Pir Panjal traverse - Day2: Achhan to Gugalmarg

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31st July 2022 

I stayed for the night with bakerwals at Achhan  and it was raining all night. At about 8am in the morning i left the tent after having some noodles and tea. I moved towards Saranjan and crossed a 3850m pass North of Didum peak(Hoen Heng), SW of Chakiali gali which connects Mahu Banihal with Kandimarg Kulgam. 
View SE from Saranjan

I descended down 200m into Sikwas Nala valley and climbed again to the main ridgeline of Pir Panjal range, NW of Gagarmandu peak(4000m). The top ridgeline separates Kashmir and Jammu division. I then followed the 3900m contour and traversed the ridgeline upto Nikkan gali where I descended 150m down to Nikkan.
Top ridgeline of Pir Panjal range


On way to Nikkan gali, i explored Mang nar valley, traversed Nunkhul gali which connects Kulgam and Gulabgarh. It was a cloudy weather and as soon I reached Nikkan, it started to rain and i took shelter at Shepherds camp. After 15min the weather got cleared and i left  and entered back into Kashmir valley via Zachimarg gali.
Mang nar valley 

I have always read that Pir Panjal protects Kashmir from monsoon rains and today i saw it live. On southern side of range, it was raining while on the northern side, it was pleasant and cool.
Nunkhul gali


At around 6:45pm i reached down to Gugalmarg where as per plan my campsite was. I tried to go near the  bakerwals but their dog was after me for about 200m. So finally i decided to camp far away from them and camped solo  for the night.

I recorded my route in two sections. One from Achhan to Nikkan which i shared above and other from Nikkan to Gugalmarg which is given below

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