Lets start the Big Day 
Raheel woke us early in the morning around 4:30 a.m. and i went out for a fresh morning walk 
Had a wonderful shoot on the roof of the hotel and then got ready for the trek.
We had a very "light" breakfast which proved fatal later on .... to be precise chaey biskut
Everybody was fresh in the morning and very excited about the trek so had a wonderful portrait session. Team 3 was on its way to Kalam while we were ready to leave the hotel at 8 a.m.
It was decided to arrange a jeep for Team 3 and the group should move on to Utror for other arrangements. One jeep left early to buy some stuff for the trek from Kalam bazaar while we were trying to find the driver of jeep that i had hired. Finally, we left Pameer Hotel at 8:40 a.m.
The landscape and journey both were beautiful between Kalam and Utror. Moving ahead, u see wonderful valley landscapes developing while in the back side scene, the whole Mankial Range is at display with all peaks of Seven Sister clearly visible.
Before leaving the hotel, the local jeep driver broke the news that road to Utror is blocked as a truck is stuck in a nallah. We decided to leave and take decision at spot what to do if road is blocked. And when we reached that spot, road was already cleared. So, within an hour we were at Dhamaka Lake location which was now only barren stone bed.
There we met our guide who misguided us to the fullest. Though he arranged a very good porter team for us but wasted our precious time and energy by giving us wrong starting point and not letting the jeeps go till the end point. Due to his wrong information, we had to start the trek from Utror bazaar.
Initially, we hired 5 porters for 6 people plus all food and kitchen stuff. While the porters were arranging the luggage, Team 3 also arrived in Utror bazar and the whole group united for the first time
I met Shahbaz, Bilal and Imran for the first time while Rashid bhai and a friend of Shahbaz was also in Team 3. We hired 3 more porters and finally got ready to start the trek at 11 a.m.
We were 15 team members and 8 porters. 5 of us returned after 1 hour of trek on jeep road and we were still a little short of the broken bridge leading to starting point of Kundol trek. They already had the plans to trek only till Laddu but this additional fatigue made their decision easy to return
We said goodbye to Nauman, Khalid Rehman, Armghan, Shoaib and Farrukh.
Now remaining 10 members resumed the trek and reached the alternative bridge crossing on Izmis Lake trek around 12:50 p.m.
Our next major stop was in front of Laddu Village near couple of shelters at 2 p.m. Till now we were travelling on right side of Kundol stream.
Now we crossed a big glacier and went to left side of stream and all of sudden trek vanished. Now it was a 4.5 hrs long torture of rock climbing and finding your way through bushes, slopes, and narrow edges.
We encountered 3 stunt areas which i have already described in another post and now will include in trek details.
Finally, we all made it to Kundol Lake between 7 - 8 p.m. Four of us were there early so we had a little shoot at lake and then started the arrangements for the night. The team was dead tired as we only had few drinks and snacks during the whole day and we had started the day with light breakfast. I decided to carry on the trek without lunch or we wouldn't have been able to reach the lake in time.
Shahbaz and me set up all the camps while Rashid bhai also helped us. Good thing was that all members completed the trek. The bad thing was that it was extremely windy at the lake and weather was really cold and chilly.
My hands were freezing while i was fixing the camps. The porters collected wood and set fire in the shelter. I started the dinner arrangements and distributed the food while Bilal did the honours of providing us tea
After the dinner session, i rested for hour and a half. While the rest of the gang went to sleep.
I got out of the camp around 10 p.m. and Rahisd bhai had asked me to join earlier so called him and he came out for the night shoot
We were the witnesses of the amazing clear sky with the Milkyway expanding from one side of horizon to the other. There were millions of stars glittering and shining and slowly we cloud see the surroundings as well.
Rashid bhai did some shots and then went to sleep while i carried out a 2 hrs session. I had plans for star trail photography but after 2 hours, my body gave up to the cold and tiredness so i dropped the plans for star trails. It was extremely cold and windy at night and i only kept my eyes exposed to weather.
After spending 2 hours under the lights of gazillion stars, i finally went to sleep.
Night stay in camps at the bank of Kundol Lake under the cover of Milkyway
