Shila -> Pipchar – Walking on a legendary Path

28. May 2026

 

 

Today we had to think about logistics. We wanted to hike from A to B — but we also had a car with us, so we had to figure out where to leave it and how to pick it up again later. The route was not that long, so we decided: Lameth would drive the car to the destination and then walk back towards me. He is about three times faster than I am. At least.

 

We drove together from Shila Phu down to Shila, and that’s where he dropped me off. And right away, I had some sightseeing to do! Because there was a waterfall here! I couldn’t think of any other waterfall in this whole region, and although I usually don’t find waterfalls all that exciting, I still had to go and see this one.

 

 

And then we set off, always following the Lungnak River — along the old trail of the legendary Lamayuru–Darcha trek! Thanks to road construction, it is no longer really legendary and has more or less shrunk to a few days around Lingshed. But Lameth thought this would still be an excellent route if you don’t want to cross the high pass from Shila Phu to Pipchar.

 

I’m a bit undecided about it. You walk along the river — or sometimes a bit higher above it — while constantly seeing the road on the opposite side. There was hardly any traffic, though. The trail itself is not maintained, so a few sections are a bit tricky because parts have slipped away, and in places it gets rather steep down the slope. The weather was no longer all blue skies either, which made it lose a bit of its appeal.

 

Here are my pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes — I had started out alone, but Lameth came bouncing towards me again pretty quickly. He is definitely lighter on his feet and, in any case, much faster than I am. But emotionally, it still did something to me. I imagined what it must have been like when people walked through this near-wilderness in the past, when all the villages were isolated and had no road access. It’s actually a bit of a pity that I never experienced that myself. I only walked the northern part from Lamayuru to Padum, and even that section already had quite a bit of road by the time I later hiked parts of it.

 

But then came another major highlight: the famous Bardan Monastery, perched picturesquely on a rock — seen from the other side of the river! Not many people have photographed this view, and once again I can’t decide which of my versions I like best….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And soon enough, I reached Pipchar — a pleasantly situated village where one could certainly spend some time lingering.

 

 

 

 

From Pipchar, you can also quite easily walk to this viewpoint of Bardan Monastery, have a picnic there for example, and then walk back again. So overall, it was definitely worth exploring!

 

Only my Mapy tracking went completely crazy:

 

 

 

I have no idea what made the device suddenly jump around so wildly at this point that it ended up adding 1,000 metres of elevation gain.

 

In theory, we could also have stayed overnight in Pipchar, but I really wanted to visit Dawa one more time before being passed on to another host the next day. So that evening, I filled my stomach with far too many incredibly delicious momos. And then it was time for another change of location….