Most of these 75 trekking routes are offbeat locations in Jammu and Kashmir and trail deep inside forests providing a thrilling experience to the adventure seekers, trekkers, and tourists
Nature adventurists can now challenge their trekking skills through wild and virgin routes of Kashmir amid gushing streams, serene glaciers, lakes and vast meadows surrounded by pine and kail forests as many fresh routes have been thrown open in J&K.
Most of these 75 routes are offbeat locations in Jammu and Kashmir and trail deep inside forests providing a thrilling experience to the adventure seekers, trekkers, and tourists who are the aficionados of nature’s wilderness.
The uniqueness of these tracks is doing the trick for Kashmir tourism as they are slowly attracting not only local nature lovers but also tourists.
The conservator of forests, north, Irfan Rasool said the basic aim of opening these tracks is that people should visit these offbeat locations. “Our motto is to popularise these beautiful locations. Besides, local trekkers, this also targets a specific group of tourists who love adventure travel. It will also create a livelihood in the villages on forest fringes through home-stays, nature guides, trek operators, food stalls, and forest souvenirs.”
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Rasool said that forest staff accompanies the groups free of cost for the time being and makes their travel easy. “It’s currently free. Gradually we want to train locals to assist the trekkers,” he said.
These 75 tracks have been identified by Jammu and Kashmir forest department divided into six circles, Srinagar, South, North, East, West, and Chenab circles, with each circle having more than 10 identified trekking routes with maps and everything. The north circle comprises Baramulla and Kupwara districts and has the highest 26 identified routes -some close to the Line of Control.
Similarly, Srinagar and south circles have more than 20 routes, some trekking routes are within the city- located on both the sides of the Jhelum river and surrounded by mountains and traversed with hill ranges. The Mughal Gardens in Srinagar lie on the foothills of the Zabarwan range.
In the Jammu division, 24 trekking routes in the forests of Jammu, Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur, Kistwar, and Doda have been identified. Besides, along the length of the tracks, the department has provided every information about these routes maps as well as nearby tourist spots.
Jalal Jeelani, a trekker from Kashmir who is part of a renowned Pathfinder trekking group, termed the opening of new trails as a praiseworthy step in the right direction.
“For regular trekkers, there are many benefits of nature treks through the Alpine forests,” he said, adding that besides physical, mental, and social health benefits, trekkers also become forest guardians in different ways. “Be that a deterrent to destructive human activities or be that preventing timber smuggling, caretaker in preventing forest fires, land encroachments, preventing drug addiction, and other antisocial activities.”
Jeelani, who also makes short films of trekking tours, said that trekking also turns people into wildlife warriors, habitat saviours, and animal lovers while trudging the forests. “Once you reach a mountain peak, you get filled with the sense of miracle and curiosity. The tangible endurance in nature, where everything else just falls away, you keep observing the creator’s design, the uniformity, the changeability, the multiplicity and experiencing what’s around you become a life.”
Another avid trekker, Mohammad Afzal Lara, termed it as a great opportunity for every trekking club of J&K and other states. “Being a nature lover, this is one of the best steps taken by the government. This will motivate our younger generation towards trekking and exploration of nature.”
A forest officer said besides trekking, people can explore, hiking, birding, wildlife viewing, and cultural heritage.
