Trekking the Markha Valley
We had a cramped three hour drive to Chilling where we crossed the Zanskar River in this super safe box to embark on our trek up the Markha Valley.
On the other side of the river we met up with some porters and mustachioed ponys.
We got our gear together and started trekking up the Markha Valley.
There were tons of sheep, goats, horses, yaks, zos, and cows the entire way. Peter made friends with this little lamb:
The first night of the Trek we stayed in Skyu, this is our camp setup:
The group trekking among some beautiful mountains:
The second night we set up our tents
near the town of Markha:
We ran into a few other Ladakhis with ponys and donkeys:
This is the town of Hangkar where we had a rest day, our camp is on the left.
We did a day hike up a nearby peak to get a better view of the surrounding mountains, including the great snowy peak known as Kang Yatse:
and we saw a herd of Ibex who watched us carefully making sure we didn't try to eat them:
Kai mobbing back down:
There was a friendly and slightly gassy donkey we spent some time with in Hangkar:
This is our strong and fearless guide Morob:
It was amazing to see people farming and subsisting such a long walk away from any towns or hospitals or roads.
There were lots of areas with huge boulders balanced atop dirt spires in the sides of purple and gold mountains:
We experienced one of the brightest moons ever that actually cast some pretty distinct shadows and then we played with headlamps and long exposures:
After Hangkar we hiked up to Nyimaling, this is our camp and the snowy passes above:
We woke up to a fresh and increasingly thick blanket of snow which quickly melted during the day:
The last night we had a celebration with our porters and danced around a bonfire:
The hike was awesome with a new breathtakingly beautiful view around every bend and we were all really excited about it:
Comments
Breathtaking. What are your impressions of being in such isolated and devastatingly majestic surroundings? Does the moon feel like its the same size when its that bright against the humbling mountains? Do you feel the same size? The landscape looks so so big in the photos... Do people make monuments with piles of stones as is done in Alaska and Northern Canada? (Inuksuk?) Did you cook food on the bonfire?
Posted by: Diya | May 5, 2010 5:22 AM