Off-Season Visit to Ratti Gali Lake(2-6 October 2013)

[imarshad]

The left side valley ends at high altitude passes. One pass is straight and ends up on Burwai - Ratti Gali trek and one pass is on left and joins the valley of Patlian Lake which eventually descends to Lawat in Neelum Valley.

When u go ahead, there is another domail. Go straight or can say right and it takes u to Dowarian Pass towards Nuri Top and go left and it takes u to Ratti Gali Pass to Burwai.

Thanks yaar for the information... I tried to use Google Earth to get some information about the treks but I couldn't get any useful information as detailed map/without snow was not available.... Which path is usually taken by people coming from Burawai? The first domail or second one?

[imarshad]

very nice trip detail and Picture as well

Thanks Zeeshan for liking my pictures and trip details....

Very lovely pics with nice and detailed narration Imran Bhai....

Shukriya Faraz bhai....

very nice shots and detailed descriptions Brother imran

Thanks yaar for liking...

[imarshad]

Its really dangerous patch. I did not hear about this landslide before. Is this new or u mistakenly reached in this slide.?

As discussed earlier this patch can be bypassed by climbing up a very steep ascend and then cross the landslide area (which is merely 10-15 meters) at that altitude and then descend back on the main trek. Also maybe a month or so ago crossing this point would have been quite easy as the glacier might not have melted and one could easily walk on the glacier... Also one could use the glacier to cross to the other side of the Nala....

[deadman78]

First of all Congrats Imran on getting the new camera which works really well on the trip and trek, don't worry you will learn soon by trying your hand on the camera no matter which mode you used for the starter it's good you will follow and learn the through exif data of the auto mode and try to implement those settings or a bit different on manual, A or S mode. Lake trek pics looks stunningly beautiful.

[ibn.rizvi]

Very Nice Trip....
Nice Photos....
Which Camera and Lens you used??

[imarshad]

First of all Congrats Imran on getting the new camera which works really well on the trip and trek, don't worry you will learn soon by trying your hand on the camera no matter which mode you used for the starter it's good you will follow and learn the through exif data of the auto mode and try to implement those settings or a bit different on manual, A or S mode. Lake trek pics looks stunningly beautiful.

Thanks for the compliments...This trip was only 3-4 days afetr I bought my first DSLR. After the trip I am learning all the time about photography... Now I know what I had done wrong in some pictures (Like not taking deep depth of field pictures of landscape and using the autofocus not intelligently)

Very Nice Trip....
Nice Photos....
Which Camera and Lens you used??

I bought a new Nikon D3200 with 18-105mm kit lens.

[aesiege]

Thanks yaar for the information... I tried to use Google Earth to get some information about the treks but I couldn't get any useful information as detailed map/without snow was not available.... Which path is usually taken by people coming from Burawai? The first domail or second one?

The second one ahead of Ratti Gali Lake turn and near Hans Raj lake.

[ism1]

it is also worth mentioning that all the settlements were deserted and all the cattle have also left the place.. With the exception of one last herd which was also leaving on that day..... Can you count them?

neend aa jaye gi bhai

[ism1]

Must say, one of the wonderful threads wid very well descriptions !!! Wese hum-naam honey ka faida uthaya ja sakta hy Watermark mey sirf Imran's Photography likha hy

[emmaar]

Dear Pakwheels fellows,
Since my first visit to Dowarian (In Neelum valley) back in 2010 I had always dreamed of going to Ratti Gali lake one day. This season all plans of going there after Ramazan were washed away by continuous spell of rain in July/August/September. So when I saw the following event on facebook I said what the heck even if the season is off, the beauty of the lake/track might be reduced to merely 10% of it's original but I am still going.
https://www.facebook.com/events/489493414474966/
So I asked all my friends here at Pakwheels to join me but no one was interested :S due to one reason or another ( @Shahbazzain , @[/email]%5b/email%5d%5b/email%5d"]ranasherdil , @emmaar , @[/email]%5b/email%5d%5b/email%5d"]m_Mahmud , @BILAL3538 ). Since it was a very cheap deal (Rs. 6000 only) and I had no plans for the weekend and also I had no problems what so ever for the leaves so I decided to join the above team and go for Ratti Gali lake.

Route Info:

Islamabad-Danna (Roughly 55 KM) (1 Hour)
We took the Murree Expressway and rather then turning towards Murree from Musiyari we went straight and reached Danna.
Danna - Kohala (Roughly 40 KM) (1-1.5 Hour)
The road condition is good. We took the Phagwari route rather than taking the Bhurban-Deval route. Although the Bhurban-Kohala route is shorter but it is more steep and more dangerous.
Kohala - Muzaffarabad (Roughly 34 KM) (1 Hour)
Good road with quite a few areas affected by landsliding. Also we had to take a diversion at the start due to landsliding.
Muzaffarabad - Nusehri (Roughly 42 KM) (1.5 Hours)
Very good and newly built road with the exception of a 2km Patch about 10km from Muzaffarabad. Due to heavy rainfall this area can have frequent landslides and can get closed and cleared throughout the day during rain.
Nusehri -Kundal Shahi- Athmuqam - Keran - Dowarian (Roughly 68 KM) (At least 4-5 Hours)
Very good and newly built road from about 2km past Nusehri to a few KM shy of Dowarian. Absolutely joy to ride and drive.
Dowarian - Ratti Gali (18KM)
Dowarian to Ratti Gali lake is 18KM quite steep ascend along the Ratti Gali Nala. Uptil 2 years ago one had to start the hike from Dowarian but now they are making a jeep track all the way upto the Base Camp of the lake. 10KM of this trek is completed and jeeps can reach there. But keep in mind that during rain or after rain this track is impossible for a jeep to cross because it is still a Mud track and is quite steep.

Daywise Itinerary:

Day1:
Left Islamabad at 10AM. Reached Muzaffarabad at 2:40 PM. Had lunch in Mir Continental Hotel. Left Muzaffarabad at 4:30PM and reached Keran at 8:30 PM and had our lunch at Keran resorts and stayed there for the night.

Day2:
We left Keran at 6AM. Reached Dowarian at 6:30AM and then had to wait for 5 hours to get onto the jeeps. This was the only mismanagement of the whole tour. The jeeps were there but the organisors were preparing food for lunch and we had to wait for them and finally we left Dowarian on jeeps at roughly 11:30AM and reached the last jeepable point at 1PM. Started the hike and I reached our pre decided staying area at 4PM with two more hikers and a porter. We had to cross a very difficult and dangerous landsliding area. It was merely 100m but it took us 30 minutes to cross and it was really scary. We started waiting for the other team members . But they were too much tired to reach our pre decided point (after crossing the very difficult land sliding area in 2 hours!!!) and they stayed almost 2KM before us. They send porters towards us so we had to go back in pitch black conditions to reach them.

Day3:
Started from our staying area at 7:30AM. Reached Domail in 45 min. (The place from where we had to go back the previous night). Reached Base Camp of lake in 2 hours and reached the lake in 3 hours. Had to wait for almost 3 hours on the lake for the last team to arrive. As soon as the last team arrived started the descend. Reached our staying area at roughly 3PM. Took some rest there and also enjoyed our lunch. As soon as the last team arrived we (i.e me and 4 other people left). We reached the jeeps at roughly 6PM. Had to wait for almost 2 hours till all the people arrived. Then travelled on the very dangerous track in night and reached Dowarian at 9:30PM. Left Dowarian and reached Keran where we stayed for the night.

Day4:
Left Dowarian at 8AM and had our lunch at Muzaffarabad. Reached back Islamabad at 5PM.

Remaining details will be added during the course of this thread......

So, Imran Bhai aap baaz nahi aaye:)
Aor jab tak banda haar na maan le season OFF nahi hota.....Season abhi bhi ON he...tell me if u have time of the coming saturday;)

[emmaar]

MASHALLAH Lagta hy koi bohot oonchi shart lgai hui hy is team ny har koi trek py trek kharka raha hy.
ZABARDAST sir gee.

Bhai ji Selective Study nahi ki ja sakti aor Papers mein 20 Marks ka question ho ga treks ka;)

[imarshad]

Must say, one of the wonderful threads wid very well descriptions !!! Wese hum-naam honey ka faida uthaya ja sakta hy Watermark mey sirf Imran's Photography likha hy

Shukriya mere humnaam... Yaar chaho to jitna marzi faida utha lo ... Aur agar aap chaho to main bagher watermark wali tasweerain aap ko bhej deta hoon... Yeh to main sirf test kar raha tha keh kaise watermark lagate hain....

[imarshad]

The second one ahead of Ratti Gali Lake turn and near Hans Raj lake.

Thanks for the nice info... Next year Insha'Allah I will try to reach Ratti Gali from Burawai side and descend from Dowarian side...

[imarshad]

So, Imran Bhai aap baaz nahi aaye:)
Aor jab tak banda haar na maan le season OFF nahi hota.....Season abhi bhi ON he...tell me if u have time of the coming saturday;)

Haan jee main baaz nahin aya aur yeh aik acha decision tha... It was not as beautiful as it would have been when you visited it but still it was amazing. Still I rate the Jahaz Daand lake higher than this any given time.

Coming Saturday for the Pir Chinasi-Pir Hassimar trek that we discussed? Well I have no hard committments for the weekend but I doubt that the beauty of the meadows will now be completely gone. The grass will be more of golden color and the weather at night will be quite chilly...

[ism1]

Shukriya mere humnaam... Yaar chaho to jitna marzi faida utha lo ... Aur agar aap chaho to main bagher watermark wali tasweerain aap ko bhej deta hoon... Yeh to main sirf test kar raha tha keh kaise watermark lagate hain....

apki Mohabbat hy janab. Thanx a lot. Wese now & onward u are going to be a Professional Photographer, so watermarks will be essential & it wud better if u chose any unique name.........like 'Immi's Photography' or 'IA's Photography', its just my brotherly suggestion.

[emmaar]

i think this is best forum for me to give my 2 cents rather than starting a new thread on Ratti Gali Lake.

the jeep track from Dowarian to Tarkhana Village (trek start point) is aprox 12 kms long. half way of which (6 km) is the Ratti Gali Hotel where u can get Tea and food even if need be... theis is where the jeep drivers stay if they have to take u back also.......

from the start of trek till lake its apox 6 kms also ....

this trek is very easy and takes abt 3.5 to 4 hrs... only issue is that due to sudden increase in altitude via jeep one feels the symptoms of alt sickness (mild)... there is an excelentr camping spot on lake also but if u dont wana camp there (as it gets very cold at night) there is a settelment just below it called "Sarrian"... this is where v stayed.....

weather was sunny and warm all over no rain and cold ...... but as it was late in season the buti was deminished and flowers were gone.....

return journey took us abt 5.5 hrs all the way back to Dowarian......

Kia baat he aapki asif Bhai, Formaly involve hovey , Do Chaar Tasveerain lagain aor thread bananay ke chakar se azad ho gae...wah bhai wah:(
Nice photos as well:)

[asifcae]

Kia baat he aapki asif Bhai, Formaly involve hovey , Do Chaar Tasveerain lagain aor thread bananay ke chakar se azad ho gae...wah bhai wah:(
Nice photos as well:)

rashid pai there are curently 2 threads already on ratti gali lake active so there is no need of third.......

aur thread chalanay par tu mujhay waisay he aboor hasil hai u know:D

[emmaar]

Taking a very late lunch....

@ranasherdil , sir ji kuch roshni dalen is par;)

[imarshad]

Now some shots of the lake....

[imarshad]

Crystal clear water of the lake.....