Me and my friends went for a trip to Chitta Katha Lake in Shounter Valley this July. Following are the details:
Day 1: From Rawalpindi to Sharda
Day 2: From Sharda to Kel
Day 3: From Kel to Upper Domail and hike to Dak#2
Day 4: From Dak#2 to Chitta Katha Lake and back to Upper Domail
Day 5: From Upper Domail to Ath Muqam
Day 6: From Ath Muqam to Rawalpindi
Travellers:
- Armughan Sultan
- Arslan Mehboob
- Fahim Akhter
- Imtiaz Saeed Siddiqui (madCYRUS)
- Umair Ghafoor
Vehicles:
- Public Transport
- Hired Jeep
Day 1: July 07, 2012
We left for Muzaffarabad from Rawalpindi at 0530 hrs in Skyways Coaster (270 PKR per person). We reached Muzaffarabad around 0930 hrs. We did breakfast and started looking for a jeep for the rest of the trip. But we couldn’t find any with decent demand. They were asking around 20k for the round trip up to Kel. For us it was too much so we decided to go for the public transport again. So, we left Muzaffarabad at 1230 hrs for Kel (225 PKR per person). But, we realized that we had made a huge mistake as the bus was too slow and we should have opted for a Hiace. According to one of the passengers in the bus, Hiace takes half the time than the bus to reach Kel. So, do opt for the Hiace from Muzaffarabad onwards as it is faster. Bus stopped at Ath Muqam for a break and luckily we found a Jeep there. He was asking for only 1200 PKR per day and we will pay for the diesel. Driver name is Raja Munir and he is quite a nice guy (0355-6905301). So, instead of continuing our trip on bus to Kel we hired the jeep from Ath Muqam for the rest of our trip.
The thing is that road till Ath Muqam is quite good so one can travel through public transport cheaply plus hiring a jeep from Muzaffarabad is not at all recommended. I would propose that one should take the Hiace from Muzaffarabad to Ath Muqam and then hire the jeep from there or another option would be to reach Kel on public transport and then hire a jeep from Kel for further destinations. One more thing, Mobile Network service is available up to a certain place (Sorry! I don’t remember the name of the place ) from which Ath Muqam is only one hour away. So from that place onwards you will not get any Mobile Network service except SCO.
Anyhow we reached Sharda at around 2030hrs, as lot of time was wasted in Muzaffarabad for finding a jeep and the bus travel was also quite slow. We spent the night in a hotel in Sharda (400 PKR per night).
Day 2: July 08, 2012
We left Shrda after breakfast and making calls to our homes from a PCO. We reached Kel in about 90 minutes and came to know that the bridge connecting Kel to Upper Domail had washed away some three years back and still there are no signs of constructing a new one. Locals told us that there is a small bridge for pedestrians, so we can cross that and get a Jeep from the other side to continue our journey. But there was a small hiccup the Jeeps leaving for Upper Domail only leave early in the morning at around 0700 hrs, so we had to wait for the next morning. We had half a day to ourselves in Kel so started asking locals if we can visit some places nearby. Our driver actually knew a place which, he assured, was worth visiting. He took us to the point up to which the jeep can go and after that it was an hour’s hike to a place called Arran Kel.
It’s truly a magnificent place and I must recommend it also to the people who visit Kel with families. Because the hike is not that long, although quite steep for some parts, and I’d spotted a number of families on that track. We reached the top in 75 minutes and were awestruck by the beauty of the place. We took a lot of pictures there and had tea at guest house there. Yes, you can also stay for the night there in the guest house but as we had to cross that bridge early in the morning so we came back to Kel to spend the night. We chose somewhat a better hotel this time because we needed a clean place with clean restroom. Room rent was 1000 per night and to our disappointment, the place wasn’t clean enough. Well, as per our experience of this trip finding a decent place is almost impossible in that area. So, don’t go for expensive hotels as they do not provide the value for the money. Just stick to the ordinary ones.
Day 3: July 09, 2012
We left the Jeep in Kel but the driver decided to go with us. We crossed the river early in the morning and reached the Jeep stop. Now, we had two choices either we pay per person or hire a jeep again. If we choose option-1, there will be 25-30 people hanging from sides of the jeep and backside of the jeep will be filled with the luggage so no place to sit. As we had a challenging hike ahead we did not want to get tired before the actual expedition. So we hired the jeep for 6000 PKR for the round trip to Upper Domail. As per the deal, driver will take us to Upper Domail and will pick us up after two days (i.e. July 11, 2012). But, I guess they do not know the concept of hiring a jeep because he was still loading people and luggage along the way. I would recommend to go for option-1, that is, to pay per person (190 PKR per person).
We reached Upper Domail in about 2.5 hours. We hired 04 porters (1000 PKR per porter, if you camp only for one night otherwise it will be 1500-2000 PKR) as we had lots of luggage with us. Every one of us had his own bag plus we had two extra bags, one containing the food items and the other containing gas stove and some utensils. Our driver who wanted to tag along, no more wanted to go with us on the hike. We were quite surprised as he was the first local who was avoiding the hike because it would be too tiresome. So he went back to Kel to wait for us to come back.
We started our journey to Dak#2 after lunch at around 1130 hrs. We reached Dak#1 at after three hours and prepared lunch for all and enjoyed the nature around. After lunch we started moving towards Dak#2 and it started raining at the same time. We had parkas and “Barsatis” so no problem. We reached Dak#2 in an hour, I guess. We crossed a steep and quite muddy glacier on our way. But we had hiking sticks so it wasn’t much of a problem. We pitched our tent quickly as it was raining and went inside. After about 30 minutes it stopped raining and we got out took some pictures enjoyed the nature and then started preparing food for dinner.
It was too cold that night. Although, we had sufficient clothing but it was colder than our expectations. This is why we cancelled the plan to spend the next night in camp.
Day 4: July 10, 2012
We couldn’t sleep well last night and that’s why our bodies were not completely refreshed. We waited for the Sun to enter the valley before we started our journey again. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach the lake from Dak#2. We crossed a number of glaciers along the way. When we reached the lake it was a sight that I cannot explain in words. The surface of the lake was still icy and was quite deeper than our vantage point. It was surrounded by dark steep cliffs partly covered with snow. It was as if it has its own presence. Behemoth of a landscape! A living entity! As if it was speaking to you! Roaring at you, “How dare you climb up to be in my presence? You Infidel! ”
It was really an achievement for all of us to reach the lake after a hard struggle. Each of us had to carry a 20 kg backpack on first day. And then we couldn’t sleep enough that night. Gradient of the whole track is quite steep. But believe me the sight of the lake, worth every second of the struggle. Physically, we were all tired and lost the battle on the first day. Mentally, we were strong and that is the only reason that we reached the lake. It’s all mind game my friends! If you lose the battle mentally then even if you are physically strong, you will lose the battle. We had an objective to achieve and none of us wanted to turn back without achieving it.
We spent a good one hour taking pictures and feeling the “feel” of the place before we started our journey back to the camp site. We did lunch after reaching the camp and then started our journey back to Upper Domail as we did not want to spend another cold night there. We reached Upper Domail around 2030 hrs. We ordered dinner and tea and took a good night sleep.
Day 5: July 11, 2012
Jeep was waiting for us outside as promised but again there were like 30 passengers and we had to hang on to the sides of the jeep for the whole journey, although, we were paying 3000 PKR. At the end of the journey (Kel) we were quite tired and were quite angry at the driver. We had a quarrel with the driver at the end of our journey and gave him only 1000 PKR as we were not the only people traveling in the jeep.
We reached Kel went to “Garam Hammam” to refresh ourselves (30 PKR per person) and then we had lunch. After that we started our journey back to Ath Muqam on Jeep. We wanted to visit Taubat but we were quite tired so we decided not to. We reached Ath Muqam around 2000 hrs. Rented a room (@ 800 PKR per night) in a hotel and had good dinner after 04 days. We paid the jeep driver 6000 PKR (1200 PKR per day) for 5 days. And our diesel expense was 5600 PKR for the whole trip.
Day 6: Jul 12, 2012
From Ath Muqam we took a Hiace to Muzaffarabad and from Muzaffarabad we took the Skyways Coaster to Rawalpindi. We reached Rawalpindi around 1730 hrs. And finally Home!
PS. I will upload the pictures soon!!!