A five days trekking expedition which was organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports J&K for the U/19 age group boys of different sports zones of district Srinagar concluded at Gulmarg, here.
The camp comprised 50 young trekkers who were selected from different schools of Srinagar district.
On the first day, students did a light warm-up trek at Gulmarg which acted as the base camp for all 5 days. The trek was completed in 4 hours. Later in the evening, students were engaged in pitching tents on a camping site and the day concluded with a campfire and cultural activities where students participated in the singing competition, poetry recitation and other such programmes.
Similarly, on the second day, the participants did a trek to Bootapathri. The day concluded with multiple cultural activities carried around a campfire.
On the third and fourth day, student trekkers did trek to Kongdoori and Khilanmarg respectively and the expedition for the first group of student trekkers concluded on the revered Shrine Baba Reshi’s route.
On the concluding day of the trekking programme, Joint Director (Kashmir) of the Department of Youth Services and Sports Bashir Ahmed arrived at the venue to know firsthand experience of the student trekkers about this initiative of the Department.
He was apprised by the overwhelmed young trekkers that they really had a great and memorable experience of staying in tents during the 5 days programme and they will be sharing their camp related experiences with their friends to encourage them also for taking part in such activities and initiatives of the Sports Department.
While expressing his joy and satisfaction over the successful conduct of the first leg of the trekking programme for the students of district Srinagar, JD Kashmir highlighted importance of trekking by saying that there is a joy in the activity of trekking, once you start it is almost like an addiction but first-timers might require a bit of motivation to take that step and the Department of Youth Services & Sports is committed to encourage participation of youth in such activities which have numerous positive effects on their physical health, mental health and overall development of the personality.
‘’Lodging participants in tents was a new addition to this programme and surprisingly our young trekkers have liked it the most. We would be incorporating many new things to future expeditions to develop the interest of young people in trekking and other allied sports and recreational activities,” he added.
Interestingly while the first contingent of the trekkers after completing their 5 day long spell was returning back to their respective homes, 2nd group of 50 young students from different Government schools of District Srinagar was flagged-off by senior officials of the Department from the premises of Directorate Of Youth Services & Sports Wazirbagh Srinagar on Tuesday for a 5 days trekking camp to Gulmarg.
