I have been to Shigar Valley a number of times and on the way to the valley I always saw a board ?The Blind Lake?. I had always slowed my car near that board and had always thought ?one day I?ll go there?.
At last after two years, the time came. On May 09, 2014, I visited this lake with my family. I was told that only a 4wd vehicle could go to the lake and if you would take your car, you would have to walk for 30 minutes. We decided to go in our Suzuki Alto as we wanted to enjoy the walk. We left home at 9:30 am. It was a sunny day. I drove slowly just to enjoy the drive and also stopped at number of places to take photos. The road was metteled and in a good condition.
At 11:20 am, I reached at the place where the board points that there is a lake to the left side. There, a rocky dirt road descends. I was a little suspicious about the road, so I left my car and walked on the road for a few meters just to check it. The road was rocky only for a few meters. I went back to my car and started the journey.
Soon, the road passed through a village (Kothang). The road was rough, dusty and at some places rocky. It was moving along the Shigar River. As we left the village behind, the road was absolutely deserted and there were no tracks of any vehicle. After travelling 4 km, sand replaced stones. I looked at the sand with suspicion and decided to leave the car.
The road was narrow and it was not possible to take a u-turn. I walked on the road, and a few meters ahead, I found the road a little wide. I came back and went to take a u-turn. Just as I had taken a turn, I got stuck my car. The place was completely deserted and I was on my own. It took me around half-an-hour to take my car out of that sand.
At 12:30 pm, we left the car and started walking towards the lake. As we moved on, the road vanished and soon we were in the middle of a desert. The river had moved away. We continued our walk and after around 30 minutes we had the first glimpse of the lake.
At around 1: 00 pm, we were finally at the lake. The sight of lake was mesmerizing. There were many waterbirds in the lake. It was a calm place. No human beings around, only the lake, the birds and nothing else.
After lunch (at 2: 00 pm), we decided to go to the other end of the lake. We found a narrow path near the lake. We decided to follow the track, and soon it took us to a dirt road. We started walking on this dusty road. The sun was shinning brightly and it was a little hot. Our drinking water and cold drinks had become a little hot. We decided to stop and I put the drinks in the water of the lake. When the drinks became a little cold, we resumed our journey.
At 3:30 pm, we reached at the other end of the lake. (I think the lake is roughly over 2 km long) We met not a single human being all the way up to the end of the lake. There was a mosque and a one-room hotel building and a camping site (free). Also there was grass and plants all around, and goats, sheep and cows were grazing. There, I met three shepherd boys. They were from Kothang village and they told me that the hotel was closed for last five or six years.
We stayed there for 30 minutes, took some photographs and moved back. On return, it took us 50 minutes to reach the place where we had left our car.
Distance and travel time From Skardu city
Distance: 28 km (23 km mettled road, 5 km rough dirt road)
Time: One hour and 40 minutes (including 30-minute walk)
35 minutes drive on mettled road
35 minutes drive on rough dirt road
30 minutes walk