down.The rest following who were still descending down the slope were not so lucky and many had nasty falls.

Have no clue as to where I would be trekking to next

But thanks for patiently going through the long thread and Happy Ganeshs to you and your family.