monal pass trek with asg

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Monal Pass Trek & back via Saidpur Trek Page 1

ASG Hike from Trail-3 Car Park to Monal Pass and

back via Saidpur Ridge

(Start Coordinates: 3344'32''N 7304'56''E)

(Shaikh Muhammad Ali)

3D Google Map of the entire Hike: Maximum Trek Elevation 3,806 Feet

All the pathos and irony of leaving ones youth behindis thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: oneknows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the

wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries newplaces all the time.Paul Fussell
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When you buy a book, you make a valuable contribution towards improving

your society; by becoming part of the chain that starts with you, linking the

bookseller to the printer to the publisher and finally to the writerthe ultimate

spokesman of our collective intellect. When you read, you make invaluable

contribution to your personal growth.

Many a times my friends & fans ask me as to how do I conceive the material towrite and my answer is simple. First I love to travel, and then I read a lot so you

need a place to travel and then you need a plot to write about it. For writing,

you need a thought process and a treasury of vocabulary to go with it. The

supposed simplicity that is reflected in my travel writing was what I learned from

Robert Fulghumwho I read some 25 years ago and the philosophy is borrowed

fromPaulo Coelhoswriting and since I keep reading, my mind keeps working

and since I keep travelling to new places; I thus keep writing to let my readers

know as to how wonderful this world is and what beautiful and serene places

exist around us. We just need to open our Baseerat Ki Aankh read The InnerEye.

We must never forget that spiritual experience is above all a practical

experience of love. And with love, there are no rules. The heart decides, and

what it decides is all that really matters. The more we love, the closer we come

to spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are

illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and

preconceptions of their era. Sooner or later, we have to overcome our fears,

because the spiritual path can only be travelled through the daily experience of

love.

To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the

spark of God. At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that

could have happened but didnt. The magic moments go unrecognized, and

then suddenly the hand of destiny changes everything.

Before I get carried away by my philosophical thoughts, lets come back to the

topic of this article. I was again invited by the Coordinator ofASGi.e. Ahtesham

Raja (who is also a colleague at HEC) to accompany them for a new hike in theMargalla Hills. On the 18th March 2012, we were expected to meet up at the

car park of theTrail-3of the Margalla Hills and thus trek from here to the Monal

Pass and return via theSaidpurvillage trek.

Adil, Mohsin and I planned to join them while leaving Mamma & Ayesha behind

since we were forewarned that although this trek was not very steep but the
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walk was rather long and was for 5 km one way. The other reason that I decided

to join was that we would actually be doing two treks i.e. by ascending through

the Trail-3 and descending via Saidpur Ridge.

After saying myFajrprayers, I woke the kids up at 7:00 a.m. and by 8:00 a.m. we

were having breakfast at a Dhaba close to our house.

(Adil & Mohsin waiting for breakfast)

After having a lavish ChaiParathabreakfast, we reached the rendezvous

around 8:45 a.m. where only three hikers had reached. Slowly and gradually

around 21 people joined the group and we started the hike about 9:16 a.m.

after taking a group picture.

(The ASG trekkers group)
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As usual, the group divided into the fast hikers, the medium pacers and the tail

enders. Adil & Mohsin joined the first group which was being supervised by Mr.

Zaheer Uddin Khawaja, the General Secretary ofASGalthough initially I was in

the medium pacers but later joined the tail enders which comprised of four of

us. Around 9:30 a.m. I was able to capture this scenic view.

(A beautiful view of the Judges Enclave from the Margalla Hills)

By 9:53 a.m., the first group had already reached the first stop and took their 10

minutes water break.

(Adil & Mohsin taking their first water break with the leading group)

This group also comprised of three foreigners who were constantly being briefed

by their local counterparts.
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(The 1st group enjoying their water breaks)

Although, I thought that we would all stop at the View point but since the 1st

group had already by-passed us much faster and were almost at a 10 minutelead from us, therefore we did not stop at the View point and thus I took this

picture around 10:22 a.m. of the view point.

(A snapshot of the View Point)

By almost 10:43 a.m., I had reached half the distance with my two mates while

the third gentleman somehow decided to join the first group. Rather than plainhiking, our group was now doing more of a slow nature walking and was

enjoying thefloraandfaunaof theMargalla Hillsat this time of the year.
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(After covering half the trek, I am posing at the 2.5 km marker)

From this marker, we could see the Fire Trail and had noticed that the first

group had ascended to the top via this trail but we decided somehow to ignorethis and further continued on the Trail-3 trek.

(The Fire-Trail as seen from the 2.5 km marker)

We were now lagging behind the first group by some good 20 minutes but we

were in no hurry to reach the top. By 12:02 p.m. we could see the Monal

Restaurant from the top but had already left Romano Karim (one of our mates)

behind. He somehow started walking slowly while I was in a hurry to join my two

young brats who had already reached Monal Restaurant and were feasting

on juices there with the rest of the group.
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(A panoramic view of Monal Restaurant from the Antenna Point)

Although I was happy to see Adil and Mohsin relaxing with the rest of the group

but was concerned about Romano who still had not arrived even after a lapseof good 10 minutes. I excused myself from the group and went back looking for

him behind the restaurant and slightly inched towards the exit point overlooking

the Antenna point but Romano was nowhere to be seen. Adil & Mohsin later

joined me and we waited again for another 10 minutes but still we could not

find Romano.

TheASGgroup had already left while after waiting for Romano, the three of us

also started to descend with a heavy heart without him. By 12:44 p.m. we were

already on the descent route to the Saidpur trek.

(My young guns on the way back)
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By 1:00 p.m. we were way into the steep Saidpur ridge and were descending at

a faster pace. Although, initially we were having a hard time sticking to the right

path but thanks to the locals who off and on guided us on the way back.

(Mohsin & I enjoying water break while Adil took this picture)

By 1:55 p.m., we had reached a natural spring on this particular trek and

enjoyed the pure spring water to our hearts content.

(Rejuvenated after having water from the natural spring)

We were about half hour away from Saidpur when we took this picture.


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(Adil and Mohsin enjoying the comradeship)

About 2:30 p.m. we touched theSaidpurvillage and were already exhausted

since the day had grown warmer. We passed through the entire village whilethe village kids stared at us and by 2:40 p.m. we had reached the end of the

village.

(The Saidpur village behind us)

This was the most boring part of the hike since our car was parked at the car

park of the Trail-3 and we had to walk for almost another km to reach the car,rather exhausted. Although, the children wanted to reach home fast but I just

dropped dead at the Trail-3 kiosk and ordered a hot cup of tea while the

children feasted on some juices. We also ate our remaining sandwiches,

phoned home that we had reached the car park and would take another half

hour to reach home.
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It was a pleasant surprise to see that a Pajero rolled over into the car park and

out came Romano with a friend who had dropped him here to fetch his motor

bike. The children were overwhelmed to meet him again and he informed us

that once he lost us, instead of coming towards the restaurant; caught a cab

and came down to a friends house in F-6. His friend later dropped him here. We

shared notes and apologized for the goof up for which we were not even

responsible but with a happy ending, we came back home to a warm bath and

a lovely late lunch while conquering another two treks and adding two more

feathers to our cap.

I would like to leave my readers with a thought that past and future only exist in

our mind. The present moment, though is outside of time, its eternity. The great

lessons that I learned had been precisely those that my journeys had taught me.

Well, the truth is, Ive always travelled like a mad thing, ever since I was a young

man. Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage and no life is complete

without a touch of madness. Au Revoir!

Shaikh Muhammed AliThe Wandering DervishE-mail:[email protected]: +00-92-321-5072996

8th April 2012, 7:45 p.m. (PST)
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