Kashmir Great Lakes Trek 2018

Kashmir Great Lakes is the prettiest trek in India. Some treks come close to it, but at the end of the day, it is always the Kashmir Great Lakes (KGL) that is our most beautiful trek.

It is not on every trek that you get to see five beautiful alpine lakes. Vishansar Lake, Krishansar Lake, Gadsar Lake, Gangabal Lake, Nundkol Lake. Each lake competing with the other in beauty that is almost divine. What’s more, these lakes come one right after the other. So everyday there is a new one to look forward to.

What makes these lakes even prettier are the snow patches that feed these lakes. You see them sliding off the mountain into the lakes. Sometimes you’ll see milky white icebergs floating on the lake’s inky blue surface.


A trekker contemplates next to Vishnusar Lake in the evening. PC: Vishwajeet Chavan
What is even lovelier are the lush green, grassy shores of the lakes. To get a chance to go for a long walk on the shores of these lakes is pure trekking bliss.

Then there are the stunning meadows of Kashmir. They are present on each day of the trek. These meadows come in every shape and size, sometimes many in a day. On the first day, clumps of maple and pine grow like an oasis in these meadows. On the second day, they roll off a pass descending down a wide valley where horses run and sheep graze. On the third day, just below the Gadsar pass, wildflowers grow in wild abandon on these meadows. On the fourth day, the grassy plain of Satsar looks almost manicured – with a twinkling stream gliding through it.

Suffice to say, if you have not done the KGL, then you have not done the most beautiful trek in India.