The LoC in Kashmir
Most people are eternally confused about the location of the LoC in Kashmir. And Tourists are shown the LoC from almost everywhere. Even the Pahalgam side.
Anyways this is a simple Map which explains the LoC in Kashmir. The LoC kinda plays around the Kishanganga aka Neelam. The Kishanganga originates in the "Great Lakes" Region of Kashmir and comes down into Tulail and then onwards to Gurez and at Bagtore in Gurez is where it enters PoK or the LoC and becomes the Neelam. From there on both banks of the River run through PoK and has places like Taobat and Kel and of course the very beautiful Village of Arang Kel (Google Arang Kel). The Indian side pushes very close to the Neelam in Machil sector.
And then again India manages to take one side of the bank in Keran. And again the Kishanganga emerges. Further on again both sides are in PoK and it becomes the Neelam.
But again at Teethwal in the Karnah Valley the Indians managed to take one bank of the River. The Battle of Tithwal was an epic Battle and it was in this Battle that Piru Singh and Karam Singh won Param Vir Chakras.
But again after Teethwal the Kishanganga forever becomes th Neelam till it meets the Jehlum at Domail.
The Loc below this area lies around the Uri sector on what used to be the Jehlum Cart Road. Uri itself used to be connected to Poonch via the Haij Pir Pass but that was taken by the other side.
So this August we are doing an LoC drive where we will start from Uri and the road to Haji Pir and then onto Tithwal. Then Keran. The Machil. Then we would enter Gurez and go till Bagtore and then in the other direction all the way to Tulail and hopefully across the Kaobal Gali into Drass and then return to Srinagar.
Incase you interested in the Drive do ping me.
#2 Uri - Keran
In this journey, Uri will be our first border town on the road which once connected Srinagar with Rawalpindi and runs along the Jehlum river. We would visit the Kaman Setu which is the last Post on the Road. From Uri we move to Chandigam in Kupwara District. The next Day we drive to Keran village, after crossing Firkiyan Gali in the Shamshabari mountains. Keran is right on the LoC and the Kishanganga here acts as the Border.
#3 Tithwal - Machil
Next Day we would drive to the Karnah Valley and Tithwal after crossing Nastachun Pass (Sadhna Top). Tithwal Village is in the Karnah Valley and located right on the Kishanganga. The next we Day drive to Machil which is across Zamindar Gali. Machil is a beautiful forested border area which at one point used to be a part of Gurez.
#4 Gurez - Tulail
We next drive to the beautiful Gurez Valley via the Razdan Pass. We will visit the Village of Bagtore which is the last Indian Village in Western Gurez. We will further go upstream the Kishangang and visit the Tulil Valley and the Villages there in. This Route was once a part of the Silk Route which connected Kashmir with Gilgit and Central Asia.
#5 Kaobal Gali - Mushko - Drass
We will try and cross the Holy Grail Pass of the Western Himalayas, the Kaobal Gali, in the main Himalayan Range, which connects Gurez with Mushkoh Valley in the Drass area in Ladakh. This Pass opens for a very short period of time as its in a Cold Glaciated Area.