A.A. PWer Friends 
Alhamdulillah, completed my 11 days adventure successfully and the magic is still there ... i am totally spellbound and speechless with the beauty of Kashmir
Here are the trip details:
Group Members:
- Myself and Qari Rashid Ahmed (jeep driver) for the whole trip
- 4 more group members till Ratti Gali Lake trek
- 2 guest appearances
Cameras Used:
- Canon EOS Rebel T2i
- Nikon Coolpix L12
Daywise itinerary goes like this:
23 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 13<<
Departed 11 p.m. on 22nd Aug night from Skyways Lahore for Mansehra. Reached Mansehra around 6:30 a.m. Took couple of taxis and reached Balakot around 8 a.m. One of the group members had to join from Islamabad so had to wait for him and he delayed our departure for around 3 hours. Once, team was complete, we again confirmed Neelum valley road condition and it was closed so we departed for Kaghan Valley to go through Nuri Top. But when we reached Jalkhad, another bad news was waiting for us that Surgan area below Nuri Top also got closed one night before due to rains and landslides. So, we spent the night in Jalkhad Hotel.
24 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 22<<
We started our return journey early morning around 7:30 a.m. Reached Balakot around 12:30 p.m. Then continued towards Garhi Habibullah and stopped there for Juma prayer. Reached MZF Lower Chattar View around 2:50 p.m. Continued our journey to Iqbal bridge and also confirmed the way to Neelum valley from bus stand and got the good news that now traffic was moving on the road. But we had already arranged for the army permission and clearance for Leepa Valley so continued for Leepa Valley. Reached Lamnian Village around Maghrib and had prayer break there. Reached Reshian around 8:30 p.m. and got clearance at checkpost in 15 min. We had a tyre puncture between Lamnian and Reshian so got it fixed from Reshian and then reached Daokhan around 10 p.m. Night stay at Daokhan.
25 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 43<<
Started from Daokhan and came down to Reshian pass road. Continued to Reshian Top and had a tea break at Reshian Top. We also met @khanmomar on Reshian Top who was midway through his long tour of Kashmir. We started downwards journey through unlimited U-turns and finally reached Leepa Village. Next destination was Naukot. Had a fresh stream water bath there in Naukot in the neighbourhood of lovely rice fields 
Then continued to Channian. Finally returned to Leepa Village and started towards opposite side. Passed through Kappa Gali and Mauji and were stopped at last main checkpost just after Mauji. They wasted our 1 precious hour just to get confirmation of our visit from Reshian checkpost and we had to complete half of return journey to Daokhan without daylight 
Night stay at Daokhan
26 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 72<<
Again started early morning from Daokhan. Reached MZF around lunch time and stopped at Sangam Hotel for lunch and to pick our last joining team member from Sangam Hotel. Started again for Neelum Valley after lunch and had to wait around 15 min for WIP at landslide area. Stopped at Dhani waterfall but it was almost dried up. Whatever left was i think rain water 
Then continued to Keran where we had booking in Valley Trackers Tourist Lodge. Met @emmaar (Rashid) and his lovely kids at Keran who were enjoying a family trip. Night stay at Keran. Rashid bhai also supervised our packing and preparations for Ratti Gali trek
27 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 85<<
Woke up early and left Keran around 7 a.m. Reached Dowarian and started to look for porters. There we got the bad news that jeep road is totally destroyed due to flood on 23 Aug after heavy rain during the night. Now we had to complete the whole Ratti Gali trek on foot and weather was quite hot at Dowarian. We started the trek around 9 a.m. and covered 12 km on first day of the trek. Camped at village called "Jhugiyaan".
28 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 102<<
We encountered a thunderstorm during the night and it rained for 5 hours. Dome tents cannot withstand such heavy torrential rains so things started to float in the tents after couple of hours Our bags, shoes and clothes were saved as they were outside the tents covered with plastic sheets.
We slept after rain stopped around 1 a.m. and woke up around 6 a.m. again to start the Big Day. We reached Ratti Gali Lake around 11:30 a.m. and spent couple of hours there and then came back to camping site. Original plan was to descend to first shelter where we stopped for lunch yesterday but one of the team members had pain in right knee which slowed down the group and we decided to stay at same place. Camp at "Jhugiyaan".
29 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 114<<
Again started early morning and reached Dowarian around noon time. 2 of the team members were supposed to be with me till the end of the tour but one had already left even before we started Ratti Gali and second one also decided to leave with others on 29 Aug. Ratti Gali was very tiring trek mainly due to day one in hot weather. So, i dropped 4 remaining group members at Athmuqam and started a new adventure all alone
In this trip, my best companion was my jeep driver Qari Rashid Ahmed Obaidi. He has been around for a while now (4 years) and during this phase of the trip, he was an excellent company and never let me feel that i was travelling alone. Hats off to Qari sahib !!!!
I visited Upper Neelum Village around 5 p.m. and then continued towards Sharda. While travelling, we thought of reaching Kel but weather was getting worse in the distance so decided to stop at Sharda around 8 p.m. Next day, we came to know that it rained quite heavily around Kel and Taobat area.
30 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 122<<
Today i took first proper shower in 7 days lol
Started journey towards Upper Neelum Valley till Taobat.
Discovery of the Tour
I had marked an unknown side valley near Phulawai for which we took a detour and discovered a marvelous place. It includes villages like Seri Bala, Thanda Pani and towards the end of valley there are 3 lakes near tops and Sarwali Gali. There is 8 km jeep track and afterwards u can trek into open valley. There was no proper name of this valley.
We completed the jeep track and met few locals then returned to main Taobat road. Rest of the day was routine visit and passed through various villages and finally reached Taobat. After lunch, explored couple of villages at the top of mountain behind Taobat and then camped there for the night.
31 Aug 2012: >>Starts from Page 165<<
Left Taobat after breakfast and reached Kel around 11 a.m. I had to buy few items for Chitta Katha Lake trek and then started journey for Shounter Valley. Army visited Shounter pass to review the construction of the road but local vehicles were failing to reach beyond 14000 ft so it was common perception that the plan has been dropped for the time being to construct road from Shounter to Rattu in Astore Valley. This was the reason that a temporary bridge was made with wood logs to cross the nallah into Shounter Valley. We also used same bridge to cross the nallah in our own jeep.
Reached Domail Bala in 1hr 30 min and had lunch there. Porters were busy with a large group of photographers being lead by Gulraiz Ghauri. The group started to come back from Chitta Katha around 4-5 p.m. I hired 2 porters and started the trek at 5:15 p.m. Met Gulraiz Ghauri while descending from Domail Bala who said that we won't be able to reach Dak 1 before evening as it will take 3.5 hours and he advised against going now. While my calculations were different and my porters also said that we will make it in time inshallah and we were at Dak 1 in 1 hr 45 min around 7 p.m. Camped at Dak 1.
1 Sep 2012: >>Starts from Page 179<<
Started the 2nd part of Chitta Katha trek at 6:30 a.m. and reached the lake at 9:45 a.m. in 3 hr 15 min. Total trek time till lake was 5 hours. Chitta Katha is one AMAZING lake and i would rate it above Ratti Gali on any given day. It is a different world with mysterious and magical surrounding and unique colour. Spent around 90 min at the lake and then came down to Domail Bala.
Narrowly missed meeting @mubbi and his group who were there for Chitta Katha Lake trek. I waited till late lunch but was running out of time so after lunch, started return leg around 4:30 p.m. and stopped at Sharda for night stay.
2 Sep 2012: >>Starts from Page 196<<
Visited Sharda village on other side of river which was the last destination of this trip and then started 15 hr long journey till Lahore.
Things missed and Inshallah will be covered in some next visit:
- Pir Chinasi and Saran
- Kutton and Jagran Valley
- Arang Kel
- Sharda-Nuri Top road
Join Me Virtually Within the Beautiful Scenes through 360 Panoramas
1- Batakundi, Kaghan Valley
Dusk time at Batakundi, Kaghan Valley
2- Jalkhad, Kaghan Valley
Beautiful Morning at Jalkhad in Kaghan Valley, Pakistan
3- Naukot Rice Fields, Leepa Valley, AJK, Pakistan
The Paradise Experience - Leepa Valley , AJK, Pakistan
4- Ratti Gali Lake, Neelum Valley, AJK, Pakistan
Ratti Gali Lake, Neelum Valley, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan
5- Shounter Lake, Shounter Valley, AJK, Pakistan
Shounter Lake, Shounter Valley, Azad Jammu and Kashmir
6- Dak 2, Chitta Katha Lake Trek, Shounter Valley, AJK, Pakistan
Dak 2, Chitta Katha Lake Trek, Shounter Valley, Pakistan
7- Chitta Katha Lake, Shounter Valley, AJK, Pakistan
Chitta Katha Lake, Shounter Valley, AJK, Pakistan
I hope everyone likes the thread and pics
Regards
Mobeen
