In the month of March’2024 during one of the group get together KK ( Kishor Keny) told me, that he is going on a trek expedition. It was with YHAI ( Youth Hostels Association of India). In a fraction of second I told him that I would love to join. The trek was in Kashmir ( KGL -The Kashmir Great Lakes) & I was totally unaware about the music I was going to face in coming months. That day KK told, he will include me in the group as we need to reserve the seat, the actual trek date he will let me know in few months but the trek will be somewhere in the month of July end or August. Avinash created a what’s app group of 16+ people in the month of March for the co-ordination, which was pretty helpful.
As time goes by I used to think in between from my hectic work schedule about the trek. What it will be like? How should I prepare in terms of fitness – Do I need to increase the walk distance that I casually do? Which clothes do I need to carry Et cetera Et cetera. I even started doing the research on how to prepare for the trek, bookmarked few blogs – people who has done similar trek in the past, even shared in the group ( to create impression lol) & to be honest I never read that blog may be casual look towards it to get the gist of it.
Trek Preparation
One thing was sure I didn’t took the trek it for granted. In the past I have done very few treks in Maharashtra – Lohagad & Visapur Fort with my school buddies in college days & Manikgad after lockdown to name a few. Obvio these were not enough so I decided to ask peeps who has actually done KGL. My Aunt Supriya has done it in the last year and some of my friends Sachin & Aashay has done that in the past. Few days before the trek I called Supriya Maushi & Sachin and hear out there experiences. On ig ( Instagram) Aashay shared his experience which was useful. The takeaway from these conversation was
[A] Weather is unpredictable – one has to carry monsoon & winter clothes. ( PS KGL is monsoon trek)
[B] Focus on cardio + weight training as in carry the luggage as trek contains walking for on an avg 11 to 12kms daily.
I thought of going on practice walk along with weight on my fav Bhor Ghat ( Lonavala) but it didn’t happened. I even checked some You Tube video on how to pack the trekking bag, things to carry etc which turns out pretty useful. I believe we learn from each other and its better to have open view point & explore the options . Thanks to technology we have everything ready in front of us, we just have to take time out – watch, observe , learn & unlearn (Thoda Gyan)
Trek Confirmation Date
We registered & made the payment of 16K programme fee in the month of April and booked our spots also I took one year membership as part of the process. We opted for Aug camp which was from Aug 6 to 13th.
Clothes & Accessories
It was time for some shopping. I had back packing bag which I got in 2014-15 and it was in awesome condition, decided to stick with it. Thanks to Peter Van Geit ( I followed his ig account & YT Channel) I am using trail running shoes from past few years for cycling, running and decided to take the one which I used for running. Below are the list of items I carried.
| Sr No | Item Name | Quantity | Brand |
| 1 | Dry Fit t-shirt | 2 | Athlos & Decathlon |
| 2 | Cotton t-shirt | 2 | – |
| 3 | Track Pant | 3 | 1 of them was of Tripole Gears |
| 4 | Base Layer – Top & Bottom | 1 | Athlos |
| 5 | Ultra Light Down Jacket | 1 | UNIQLO |
| 6 | Hand Gloves | 2 | Decathlon |
| 7 | Cotton Socks | 3 | – |
| 8 | Woolen Socks | 2 | – |
| 9 | Sandal | 1 | Woodland |
| 10 | Poncho & Umbrella | 1 | Decathlon |
Accessories
| Sr No | Item Name |
| 1 | Power bank & Usb Cables |
| 2 | Head Torch & Normal Torch |
| 3 | Phone Charger |
| 4 | Pen Knife |
| 5 | Steel Mug , Plate, Lunch box , Spoon |
| 6 | Medicines, Bandaids, Crepe Bandage |
| 7 | Toilet Paper, Wet Wipes |
| 8 | Vaseline, coconut oil, Moisturiser cream & Sunscreen |
| 9 | Rain Cover for Backpack |
| 10 | Zip Lock Bags |
| 11 | Hiking Poles (Trekking Stick) |
Documentation:-
As Part of the process, all the participants required to fill up the medical form & YHAI membership form. We did fill the from along with Doctors signature but few days before the trek YHAI authorities told to fill up different medical form as part of the process. There was a confusion in the group and everybody decided to follow the drill, went again to the doc and took the sign. Now all of us had 2 medical forms. We also carried 2-3 passport size photos, Aadhaar card.
Journey Date
Out of 16 I used to know only 2 people before the trek which was Kishor & his daughter Krisha. Krisha decided to join last moment. From rest of the people I used to talk with Abhishek for travel co-ordination, that was on what’s app & we spoke once or twice on the phone. But it didn’t mattered actually as long as our communication was active on group. I was looking forward to meet everyone irl ( in real life) during the journey. We decided to leave on Aug 2nd by Train and while coming by flight on Aug 16th. We were total 9 people by Train namely Kishor & Krisha, Aarti & her son Ojas, Abhishek, Rajendra aka छोटू , Kishor’s cousin Neelam, Satyavijay & I. Plan was to reach Katra on 3rd of August, On 4th do the Vaishno Devi Trek & on 5th leave for Srinagar – check in the hotel which was booked by Avinash & on 6th go to the YHAI Basecamp. For Vaishno Devi one has to pre book Yatra Parchi for comparatively smooth process. We did that on Aug 1st.
Itinerary by YHAI ©
DAY WISE SCHEDULE:
#Day 1: Reporting at Base Camp – Aug 6th
#Day 2: Orientation, Training and Acclimatization Walk – Aug 7th
#Day 3: Trek to Nichnai Camp (11948 ft.) – Aug 8th
#Day 4: Trek to Vishnusar Camp (12152 ft) via Nichnai Pass (13458 ft) – Aug 9th
#Day 5: Trek to Gadsar (10777 ft) via Gadsar Pass (13763 ft) – Aug 10th
#Day 6: Trek to Satsar (11860 ft) – Aug 11th
#Day 7: Trek to Gangabal (11482 ft) via Zach Pass (13428 ft) – Aug 12th
#Day 8: Trek to Naranag Village and Then Transfer to the Base Camp – Aug 13th
#Day 9: Check Out After Breakfast – Aug 14th
The Day – Aug 2nd, Friday
Normally I sleep pretty well anywhere, any time. But when there is an expedition trip or travel next day I get up in between. Night before the travel I slept around 2am, was planning to get up by 7 but instead got up by 6 in the morning , had my breakfast and went to Bandra Terminus (BT) by Train. I got down at Khar west & from there BT is of walking distance. Swaraj Express (12471), our train left exactly at 11:00 am. Met Abhishek, छोटू & Neelam for the first time. It was long journey as we going to reach Katra next day 5.30 pm. In lunch we had home made food – poli, bhakri, egg bhurji, chicken Sabzi & Aloo wadi. Aarti & Ojas joined us on 3rd Aug early morning from Delhi. Day went on relaxing, sitting, sleeping, reading in between and listening to Travel stories from my new friends.
Aug 3rd, Saturday
Train was delayed in-between as it took halt for longer duration on some of the station which result 2 hour delay from the given schedule but somehow train driver got it covered and instead of reaching 5.25 in eve we reached around 6.30pm. When we got down we clicked mandatory pics & went to collect I card as it was part of the Vaishno Devi darshan formalities and it was mandatory to take it & one has to wear it all the time during the trek / darshan. First we checked at station since we had Yatra Parchi which we did online, authorities told us to go to the ST Bus stand. We took a cab from station and went straight to the bus depo. I-card distribution process was pretty simple. We stood in a queue, showcased our Aadhaar card copy ( soft copy works) authority person clicked our pic & ta-da you got your id. After that we went to search the hotel, KK Abhishek found the hotel , Hotel Samrat which was in close proximity of the Bus stand & we checked in for 3rd and 4th August. Some of us took a local Airtel SIM card as JIO , Vodafone prepaid service was out of range. After few hours when everyone was freshened up we had dinner near by hotel, most of us had Thali (I was not able to finish the whole thing & wasn’t feeling proud about it). We slept we had to get up & leave early.
PS: After Reaching Katra was a nostalgic moment for me as it re-created last year cycle expedition from Kashmir to Kanyakumari 2023 🫶🙏 ✨
Aug 4th, Sunday
We got up around 3.30 am and started walking 4.15 am. One can also do the trek in the night start walking in the evening & next day morning can finish it. It was crowded. One can also do the trek with help of mule, helicopter , battery car or ropeway. We decided to walk all the way. In the morning we had tea on the way & started walking. There were security check 2-3 times while going up. Weather was good throughout the journey. It rained for sometime as a result climate was cold but pleasant .We had breakfast & lunch at local hotels. It took us around 9 hours covering 30km* distance from our hotel to the trek to and fro. In comparison with morning in the afternoon crowd intensity was on a heavier side. It was very crowded. Overall I enjoyed the trek and it was a good practice walk before the upcoming expedition. When went to the hotel everyone was sleepy & we slept around 8 o clock. After having a power nap for few hours, thanks to Abhishek we went out for dinner. We also celebrated Krisha’s bday after 12:00, Abhishek & Aarti bought cake for her. We sang songs, danced & ate lot of cake. That evening after the dinner we also did booking from Katra to Jammu by Vande Bharat. Off to Jammu Next Day.
Aug 5th, Monday
We got up by 4 o clock. Initially plan to take cab but private cab was very costly than normal rate & we decided to take Auto ricksha towards Katra station. Our Train was at 5.50 am which left on time & we reached Jammu Tavi (JAT) station around 7.10 am. Initial plan was to take a bus which will take another 7-10 hour journey, we decided to go to Srinagar by private car as bus will take multiple halt. We left Jammu around 9 after loading our outage and by the time we reach Srinagar it was 4.30 pm. We took tea & lunch break during the journey. We stayed at Latif Hotel & couldn’t thank Avinash more for awesome find. Hotel was clean & location was fab, full of natural greenery.
In the evening we went to Dal lake, even though it was 7 o clock it didn’t feel like evening. For dinner it was KK’s & Krista’s bday treat. We ate a lot & literally stuff ourselves at Karim’s. Our hotel was of a walking distance from there.
Next day before going to YHAI base camp we decided to explore few more places in Srinagar which will be a part of the next blog..
To be continued…
August 18, 2024 at 4:45 pm
मस्त अनुभव.
August 19, 2024 at 1:42 pm
Thank you Aai