Assalamualiku,
Dear friends, today I would like to share my experience regarding our recent visit to Gorakh Hill Station which as per my knowledge is the highest point in Sindh & the coldest as well. We sat off on 10th Dec 2016 & returned on 11th Dec 2016. There were 7 people & 2 vehicles,
- 1999 Mitsubishi Mini Pajero 660cc (Petrol) with rear wheels drive option only as the front wheel shaft was removed due to problem in front differential.
- 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer 1300cc (Petrol) with front wheel drive.
Both cars are with manual gears.
- Total round trip from Karachi to Gorakh & back home to Karachi was 844 KMs.
Total fuel used in each car was no more than 87 litres (No extra / backup fuel was carried).
Our food items included only drinking water, chips, biscuits, drinks & toffees.
- We also kept warm sheets, gloves, hats, jackets & shoes for our arrival at Gorakh.
- Towing cable, Jump start cable, electric Tyre air pump & extra water for radiator were also carried.
- GPS was used for navigation. Offline map was downloaded & used for guideline.
- PTCL EVO was also kept for any updates.
We sat off early in the morning at 7am but were late to touch the highway as we had to wait for 2 of our people to arrive. Our highway journey started at 9am after having heavy breakfast at Sohrab Goth & we drove non-stop to DADU (except we stopped only for namaz & refueling).
We were not able to reach in daylight at the climbing parts of Gorakh because the road after DADU was rough & we could not drive for more than 40 km/hr speed. After maghrib the climbing started & we were not able to capture those moments in our cameras because the climbing was steep & our vehicles had a very hard time to climb most of the parts. At 1 point both vehicles start to skid because of sand & loose rocks but with a little assistance of our people both vehicles managed to climb that part without having to go back down.
After about 1+ hour of hard climbing we finally reached Gorakh at about 7:40PM. Most of the drivers at the station came to greet us & appreciated our courage to have both cars climbed without any assistance because most of them saw us stopped at the climbs. At 2-3 points we had to reduce weight from the lancer to climb some parts & then walk up to the car. Pajero with the use of its low-range gear was able to climb slowly without any issue. But in the initial parts, Pajero completely refused to climb up because its low-range gear was not working & the engine didn't had enough HP to pull it even with 1 driver & we all started to think that we may have to turn back. But when the low-range gear lever worked, the little machine climbed up with 4 people in it without any problem which gave lancer extra weight reduction to climb up.
None of the cars had any heat up issue while climbing nor any kind of other thing. We did not even had to check the water level in the radiator while coming back. Only we had to stop at 1 point while coming down because brakes of both the cars specially Lancer got very hot that smoke started to come out. So we stopped the car, placed rocks below the tyres & did not applied the hand brake. After 15 minutes, we sat off again.
None of us had any experience before for driving uphill at night time & it felt scary & thrilled at the same moment because we had no idea about the steepness, road condition & corners of the hill. At night we had no idea about the road condition, route or the steepness but on our way back in the morning we were amazed to see that what we did last night. But it was a very adventurous experience & all 7 of us did not lose hope & always motivated each other.
At DADU we were offered to take the local Potohar instead of Lancer but we took the risk & we accomplished our mission. We were confident before & now more confident on Mitsubishi & their build quality. The cars performed well on the highway even when coming back home without any squeaky suspension noise, engine problem or any other issue.
After arriving at Gorakh, we sat down to relax, there were no signals so we had to use the wireless PCO at Gorakh to inform our families. We had to wait about 2+ hours for our dinner to arrive because we skipped our lunch in the travel & were desperately hungry. After all, at about 11PM, we had our dinner & played LUDO & chatted while having tea. Outside temperature started to drop & we covered ourselves with warm clothing. We all managed to sleep in our cars as we were not able to get any room / tent to stay. We got up in Fajar & walked to zero point which is at more height. Its about 1 km away from the station. At about 9AM we sat off for home & decided to eat later at highway. At 10PM night, we all were at our homes.
Hope you enjoyed read my story. Kindly share your thought & opinions & ask if you have anything in your mind.
Some pictures of our tour have been attached. I also have some videos but will post them if requested.
Thank you.
