Nathiagali, Mushkpuri Top Trekking & Murree - 19th to 21st April 2019

[qasim_shah888]

I along with my 5 other colleagues were planning to visit Mushkpuri top since the beginning of year 2019 as a lots of tour organizers were posting their 1 or 2 days trip to Snowy Mushkpuri top but couldn't make it possible due to busy and tight Bank job schedule. i personally had visited Nathiagali & Murree a lots of times that even i couldn't remember the exact number but some of colleques were late but new comers for this trip - So since start of April, the Sun was showing its full anger here in Lahore and it was quite hot during day time, so after getting a leave of Friday and including Saturday Sunday holidays we managed to plan our short trip and visited Nathiagali, Mushkpuri Top and Murree.

[qasim_shah888]

We were 6 tourists cum trekkers with brief intro as under: -

1. Muhammad Saleem - Age 56 Years - R/o Multan - Manager MIS in PPCBL Multan
2. Arshad Ali Abid - Age 52 Years - R/o Lahore - Head GAD in PPCBL Lahore
3. Muhammad Anwar - Age 48 Years - R/o Lahore - Manager Audit in PPCBL Lahore
4. Muhammad Akmal - Age 53 Years - R/o Multan - Owner of a Travel Agency in Multan
5. Malik Hassan - Age 49 Years - R/o Islamabad - Owns a Business
6. Qasim Shah (Me) - Age 36 Years - R/o Lahore - Officer in PPCBL Lahore
   
   Now you guys can understand why i mentioned some of my co-travelers (late but new comers) above . Infact i also fall in the category of old fellows but i appreciate the efforts of three others who satisfactorily managed to make it up till the Top of Mushkpuri Peak and proven their fitness before the two who loose their hope till 1/4th of the trek and made lame excuses that they are unable to any further, consequently they had to stay at the bottom of trek till 4 hours for us to come back and take them along while descending from Mushkpuri trek.

Stay tune as pictures are underway - being compiled and will be uploaded soon

[rehankillbill]

age is no nothing else if you have desire & passion for travelling & trekking you can achieve those things, well waiting for your trip pics with further detail

[selman]

Great...waiting for pics

[tourist]

Qasim bhai how long Mushkpuri trek is ?

[qasim_shah888]

Bhai it took us 2 hours to reach till top with 5-6 short stays of 5 mins max and after reaching there you need 1-1/2 hours to fully explore it as there are 4 to 5 different spots (grassy lawns like Siri paye) to explore and while descending it took us an 1-1/2 hours from top till Donga Gali Car parking area.

[qasim_shah888]

So our journey started at on 19.04.2019 from different locations, 2 of us departed from Lahore via Bus till Sial Interchange at Motorway to meet up with 2 boys coming from Multan, we get together and departed Sial Interchange at 11:30 am, Sun was still showing full anger.
Pictures taken of Kalar Kahar mountains.

[qasim_shah888]

fuel was filed from Chakri Rest Area, we didn't enter the rest area as it was getting late and as per schedule we want to offer Jumma Prayer anywhere in Islamabad so we kept on travelling and reached Islamabad and offered prayer at 1:30pm afterwards explored the beauty of ISB, had lunch in ISB and started our journey towards Nathiagali at 4:00pm

[qasim_shah888]

In Islamabad we met our co-travellers Malik Hassan & Rana M. Anwar, who were already waiting for us at Shell petrol pump near Convention Center from where road head towards BaraKahu and then Express Highway Murree, Express Highway had shortened the journey till Murree and its a beauty in itself.

[qasim_shah888]

Reached Nathiagali at around 6:30pm, it was empty as season not started yet due to coming holy month of Ramzan, however all shops and hotels were open and few couples / families were observed shopping there, so we parked the cars and started looking for a suitable hotel as every one was welcoming us due to Off Season, AFAQ Hotel have the best views located at an attractive place and have a beautiful balcony restaurant at the other side of the road, they usually accommodate families only but due to Of Season they were ready to give room. As it was getting dark so i took some photographs of vicinity.

[qasim_shah888]

[qasim_shah888]

We had dinner and had a visit of market which was near to closing so we went to sleep as next morning we had to trek to Mushkpuri Top.
Woke up and got ready at 10:00am, had breakfast at Balcony Restaurant Afaq i.e.Omellate, Channay & Parathay with Tea and started driving towards Donga Gali

[qasim_shah888]

After having breakfast, we packed our bags and started heading towards Donga Gali which is at a distance of 5 to 10 mins from Nathiagali, here in Donga Gali we parked our cars and bought some necessary items like water bottles, Nimko, Chips etc., which will be used during hiking, proper shops are located only in Donga Gali after this point towards hike you will find only some locals / kids carrying chewing gums or water bottle in the way in prices fixed by themselves. getting a hiking stick is highly advised as you will be needing it in the way at different places.

[qasim_shah888]

After hiking for 10 to 15 minutes i was sweating due to wearing Jacket so i removed the jacket, Donga Gali parking area was full of vehicles and coasters were also parked there which shows that tour operators are on their way up to Muskpuri.

[qasim_shah888]

It was weekend and we are amazed to see almost 300 to 400 peoples either travelling or enjoying at Mushkpuri Top, i forgot to tell you all that at the entry point you have to pay Rs.15/- as an entry ticket to visit Mushkpuri Top, however locals as well as tourist both spread their leftovers, empty packets etc in the way and there is no proper cleanliness.

[qasim_shah888]

[qasim_shah888]

As we were exploring the beauty of Mushkpuri Top, clouds began to decent and we were surrounded by fog - students visiting from KPK had their music systems with them and they started dancing in groups on Pashto music, which was awesome and very soothing

[aftab.khan3]

Great effort and pictures; God bless you all.

[qasim_shah888]

Thanks a lot Sir

[umairzafar]

Next time try to explore meeran jani trek. That is more tougher and beautiful than muskpuri.