Trekking in Kashmir

On our drive to Srinagar we passed through so many beautiful mountain ranges that we immediately knew we had to get up there to get a closer look. Due to its history of turmoil, the trekking scene here is not as developed as in other parts of India or Nepal. There is also limited information and maps available of trekking options. For that reason we decided to book a packaged trek through our hotel, which meant we got a guide, a cook, four horses and a horseman; we didn't have to carry anything!

Our first night we spent in the village of Naranag at our guides house. We also visited the ruins of a Hindu temple right in the village.

Our second day we were off:

Seeing as we were in Kashmir, we passed some soldiers on their way down from an alpine camp. Of course, they stopped for photos.

The views from our base camp were spectacular. 

Of course, the views got even better as we hiked up higher. We visited a couple of lakes and scrambled up a rocky ridge.

Our base camp was at a little Gypsy hut. The crew slept inside by the fire and our tent was actually originally inside as well but we had to move it outside due to the wood fire smoke. We found a flaw in these gypsy houses: they have fire pits inside without chimneys. Only windows located on the wall directly behind the fire pit and then the roof pitches up away from those windows. The result: smoke billows up past these windows and goes up to the highest point where it cools and then drops down to where we were sitting and sleeping. There were times when we couldn't even sit inside because our eyes were burning!

We had the absolute best team! Our guide, Riyaz, was young and energetic, our horseman Fiyaz took his job very seriously but our cook, Afzal, was the one who stole the show. When we first met Afzal I immediately assumed he was a very conservative, serious man. He came in to the hotel lobby wearing the Kashmiri traditional dress, introduced himself and shook our hands. He was friendly but quiet. As soon as we were all dropped off at the trail head and it was time for lunch though; he switched 'on'! What a character! He was announcing meals like he was announcing the Queen of England was coming, he would greet us with big smiles and a loud sing-songy "Good morning! Good sleep?", he would show off his knife skills by looking at the ceiling as he was chopping onions and garlic. He would even randomly break into Kashmiri songs while cooking; singing his heart out while pumping his shoulders up and down with his arms in the air, or even grabbing the nearest walking stick to use as an air guitar to sing out loud "I am a disco dancer!".  He even gave me a cooking lesson :)

One of his most impressive skills though was fishing. During our first day in the alpine, our guide led us up to Gangbal lake and Afzal came along. As we were approaching the river that flows from the lake, Afzal turned to us and said "Madam! Do you want to try to catch fish with your hands too?" to which I responded "Ya right..." He ran up ahead of us and once we caught up, he had taken all his clothes off, save for his long underwear, which were rolled up to his thighs, standing in the ice cold river catching trout with his bare hands. He would slowly creep up to a rock, slowly put his arms around to the front of it, and then grab the little brown trout! He caught 12 fish!!! Tom and I stood with our jaws dropped in complete shock that this was happening. Our guide gave it a shot and caught 2 fish. A total of 14 fish, which turned into a yummy dinner and then lunch the next day. 

The trip was super fun and the crew definitely did their best to ensure we were comfortable. We were asked many times if we were happy and they were glad to modify anything to make sure we were. Our guide had told us that his goal is to make sure we are satisfied with our trip so that we go back and tell others in our country how beautiful Kashmir is. Well, Kashmir is beautiful and we highly recommend visiting!