Ok well we started the journey at 7 am Saturday morning from pir wadhai on a pathetic bus that took around 5:30 hours to get us to mansehra. Wahan se 12:45 pm got on a hiace that took us to Naran by 5:30..
We had planned to spend the night by the lake and return in the morning due universiry commitments..but to our knowledge we were too leave naran at that time and head for the lake so we decided to exend the plan over two nights, spending saturday night in naran and the next one at the lake.. We had lunch, sabzi roti and a couple of smokes after that..
At around 6, we were having reallly nasty urges for adventures and staying at naran seemed too boring.. so we decided to head for the lake that very instant:D ( but had some more sabzi saalan packed for the night from the same guy)
After talking to only a couple of guys, we were lucky enough to find a baba ji who ws ready to take us at a veryy reasonable price. We had already found out that the jeepable road to the lake isnt open all the way yet and requres you to get of and start walking and trek fr about an hour to reach the lake..
So we reached that point at 6:40 and started walking.. there was still a decent amout of daylight left so we thought we had taken a good decision..
But little did we know :p...
After walking for about 25 minutes.. we realied that the track was getting really really hard for ordinary persons .. and that could not be the case since alot of families visit the lake.. but we thought maybe it wasnt the full season yet and therefore easy treks havnt cleared up yet.. so we continuted.. with the partialy glacier capped nalla to our right and the huge mountain to our left (on which were already were).
By 7:30, the track started to dissapear! Yup, we had come on the wrong track and were sort of lost. Now we knew that we had only half and hour remeing before it would become dark enough for us to even see each other. So we decided to speed up in the same direction making our own routes. Did that for about 10 minutes but then it stated getting too hard.. plus we knew we were definitely short of day light . So at one point , one of caught a glimplse of the RCC wall (thats usually built on part of track where theres water passing). So we instantly knew that that was the track. If was however to our left, required a constant climb for atleast 30 minutes vertical climb ( atleast 70 Degrees). But we decided to go for it cuz atleast we were sure it was gonna put us on the right track.
So we started, climbing our way up a small glacier at first, and then small rocks that were just lying on each other, not fixed into the ground..That climb was however tooo fuking steep for us and out legs started to give up soon. But we had decided not to! and kept moving.. at a much slower pace however.. and with veryyy little light remaing. At this point we realised it would become impossible fr us to do that climb if it gets dark. so we asked one friend to leave his bags with us , and try speeding up a lil bit to search around for a better doable track. But he didnt. infact after moving to the right, for 2 minutes, he dissappeared.. We started shouting for him at the top of our lungs but the we and the nalla below were sooo loud k koi scene nai. So we started getting even more worried about our friend. Now were knew we were in deep ****. It was dark and cold and scary.
We decided to look fr a spot nearby and camp right there..since now it was too dark to even climb down and plus it was going to be alot more cold down there, due to the nalla. But before we had locked that decision, small rocks started rolling down from the passage above us. We realised that any minor landslide during the night cuz trigger something huge and that would definitely not take us with it. So CLIMB BACK DOWN!!
Now this was even harder than climbing up since it required more balancing and braking than climbing on cuz the rocks were too slippery. Still no sign of our friend, we started to move slowly and gradually yelling his name every 2 minutes, only in vain. At around 8:30 we heard this guy yelling. As we looked up, we could make out who it was but the voice told us it was our friend and that he had managed to reach till the trek, on which he was standing.
That was such a relief i cant explain that feeling. We felt like our helplessness was now atleast a bit under control. So we told him to go find some help, some guide who could help us out.. he did so. Meanwhile we continued to move down till the point from where we had come. In about less than 10 minutes however, we saw searchlights poingting towards us. It was our friend with some local guide. We were too far away to hear each other, but he signaled us to start moving towards a certain direction and we following his light. In 5 minutes that guy reached where we were. I tell you guys that person was a godsent. He walked on those dangerous treks like goats and sheeps so. Anyway he escorted us out of that deathzone onto the track. Offered us to come over at his place and have dinner or even stay the night over. But we told him we wanted to get to the lake. Thanked him with a handsome amount of money which he wasnt ready to take at first but accepted upon insistance. Farishta tha wo i swear.
So anyway we reached the lake at around 9. Set up our camp ..got inside, got hold of our senses and rested, recalling the death trap we'd escaped out of, kept thinking about the generousity of that guide. Got out and after an hour and had a chat with a few more visitors. Came back in and slept.
Next morning got up , walked around the lake, had tea with biscuit. started walking back. reached naran around 12:30 pm. got on a hiance that took us to mansehra by 5:30. got on a coaster that took us to back to pir wadhai.
Im gonna try working on uploading the pictures now..