Hirpora Lakes Trek

The first day of this trekking journey is a long drive from Srinagar to Pir Ki Gali. The drive is rewarding and goes via apple orchards after leaving Srinagar city. The road winds up through the famous Mughal Garden until it reaches the breathtaking pass of Pir Ki Gali. The pass is motorable and used to be a traditional road for shepherds and local nomads.

We will reach Pir Ki Gali by evening. After a short hike for about half an hour, we will reach our campsite. The campsite is at an altitude of 3485m.

This is an acclimatization day. You will be hiking around the day, relaxing, and preparing yourself for the next day. Your trek leader will give you a detailed talk on the trek and its terrain and how safely we will be able to finish it.

This is our first trekking day. The trail kickstarts from a lush meadow and gives you a good feeling about the entire trek. The vastness of this valley will amaze you. The unending mountain ranges and the blue sky above is a treat to the eyes. However, the trail turns quite rough and rocky throughout the day. The gradient of the day is difficult. The total distance of the day is around 20km.

The first lake you will see is Chandansar. After Chandansar one has to cross a pass called Jaddi Gali. The altitude of Jadi Gali is around 4100m. The trail then winds to Handu valley. We will see on the way lakes like Sonasar, Handu Sar, Barnai Sar, and Lukhsukh Sar. From the edge of the mountain of Sonasar Lake, we will see another lake called Kadchi Sar. We will return to our camp at Handu Valley.

The traverse has another mountain pass called Kadchi Pass. The altitude of the pass is 41600m.

The campsite at Handu Valley is at an altitude of 3910m.

Again, the gradient of the day is difficult. The terrain is rocky and has pass crossings. The ascends and descends make this day quite tiring and challenging. The total distance we will cover is around 17 km.

This day we will be going towards Barnai Sar, the lake we already saw the previous day. We will cross the Bagh Pass which stands at an altitude of 4150m. Then push forward and see the day’s first lake called Baghsar Lake. This lake is the third-largest alpine lake in Kashmir. Enjoy the breathtaking view of this lake and take a short snack break here.

We will push forward and take a trail that goes into Pada valley. This beautiful valley falls in Rajouri District. In our first 3 days, we will be in Shopian District. In Pada Valley, behold the Pada Sar Lake. And adjacent to it is another lake of the same name. However, the second lake is smaller than the first one. We will take a right towards Chambara Pass which has an altitude of around 4200m.

From the top of the pass, we will see two lakes called Chambara Lakes. The lakes sit cozily as you look down from the pass. These lakes fall in Poonch District. From the pass, we will descend back and not go towards the Poonch side. We will take a trail that goes towards Dhakiar Peak. This peak reaches an altitude of 4660m. As we will be trekking towards the base of this peak, we will first cross the famous Neja Pass which is at an altitude of 4350m. Towards the left of this pass, we will see a lake called Neja Sar.

We will return from the lake towards Neja Pass and descend towards Dhakiar Peak. Once we descend, we will reach a beautiful valley called Beliyan valley. Here two gorgeous lakes are sitting by the name Beliyan Lakes. From these lakes, we will take a trail that takes us to Dhakiar Pass. On the other side of this pass is the famous Dhakiar Sar Lake.

This is the farthest point of the day. We will traverse the same trail without any detours and reach back to Handu Valley. The trail goes beside Jaddi Nallah. This is the tiring and challenging day of the Hirpora Lakes Trek.

Overnight camping at Handu Valley.

We will cover a distance of around 22km today. We will reach back to Chandansar and take a left turn towards Katori Sar lake. After seeing the lake, we will have to cross a pass called Katernal Pass which has an altitude of 3900m. However, we will only reach the top of the pass. From the top, we will see the beautiful lake called Katernal Sar lake. This lake is in the Poonch district. However, one doesn’t have to reach the pass to see this lake. We can avoid this pass and go by around the bottom of this mountain and can see the lake quite closely.

Once we have seen the lake, we will come back to Katori Sar lake. The trail goes through fields and then reaches two more lakes called Deing Sar and Neil Sar lakes. To see one more lake we will have to take a near-circular trail to reach Kalditchni Sar lake. From here, we push a climb of about 150m that takes us to the famous Nandansar Lake.

We will camp in the vicinity between Chandansar and Nandansar Lake.

This is the last day of the trek, and we will leave towards Pir Ki Gali via Nanga Pahad which is at an altitude of 4200m. The total distance of the trek is around 15 km. From Pir Ki Gali we will drive to Srinagar.