June 2013 Trip to Sudhan Gali, Ganga Choti, Leepa and Chakothi

Road Trips / Vacations / Hiking / Trekking

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:09:46 +0500 #41

The contact number has already been shared.... As as far a the rates are concerned we got the suite for Rs. 3000. It's normal rate is Rs. 4000 but we got it through some contacts.... The rooms are very well furnished and have some really expensive furniture and a very high quality carpets. I think same quality hotel in Naran would cost at least 7k-8k if not more. It is ideal for a family stay and at Rs. 3000 I thought it was quite reasonable. Also there was electric geyser in bath rooms and also UPS and generators. Also the food was very good and tasty and our room had an attached dining room. All in all a very good experience...

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:12:42 +0500 #42

As already shared the road from Sudhan Gali to Chakar is quite good with a few bad patches near Sudhan Gali. Also the road from Chakar to Hattian Bala was in a reasonable condition with few bad patches. But any car can do this as I had a Honda City which has quite low ground clearance but it did it quite easily....

Believer (Believer) 2013-06-17 05:13:47 +0500 #43

great, can we sometime use the same contact for discount, in near future !!

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:18:16 +0500 #44

Leepa valley is very near to LOC.... In fact near Moji area we are quite near to the LOC and there is a shrine whose back wall is in Indian Occupied Kashmir... Also unlike in Neelum valley where at some points River Neelum is the LOC (which BTW is very difficult to cross) in Leepa crossing the border is very easy... So that is why they have many army check posts on the way from Moji-Daokhan and Leepa-Reshian and they check the NOC to get the exact number of Males, Females, Children etc. and on each check point they confirm from the previous checkpoints about our passage from there.... Although it might seem quite unreasonable but for our own safety I think it is understandable.

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:23:51 +0500 #45

I think it is definitely worth Rs. 3000 per night.....

Maybe not.... as it was my brother's colleague's sister (who was Secretary Establishment Divisions in Muzaffarabad). We tried to book the tourism resthouse in Sudhan Gali through her but the tourism department said that it was fully booked so she asked the Director Tourism to arrange for our stay in Sudhan Gali and he arranged it...

Raheeln (Syed Raheel Asghar) 2013-06-17 05:25:08 +0500 #46

Thanx,

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:33:39 +0500 #47

Started the track at exactly 8:25AM..... Because of the last evening rain the weather was quite good and a very cool
breeze was easing us from the bare sun....

At start of the track..... It starts just behind the Tourism resthouse/Benazir Palace....

The trek is the most beautiful at the start with flowers and dense jungle.... Although due to deforestation the jungle has reduced quite considerably...

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:43:23 +0500 #48

For complete coverage and more pics please feel free to visit my earlier hike of Ganga Choti....

https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/road-trips-vacations/166343-ganga-choti-hiking-expedition

Here I will share only some selected pictures....

My parents resting on the very first climb.....It is quite a strange climb with steep ascend followed by some plain areas before another steep ascend.... There are at least 6-7 such ascends before you reach the top of the ridge.....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:48:47 +0500 #49

After two hours of quite hectic hike we finely reached the top of the ridge and got our first glimpse of the Ganga Choti....
But boy it was something.... After this point we still have to cover about 3KM but 2KM out of these were quite easy followed by the last KM ascend which is again quite hectic....

First glimpse after 2 hours..... and still at least 1 hour of climbing to go......

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:51:36 +0500 #50

Walking along the ridge..... Very beautiful green carpet...

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 05:54:40 +0500 #51

Nearing the top....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 06:05:58 +0500 #52

and this concludes my pictures of Ganga Choti.... As I had only made a video at the top when my parents reached there 30 min. later.... It was very breezy at the top and very very enjoyable view.... The only peak that is higher than you in the 10K radius was Pir Kanthi which had snow at it's top.... Other then this it felt that we are at the top of the world...
Also note that from Sudhan Gali to Ganga peak we climbed almost 1KM vertically i.e almsot 3000 feet altitude gain.... It is one accomplishment that I salute my parents for attaining and that too at that age and also in a very respectable time of 3 hours and 30 min.....

faisal_here (faisal_here) 2013-06-17 07:28:00 +0500 #53

Very nicely detailed thread, with so much info, this is the manner a thread should be shared

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:00:40 +0500 #54

We reached back Sudhan Gali in our rest house at about 2PM.... We left Sudhan Gali at about 3:30PM and reached Hattian Bala at about 5PM. Left main Muzaffarabad-Chakothi road at about 5:30PM. The Leepa turn is almost 5-6KM ahead of Hattian Bala.... We reached Dao Khan at about 7:40PM on our cars....

Our Destination this year....

Leepa Turning on Mzd-Chakothi road......

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:07:27 +0500 #55

This place from where we crossed River Jehlum to start our journey towards Leepa is called Naily......It has a 3.2MW (I think) power plant as well.....

The famous Naily bridge on the river Jehlum.......

Pipes that carry water to produce electricity.....

The famous shrine of Mitha Srakar is 58KM from Naily Bridge....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:29:02 +0500 #56

Naily - Sain Bagh - Lamnian - Reshian - Dao Khan

Total distance is 29KM
Naily - Lamnian ~ 13KM fully metaled and brand new road..... Very enjoyable to drive......
Lamnian - Reshian ~ 12KM After 1 km from Lamnian all the way to Reshian there is no metaled road.... Stones, gravels, mud and dirt only... But still a car with relatively reasonable clearance and with some good driving skills one can reach there....
Reshian - Dao Khan ~ 4KM Again stones and mud and gravel and also there are 2-3 dangerous hair pin bends on this road and low ground clearance vehicles will definitely get hit but still any car can do it... We did it on Mehran and Honda City... Although we did it in almost darkness and there were a few times when we wished we had not taken our cars.... On a separate note the descend on our way back was very easy and I managed to prevent the car from hitting beneath....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:33:34 +0500 #57

Somewhere near Lamnian....

Wheat is ripe and cultivated....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:38:16 +0500 #58

My bhateeja is posing in front of the Forest rest house.....

imarshad (imarshad) 2013-06-17 08:42:40 +0500 #59

and this brings a close on Day 2 of my trip.......

Skill (Skill) 2013-06-17 11:20:42 +0500 #60

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