Hiking One of Pakistan’s Toughest Treks | 4 Days to RUSH LAKE

Eating nothing on a break, last try. Pakistan's Rush Lake is one of the highest alpine lakes in the world. At almost 4,700 meters, this lake is tucked deep away in the mountains of Nagar, Gilgit Baltistan. And getting there is not easy. We're all feeling pretty bad right now. In fact, it's considered to be one of the toughest short multi-day hikes in the entire country. Why? Well, for starters, there is the crazy rapid elevation gain, going from 3,200 meters to 4,700 meters in just one day. Add in three glacier crossings, a river crossing, unpredictable train, intense heat, and altitude sickness as a real risk, and you've got a trek that will challenge even the most seasoned hikers. But if we make it to the top, we will be rewarded with some of the most beautiful views you will ever see. Hello, welcome to the golden days and you're right on time. These moments are the ones you'll save. Hold on to the rest of your life. These here are the golden days. These here are the golden days. Good morning and welcome to my little home for a while here in Hunza, Pakistan. I've been here for almost a month now, just taking a much-needed break from traveling and filming and creating content and all of that. And it's been so nice. Like after one and a half years of non-stop adventures, I realized that I just needed some time to be, you know, like without the camera, without a tight schedule. And what better place to do that in than in one of my favorite spots on earth? It's insane. Like there's no place in the world where, you know, you just casually have some 7,000 plus mountains right in front of your nose when you wake up. This is my fourth time now in Pakistan and from the very first moment I arrived in Hunza, it kind of completely captured my heart. It's this peaceful spot in northern Pakistan where you're surrounded by mountains and life just feels a little slower. The people are kind, the food is great, the coffee is even better. And there's a real sense of peace here that you just can't find anywhere else. But after a month of soaking in that peace, I started feeling a little restless. And I knew it was time for a change of pace. Time to leave the calm behind and dive into what I love most. Adventure. So, Rush Lake. This is actually not the first time that I am setting out on this trek. I have actually done Rush Lake once before, two years back during my first ever trip to Pakistan. But back then I wasn't actually doing YouTube yet, so I didn't film any of it. Plus, the last time things actually didn't exactly go according to plan. Because once we reached Rush Lake, we both got really, really bad altitude sickness. Which is actually a really common thing during this trek because you gain altitude so, so quickly. So yeah, you could say this is like a little bit of a revenge thing for me. A chance to finish what I started, you know. But honestly, most of all, I just really wanted to do it again so that I could take you guys along with me this time. Because despite the struggle, it is to this day still one of my all-time favorite treks here in Pakistan. That's not heavy at all. Oh no. So we're about to leave. But like, it's so funny because the last couple weeks, the weather here has been insanely hot. Like, unusually hot. And of course, today, the day that we set out to do this trek, the weather looks like this. Okay. But obviously, that wasn't going to stop us. Oh, and by us, I mean me and my friends, Florian and Stephanie. They're overlanding in their own Defender all the way from Switzerland. So basically, they are the coolest people ever. And so we made our way to Hopur Valley, the starting point of the Rush Lake trek. Very nice. Oh no. We have a little bit of a problem. Oh wait, no, I want to go in the car. Okay, goodbye. Oh ----. That's a great start. Little did we know, this would just be a warm-up for the even sketchier river crossings to come. Toilet is outside. Hopur Valley, located about a two-hour drive from Karimabad, Hunza, is this beautiful tucked away place. And even just getting there, we were already treated to some beautiful mountain views, setting the perfect tone for what was to come. And so the next day, it was time to hit the trail and begin our four-day trek to Rush Lake. Okay, so our first mission of the day is to cross a glacier. So right over here, this is Hopur Glacier. And that is the first of three glaciers that we're going to have to cross on this trek. And this is also why we chose to go with a guide, because crossing a glacier is not easy. Glaciers, as you might know, change all the time, and it's very difficult to find a way that is not dangerous, basically. And these locals, they know the glaciers like from the back of their hand. It's just like a matter of safety, really. So let me introduce you to our amazing team. First, we have our guide, Nawit. And then we also have four porters with us, aka the real heroes here, who are helping us carry up our gear. There we go. Hopur Glacier is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, advancing at a rate of about 10 to 12 centimeters per day. Which means that next week, the glaciers will have shifted so much that trekkers will have to take an entirely different route again. To be honest, this glacier so far is quite, I feel, easy to cross. Like there aren't any huge crevasses or anything. Indeed, out of the three glacier crossings, the first one is definitely the easiest. But that doesn't mean it's easy. I mean, it's still ice you're walking on. So slippery. Getting our hands dirty right away. Yay! First glacier crossing done. You want to give me a muddy high five? But our next challenge was already waiting on us. It's so hot. So as you can see, the weather has drastically improved as compared to yesterday, which is amazing. It's what we wanted. But be careful what you wish for, because it is crazy hot right now. It's definitely 30 plus, and it's exhausting when you are hiking up a mountain. Oh well, at least there's no rain. Luckily, we stumbled across a small lake, which was just what we needed to cool off. We weren't planning on swimming at first, but then out of nowhere, these local shepherds just cannonballed right in. So naturally, we thought, why not? Well, that lake came at exactly the right time. I do have to hike in wet clothes now though. Worth it. We all felt recharged after that, ready to tackle some incline. Unfortunately, my good mood didn't last too long. I think I've hit a bit of a slump. It's like 1 30 now, so we've been hiking for like six hours. We still have a while to go. It's just the heat, the heat, it's killing me. Hello. Quick flash forward from the future here. We are back in Hunza. We just came back from Rush Lake. That was rough. Yeah, I think we're all still recovering from that. It honestly pushed me in ways that I did not expect. You know, the thing about treks like this is that it takes a lot more than just physical endurance. It really, really tests your mental strength as well. And I think this is something that a lot of people don't realize when it comes to big adventures like this. I had so many moments in which I was like, why? Why am I even doing this? And this is when the mental game really begins, where you have to push through that discomfort and just keep moving forward and not give in to those thoughts that are telling you to quit. Which is why I am so grateful to continue partnering up with BetterHelp. BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that basically helps you build this mental strength by providing access to therapists who will ask you questions and listen and basically help you see things from a new perspective. So whether you're pushing yourself on treks like this or you're just dealing with everyday life, having someone to talk to can really make all the difference in building that resilience. You basically go to their website, fill out this questionnaire, and get matched with a therapist as soon as possible. And if for some reason this therapist doesn't feel like the right fit for you, you can just easily switch to another one at no extra cost. So if you're struggling or you simply just want to become a stronger human being, you can check out BetterHelp by clicking the link in the description down below, or you simply go to betterhelp.com. Which will also give you 10% off of your first month of therapy. Okay, time to go back to this trek. But luckily my friends came to the rescue with the one thing that could bring me back to life. Coffee. And then after about six and a half hours of walking, we entered fairyland. Welcome to Perichokor. We found the perfect spot next to a Just the kind of peaceful setting we needed after a long day of hiking. I am exhausted. So, day one of the Rush Lake trek. This was supposed to be the easier day of the tour, like tomorrow and the day after are supposed to be very hard. But honestly, I over-struggled today. It was definitely not easy. So just to give you an idea, today we did about 500 meters of elevation gain. Tomorrow, we're gonna have to do 50. So that's a thousand meters if we climb more than today. Now that I think about it, it's gonna be so hard. I mean, I guess they call this trek one of the hardest holiday treks in Pakistan for a reason, right? It is hard. It's already hard on day one and it's only gonna get harder. So, let's see how that goes. Luckily though, the beauty of this place more than makes up for it. I mean, look at this. It's like we're in a freaking fairytale or something. At night, we were treated to a pretty luxurious meal, thanks to our incredible porters. Honestly, I never thought I would get a delicious home-cooked dinner in the middle of the mountains, but somehow they pulled it off. So tomorrow, we're gonna walk all up this ridge, long-sided, and then over there, that's where Rush Lake is. I am exhausted. So, tomorrow morning, early wake-up call. We're gonna wake up at four, then have breakfast at 4 30, and leave at five. Because basically, we want to get this really steep part, the first part, over before the sun hits there. Because that's just gonna make it that much more harder and exhausting. I am honestly a bit nervous about tomorrow, I'm not gonna lie. Like seeing how much I struggled today already, just knowing tomorrow is gonna be 15 times harder, but we're gonna make it. And it's gonna be great. It's gonna be fun. I'm just gonna tell myself it's gonna be great. And yeah, we're gonna get some beautiful views, hopefully. For now though, I need some sleep. Good night! Doing anything before having had a cup of coffee is killing, let alone break off the tent. So, we just started our ascent to Rush Lake. And I'm already dying. What I just remember from last year is that this part is just so steep, so exhausting, and it takes a long time to get up there. Also, today, two years ago, was the day that I got hit with altitude sickness. Because you make such a big incline in such a short amount of time. And I think just the combination of like the memory of it being so steep and getting altitude sickness just is making me really not looking forward to this day. But I mean, look at this insane glacier. The higher we climbed, the more the glacier came into view, which definitely worked as motivation. It's so steep. And it just goes on and on and on. After about two hours, the sun started beating down on us. Cue the heat. But we are almost there. I can see, I can see the top. Well done, girl! Yes! Yes! I know, we were all celebrating like we'd already finished the entire trek. But even though it did feel like a little victory, we were far from done. We still had a whole second section to go with, of course, plenty more incline. Actually, this second part is still very steep. You can definitely notice in the breathing that we're getting higher and higher because I'm starting to definitely get shortness of breath. But besides that, I'm still feeling pretty good. No headaches, no nausea. Fingers crossed it will stay like that. At least we're about halfway now. And the views are just, they keep getting better and better, so I can't really complain. I'm feeling pretty bad right now. This last stretch is really, really hard. Almost there. There it is! Rush Lake! And while the lake itself is beautiful, it wasn't the view I was most excited about. Because just behind it, I knew about this one spot where you get the most amazing view over the glacier and all the surrounding mountains. This is the real magic for me. Well, as you can see, we made it to Rush Lake. 46.96 meters altitude, making this one of the highest alpine lakes in the entire world, which is pretty crazy. And it's funny because I remember thinking the exact same thing last time. When you get here, it's like, oh, it's a nice lake. It's a beautiful lake. But it's not like, wow, this is the most beautiful lake I've ever seen. But at least for me personally, this trek is not just about this lake at all. Yes, obviously, it's cool that it's one of the highest alpine lakes in the world, and it's a nice goal to strive towards. But in my opinion, the real highlight of this trek is the way here. It's the glaciers that you cross, the mountain views that you get, and all the beautiful spots along the way. Yeah, I'm actually really happy with how today turned out. We turned out to be pretty fast. We did it in under six hours, including filming, which is not bad. Yeah, I'm really happy to be here now and feeling good and feeling energized and not sick. And although I luckily didn't feel any headaches or nausea, which are the typical altitude symptoms, I definitely felt tired. And so before the fatigue would set in, we quickly set up our tents and dipped our toes in the water. He's having the time of his life. And then we all just passed out. I somehow managed to get up and take another peek at the mountains during sunset, but that was about it. The altitude was definitely taking a toll on us a little bit. Not on the porters though, because while we were resting, they were already cooking us some delicious dinner again. These guys are something else. It is so cold right now. I'm wearing everything that I have. I hope it's going to be enough. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night. I mean, sleeping at 4,700 meters, that's almost a guarantee for nothing but sleep. Safe to say it was a rough night. Even though we'd reached Rush Lake, we weren't done yet. Today was going to be a different kind of challenge. Descending back down. And not only that, we also had a few other obstacles to overcome, including two glaciers and a river crossing. Meaning it was probably going to be another long day. Thank you. But our spirits were high and we were ready for it. Goodbye Rush Lake. Here we go again. We're definitely not done with the trek yet. We have two more days to go, because we have committed to doing the loop, which basically adds one extra day to the trek, plus another glacier crossing. Okay, not an easy start to the day. That is a long way down. These are the mountain tea. It's called tomorrow in our language. And this is what we've been drinking, right? Yes, we drink it. And it smells really good. And it tastes really good too. And it makes for a nice accessory. This is hard on the legs. The decline was long and required a lot of concentration to not fall on my ass, which I did, twice. It was so bad that the guide was even like, give me your backpack. Oops. Everyone always thinks I'm a good hiker because I make these videos, but you see, I'm not. Secretly, I am a really clumsy person. Look where we came from. All the way up there, right down to that valley. Getting close now. And then finally, there was flats. My legs are destroyed. That was really hard. So what you just saw in about 20 seconds, for us, it took about two and a half hours. Two and a half hours of just down like that. Yeah, so we're at 3,400 now, meaning we went down 1,400 meters in two and a half hours. I am honestly not feeling my best right now. I think it's just a combination of exhaustion of the past two days that were already so hard. Also, I didn't sleep very well last night or the night before. I maybe got like two, three hours in total. And oh, hey there. And it's just making me not really on my game, I guess. But on the positive side, the weather today is actually really, really nice. It's not too hot. It's quite cloudy. And you can definitely notice that the breathing is going a lot better now because we descended so much. So we're at a much lower altitude now, which feels really nice. And now we got to cross a glacier. But for some coffee, I think everything hurts. Cheers! I'm making it safely down the mountain. Okay, guys, break time is over. It's time for the glacier crossing. Cue footage. So this black one is called Barpu Glacier. Then the white one is called Mir Glacier. And the white one just looks so, so, so beautiful. Crossing glaciers, though, is also not an easy task because the terrain is just so uneven and so rocky and icy. So it's very easy to slip and you really have to watch out where you step. It started raining now and it just made the ice so, so slippery. That works! Land! So our guide, Nuit, he just told us that today the goal is to get to a campsite called Hapakun. And apparently Hapakun is like a shepherd's field. And he told us there is a room there that we can sleep in. I don't know what like a room exactly means, if it's like a proper room or just like a shepherd hut or like a building. But honestly, the thought of that sounds pretty good to me because that means we don't have to set up our tents and it's not going to be as crazy cold as the last two nights. So... But still, before finally being able to get some rest, there was one more tricky part to conquer. Oh no! I can't believe we just did that. On top of everything else already. I don't know where I found the energy but we did it. After all of that, we were completely exhausted. And of course, it also started raining. Luckily, we ran into some friendly shepherds who welcomed us in for a cup of hot chai. Now it wasn't long anymore before we finally reached our destination for the day. This is so nice! And so we settled in, played some Uno. Not Uno. No! Had a nice dinner. That's really great. I'm impressed. I think the food can't get any better on a hike. And then, once again, crashed. Good morning everyone. I just woke up in the house behind me and I slept like a baby. I thought day two was for sure gonna be the hardest day. But like yesterday, top that. Like yesterday, I struggled so much. It was such a hard day. Just a combination of like the intense decline, then the super slippery glacier crossing because of the rain, and then the riverbed crossing as well. It was just all so much. I am honestly quite happy to go back today. So basically, today is the last day. We're gonna walk back to Hobbit from here. It shouldn't be that long. It should be around three, four hours. So yeah, one final time. We're gonna pack up our stuff and hit the trail. Let's go. But before taking off, of course, one last coffee. The Rush Lake Trek is no joke. It is one of the toughest in Pakistan. Pushing both your body and mind to the limit. The constant elevation changes, the glacier crossings, the heat. It's one of those treks where you constantly ask yourself, what am I doing? Is this really worth it for a couple nice views? Made it! Well, almost at least. We still have to go down, cross the glacier, and then walk up this wall of terror again. And whether the answer to that question is yes or no, I guess in the end, it doesn't really matter. Because treks like this show you something deeper. Something much more valuable than just a couple of pretty pictures. Because when you get through all that discomfort, the exhaustion, and the moments when you feel like giving up, you realize just how much you're capable of. How strong and stubborn and surprisingly resilient you can be when you actually need to be. There's something special about pushing yourself to your limit and realizing you've made it. Not because it was easy, but because you fought through it. So yeah, it was tough. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You have to hug as well. Thank you, brother. That was amazing.