Trekkingday 4: Chogdo -> Shang Phu – A nice Route

30. June 2026

 

 

Since the horses stayed right by the camp overnight, one of them could even look inside curiously in the morning to see what I was doing in my tent. This time everything went smoothly. We packed up, I started hiking, and the horses caught up with me again by the big red rock.

 

 

 

From there, the trail led away from the river and up a pass. The passes on this route were all rather unspectacular as passes themselves. In terms of the views, though, they were great. What I found interesting about the route was that I thought I would see the Indus Valley more often and wouldn’t feel quite so far away, but that wasn’t the case. There is quite a lot of space between the Indus and Markha valleys, and you wind your way over many ridges and through valleys, experiencing a huge amount of lonely nature. Even though you know you could always descend relatively easily. In principle, you are always moving here between 4,000 m and almost 5,000 m.

 

 

 

 

 

After that, we crossed a large, beautiful high valley with old stone dwellings that looked as if no one would ever want to resettle them. A few cows/dzos could be seen on the patches of grass, but they probably belonged to the village way down below.

 

 

 

In some parts, the narrow path was a bit more exposed, but it was fine—at least for me. However, having a major fear of heights wouldn’t be ideal on this route. There are also some river crossings that could be a bit more difficult if the water levels were higher. I only needed a little help once—except for the last day, but we’ll get to that.

 

 

 

Finding the trail is usually okay, but more often than expected, it’s actually not that easy. Sidhar had waited for me here, because otherwise I probably would have indeed taken the wrong path. There was a clear path, but it was just an animal track. The less obvious one led to where I was supposed to go.

 

 

The trail then went down a long valley and around another corner, and I could already see the next campsite. This time it was an inhabited summer pasture. A couple had goats, cows/dzos, and fields, and they lived here every summer.

 

 

 

 

 

And as you can see here, there is also a second group! Up until now, we had been completely alone, only occasionally seeing horsemen heading towards the Markha Valley. And nobody came around to collect camping fees either. Here, things were different. The family had made two areas available where fields would otherwise have been. There was a toilet and a separate water channel. So it was perfectly fine to charge money—except that I found the prices a bit steep. 400 INR (around 4 euros) per tent, per kitchen tent, and per dining tent. I only had to pay 400.

 

 

I absolutely loved the campsite. I like it when the herding life is all around you. However, I had a few physical issues. I’d had a nosebleed along the way and then developed a headache and nausea, which only disappeared during the night. A bit of a shame. The route hadn’t been that difficult or long, so otherwise I wasn’t actually exhausted. But no matter, I still enjoyed it anyway.

 

I would get to know the other group the next day; they were going to take the same route as me.