"I've never experienced so much changing weather in so short a time as I did this morning (day 2 of the trek). Sun and heat to clouds and cold to light rain to windy to sunny to SNOW to HAIL, back to sun and then crazy wind....And it's only 1pm". That's the opening line of my 33 page journal entry (or succession of journal entries) written while trekking in Ladakh, a state in Northern India. Ladakh means "many passes". On this day we only hiked for 2.5 hours gradually ascending to a height 14,500 ft (we camped that evening at the base of the Gandala Pass). I'll tell ya, my body was feeling it. Even though, we took our time and the uphill really was GRADUAL, I hit a wall. The thought of pushing any buttons on my camera was even exhausting. But, thankfully, this was about as rough as it got in terms of acclimitization. Jon and I had a few headaches at this altitude... James pretty much rocked it...and that was pretty much it. We were very thankful for that!
We spent our first three days in this area, in the main town of Leh checking out monasteries, drinking ginger tea, shopping, napping, reading and eating great food! We were taking it easy as we were told so as to help our bodies adjust to the altitude. Leh is at approximately 11,000 ft elevation.
On the first day of our trek, we hiked 2 hours to the town of Rumbak, where we were greeted by a tea stall serving candy, snacks, coke and even beer (and of course, tea). We laid low, played our first games of Yatzee, drank more tea and ate a delicious dinner of chicken curry and veggies. I believe this was the first and second to last night of being carnivores (well, except for the canned tuna that we had later on during the trek. And, man, that canned tuna sure was good!).
The three of us, Jon, James, a friend from Flagstaff, AZ, and I, were led by our guide, Wotop (actually, his name is Mutup, but we didn't understand him well enough when he spoke his name, and so for the entire 10 days, we called him Wotop....wow, talk about patience...he just let us be. We did have a hint that it wasn't his name when we asked the cook on Day 5, "Where is Wotop?", and the cooked replied with, "What? water?"....things that make you go hmmmm...or doh!). Along with Wotop (yes, I will continue to call him this...I mean, how can I not?!), was his son, Delick, who was a helper, our cook, Tseweng, and the horseman, Tashi. Oh, and 7 horses. Yes, 3 Americans were accompanied by 4 locals and 7 horses. True story.
On Day 3, we hiked up to the Gandala pass (1 hour and 15 minutes for me....record breaking 55 minutes for James and Jon), and then descended to the village of Skiu for a good 4.5 hours more. I really felt like I was sucking climbing up the pass. Jon and James told me that I "kicked ass", but I must say, it is difficult to consider yourself an "ass-kicker" when you are moving at a snail's pace. But, in our defense, I guess we did climb 500 meters frm 14,500 to 16,000 ft elevation in fairly cold weather. I will say that I didn't stop moving...I was a consistent snail:)
Day 4 was LOOOOONG! 6 hours may not sound too bad, but it was 6 hours of pretty level terrain....great views of the valley, some canyons and an easy flowing river. Parts of this day reminded us of the Grand Canyon, Zion and Canyonlands. Very cool stuff. On this portion of the trek and many other parts of the walk, we passed walls made of stones where the top layer stones are covered in Sanskrit and Tibetan mantras. The most popular mantra, Ohm Mani Padme Hum, appeared on probably 80% of the stones. There is no direct translation, and the meaning it can and does invoke could probably be the subject of thousands of blog entries. But, from what I gather, the meaning embodies compassion and peace for all beings. Very beautiful. We also came across a few old monasteries that were build high atop hills. It is absolutely crazy to think that people actually hike up these steep hills (and I mean, steep...they are basically cliffs), let alone to think that people actually built the monasteries!
We landed at THE Markha Valley Campsite (Markha Valley is THE valley that the trek is named after). After dinner, we asked Wotop about his calf. He had said earlier that his calves were giving him pain...um, you'd never know it, though. The 48 year old man was still kicking all of our boo-tays. Anyway, he replied by saying, "It's complicated". "Complicated?" we asked. And so, he gave us the story. While we were eating, he walked over to the Markha Valley Village, and for the first time in 18 years (18 years of guiding this trek), he was bit by a dog that leapt at him from behind a bush and grabbed hold of Wotop's calf with his teeth. Well, we sure did jump on that, and cover his bite in antiseptic, Neosporin and bandages. And we insisted that he clean his wound again before going to bed. This kind of freaked us out...rabies, infections, etc. But, the next day, he appeared as burly as ever, and for the duration of the trek, he never foamed at the mouth or bit us or anything:)
Day 5 began with Jon dropping our nice, double-ply, soft, don't leave home without it while traveling in India toilet paper into the squatter....ie. the deep massive hole in the ground. From here on out, I tried not to go to the bathroom....bad mistake. Note to self: Always go to the bathroom when nature calls while trekking. Don't hold back...ever.
This day was just plain HOT. It was our first cloudless day, and I guess when you are at 14,000 ft, the sun is quite powerful. Once we reached camp (the Hankar Yogma Camp), the heat finally gave me the courage to wash my hair in what has to be the coldest water I have ever and hope to ever wash my hair in. I was very worried that I my whole body would be cold as it takes my hair sooooo long to dry. However, that powerful sun did its magic, and I had a dry head within minutes. Amazing that sun is.
On Day 6 we only walked for 1.5 hours to Thachungtse. Pretty short walk, but if we went any further, we would have had to camp at 15,000 feet at Nimaling Pasture, which is incredibly windy and um, freezing. No thanks. I'll just hang out for a day soaking up the rays. Today was also the day that my stomach gave in and said "if you don't relieve me right now, there is going to be trouble". Unfortunately, we were at one of the only 2 campsites that didn't have any squatters (holes in the ground surrounded by stones....your own private toilet...divine). I'll just leave this matter on the note that it was an awkward day.
Day 7...oh, Day 7...oh, Day 7, you rocked my world. I'm pretty sure that on this day I was physically pushed harder than ever before in my life. Jon said that had he known what that day was going to be like, he would have warned us big time. We walked uphill for 4 hours ascending to the Kongmarula Pass at 16,700 feet. Bru-tal. We walked along side the Kangyatse peak (21000 feet), and at one point, I looked around and was surrounded by massive peaks. While this is a very beautiful site, it also freaked me out a bit. I realized that we were VERY high in elevation, and I felt a bit trapped... I mean, really, how do you get down from here? You climb more, reach a pass and then, and only then may you begin your descent to "out". There was a point during this day where we gradually ascended through a pasture. The end of the pasture was definitely a mirage. As much as we walked, we didn't seem to get any closer to the edge of the pasture. Jon and James, once again, kicked boo-tay. Laura, however, eh, whatever. I made it. Jello legs, racing heart, my body craving oxygen and rests just about every 15 feet. It was intense. Oh yeah, and how can I forget the never-ending desire to vomit. But, we made it, and it was cool. very cool. I may have to go as far as to say that all the pain was worth it:)
Then, we began the walk down...um, hello, is 3 hours more of walking really necessary? Apparently, it is to reach the good campsite....and, I must say, the campsite, Chuskurmo that night was the best yet. Upon arrival, we were greeted with Godfather beers (yes!), and a stunning view as our tents sat at the top of a cliff overlooking the beautiful canyon and river before us. Stunning. We leaned against our bags, listened to our ipods and stared at the view from our front porch. It was the perfect setting after the extreme day. We felt good.
On Day 8, we arrived at our final campsite, which happened to be right next to our first signs of civilization....mainly, a dirt road. We were a little perturbed at first that we were going to spend an afternoon and evening along a road, when we could just walk another hour or two to where the jeeps where going to pick us up, anyway. However, we ditched our Debbie-downer views, and made the most of it! We had such a fun day! We chilled, played Yatzee...in fact, I was on a crazy Yatzee role, winning games right and left. All the while we drank Godfathers and more Godfathers... and suddenly, my playing took a turn for the worse, and I ended up with my lowest score of all time. So, we quit playing, grabbed a few more Godfathers and headed to the river. I read and listened to my ipod (mainly, Glamorous by Fergie....the song that was always stuck in my head while hiking), and Jon and James built a dam. Good times.
That night was obviously our last dinner. The whole crew of 7 of us ate together, and Tseweng even made a cake! Jon and James gave each crew member some t-shirts that reminded us of them. For example, Wotup received the Peruvian softball "Profes" shirt, as he was our "teacher". It was a great evening, and the perfect conclusion to our amazing journey.
