Kashmir Diaries: Chapter 2
- abhisek ghosh
- Aug 17, 2021
- 5 min read
Trek To Lidderwat & Beyond
We woke up to another gloomy sky, overcast with grey clouds and drizzling at a steady pace. The droplets, cold enough to make the skin shiver. We were praying that it would not be a day, where we are asked to stay put once again. We received the good news from our trek leader Ayushi, as soon as we came down to the porch, that although it was raining and will probably rain for quite some time, we will be moving towards our first base camp called Lidderwat. The risk of thunderstorm that possessed the valley yesterday wasn’t there thankfully. This gave us a massive and much needed boost, to our morale as we got ready to move. We were a 23 strong now, with the group that arrived last night, joining us for the journey. What lied ahead of us was a complete unknown, as our experienced trek leaders had never trekked on this route before. So their guess were as good as ours…
We started up the green meadows, which were soaked in the continuous showers that shrouded the valley in a greyish haze. What was a verdant rolling set of hills, had suddenly become a treacherous and slippery trail that we were walking gingerly on. We had many of our trekkers, slipping in the mud and sludge, only to get up and keep going. Our ponchos and rain covers were the only thing that kept our upper body dry. But our trek pants and shoes were now getting really wet. 2 hours into the trek, my shoes were already filled with water, that has managed to go in through the top of the shoe and in between the laces. My shoes squelched and made it difficult for me to walk and the round stones and muddy track made it even difficult to negotiate the tricky sections.
We trudged on through the forests, crossing small brooks and streams and looking after each other, till we started ascending again towards our destination. Eventually the forest started to give way and we found ourselves in an open meadow, that went on for acres and acres ahead of us. Tall trees lined the edges of this meadow and at least walking on this plain, was a bit easier. The green plain took us by surprise as we found a bit of vigour in our pace and started enjoying the trail, although the rain was still incessant and didn’t show any sign of slowing down. We continued walking on the meadow for quite some time, savouring the beautiful scenery around us. Some Gujjar huts lined in the bottom of the mountains at the edge of the meadows, where a few curious pairs of eyes were looking at us in amusement.
We must have walked for at least an hour or so, when suddenly we beheld a wondrous site. The valley had suddenly opened up in front of us. Two lines of mountains flanking the rapidly flowing Lidder River, as if they were the two arms of that valley, welcoming us in a warm embrace. We stopped at that site, astounded by the beautiful landscape that lay in front of us. It was quite surreal, to behold and even more so, to think that we were going towards it, and probably will witness even more prettier sights.
As we walked towards the open valley, the rain finally stopped and as I walked by the river
bank, the sound of the rushing river, had me mesmerised. I relaxed my pace, almost to a stroll, through this wonderful garden, landscaped to perfection by mother nature. The river flew by the bank that was lined with hundreds of Elder Flower. A beautiful flower that grows in that valley and can be found in many parts of Kashmir. The white bunch growing right at the top of a green plant, soothingly played with our eyes, whilst the intoxicating sweet fragrance of the flower itself, could make the almighty dance in joy, celebrating his/her own creation.
We stopped at Abdullah’s Tea Point (as mentioned in Google maps), to dry our shoes & socks
a bit and for some much needed hot kawa, to warm us up after the cold spell since morning. The lavash bread that they served with the kawa, was the perfect compliment to go in that beautiful backdrop. Mountains covered in green grass and trees, covering us on both sides, a river rushing by, hot kawa in hand and some great company to share the moment with.
Soon the sun started shining down on us, as we picked up our backpacks once again and started off towards the Lidderwat Base camp. We walked on open meadows once again and eventually started
down a steep and rubbly path towards a lonesome bridge over the Lidder River. Here the river was flowing in its full gusto, converging in three places. The water was milky and frothy due to the presence of several rocks in the river, giving it a gorgeous lustre in the bright sun. We negotiated a boulder patch and crossed the river.
We walked for another 20-30 minutes and eventually reached Lidderwat camp. This is the place where Indiahikes houses their trek teams, going for the Tarsar Marsar Lake trek. We were told just before we reached Lidderwat, that we will not be camping there, instead we will camp a few kilometres ahead of Lidderwat, since our pace was quite quick.
We continued ahead, crossing forests, more curious eyes, towards our campsite, the river flowing by us, giving us company and showing us the way. After another couple of hours of boulder negotiation and grassland rolling, we finally reached our camp site for the day. We called it Khalyan valley. On one side we had a couple of snow patches in the mountain overlooking our camp and on the other side, the Lidder river was flowing in a steady rush. Right across the river was a small waterfall, that one can trace, all the way up to its source, which was a small glacier high up in the mountains.
As I stood on top of a rock, and took in the sight around me, the whole day of incessant rain,
the boulder negotiation, the treacherously slippery trail, my wet shoes, and the exhaustion of walking for almost 14 kms just drained out of my body. As I took a deep breath of fresh mountain air, I thanked my stars for the wonderful day that I had and looked forward towards the adventure that laid before me.
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