Kashmir Tarsar Marsar Trek August 16 to 20th 2022
A detailed day wise route desctiption and timings of the popular Tarsar Marsar trek by South Col Expeditions in August 2022 - due to bad weather and lack of days we could not cross over the Sonomas pass to Sumbal but returned to Lidderwat/Aru the same way.
August 16th 2022 Pahalgam to Aru to Lidderwat
We drove from Pahalgam to Aru 2440 metres in about
30 minutes and started out from Aru around 8 am. It had rained for 14 hours nonstop
the previous day but the weather had cleared up and the sun was out with blue
skies. The first part of the trail from Aru to the Agricultural station was
extremely muddy and slippery thanks to all the pony traffic as well as the
incessant rains. This portion of the trail took us around one hour which should
have normally taken 30 minutes. We reached the first meadow around 9 am and
after a short break plunged into the forest - this part was also quite muddy
and it was heavy going - finally after around 2 hours from Aru we emerged into
the meadows for a brief while and the trail had dried out somewhat due to the
morning sun. The river Lidder thundered through the gorge below while thick
pine forests surrounded the adjacent hills. We met few tourists and some locals
making their way down from Lidderwat to Pahalgam and some shepherds as well.
Finally around 11.30 am at around 2670 metres we reached a small tea shop -
further up on the ridge was another tea shop serving tea and Maggi noodles. The
distance was around 7 km from Aru. After
a quick break we carried on the trails through the meadows soon descended to
the Lidder river. This idyllic section
of the walk followed the Lidder river and was incredibly beautiful with the
river flowing adjacent to the trail. We soon came to another tea shop - the
third one on the trail from here the path climbed up to another small meadow
before again plunging down a steep path to the river. You finally cross a
bridge across the Lidder and climb up to the meadows of Lidderwat. As we reached Lidderwat and stopped for lunch
the rain came down once again and carried on till around 5 pm in the evening
after which the weather did clear up and we saw some blue skies in the clouds -
hope for tomorrow.
Aru to first meadow 1 hr - should be 30 minutes in dry weather; First meadow to
first tea shop 2 hrs to 2 hrs 15 min; First tea shop to second tea shop 30 min;
Second tea shop to third tea shop 45 min Third tea shop to Lidderwat 45 min to
1 hr
Aru to Lidderwat 4.5 to 5 hours depending on trail conditions - 10.7 km 18695
steps
Aru 2430 m 34 5 31 N 75 15 57E Lidderwat 2775m 34 9 35 N 75 14 31 E
