Sonamarg Kashmir - Heaven on Earth

Intro
Sonamarg is a hill station and small town in Ganderbal District of Jammu & Kashmir around 90 kms from Srinagar the summer capital. Sonamarg (hindi meaning - "meadow of gold") is a trekkers paradise with rowdy Sindh River alongside in the backdrop of snowy mountain peaks. It falls on the the Srinagar-Leh National Highway 1D and is at an altitude of 3000m. The 5-day Amarnath Yatra also starts from Sonamarg.


How to reach
Delhi to Jammu (620 kms) - via train or buses or flight.   http://www.ixigo.com/trains/JammuTawi-JAT
Jammu to Srinagar (300 kms) - via bus or private taxi or flight
Srinagar to Sonamarg (90 kms) - via state buses or private taxi
OR
Delhi to Srinagar - via flight
Srinagar to Sonamarg (90 kms) - via state buses or private taxi

Places to visit
Sonamarg Thajiswar Glacier
Sonamarg Gangabal trek
Krishnasar Lake - trout fishing

My Diary


Our day 5 in Jammu $ Kashmir and we had planned for Sonmarg and Thajiswar Glacier which falls on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh Highway (NH -1D) around 80 kms from Srinagar. So like always, enthusiast travelers we are, we hit the roads by 7.40 morning.

Our breakfast point was just beside this bridge on river Chenab a place called Wayul at around 8.30.It was a very small place with a police check post and few restaurants. We stopped by here because of this bridge and fast flowing Chenab River.

We filled ourselves with north Indian national breakfast alu paratha's n hot tea. 

 Around 9:15 while we were passing through  Kalgan we noticed raft boats on a truck and a small office, without further delay we jumped off to check out. Got a good deal 300 rs per
head for 6kms of white water rafting. They took us upstream to the starting point and we jumped into our life jackets ready to experience
the thrill. The experience was value for money as the stretch had around 20-25 rapids and by the time we finished we were drenched atleast a
dozen times. I enjoyed the ride and my bravado with one hand gripping the raft but the river was a quite a rowdy I should say.

Crossed Sarfawara Hydraulic Power              
Station over river Sindh at around 10.45 and all along the road we had either Chenab or Sindh flowing along our side.The snow covered peaks appeared quite close now.
    My friend meanwhile was so much mesmerized by the scenery that he started writing a story. His three pages outlining the foundation of this trip, traversed from his work and chennai city frustration to the serenity and calmness he expected to get out of here. I still have that story in my notes.








 We passed through Gund at around 10.50 and Kulan at around 11.15. This snap above shows the river Sindh current at Kulan, frightening huh. It seemed to be the perfect location for a thrilling white water rafting
but as a matter of fact Indian Govt doesn't allow life-threatening sports to tourists without proper certification

 Finally we reached Sonmarg at 11.45. It took us 4 hrs from Srinagar because of rafting and breakfast stops but it's usually a 2.5 hr ride as there are rough patches in the National Highway.
   These are the camping grounds, and I am not sure if they all are for tourists but atleast some of them are.
   FYI this is the place from where the 5-day Amarnath Yatra starts that is the longer one, the shorter one starts from Pehelgam (Chandanwadi Glacier). The yatra from here starts around mid June and continues till end October.

 So here we were at Sonmarg all set to start our trek for Thajiswar Glacier. There were lot of horse and ponny guys persuading tourists to take horses, but we decided to take it on foot. It's just a 4 km pleasant trek and unless you have reached here late in afternoon or u are not capable of hiking, take my advice on it you should do this mesmerizing trek on foot and it will be a lifetime experience.







So this was the exact moment a great philosopher said


 "You can't ask for more from Nature"
                                               Viky

and then, I captured  that moment for eternity and now I am doing the same
with the quote.

Feeling like a bird, just needed the wings

The trek continued and we kept on getting startled by the sheer beauty of Kashmir pondering over how much nature had in store.

We were spellbound by the snow clad-en peaks, the hustling river, the green meadows, the rocky terrain even the horses and birds, that's how I will define "serenity"

 This was our lunch spot beside the river on a big rock. We didn't carry any stuff so had to compromise with maggi, chips and soft-drinks from a nearby shop. This was kind of mid-point and some cars (local jeeps with permit for Thajiswar wildlife sanctuary) could come till this point, beyond this the terrain was very rocky for any vehicle.
    We relaxed here for an hour or so, clicked some snaps and then around 2.30 started off towards the Glacier.

Though it was a wildlife sanctuary we just managed to see two animals apart from horses, a sheep and a small reptile i guess somewhere between snake and lizard.

Another 45 mins of slow trek and we touched the base of thajiswar glacier, we weren't too excited about climbing the snow because we already did that yesterday so lied down on grass after quenching our thirst with freshly melted water.  Neither Himalaya nor Aquafina could have beaten that taste of water.

 As we were about to climb up suddenly the weather turned against us and it started raining. We took refuge in tea shop where some locals offered us hukka along with hot tea.

They asked us if we were coming from "Hindustan" as if pakistani's were frequent visitors there, but then I realized later that he meant we were not from Kashmir.

 In the meanwhile we decided to hike back as we were getting late and there were chances of heavy rainfall. We had just started and it started snowing, it took some time for my friends to realize it's snow as it was quite thin. Got to see 15 mins of snowfall too in the trip.

Not even did the weather clear up in half an hour but it actually turned up quite well so we even enjoyed the return hike which normally is not the case.

Met an Army troop on the way back

We noticed this house or cottage on the way back and wished we could have one as our vacation home.

The location of this cottage was just awesome with snow-claden peaks in the backdrop and gusting river alongside.
































This was the end of our day 5 and it was one of the most memorable days in terms of natural beauty we witnessed.

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