Day 3 – Walking and Talking – Trek to Rush Lake, Nagar Valley – Pakistan

Tuesday, 10th July 2K12:

It was my first ever night in camp; Such feeling are very different when you open your eyes and recall yourself that you are not in your bed and room, but in a sleeping bag & camp at the height of 10,200 feet, ~3100 meters; It isn’t a pillow under your head, its your rucksacks full of cloths and other travel items;

06:00h. I woke up and looked outside the camp; A cool breeze with aroma of mountain flowers & trees welcomed me with open arms; I took my tooth brush and came out of the camp; It was indeed cold outside; With a deep breath I tried to absorb the freshness of morning, and it made me tremble with cold from inside; The second try was canceled instantly; The water in washbasin is enough to numb my fingers and face;

06:30h – 07:30h. Rizwan Yousuf is getting fresh and asking me to wakeup Asadullah and Butt sb; It was our first night of calm sleep after tiring travel of two days, so no one was ready to wakeup; Well one by one, we are getting fresh, and approaching to kitchen where hot omlate and parathas are waiting for us;

07:45h. We are packing our camps and sleeping bags; The sun is shining brightly with clear sky and we are hesitating whether we should put on our worm jackets or not? We have fixed our sticks, rucksacks are on our shoulders and shoes are tied; Its time to start our trek; Yes this is the moment we were waiting for;

08:00 – 09:00h.  We have left Hopper valley at back, and a long Hopper Glacier is in front of our eyes; It is full of mud, sharp rocks and stones, as you can see in above image; Seems it will take more than an hour to cross it;

09:15 – 10:00h.  The next challenge is Sishkeen Hill; Very steep height, believe me very steep; The one hour of crossing hopper glacier and 20 min of this height is equal in term of tirdness; We stayed at two places to maintain our breath; Our porter found two mules there and decided to use them to carry our luggage; After the Sishkeen Hill, we crossed Pharpo Glacier; It was again full of mud, rocky stons and water;

10:15h – 12:00h. We are continuously going high and high; We crossed Tagerfari pass, a pathway within the rocky mountains to enter another series of hills; We crossed Pharpogram, a zigzag path with slippery sand and soil which made it very tough to maintain our balance;

12:30h. So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief (Quran 94:5/6)  and same happend with us; After four hours of tough trek, we are now in Marlas field, a wide open plane with soft grass and wild flowers; It is nearly 2.5Km long, or more; We are planning to stay here  to have some rest; What about if we spread our mattresses under that big rock?? Good Idea no doubt; A Pineapple tin pack refilled our energy with some points; Although we planned to stay here for 30 min, but it seems we have to wait long for our porter, as we have left him behind when he was pulling the mules over rocks;

We are looking to wild lizards over stones; Their skins are black with gray dots and textures, having long sharp nails; Their tails are double as compare to normal pet lizards’ tail in our homes; (:

13:30h.  We are listening the water channel from few mins;  I think we are near to our destination, and after crossing bushes and trees we have finally reached to Baricho-kor; This is our target for today and we have accomplished it; Great work team; We just threw our rucksacks over ground and fell down over mattresses; After having rest for 30 40 min (and short nap) we placed our camp there and got refresh with nearby water channel;

14:00h – We had tea with biscuits; Asadullah is trying to charge is cellphone with solar charger but failing successfully; 😀 We are resting in the sunlight, covering our faces with caps and hats; Eyes are close and ear are hearing voice of water channel and birds;

15:00h. Rizwan Yousuf and Shahzad Butt are going to top of nearby hill to have a glance of surroundings; The captured very good views of Pharpo Glacier and other hills;

16:00h – 18:00h. Its time to have some meal; Butt sb is making Roti with help of our porters;

20:30h. We all are in one camp and talking on different topics; We are telling past stories to each others and childhood games etc; It is dark outside and clear sky is full of pearls and diamonds; As air isn’t polluted with dust and smoke, the greenish and bluish pathway of milky-way is clearly visible; The sky is so crowded that you can’t find an empty area to place another dot;

Its time to sleep now; Next day is more tiring and tough; Let see;
Good night; Please turn off the torches;

See Also

• Trek to Rush Lake, Nagar valley;
• Day 1 – Surprises :: Trek to Rush Lake, Nagar valley;
• Day 2 – Innocent Smiles :: Trek to Rush Lake, Nagar valley;
• Trek to Rush Lake in Picasa Album

Author Profile

Aasim Naseem

Hey, Thanks for your interest. I’m a PMP, AWS Solutions Architect, and Scrum Master certified professional with 17+ years of hands-on experience leading projects, building teams, and helping organizations deliver software solutions better, faster, and smarter.

Outside of work, I’ve got a deep curiosity for history — especially ancient civilizations like Egypt. I also enjoy reflecting on the everyday moments that shape how we live and work. This blog is my space to share insights, lessons, and thoughts from both my professional journey and personal interests.

Thanks for reading — and I hope you will find something here that matches your interest.

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