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Dear Daddy,

I am back from the trekking expedition to High Camp (Harnag), Kashmir. It was a unique experience for me, in this letter I am giving an account of this trekking.

We reached Pahalgam during the day. The next day we packed our lunch and reached Aru. We took the west fork of the Lidder. The trail follows the road the whole day to spectacular Aru. We had to make a detour of a km or two above the open meadow for the campsite. We started trekking the next day for Armuin. It is at a distance of 13 km. We crossed thick forests for 6 km. Through a narrow valley with wooded mountains, we reached Armuin. We stayed in a Gujar hut and relished eggs and goat milk. The scene around us was captivating. We saw nature in its unique glory.

Harnag is 16 km from Armuin. We climbed over boulders and crossed the grassy meadow of Nafaren (11,500 ft). We reached the foot of the Harbaghwan Pass. The trail ahead was steep and dangerous. But there was a gentle slope down to Harnag. There is a beautiful lake here between steep mountains on either side. We made a circular passage of the lake for a campsite. The next day, we took the second route to High Camp (16000 ft). We started climbing along the right bank of the stream. After that, we reached the snowfield at the foot of the mountain on the left. The ice wall lay ahead. We cut steps into it. On top of the wall, there is an extensive snowfield. It stretches across for 3 km between Btress Peak on the south and Mount Kohlahoi in the west. The scene was really breath taking. It looked as if a white bedspread was spread by someone. We felt cold but Manish nearly fell in a crevasse covered with shallow fresh snow. We melted now for water. The excitement to be here prevented us from feeling any fear.

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God is to be thanked that none faced any trouble. We enjoyed the picturesque scenes of snow, pine trees, fresh water lake, etc fully. We reached Pahalgam back. From there we reached our destination safely.

Pay my regards to dear mother and love to Anupam

Your loving son

Praveen