In the Summer of 2015, me and my friends decided to go a Fort lesser known by most people after seeing a blog about it published in the Tribune. The name of the Fort is Kussak Fort and it is on a tall Ridge above a village ( Kussak, pronounced Kuskay Da Qila ). The fort itself seems to date back to Punjab suring the pre-sikh period and sue to limited accessibility in the past, most of the walls and structure is unscathed and worth seeing ( see photos). The fort is about 7 kilometers away from choa saiden shah on a small side road which leads to kussak village. If the skies are clear, a local
villager told us you could see mandi Bahaudiin from the top of the fort ( though i doubted his claim considering it is almost 43 kilometers from there, maybe he was referring to Pind Dadan Khan). On the day we went it was very foggy at the top of the fort with some mist in the air ( it was a cool day). The breeze a top the fort was simply amazing, never had I experienced such a fresh cool breeze before ( in punjab that is ). there is a lare quadrangle well and 3 small room like strucutres at the top including an observatory in typical mughal-sqe style. The Trek to the top is simple, and the path is well defined, most of the path has stoned out.
Route:
1) Get to Choa Saiden Shah ( from islamabad take N-5 to sohawa, then take sohawa chakwal road , and then take the road near chakwal to choa saiden shah). From lahore/peshawar it would be better to take M2 till Kallar Kahar, and then from KK interchange to till Choa Saiden Shah.
2) You can cross choa saiden shah ( not the bypass, go through the city) and about 1 - 1.5 km after the city ends there is a turn for the by-pass of the town ( goes back around towards the city). Turn from here and then after about 1 km take a Right turn away from the main bypass.
3) this is a small local road which will pass through 2 or 3 villages. The road is single but 2 cars can pass by if needed. The road is alright, has a few potholes, but nothing all that bad. You have to travel fro like 6 - 7 km on the road ( can take 20 mins, untill the road ends in the village Kuskay.
4) we parked our car in a small gali after asking a local, he said it would be safe anywhere to park the car. After that he was kind enough to lead us all the way to the start of the trekk also. ( You just go through the village on foot to the other side at the base of the ridge, from where a small trail begins.
5) the hike can take 30 minutes - 1 hour based on your experience, it is just a 100 meter climb and not so steep.
6) At the top you can on a clear day get a pretty decent view from all sides, and catch a very fresh cool breeze! Nice place for a picnic with your buddies on a weekend if you are in islamabad.