KGL- DAY 6

At the beginning of this day, a strange feeling started creeping in. Though it wasn’t technically the last day, a sudden melancholy started setting In. It was a fact that my trek companions will be parting the very next day. And it gave me a heartache which was more than the cumulative body aches felt in the entire trek. But then that’s how life is.

The highest point today was the jaj pass situated at an altitude of 13400 ft.

The terrain today was extremely rocky when we started. We had to climb huge boulders, some of which were even loosely placed. We needed mindfulness and sure-footedness of a goat to walk on all those boulders.

Once the rocky terrain was over, the Jaj pass became visible and we reached there after an easy ascent.

The sight that unfolded there was surreal. The thick blanket of clouds had blindfolded us for a few minutes and when the clouds dispersed the view was hypnotising.

It was the mighty Harmukh Peak juxtaposed against the enticing twin Lakes of Nandkol and Gangbal. The clouds kept playing peek-a-boo with the Harmukh peak and the turquoise lakes kept appearing and disappearing.

We proceeded down hill towards the base camp.The descent today was quite steep and more difficult than the ascent. The base camp was at Nandkol . We rested there and went to visit Gangbal lake in the evening. Both the Harmukh peak and the Gangbal lake are revered by Kashmiris for their religious importance.But I revere them for their spellbinding beauty.

It was the last night at a camp and we enjoyed it thoroughly, singing and dancing.

KGL DAY 7

We had reached the last day of the trek. It was only descent. It was supposed to be the easiest day but somehow the last mile proved to be an arduous task. We returned to Naranag after a seven hour downhill odyssey which completed our trek. The memories of this trek will remain for a lifetime.