SALLAM PAKWHEELERS:
almost 9 years ago in jan 2007 i had visited forward kahuta with Aftab majoka and Haji Hassan. i had alwayz wanted to revisit that area to learn mire abt it and document it as in 2007 i didnt do any real photography.......so in the winter/Qaid-e-Azam day/Eid miladul Nabi (S.A.W) leaves i decided to embark on this journey again. As so many years had gone by and i had very less info abt rout and road condition i called up @shahbazzain who had been there last year...... and he was very helpful ofcourse. so i planned the following route........
islamabad-rawalakot-hajira-abbaspur-forward kahuta-hillan waterfall-mehmood gali- lassdana-bagh-muzafarabad-islamabad.
and we had to cover this in two days on 24 - 25 December.
we started our journey early at 4 am with 4 guyz on the team....
Me
Safeer)
Bilal (safeer's younger brother)
Abbasi (Bilal's friend)
it is then when i realized the similarities between times..... our ride was a 2005 model mehran (safeer's car) and in 2007 it was my 2005 model mehran. difference was that in 2007 i was in the driving seat and now it was safeera.... i could see myself in him :)........
anyway we reachd rawalakot at abt 7.30 am and we were amazed to c the mahool there.... it had snowed there and the overnight freezup made spectacular scenes of the city..... the road however from kahuta to azad pattan is now deteriorating fast with many bad patches in it..... so one has to be cautious.... anyway we literally froze up in rawalakot as it was toooo cold .... certainly i dint expect such cold....... we had breakfast there and decided to visit banjosa also coz i had wanted to visit it in snowfall for many years.... in 2007 we also visited banjosa but there was no snow there at that time....... so we changed our route to include banjosa but had to wait for an hour on banjosa road in rawalakot coz of snow sleet (kora) on the road which made it difficult for all vehicles to move.. there was a traffic jam with trucks and cars ahead of us so we waited for the sun to take its effect and then moved on..... a few kms b4 banjosa we had to par our car as it could not move ahead in snow and sleet and we decided to move on foot.... we reached banjosa to c it in snow and ice which provided us with great scenes...... i was satisfied and my dream fulilled.... it is worth mentioning that the road to banjosa is also in horrible shape and in off season not advisable for cars....
we made a round of the lake and then had a cup of tea and moved back to our car .....
our next stop was abbaspur via hajira..... it was a long bumpy ride and safeer had his initiation as a "driver" in mountains he found it really tuf and tiring but he managed very well.... we reached abbaspur at around magrib and had dinenr there... in the years that had passed both hajira and abbaspur have grown in size and become large cities.... basic facilities are available there now also ufone mobile service is present at abbaspur......
we reached forward kahuta al around 8.30 pm via Mehmood Glai and stayed at Hotel haveli view on @shahbazzain advice... it was a good hotel ( the best they say in F.Kahuta) it had WIFI also but no hot water (FB is more important than health ) as i had stayed in Army mess in 2007 i didnt know any hotels or the state of affairs in the bazar and city .....
i dont remember much after that as i plunged into deep sleeppppp......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
next morning our plan was ready for Hillan waterfall and we had aranged a jeep also but the weather turned the tide on us... it seemed it will snow and rain there which would make our exit impossible in our current ride so we ditched our hillan plan and started our jouney to mehmood gali..... in 2007 i had visited fatehpur (army chek post)....... anyway we used up that time in documenting few areas around F.Kahuta and making regular stops for photography....
we reached mehmood gali to be amazed by the views there..... mehmood gali is a real gem of a place which connects abbaspur to F.Kahuta and Lassdana....
kia nazaray hain yara wahan say ... in this season i guess it was awsum site with snow clad Pir Panjal Range from east to west..... we stoped there for a cup of tea...... then on my advice moved towards lassdana following my 2007 route.... the road from mehmood gali to lassdana is very bad in contion but ofers breath taking views all around.. the winding and steep road is worth a drive really.....
when i reached lassdana it was a photocopy scene of my 2007 tour .... the amount of snow and our plan like in 2007 to go to allipur from lassdana was destroyed due to snow on that road..... it was impssoble to cross sheru dhera via this route so we spend some time in lassdana and then descened to bagh..... the road is horrible on the way down till dheli town then its like a motorway new mettaled road to bagh.... (atleast soemething has changed in 9 years).....
in bagh we offered asar prayer and then moved towards Sudhan Gali..... the road was ok with patches in the way but car can negtiate it easily.... we reaceh sudhan gali in clouds and a buitful sunset at magrib time.. oferd namaz and got few lovely shots of the sunset with peanut party........ it was a great experience.... now i think that in 2007 i went through dhirkot and ajra but i am not sure...... dont really remember..... but it was good as i had never been to Sudhan Gali....
"the snowy descend"
descending from sudhal gali to chikar bridge was the most diffiicult and dangerous part of the entire trip.... it was all kora and downhill and after sunset.. it seems that entire face duznt get any sunlight and thus snow duznt melt easily there... we were advised against that descend by locals and there was no vehilce on the entire route but we had no choice....
i took the driving seat then as Safeer had no snow driving experience.....we moved at snails pace and skidded of the road a couple of times but made it safely to chikkar and then on main chakoti road......the road from chikkar to main chakoti road in new and in great shape......
after that it was regulation drive to muzafarabad and then to islamabasd via kohala-murree expressway route..........
the total ditance travelled was 500 Kms and per head expenditure was Rs.2100/....
the hotel at Forward Kahuta has ollowing contact......
0355-8126290
0355-6200006
05823-433333
rest all pics guyz......
this trip has helped me alot in learing abt that area.. altough i cudnt reach my primary objective hillan waterfall but it served as a rece tour of the area and the map that i have ceated in my mind will help me better in planning future trips there which (agar zindagi rahi aur Allah nay chaha) will be soon enuf.... many places there to explore and the drives will also be rewarding Insha Allah.....
this is the first time i have written the entire story at once.... didnt wana forget and miss the details ....