Furious Feets

Chharinag lakes Trek !

On July 3rd, we headed out south to embark on another challenging trek in Pahalgam. This trek starts from Batakot Pahalgam, we started at 07:30 am and were off to a running start because the first 3 to 4 kms of thee trail are quite easy. It is followed by a gradual ascent for another km and then a strenuous hike which doesn’t end until you reach Dod Chiran II, the last lake of this trek.

We explored 5 alpine lakes and reached back batkote at 07:30 pm.

Total Distance: 30 km
Ascent: 2443 m
Peak Elevation: 4183 m
Moving Time: 7 hrs
Total time: 12 hrs

Margan Lakes Trek !

This trek starts from Margan top and is one of the easy treks but getting to Margan top is a challenge in itself. It was a 4 hour drive for us as we had to drive 170kms from Ganderbal, so it was no less than a road trip.

We began by hiking towards shilsar lakes and it tooks us an hour to reach first lake but the trail beyond Lake 1 was covered by slushy snow and we had to fight our way through it. While on our way to shilsar 2, some of us suddenly felt sick and decided to rest at lake 2. Only 2 of us made it to lake 3.

It took us 4 hours to explore these shilsar lakes. After reaching back Margan top we had to stop as few people went from being bad to worse. They took few meds and a local bakarwal offered help, so they rested inside his tent. We had given up the idea of going up any further but they felt better after few hours , so 2 of us decided to hike towards chohar Nag lakes and try to see as many lakes as possible in 2 hours because the clock had struck 4 pm and we had to drive back home.

We explored 3 more lakes (Cohar Nag I, II and 3) in 50 minutes and made it back to Margan Top at 05:30 pm and drove back home.

We had planned to see 10 lakes but thing’s didn’t go as planned so we had to settle with 6 lakes and an important lesson - It’s not the Trail that’s easy or difficult, it’s always you ☺️

Distance - 16 km
Ascent- 892 m
Peak Elevation - 4200 m
Fat Map- https://fatmap.com/adventureid/35519381/shilsar-and-choharnag-lakes-trek