Tarsar Marsar Trek 2021 | Location: [ Alpine lake in Jammu and Kashmir]
As said, one has to “see it to believe it”.
Kashmir is a true Heaven(Jannat) on Earth, as quoted by Amir Khusrau, a Sufi singer and poet.
After an incomplete trek in 2019 with IndiaHikes at Dayara Bugyal in Uttrakhand, I had decided to do one more with them in the future. And so mid in 2021, the gigantic mountains called me again. And this time from the Kashmir valley, the Tarsar Marsar Trek with IndiaHikes crew.
My two cents: On treks, set no expectations. Though technically you do, that is to complete and reach the summit. But my 2019 and 2021 experiences changed my trekking perspective. Is it the “place” or “people” or both that make the journey so memorable, I wonder…
Day 1: Mumbai-Srinagar-Pahalgam
We landed in Srinagar. Traveling from west of India from a hot and humid city, looking forward to pleasant weather in the Kashmir valley. Little did we know that 34°C would follow us till Srinagar, we got sunstruck. We all glanced at our backups ‘did I overpack warm clothes’?
We had to reach Pahalgam by evening, so we rushed out of the city at the earliest, grabbing the irresistible north Indian meal(parathas with maa ki daal). The drive on NH44 and NH501 was beautiful. As we crossed the highway, the lush green orchards and blush red apples tempted us to stop to try the apple juice. It was rejuvenating from a long traveling day and changing our taste buds from tadka masala to sweet and tangy.
Later in the evening, we reached our hotel, Pahalgam Pines, with a warm welcome by the Kashmiris staff and other friends. We parked ourselves in the front yard, gazing at the clear dark blue sky with bright moonlight. A sight that was visible in cities like Mumbai only during the 2020 pandemic.
Day 2: Pahalgam to Aru [ IndiaHikes Base camp]
Our reporting day to the base camp, Friends Guesthouse in Aru (7958 ft) by 16:00hr. We spent the day in Pahalgam town, visited the parks. With dahlias and primroses, bonsais and marigolds, every view was picturesque.
There is a stretch with just cafes and restaurants on the main street. It is a foodie’s paradise, from North Indian to Palestine cuisine to Kashmiri Wazwan. After a hearty meal, we strolled around the market, booked the cab to head to Aru, the base camp guesthouse.
At the base, everyone gathered by the high tea time. We got introduced to the India Hikes entire team. Trek leaders, Kitchen staff, and other supporting teammates. Our batch was fun-filled with a group of eight doctors from Ahmedabad, a young 30s couple from Baroda, accompanied by their uncle, an energetic 60s couple from Pune, a solo traveler from Mumbai, and we six from Mumbai and Pune. The evening session was with detailed do’s and don't instructions by our trek lead for our long-awaited Tarsar Marsar Trek. That night many of us, especially the first-time trekkers had mixed emotions. The excitement led to an insomniac state.
Day 3: Aru to Lidderwat [Trek Day 1]
It was a bright sunny day, calling us to rise and shine people as the day had arrived. Our day one started at 8:00hr from Aru (7958 ft) to Lidderwat ( 9131 ft), a distance ~10kms. Our batch of 20 trekkers, the India Hikes team, and 13 horses started the journey.
It was a long ascending trek day. Coming from hustling and bustling cities, we were now getting acquainted with nature at its purest form. Within a few kms, we started losing sight of the Aru town and human civilization. Surrounded by fir trees, the trail gradually led us towards the dense forest with lush green grasslands. It was a steep walk and the group was now scattering, few with a good pace, enjoying the nature, while others were huffing and puffing, still getting into trek mode.
We all were quite excited on this day. However, two of our friends had to take a hard call to discontinue due to a shoulder injury. We were sad and low when we got to know this almost after an hour when our trek lead caught up with us and gave us the news.
By mid-day, done with halfway, now we could only sight vast expanse of meadows and turquoise green and clean stream. We passed by a couple of shepherds, men with family and cute chubby kids. The view of grazing sheep in the lush meadows was delightful.
We spotted a patch next to the stream and a tea stall and took a lunch break. The packed ‘masala pulao’, pipping hot Maggi and kawa (Kashmiri tea) was divine. All energized to reach our campsite at Lidderwat, crossing some green gushing streams and meadows.
We reached the campsite in the evening. And since it was our first day, our tents were set up by the staff. It is advisable to end a long trek day with a proper cool-down session to avoid muscle injuries. And so, we all go into stretching and pulling workout activities. And after a hot snack, we settled and played frisbee and mafia games, getting to know each other.
The dinner tent was the only place we all could gather, chit-chat on our day-long trek, and then retire in our respective tents. But mother nature had a few more surprises for us. Later at night, we all popped out of our tents, stargazing, eyes glued to the night sky pointing to Polaris, Satellite, milky way, and enjoying the mesmerizing night sky.
Day 4: Lidderwat to Shekwas [Trek Day 2]
Waking up in the morning twilight hour, surrounded by mystical mountains, peeping out of our tent, wished for time to pause. But every sight now was making us anxious and excited about the upcoming campsites. Today we learned the technic to un-pitch the tents as for the rest of the days, the pitching and un-pitching was a DIY activity for the trekkers.
Day two of the trek was ~6kms from 9131 ft to 11039 ft, again an ascending trail with boulders and crossing some picturesque streams. Surrounded by Sambucus adnata flowers bushes, we walked through patches of these flowers that bloomed like vivid orange berries.
As soon as we reached the campsite, one of the tasks was ready for us. Time to learn and self pitch your tents. Learning the technical aspects of set-up was fun with trek mates. Next was the piping hot meal. Tiredness, fatigue used to vanish in no time with the appetizing food. Every day during lunchtime, all trek members’ oxygen and blood pressure levels were checked as we were going towards the high altitude. One of our trek mates had experienced AMS (acute mountain sickness) and had to take a horse ride and return to base camp. We spent the rest of the day relaxing next to the stream, playing games. That evening, we had early dinner and parked ourselves in respective tents, calling it a night.
Day 5: Shekwas to Tarsar [Trek Day 3]
It was the lake day trek. Shekwas to Tarsar, covering ~5kms from 11039 to 12449 ft. We crossed boulder patches and now could sight the snowcapped, gigantic mountains. The weather was changing and all of sudden we saw a dark patch of clouds. It drizzled and showered for the last 0.5 meters. We reached the Tarsar lake in ~4 hours and followed our practice to pitch the tent not too far from the lake. We had lunch and settled ourselves to acclimatize as the weather forecast was unpredictable.
In an hour, the clouds disappeared, it turned out as a bright sunny day. We decided to walk down and explore routes around the lake that connected different mountains. Tarsar, this turquoise blue water body was surrounded by green, brown, white shades of mountains. The view was entrancing as nature kept surprising us. The experience was divine.
One of our friends is a Yoga instructor. He conducted a meditation session at the bank of the lake. It was phenomenal, as we all were spiritually engaged. After the session, we noticed a change in the weather which was in favor. We eventually started heading towards the tent in that calm state.
On this day, one of our trek mates celebrated his birthday, and kudos to the IndiaHikes team for baking the cake in the mountains. Full of joy, we all were tapping our feet with the staff on their folks’ music, humming their songs.
At dusk, the temperature dropped drastically so, we wrapped ourselves with double layers, sliding in our sleeping bags as the next day was the summit day, camping at Sundersar lake and visiting Marsar lake.
Day 6: Tarsar to Sundersar Lake, Marsar Lake [Trek Day 4]
As experienced the previous day, the morning forecast predicted high rainfall and unfavorable conditions to trek to Sundersar lake. Two of our trek mates had to plan to return to base as their fitness level was low too.
It was best to go with the locals’ weather judgment, follow the advice and their final call to avoid taking risks at this altitude. They explained to us the risk factor. We had no option to set up a campsite if the weather conditions were out of control at the mid-way of Sundersar. And so, the decision was to do the Tarsar top at 1320 ft to witness both the lakes ( Tarsar and Marsar) situated across the mountains.
We trekked for a couple of hours, and now we could faintly view our camp. The weather got gloomy and rough, started pouring, and caused a couple of landslides. We gauged the weather conditions and decided not to wait for long at the peak, the summit. But as we stood at the top, the view in all directions was incredible. We couldn’t thank enough to the creator of this planet.
When the sun played hide and seek in the clouds, while the Marsar Lakeview was serene, the Tarsar lake sparkled like sapphire. The magnificent colorful mountains and the steep glaciers were calling us like the playground slides. We collected a few momentoes, captured a couple of shots of the view and group, and started heading back to our camp.
While returning on the descending trail, the weather changed dramatically. We got caught in hailstorms, the thunder and lightning petrified us, the cold wind was unbearable. We had no choice but to keep moving and reach the camp as soon as possible as it was getting murky.
By the time we reached the camp, we all were drenched and in a brain freeze state. Most of us experienced AMS due to the ascending and descending trail in this harsh weather.
Our tents were drooping, our gears were soaking. Some of us were teeth-rattling till we had hot masala kichadi that acted as an energy booster for all and maintained our sanity till the weather conditions were in control.
Our Almighty’s hide and seek game continued. Again, in no time, the bright sun was up. A few enjoyed basking on the grassland while others got into a mission to dry up the shoes and other gear for our next-day trek. In the evening at the dinner tent, we narrated stories of our experience, celebrating our summit with homemade sweets.
Day 7: Tarsar to Lidderwat [Trek Day 5]
It was the day we had to concede that its time to say goodbye to this heavenly place. The return from Tarsar camp to Lidderwart camp was 12kms, descending trail and it was managed well by all of us.
While some of us were leading and going at a good pace, others kept turning around and whispering adios montañas, till we meet again.
At Lidderwat, we identified our campsite and pitched the tent for the last time, adjusting it to capture the last few best morning view. The evening was quiet, pleasant and we relaxed till the dusk. Sinking the fact soon will be back to the concrete jungle.
On the last day of the trek, India Hikes had planned the gratitude circle session with all the members. During our last dinner meet, we all followed this practice. Everyone was overwhelmed, narrating their share stories, smiling with joyful tears and hugs. Thankful to Mother earth, IndiaHikes and, trek mates for this incredible experience.
Day 8: Lidderwat to Aru [Trek Day 6]
I guess it was the day where some of us wished the hands of the clock to pause as our heads kept turning around to sight the last view of the streams, the meadows, and dense fir tree forest trails.
We gradually got back to the civilized patch, passing by the locals, their horses, and their homes.
We reached the Aru guest house by mid-afternoon. We got fresh and waited till our transport was ready to return to Pahalgam / Srinagar. Many of us went through those mixed emotions moments wherein we didn’t want the trek to end though we were fatigued and exhausted.
No pictures or videos would do justice to the moments we tried capturing to take home. But in the end, it’s all about those memories you cherish.
It is not about doing a trek, reaching the summit but challenging and enjoying yourself every day with friends and acquaints along with you on the same journey with all the energy, belief, and hope to have a memorable experience. And IndiaHikes just makes it seamlessly possible, it’s unbelievable!
Hmmm….this seems to be a longer story than expected…but I guess the place and the impact of trekking on the mind, body, and spirit cannot be penned down.
