13-20 Aug 2013: Astore Valley & Baltistan Trip - Introducing Riat Valley & Riat Lakes

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Beautiful flowers on the way

The slopes were full of them

0814 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

0815 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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First sunrays of the day around 7:30 a.m.

0816 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Abdullah feeling better now after getting light

0817 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Getting near to the turning point

0818 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Grassy slopes full of flowers

0819 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Rest of the group waiting for us at turning point and our villager friend went to bakarwals to find a guide/porter for us

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Keeping watch on us ... the strangers in the land

0820 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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The villager came back with bad news that no one is available to take us to the lake. So, we decided to go ourselves and asked him if he can accompany us to which he agreed as there wasn't much choice left

That poor soul came without breakfast and in slippers which he told us later on while returning though we have been sharing our day routine eatables with all but still he didn't have a proper meal in the morning.

Starting the second stage of the trek till basecamp

0822 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Extreme beauty of Riat Lake stream

0823 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Here are the two routes to climb up

Either climb the rocks on left side till the bridge ahead or cross the stream right away and go up to the main route on which herd is walking in this pic

0824 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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A look back after some rock climbing

0825 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Thx a lot

Yup, in and around Deosai, there are more than 30 lakes waiting for explorers

a friend of mine shared a google map image with me which showd many lakes in and around sheosar also including ali malik pass etc

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Riat Lake trek

As u move ahead in the valley, u get the feel that it is not as remote as it seems. Life sustains here as well and bakarwals can be seen moving around in this area with their herds.

0826 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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a friend of mine shared a google map image with me which showd many lakes in and around sheosar also including ali malik pass etc

The problem is that Deosai is quite marshy at places and it is difficult to move around and all these lakes are on boundary of Deosai at altitudes ranging from 14000-16000 ft but few are quite big in size and must be extremely beautiful. But at same time, such are the areas where wildlife dwells

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Rock climbing in progress

0827 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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The problem is that Deosai is quite marshy at places and it is difficult to move around and all these lakes are on boundary of Deosai at altitudes ranging from 14000-16000 ft but few are quite big in size and must be extremely beautiful. But at same time, such are the areas where wildlife dwells

sir g kuch tyu hai na obstacle bhe warna sari koom puhanc gai hoti in lakes par bhe heheheee

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0828 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Time to take some rest

0829 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Things straightening up after half hr climb

0830 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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A look back

0831 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr