Kashmir Great Lakes Trek

The Kashmir Great Lakes Trek moves through a landscape that feels almost too composed to be real. Broad alpine meadows, high passes and a succession of glacial lakes tucked beneath rugged Himalayan ridges. Beginning in the Sonamarg region, the trail climbs quickly away from the road and into open country where each day brings a noticeably different valley.

Much of the trek’s character comes from its lakes. Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and the Gangabal–Nundkol pair appear one after another, each set against its own combination of grassland, scree slopes and snow-streaked mountains. Between them lie long climbs over high passes, stream crossings and sweeping traverses through meadows that can be filled with wildflowers in summer.

Rather than walking toward a single summit or base camp, you keep crossing into new valleys. Leaving one lake behind and discovering another beyond the next ridge. By the time the trail descends toward Naranag, the journey feels less like a trek between two points and more like a passage through some of Kashmir’s wildest high-altitude country.