Tarutse -> Saspotse – The Path of the blue Arrows

13. September 2026

 

 

When I woke up early in the morning, I was greeted by the beautiful colors of the dawn. Even the small chortens up on the mountain were bathed in a lovely, soft light.

 

 

For breakfast, I had—just like everywhere else here—the local Khambir bread with an egg. It sets you up nicely with plenty of energy for the day ahead.

 

 

We had asked about the path beforehand, and they tried to push us onto the route via Sumdo and the road, claiming our intended trail was too difficult to find. Apparently, some hikers had returned exhausted in the dark just recently. I had suspected that hardly anyone ever takes this route. But we decided to say: we’ll keep going as long as turning back remains an option, and maybe we’ll make it after all.

 

There were clear blue-arrow trail markers and a small map right at the trailhead starting off the road.

 

 

 

 

The landscape was truly fantastic with all those rock formations. And there were even faint footprints to follow as well.

 

 

 

Then, however, we reached a spot where we couldn’t spot any more blue arrows, but there were very distinct cairns. There was also a path that, while barely walked, was still recognizable. So we followed it. Eventually, though, the cairns and khata prayer scarves stopped, and the path vanished altogether. This couldn’t be right. Better to turn around and have a proper look at that last spot.

 

 

 

And indeed—you just had to look carefully to catch the next arrow. I suspect this is exactly where the others went wrong. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap a photo of the spot, but if you strictly follow the blue arrows, you won’t get lost. Looking at the stretch that followed, it was clear no one had walked it in quite some time. The arrows were still easy to spot, but the trail itself had practically vanished. Walking through those rock formations with all those incredible views was simply magnificent!

 

 

 

 

Here we took our lunch break:

 

 

 

I was feeling so-so. I kept using my asthma inhaler, walked very slowly, and pulled my Buff up over my mouth often, which helped me manage the stretch reasonably well. Still, it didn’t feel genuinely great. On one hand, I was thrilled to be there; on the other, I had this deep longing to just feel “normal” again. Onward we went through the mountain desert:

 

 

There was one trickier section where it dropped down quite steeply over the rocks, and above that was a stretch of extremely dense, scratchy, unphotographed vegetation without any path. In that moment, I was really glad not to be out there alone.

 

 

And then Saspotse came into view, and we descended to the river.

 

 

 

Saspotse is a larger village, but it felt very empty. There was a gathering at the community hall and some sort of wedding preparations underway, making it quite difficult to find a homestay willing to take us in. Eventually, a lovely woman took us in. Ever since her husband passed away three years ago and her three sons all moved to Leh to work as taxi drivers, she has been living here alone. She was a wonderfully kind host, and we really enjoyed staying with her. Rinchen immediately pitched in to help her prepare dinner.

 

 

 

I was unsure how to proceed—and then the decision was made for me. The intended path over the Karang-La had been washed away during the heavy rains the previous year and hadn’t been restored yet. So, we planned an extended tour of Saspotse instead, followed by just the short trek to Yangthang.

 

The bedding here wasn’t quite as nice, but the bed was comfortable, and there was an attached bathroom right next to it. The kitchen, however, was by far the most cozy spot. At some point, the woman excused herself to join the wedding preparations, asking if we would be fine on our own. Where else in the world can you still experience something like that? Leaving an entire home completely in the hands of foreign guests.

 

So, I can definitely recommend this route—though options are somewhat limited after reaching this point. But for now, it was time to sleep and see what the next day would bring.