When an enthusiast is trapped for long in the silk cocoon of routine, his soul starts longing for the wilderness. His feet might be trapped in the cities but heart pounds for the mountains. This is what happened to us, a group of travelers trapped in the daily hues of jobs and businesses. Months of lockdown due the corona pandemic outside created a pandemic inside each of us. But every time the matter was brough up, it was ‘shushed’ and ‘hushed’. But one day in the late summer of 2020, a miracle happened. The topic of going towards the lovely dudupatsar lake of Lulusar Dudipatsar National park was brought up and was not turned down. All that was left was a pick a date and buy necessary camping stuff. That we did speedily before anybody changes his mind. The Sunday bazar in the H-9 sector of Islamabad is well equipped with everything at prices that are good for the pocket, you might need hours to fully explore the whole bazar. So that was our obvious choice for buying the camps, torches, mats, sleeping bags and sticks.
On the sunny morning of 29 august, we set out from Islamabad in two cars. Our travel plan was to move from M1 motorway to Hazara Motorway and reach Mansehra. In nearly 2.5 hours, we reached Masehra and took the road to Naran. Our destination was Besar , with a quick stop to refresh ourselves with hot steaming cup of tea and Paraths near Shogran, we reached Besar in the afternoon just a few kilometers short of Babusar Top. Besar is in the Naran region of Mansehra district located after lulusar lake. It is a famous stop for tourists to refresh themselves at famous “Moon Resturant” whose board can be spotted almost every hundred meters when you leave Naran for Babusar Top and onwards. In Besar, our contact point was “Mushtaq”, a courteous man who runs a small hotel by the roadside. Besar is short of hotels to stay so we adjusted in the hotel we could find best. I, however, observed that some hikers preferred camping at the back of Moon Resturant. We also booked a horse to take our luggage with us to the lake, the horse owner also acts as a guide. As the night fell, weather became cold, but it was bearable. We had no idea what was about to befall us on our trip.
The next morning, we woke up early to start our journey as soon as possible so that we could reach the lake in the afternoon and stay the night there. We readily made up our breakfast. Yes, it’s true, we loaded a lot of stuff with us and made our meals by ourselves. We had a LPG cylinder and pots for cooking. At the back of Moon Resturant, Beautiful Kunhar river flows with all its fury. It can only be crossed by pullover lift called “Doli”. There is always a local there to pull you to the other side and in return, he will charge you a nominal fee. Our guide was there on the other side waiting with the horse. The horse booking agent can be found lurking around hotel of Mushtaq. We all crossed the Kunhar river one by one and in the end, our luggage made its way to the other side of the river. Our porter cum guide loaded the stuff and we were on our way, we followed the footsteps of people and started hiking. There is a small but angry river coming from Dudipatsar lake that flows in to kunhar river. Our trek was side by side with this river and guarded on both sides by huge mountains. We were so excited and confident that we made a mistake that caused us to waste some time. We left our porter behind and after 35 minutes of walking we realized that our trek is gone and there was no more space to move forward. There was another horrible surprise waiting that one of our members was missing. Is that a sequel of “Wrong Turn”? everyone was worried to the core. We wasted 45 minutes or more wandering what to do next. At last, help came. A local reached at the spot in pursuit of some of its lost sheep and showed us the was as well. We were to cross the river on foot at some previous point, we reached at the point and crossed the river. The water was freezing cold even in august. In the meantime, our lost member reached there too pursuing our track backwards. We were on the track once again, this time in the guidance of our guide.
We reached “Mullah ki basti” at around 3 pm. We had just traveled 12 Km. Dudipatsar is located 18 kilometers from Besar. So ideally, we needed to travel at least 18 Km a day to make it back on the second day. But everybody was so tired that we had to camp at Mullah ki basti and cancelled the plan to make night stop at the lake. The next morning brought a chill weather and rain. It was so continuously raining that we couldn’t get outside of our camps. However, so persistent was the desire to reach home that as soon as we felt that the rain was slowing down, we raced towards the lake at a pace that was no less than of a leopard. Passing through the lush green meadows that were laden with flowers of every color and passing and sometimes jumping over freshwater streams. We reached a to and there it was, the wild beauty, pacified and breath taking. It is impossible to describe in words the beauty of a beloved and what eye can see was impossible for the camera to capture.
After a short stop and some group photos, we headed back. As soon as we turned back, rain started again. With fully wet clothes and shoes, we reached back at the basti and hid ourselves in the safety of camps. The craving to reach down was hard, but rain was making it impossible. At noon, we decided to head back in the rain. We mounted the luggage on the horse and the rain stopped. We started our journey and didn’t pasue until we reached down. So we achieved something, we didn’t plan. We travelled 24 kilometers in one day in the worse weather. This was a very memorable trip. The hike as well as the lake offer beautiful scenic views. I strongly recommend this trip.
Tips:
- Buy the camping stuff from H-9 weekly bazar if you want to save money.
- Reach Besar a night before starting the hike. You will need a good night sleep before hike.
- Book horse for luggage, the horse can be booked at the Mushtaq ‘s hotel. (he named it Dudipatsar Hotel)
- The best season to go is 15 July to 15 August.
- You don’t need to carry your food, Desi Dhabas are available at Mullah ki basti.
- Lodging is also available at Mullah ki basti if you do not want to make your own camp.
Mushk Pur مشک پور 