Off-Roaders Unlimited

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Baissel is a smallish establishment, and very interesting. A small bridge, temporary, and quite unstable, narrow and dangerous looking restricts the passage of larger vehicles beyong Baissel.
Views improve beyond Naran, and the track is beautiful. Soft, winding, and un-metalled: a Green Laner's dream.
Part of the roads were lined by Bee hives, and boxes full of bees. We were worried they might decide to bite us! Nothing happenned. Slowly the metal road gave way to soft dirt track. Some houses were built in beautiful locations. We include some pics.

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Reached Baissel late. The tents that should have been erected in 15 to 20 minutes, actually took more than 1 hour each. Although the smaller one was easier to erect.
Starting the fire took some effort, but it eventually started blazing......
We were all huddled around the fire, and enjoying the chill.
Went to bed early, because we were tired....
Appears the Coil Springs on an HJ 81 are not very supportive on long, and punishing rides....
This was taught and promoted by Miskeen Baba, but we have started believing in it after a long delay....
Things have started making sense...

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Like Gandalf, We Fought With The Fire, and the Chill,....
and eventually were victorious....
The fire looked very re-assuring...
The place became suddenly more inhabitable....

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

The lateness of our arrival is evident by the sheep's coming back, while we were still trying to set up camp......
The sparkle of life... the eyes....are like diamonds.....

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Had a good night's sleep. I was slipping inside my tent because it wa pitched on a slope.
Next morning was warmer than we could imagine. The sun was very bright. None of us had sun screen or sunblock creams. We could easily wash our faces in the stream, which indirectly means that it was NOT extremely chilled.
HAD a very well-deserved breakfast at the small road-side hotel in Baissel, and then around 8:00 am started off on our journey......

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

The Track beyond Baissel was even more interesting. It was broad, with only a few scattered rocks or some glaciers. Generally very comfortable. Lulusar is larger than Saif-Ul-Muluk, and the views are beautiful.
The track is very broad, and in a few years will be metalled, opening up these views to anyone with a small car.
We saw some people carrying parts of trees and tree branches on donkeys: probably for drying them up and to be used as fuel......

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

The track from Baissel to Babusar is wonderful.
It is basically negotiable by a 2-wheel street car with a bit of good clearance.
But still it is good.

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Some of the temporary bridges were probably deliberately made jeepable only. I don't think full size trucks will pass over them. There were lesser glaciers than last year, but still a few made the track interesting. Still the track is too soft.
The good thing is that it leads to Babusar and GittiDass.....

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

And The Views Are Really Beautiful.
AND THE SKIES ARE BLUE....

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Jalkhad is the junction of the track to Babusar top and the track to Noori top or Noori Nar as locals call it. It is a beautiful place, but there is almost no clean place to pitch a tent..
It was still cold and chilly....
We definitely felt it.
We had a one dish MANGO party in Jalkhad.....
Many people had come on motorbikes and 2 wheel drive cars..

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Babusar was definitely cold. The views though are wonderful.....

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

I had always thought that GittiDaass was the plain area that we pass while going towards Babusar..... Oh Dear, were we wrong.
It is the meadows visible from the Babusar top, just to the left if you face towards Naran.
Beautiful, lush green, and hosting the polo festival every year...
The track towards the Gitti Daass was beautiful, we had always fancied going down but never had the time to do so,..
This time, we had good time, and we were happy to go down...
The track was seducingly narrow in places, and very very sexy....
Still, it was basically a soft track...
Nothing too adventurous...
Can be tackled by a good driver in a powerful 2-wheel drive car.

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Between Naran and Kaghan is Phallothar, that is local name for Deodar. This is sporting probably the thickest and most virgin Deodar Jungle in the whole region.
We had a beautiful lunch, near a wonderul, 200+ feet water-fall. Our Chief host, Syed Qamar Ali Shah (we are grateful to him for his hospitality), is a big land holder in the region, and is the designated chief of Saadat living in the area.
We enjoyed a 3-hour stay in the area, and then left for our return journey.

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

Had a cup of tea with Faisal Shah Saheb, at Faisal Hotel, in Kiwai,
and we tightened our belts for the way back....

[DeeDee]

good going sir... lovely pictures and nice commentary...

[OfFRoAdeR_55]

this trip was really good and we enjoyed it a lot.but we didn't do any off roading but at the end it was really fun and the views were breath taking.

[OfFRoAdeR_55]

The camping at Babusal was really fun although we didn't do any off roading but it was really fun.

[Ranger_ofthe_North]

good going sir... lovely pictures and nice commentary...

Thanks Dee Dee. It is all because of Gurus like your kind self and Aamir Saheb that we had the confidence to start sharing our limited experiences.
Long Live All Off-Roaders

[jan87]

mashallah nice trip

[Niazi11]

Excellent trip. Nice coverage.