Trek Towards Mount. Mahadev

Mount Mahadev is the pinnacle peak of Zabarwan range located at an elevation of 3966 Mtrs. It is located in the vicinity of Dachigam National Park. Given its prominent presence and highest point of Srinagar city, it grabs the attention of everyone. It radiates its beauty far and wide.

On 25May 2021, around 10 pm, I got a call from my cousin brother Raees from Harwan who invited me for a trekking trip to Mount Mahadev. In one go I agreed to join him. Since it was too late, he told me not to bring any eatables. He assured me that they had planned and arranged everything including the guide, tea, tandoori chickens and tetra pack juices for the trip. I was excited and flying higher above the skies. More than anything else I was encouraged to join them was my great relish for the delicious food. I couldn't sleep and was very much restless. At the break of dawn, Raees picked me. We along with Suhail Ali, Shahid Mustafa and Kousar from Street Fighters group headed towards our destination. At 6.15 a.m we reached Dardehkhovor near Scholars School. There I was surprised and sad to know that neither the guide nor the friend who promised us to bring tandoori chickens had turned up. We hardly carried any food items in our backpacks except water bottles, black tea, butter and tandoori rotis.

We were clueless about the serpentine trail but not demotivated to tread this path. At around 6.45 a.m we enrouted on our journey from Gorripador. To our surprise and big relief, just after covering a distance of few Kilometers, we met a Bakkerwal shepherd, who was also heading towards Lidwas for joining his folks. He was very agile. He outstripped us. It seemed as if he was flying at Kannipather in his 'Coaster shoes' .We couldn't keep pace with him but he remained very steadfast, supportive and sober with us. He showed us every captivating spot on the way. The Bakkerwal family at Bobjan served us Nun Chai. The tea break recharged all of us. It gave us enough energy and motivation to cover the rest of the journey at a descent speed. We were brimming with happiness and awestruck by the sublime beauty of Bobjan. We were stunned by the savageness of Yarribouni. After rigorous hiking, we finally reached Lidwas at 11.30 a.m. We retrieved the joy of togetherness with the guide and celebrated this little victory by clicking a group photographs. We had tea there and also rested for half an hour. Afterwards we were all alone. We were astonished to see the majestic beauty of Astanmargi meadow. The vastness of blue sky and panoramic view of green pastures were so soul soothing that each one of us tried to absorb its serenity. We didn't want to miss anything so walked at snails pace till we reached at Hammipather at around 12.30 pm.There we rested for 15 minutes as fog had enveloped all the surroundings.

We were surprised when two Bakkerwal kids aged 12 and 9 years agreed to show us the track leading to Mahadev. It was time consuming and difficult to walk on the long stretch of slippery rocks.We moved very carefully so as to avoid being caught in wrong foot. Our two little frontline soldiers did not leave us despite many hurdles.We reached the top at around 1.30 pm. Our joys knew no bounds when we saw the breathtaking beauty surrounded by low hanging clouds. From the Mahadev the eye catching beauty of Sheen Mean, Sunset peak, Kolahai Mountain, Brahamsaki, Trattakutti was just breathtaking. It was an amazing view and exhilarating experience. We felt short of words to express our jubilation. Over all it was an out of world experience. On our return to Hammipather, one Bakkerwal family served us lunch. We felt touched by their simplicity and hospitality. We then left with utmost gratitude and quickly embarked on our return journey.

We summited Mt. Mahadev within a day. The uphill climb and down hill descend took us almost 12 hours covering almost 33 Kilometers which summed up to 43,500 footsteps. We were dead tired but felt victorious when we safely returned back at around 7.30 p.m. We did everything with perfect aplomb. This adventure was worth an effort. We are the only one's responsible for picking ourselves up when we fall. We could or only those can do it who can shore up their courage with indomitable faith, fearless attitude and strong will power.