3.930 m -> 4350 m -> 4.160 m / 5 hiking hours / xx km
In the morning, I felt restored so far. Or rather, I felt able to go on. But these 5 passes – oh dear oh dear. Well, just get going. First I passed another ruined house. Then a tree.
I climbed a littler higher and looked down again.
During a tour like this, I always think about whether or not I could recommend it and whether I should do it the way I did or the other way round and what the requirements are. Surefootedness and a head for heights would probably have to be added. I have the former quite well, the latter to a certain extent. In other words, I can do some things that make others anxious, but there are plenty where my fear kicks in. Suspension bridges in Nepal, for example. There weren’t any here, but there were places that day where my heart got really scared. We often walked along steep ‘sand’ slopes on quite narrow paths. And there were places here where the slopes were quite steep and very deep and the path was sometimes even non-existent. In one place, the sand just slid and my foot didn’t know where it could find a foothold. But I had to get across.
Somehow I did, because staying behind wasn’t an option either. And to this day I still wonder how these little horses manage it all. I’m still quite narrow with my rucksack, but they’re so wide with all their luggage. And heavy for the slippery sand. I can’t get a proper photo of them, so here’s a slightly softer impression:
So we went up and down again and into the mountain folds. Regarding the walking and kilometre data above: these are the actual distances walked. So not that bad. But I had assumed other destinations based on other descriptions, which I had measured with maps.me. And so I was always stressed because I thought I had a lot further to go. Otherwise I would probably have been more relaxed and sometimes taken more time.
But there were also ‘normal’ stretches along the route and there was some pretty scenery to look at.
At some point I arrived in Satak, the place I had planned to spend the night before. I was glad that I hadn’t had to do all this the day before. Satak is also a deserted place, the largest in the area. All nicely laid out – and deserted. Unfortunately, I thought I still had so far to go and that I didn’t have time, so I didn’t go any closer. And I couldn’t see how many households must have lived here.
After that there was a plateau to rest on and then it was a good climb. I sometimes listened to podcasts while hiking. But when I was going uphill, ‘Motivational Music’ was better, as I was able to take a bit of dance momentum up with me.
Further up, it was really nice and the view down was great, of course. I also saw 3 herds of blue sheep. They were too far away for a photo, but still exciting to look at.
These 5 passes didn’t look easy to me, it was always downhill in between and along the mountain folds. I sighed and trudged on again.
But what was that? After the 3rd pass, something blue shone in the distance. Lobzang’s tent! He thought this was the best place to camp. I would still manage the last stage in one piece. I had my doubts, but for now I was happy that I didn’t have to go any further. It was also really nice here and so I continued to recover from the previous two days and the fear of the nasty bits.
And then I kept thinking: pull all my strength together and make it to the road (and then hitchhike for at least another 4.5 hours) or spend an extra night?