01/09/2023
🌿Thal (Kumrat) to sorlaspur (chitral) trek🌿
For those who dare to witness the beauty of kumrat from a closer prospective this trek offers a great breathtaking adventure.
Trek length: aprox 100 km
Altitude : Max 4600m
Peaks : prominent peak of the area is Thalo Zom > 6000m
Fitness level req: tough
Difficulty : medium
Lakes: 7
Glacier : Thalo glacier
Transport : available at the end of trek
Population density : very scarce
Do-janga>kundal glacier >Do-janga= 3 days
Do-janga>laspur= 4 days
From
1st day;
The journey to kumrat started from Rawalpindi (pir wadhai bus stand) to Taimergerah in a coster (approx 3.5 hours).though the coster goes till the upper dir but some times they deny and drop you at taimergrah that's what happened to us atleast.
From taimergrah we haired a fielder for sharengle (approx 2.5 hours) from here you will have to hire jeep till kumrat as the road condition after thal is not very goot. It takes around 3 hours to reach at last proper hosteling location.even these hotels are built in containers but they will provide you with adequate room and food along with necessoities you can stay here and explore the velley.
The jeep goes till the Kala chashma some prefer to hike from this hotel.
We were to tired and sick of traveling via vehical so decided to leave the jeep little earlier than this hotel and started the hike through the jungle alone the river side.the views are marvelous though the forest and lush green meadows.
The treking started around 12 pm and by the evening around 530 pm we were at Kala chashma here you will find a couple of corteges ,food like bread and cheken is available its a good site for camping .most of the tourists go till this point as no jeep trek or facility is available beyond this point.area is beautiful most of the pictures of kumrat velley you see on Instagram of other media are from this part of the velley.
As it was already evening we decided to camp and enjoy the proper food as from here onward we will be on can food and whatever treking food we are carrying in backpacks.
2nd day; (Kala Pani to Do janga and beyound)
The day started with packed food breakfast. Treking started around 730am
The trek was all grean and often continued through forest and medows till Do janga, here we made mid day break till here the trek was very smooth and easy.
Now the ascent starts after crossing the bridge at do-janga. As the name suggests this point devides the kumrat valley in two parts one on your right while facing away from where you came is kundal valley that reaches the two lakes kundal-I & kundal-II after are beautiful hike of about 8 hours one side.
And on your left is the shahzor valley that reaches shahzor lake and Thalo pass and then goes on to laspur and than chitral.
After the mid day break we decided to follow the kundal lake trek, after hiking for around two hours we lost the corse and continued off trek along the stream instead of crossing the stream via a small bridge to the right . the small bridge can be seen after u cross a meadow with beautfull tall trees than u will follow the trek though the thick forest. After a while u might lose the trek in the forest but head straight by keeping mountain in view on right and stream on left .soon you will open into a meadow with a small settlment and the trek will be clearer then ever.you can camp here the locals will provide you with info and food such as milk and bread.the views of this meadow are marvalous In early morning when the sun shines over snow covered peaks.
We camped here as we had lost a lot of time in struggling over wrong path and facing the stony path in the stream.
3rd day;
After enjoying beautiful morning and an unice break fast we set for kundal lake the path was easy altitude though increases but still good and scenic.
Wandering in the valley we reached kundal-I by evening rain though reduced our pace and altitude also hindered a little.we camped at the lake and enjoyed the views arround .the glaciers are pretty close by and the view of kundal-II lake right under the massive glacier is remarkable.
4th day;
On the erlarly morning we set our corse for the upfront glacier as we were planing to cross the top from this side to zaghi chat lake and than continue.
We crssed the stream joining the two lakes it was rash stream .after crossing the stream it was a harsh struggle against a tough bolder field with no trek to follow. The bolder field was tough and it took USS till mid day to reach right under the glacier which was completely straight and it did not took us long to realize that we should have came more equipped if we want to continue this way. However "bhagty choor ki langoti hi Sahi" we enjoyed the scene it was beautified by a small pond under the glacier and mighty peaks and flowers but not for much longer as we decided to return on foot and camp where we did camped one night earlier, by the evening we were back to camp site.
5th day ;
This was a big day carried with disappointment that we wasted a lot of time wandering the valley and now heading back.
But we started the hike early with the view that we will decide whether to head back home or attemp shehzor side .
Decreasing altitude added the speed required and we reached the Do-janga arround 10:00 am this gave us boast and we unanimously desided to head to the shehzor lake and attempt the trek though we were short of time but we went for the attempt.
This valley is the more frequently visited one of the two kumrat vallies and rightly so becz it is much beautiful then the kundal valley.
After heading fast while keeping shortness of time in mind enjoying the beauty of the valley along the river passing through two bands and numerous forest patches we reached the shahzor lake right by the down, we crossed the lake from right side it was cold and around 1 to 2 feet deep but stagnent. There we camped for the night the trek leads you right to the lake the shahzor valley is marvolus and photogenic with streams flowing across the green meadows and horses grazing and running across.
This is the last settlement and local population of few will be found if you camp in this valley before crossing shahzor lake.beyound shahzor lake there is no settlement till you reach laspur.
6th day;
We were completely reling on our offline GPS maps by Google maps to trace the trek as bound this point it will be either water ,animal or no trek at all.
Starting early we managed to locate the pass and the crossing point as well, with guide it would have been a piece of cake to locate the pass but it took us a while.
We started the climb arround 9 am The asect was gradual and easy for first two hours and altitude might also hinder as we have already aclamatized by camping at the base it did not bother us a lot but still pace was slow.after two hours the actual four wheel ascent started and it was more than 45 degrees of slop with a mighty glacier gazing at you from the right rockswere trubling down the glacier with recknoing sounds.
Non stop climb of further two hours lead us to the top of the pass, At the top there was a horizontal bolder field that lead us two an unusual scene. A beautiful blue lake which was not visible on the map bcz of being frozen in Google's winter image.
A Thalo glacier coming from mighty thalozom peak was passing through the lake towards the other side and blocking the further view of the valley.
Crossing of such lakes is always challenging as u have to cross it over the land slide leading directly into the lake.
It was a dangrous hike around the lake for one hour and then over the glacier for another 45 mints till we find that glacier is passing through the middle of the lake and the lake is present on the other side as well. The view of the othe side was like Antarctic as a mighty thirty feet tall glacier breaking and falling into the lake and making waves across the entire lake. The sun was going down very fast at such altitudes of >4600m the sun sets faster than expected behind the tall peaks.
We tracked for another one hour till we reaced at a safe cold distance from the glacier as the nights around the glacier might get very cold at times and it may snow fall regardless of the season.
At safe distance we managed to find a camp site and decided to sleep as soon as possible as we were expecting every coming day being more tougher with no population and lot of distance to though
From here onwards it will be gradual decent.
7th day;
Early start lead us to the zaghi Chatt lake after crossing a stream or two.this is the point where the glaciel trek from kundal lake ends.
The lake was lengthy it took us arround two hours to reach the lake and further one and a half to cross it from the edges.
It was hoped that the trek from here would be smoother and easer but actually it was not true.
After the lake the treking continued till the evening no settelment no population.Later after mid day we came across another shallow lake ,now the lakes were appearing as tough herdel instead of blue beauty.
There was visibly no way to cross but this gave us operrunity to relax and think of the possible path either though lake and then over a sharp slop of glacial debri or from top of the point where the lake was vilontly dropng down and entering into next velley we servyed the area and opted for the second option it was difficult and only one mistake could have been fatal but one at a time the sharp corner over a vilont stream the lake was crossed. A small bolder field and we were on ground and the rain was on our heads it came out of nowhere , which it usually does in these high altitudes but good thing is that it mostly lasts for a while.we opened our automatic tent and set inside with the bags it rained havely but we were safe.an hour and it was over.It was already starting to get darker under dense clouds but the views after the rain were marvolus clouds wandering through the velley and the muddy waterfalls that emerge only after the rains for short durations only.
We searched for camp space and it only available in the middle of stream as there was sand there rest was all stony.First we were reluctant to camp in the middle of stream but there was no choice as time was short and tiredness helped to reach the quick decision.
Again camp fire drove the tiredness away in no time in desperation we burned a whole small tree a dry one.
We cooked food although no body was hungry even after a full day high altitude hike.E very one was thinking if the next day ,what new adventure is waiting to come as the tour was getting lengthier than expected.
Rain came earlier in evening and was expected by night too, it was reckoning my mind that if it comes again it will add a lot of discomfort as stream might rise and we might need to relocate the camp site.
Rain came it disturbed the sleep but we kept ignoring and finally it was morning again.
Wait there is one incident I just missed to mention,Near the darkness a torch light from a mile lighted at us after seeing our light ,we lighted back with the hope of meeting but the light kept on getting farther and farther. The darkness was prevailing we decided to camp as our shows and clothes got wet.
8th day;
The next day we were pretty much hopeful right from the morning that soon we will find some local settelment or at least will see a another human being as we were done seeing eachother . Here you feel that how a single human being some times represents a lot of hope . Right after crossing around a big slide which was clearly visible as land mark on the map we entered a vast stretch of land though stony but pleasent. It took us around two hours of nice and easy hike to reach this point And then finally a human.
A very lively person named sahbzada bashkergol. We set there in the middle of vast wilderness, he arranged goat milk and we enjoyed a nice cup of tea and here we eat our brunch as desperation had fainted our hunger in early morning.He told us that the light bearer you witnessed last evening was his younger brother and he was guiding us, but we were so tired that we camped right there and left rest for the next day.
We talked for an hour shared our food with new friends and in returned he directed us on the right path.infact God sent him with help ,because without his help we had continued to follow the left bank of the river too afraid to cross the violent five feet high cold stream as we have never crossed this tough stream before.
He lifted one of the bages and grabed my hand through the stream.though hand in hand still my feet tumbled in the middle of the stream got a dip but thank God came back on feet sooner than later thanx to the staging of the fellow.
After crossing the stream we wore the shoes back which we had already removed inorder to save than from getting wet which they still did atleast mine got wet.
Here walked with us for a mile and than we returned him after getting utmost guidence.
There were other streams to follow but after this one our confidence of crossing improved.
Next stream though a lot colder as coming directly from a glacier was easier. Confidence was sky high and than the next stream though not much deaper but flow was fast and cold we entered hands in hand but in the middle feeling of high flow made us confused and in this confusion front fellow sliped carrying all the others with too ,we were drowning and every body was on his own. The main river stream was was 200 feet away but two of us ruched the brink others grabbed them bag or else and we survived the stream. Every thing was wet and here we dried every thing and moved on.After this near miss we realised that in such wilderness every step matters and can cost you life. Cuts and bruses made us remember this till the end of trek and further
9th day:
A very fresh and beautiful with glorfing view of >5000 m Rockies peaks covered in snow and the glaciers Trying very hard to cross them from the top or through a pass.
We started the journey after an energetic breakfast full of tea.
Although we did not new exactly that how much distance is left but we were having a feeling that we should reach laspur in a day or two at maximum.
As mentioned by the fellow and suggested by the map by mid day we came across a huge circular lake called bashkergol lake.its is quite big intact I can't say with surety but it seems that it is the largest lake in northern areas or at least among the dozens of lakes I have seen in these areas except attabad lake.
It is so big that small waves produce across its surface and beach like sand formation can also be observed at banks.
The crossing of the lake was from the right edge over a ridge it takes arround 30 minutes to cross, here few more herders were seen.the water colour of the lake same as that of attabad lake.
After crossing the lake the lake we followed the stream and then turned right here the trek misterioualy disappeared into a huge landslide. Now at this time when it was already around 4 pm and we were expecting something better we were left trek less.
It was fearful to loss trek here as underneath was a violent stream not less than a river and overhead was a sharp slop .we started the assent to the top to see if root is clear from there as no other choice left,from the top we moved
To the back of the peak and continued till 6 pm it was getting dark when we saw a mare glimpse of a human on the other side of stream it was a sigh of relief we yelled at him waved but no response as the sound of the stream was so violant nothing could have been listed.
We camped with the hope of better tomorrow.
Day 10:
The next morning we started the hike straight away with a cup of tea and the reason was shortage of time ,it was already two days more than the plan.
The journey from here continued on a very small track at quite a hight above the stream over unstable landslide region.there was a settelment on the other side a small one but inaccessible.
No bridge to reach on the other side so we continued on the left brink going up and down the peaks till a large stony streach of land was reached .From the top of last hight the clusters of large velley trees at a long distance was now visible at the far end of the streach.It was laspur finally visible and it was a great sigh of relief after a long time finally we were in the visible range of deatination.
A little rest and then the journey continued it was arround 23 km to go till the village . We covered the ground with pace to arrive well before the evening and we did reached in time.these kilometers were mostly straight walk along the stream through the bushy land at places and through the dust, but once we reached the village it was beautiful blue water stream flowing through the streets old stony homes and horses grazing across the meadows.the village was completely amazing heavenly place.we bought Unfortunately we were short of time we very quickly started arrangements for the vehical to chitral becuse we don't wanted to spend another day as it was already late .a give was arranged after quite an argument as usually they don't leave in after noon becuse of the glacial streams blocking the path.but the driver agreed on choice that if streams blocks we will pay and return back.
Stream did hindered but we were through with the help of locals and so we reached chitral arround 10 pm, feeling deeply hugery we arranged the hotel first and than longed for food but the city was completely closed by than not a single shop open and we had to manage from our traveling food one more night it was disappointing next day the fist thing we ordered was karahi as proper food was the thing we missed a lot .After being full we did some shopping and than on the way back home.
The adventure was owsone little over adventurous however if you attempt only shahzor side only it will be 5 days trip.
Complete kumrat velley was covered on feet marvalous experience without any guide or porter.
