Hello, In july, 2014 me and my friends made a 10 day trip to Astore Valley and Gilgit just after EID ul fitar...I know i am late but since ive joinded PAK Wheels very recently, i thought i might as well share my trip experiences with everyone on the forum.
We were 19 in number, Yes a big number comprising of 8 friends and another group of 11 from different places. We got together in Islamabad and the journey tail starts now:-
Day 1: We left Islamabad at 0100 hrs and traveled via Abbotabad, Our main aim was to avoid the traffic and hussles in the abotabad mansehra region and setting up this late we had a blast of a time, clean roads and we finally reached Mansehra city, we took the by-pass and stopped and the last CNG station outside mansehra for Fajar prayers. This was our first grouping point as we were 4 cars, 01 Mini Pajero, 01 xli corolla, 01 City, 01 toyota Altas. Owing to late night travel advantage we reached Mansehra in 3 hrs.
When we grouped up it was almost 0400 hrs and the sunlight was begining to show, thus we started moving ahead. We had planned to go via kohistan region and our first point of stay was DASU. We breakfast at Dasu at 0700 hrs approx and stopped for breakfast. On our way we stopped for some pics as well. to get a feel of the green mountain valley as the sun rises up. It was lovely to say the least, after the over night journey the fresh mountain breeze simply refreshed us.
At Dassu we had our breakfast, we simply entered a side road hotel, and ate all we had to offer, 3 eggs 2 parathas, dahi, chay.. till he was out of stock in 30 mins.. But his hospitality was amazing. Here we filled up our tanks for fuel in all cars and then set course further..
From Dassu crossing Pattan.. We reached RaiKot Bridge at around 1300 hrs and paused at the Shangrila Resort there. It was a nice place and it is the point from where people aspiring to go to Nanga Parbat from KKH side mostly go. You can get jeeps there for Nanga parbat base camp. The averge jeep cost was 6000 hrs. We stopped there to access the situation and the analysis was we would need 3 hrs travel by jeep and then further 3 hrs on foot or by moles to reach the Nanga Parbat base camp from here. So we simply dropped the plan and decided to take lunch at the resort.
The resorts Operator is a very smart guy. With more english then urdu. We ordered Daal Chawal with drinks and tea and guess what we were charged 4000 rs approx for it. Yes to guys... if you are budget packers, avoid this ******* totally. The place and the person utilizes his situation to the maximum, as its the only good place at the Raikot point and because of Chilas situation you avoid staying in Chilas...
From Raikot we set course at around 1630 hrs and now decided to head for Astore Valley, Astore is on the right side of KKH going to Gilgit and around 30 mins drive max from Raikot Bridge. Through out the journey from Dasu to Chilass and the turn River Indus is ur host.. The views of the river speak of its magnamity. Seldom you find rivers with sand beaches... And yes it speaks of its size too..
As soon as we turned right for Astore we stopped and waited to regroup before we enter the Astore valley. From there on we travelled into the canyons of Astore and the valley is really in contrast to the Indus Chilass way, the water turns blue, and fields turn green and green and its beautiful. Astore is adorable indeed in the summer season. We went till Astore City and stayed up the night in Army Mess as we had bookings there.
Day 2: Next day morning the guys in cars combined to get 2 big jeeps, here in astore the Wili Jeeps are different than what you find in Naran and kaghan etc. They are modified and big in size with around 12 person easily sitting in one, there tyre size and road clearance is also more. But we didnt take those and took the normal ones. Instead. Our destination was Deosai.. Me and 2 other friends rode in our Mini Pajero.. it took as 4 hrs to reach deosai from this side.. The astore valley is epic in beauty. the fields, the streams and plantation are all great to view. The locals though are not that tourist friendly. So With all respect to them and their customs. Mostly if you take our a camera and take snaps they feel you might be spying on the women in the field, so please stay vigilant and avoid any hassles in respect of the local community.
Driving from Astore we reached Chilam Check post Army. and after getting our data entered etc... went up towards Deosai. From here you turn left and up towards Deosai. We climbed up and Deosai started to show its colour. The beauty of the vast-lands, the running clouds and changing scenery is really captivating. We went uptill Shoazar Lake which is at around 4200 meters in altitude. Here we stopped our to enjoy... Once you leave astore, all along the way there are no mobile signals, the area is only covered by SCO communications of PTCL. The locals have its sim as well as PTCL wireless type sets, so the biggest murphy happened.!
Since we were driving ourselves so after exit from Astore valley we took a wrong turn towards Ratu valley and kept going for 10 kms almost, then suddenly the geek in me aspired and i set by Galaxy Note 1 GPS to work and it told us that we were headed in the wrong direction. Hence we turned back and went to the right way then, however this created a differnet of 1 hr between us and our friends in the two local jeeps. Through out our way we kept care free, stopped at every point took pics and enjoyed and so when we reached Shozar lake they were no where to be found! Waaah what a joke!
Dont worry, the funny part was they had all the raw food ingredients, i.e. chiken, spices, oil to took, with them and we had the stove and the bartans... So when we didnt find them at the lake now we were hungry and had nothing to cook. So now with running mice in our bellies we reached the lake and there were many people there, families and groups etc. The weather was classy and couldnt be better A bright sunny day at 4000 mtrs above the earth what else you want. The water of the lake was so clean and we could see fishes running here and there... Siting there we chatted with a local group who were around 30 plus, a family gathering from Skardu infact. When we told up about our partners geting lost and our despite, they gave us food. Waaah Manoosalvaa... Lamb Birayni with Pepsi, that made out day... From there we went towards other side of the lake and also got up to the highest point to measure the place it came up to 4600 meters.. initially we had plans to stay there at Shozar for the night but the weather coming up proved it would be freezing cold, so we turned back besides we were worried about our other party..
Hence at around 1600 hrs we drove back from Shozar lake... yes ull all want to kick the crap out of me as we didnt go up till kala bani. Initaly that was the plan but then the loss of the other group had us worried.. So driving back we reached by 1900 to the intersection where you turn left for Ratu and Rupal valley.. It was almost dark and we should have logically gone back to Astore, but since in the morning the Basic plan was to go to Deosai and then come back to Tarshing. Yes i Know anyone with sane mind would wana kill us, but yes that was our plan and so We set towards Tarshing. On the dark road, no light in the valley the only reference was my GPS in Phone.. A local post was there, we asked the guy how far is Tarshing he said just 45 mins.. So we started to move up and then turned right after going 6 to 8 kms. The GPS was leading up now towards a mountain jeep trail, that was a kacha trail with no light up, total darkness, no signs of life anywhere and just following it we went on and on. To cut it short it was a horror drive, took alot of guts and self belief and we made it to tarhing top, At the top there are 3 to 4 rest houses only. We stopped at one and asked whethere any two jeeps have come this way.. They all said no no one has come as per your description and they were horrified as to how come u have driven up alone in total darkness at this time with out any experience. Well till then we were more freaked about what happened to our friends.. and finaly after 30 mins i heard the sound of jeeps coming up and when i went out it was our other party. Who also instead of going back to Astore after loosing us kept following the original plan and reached Tarshing top.
Now we all sat down, the local resort guy arranged accomodation for us all and also made dinner. It took us aorund 1 hr 30 mins in the night to climb up to tarshing top that was at 3300 mtrs high. Primarily because of night and no light around. Tarshing is the 2nd journey point for Nanga Parbat. The resorts and locals there are accustomed to having foreigners and tourists and are very very welcome and great people. This side of the Nanga Parbat is less crowded and suitable for serious trekkers.
..... Next morning the whole journey paid off when i got the first shots of Nanga Parbat at Sun rise, with no clouds up its tip yet.