I was just waiting to reach Leh on completion of KK
Pass trek, but I had not thought that I will have to move on the next trek
immediately. I reached Leh by late evening and other three members for the
next trek were desperately waiting for me. Well, they had spent few days
at Leh and by now were quite fed up with the waiting. They
had decided to leave for Karzok the very next day and so the moment I
arrived I got on the job of organising the transport to take us to the
road head at Karzok. We were moving on the Karzok to Kibber trek across
the famous Prang la at 5580 m. It has been long on my listand I wished to
complete it during this trip to Ladakh.
The next day we got up and started the preparations to
leave Leh at the earliest. Despite all our hurry we were able to leave the
place only by 1030 and since the vehicle was supposed to return back the
same day, driver drove at good speed and was reluctant to stop frequently
for us to take photos of the scenic landscape we were traveling through.
We moved along the Indus river towards Upshi leaving the road to Chang la
on our left. At Upshi stopped for tea while the driver made the necessary
entries at the police post. Then leaving road to Manali which crossed over
Indus at Upshi we kept moving along the river on its right bank. The scenes
started to change with every bend and we kept moving along the good road
passing through small villages. Late afternoon we reached the village
of Chumathang where the hot springs exist next to the river, but again
could not visit the place due to the driver's time limitations. Just
outside the village a very old bridge was seen on the Indus and we
forced the driver to stop at the place to let us take the photos. Few km
later we left the Indus and
crossed it over the much mentioned Mahe bridge. The main road continued moving along the
right bank of Indus to Noyma and Henla. The good road moved along the
narrow valley having red bushes to our right side and finally the
valley opened up as we reached Sumdoh village. We did not enter the village
as our road moved away from the village. There is a road going from this
village towards the Manali Leh road which it joins just before the climb
to the Taglang la starts as we approach the la from Manali side. As
we moved ahead we saw a lake and shortly we were on Namshang la which had
lots of flags on top and the road moved around the central structure.
There was a big lake in front of us and we thought that we had reached the
destination however, we were mistaken. In front of us was a big lake and our
destination was still some 25 km away. The good tar road turned into a dirt
road and our speed came down as we moved to the other side of this lake.
Finally as the sun went down we reached the shore of the famous Tso-Moriri
lake. The village is located on the west side of the lake and as we reached the
village the sentry at the check post stopped us for checking the inner
line permits, which had been issued form the Commissioner's office at Leh.
Formalities over, we settled down for the night as strong winds started to
blow. Horses were arranged for the six days trek and with every thing in
place we went to sleep.
Next day dawned with a clear sky and we immediately
moved out for the photos of the lake, the surrounding area and the snow
covered peaks. The large ground which was empty, when we had reached the
place the previous evening was now teeming with life. There were large
number of sheep, horses, yaks in the open grazing ground. Few of the
handlers were also to be seen and the peaks of Chhamser Kangri (6622 m) and
Lungser Kangri (6666 m)
were standing tall on the opposite bank of the lake with sun rising from
behind the peaks bathing the Karzok village and the Mentok group. It was quite cold but the scenes were so good that we kept on
moving around for good shots. The village was visible from here up along
the slope and seemed to be a big one. Earlier it used to be a temporary
settlement but now is a permanent one.
The horsemen took time in coming and so we were
late in leaving the village. After some last minute purchases from the
village shop we moved on to realize that all this time we were seeing only
a part of the village and major portion of the village was not visible to
us till now. Soon we were on the other side where the tents of Nomad Life
Camping company stood in neat lines. Walking along the rough road we
reached the Gompa but continued on our way as we had a long walk in front.
The rough road ended after sometime and then there was a small trail to be
followed along the lake where Mani walls had been erected for quite some
distance. The peaks of Chhamser Kangri and Lungser Kangri kept us constant
company as we moved sometime near the lake and sometime away from it. The
lake did not seem to end and the level walk also turned to a small climb
to a pass. Still from this high point we did not see the end of the lake.
Got down to the other side to have some lunch and then we continued down
the trail with the sun beating us down with all its might and sapping our
energies. The lake water is not good for drinking and very soon we
ran out of water and this added further to our miseries. The only way
was to keep the head down and keep moving along the lake. Though the end
of the lake was not coming in view the place started to open up and also
the peaks were now far to our back and left. As the trail started to turn
around the lake it was clear that we had nearly reached the end of the
lake after a walk of nearly 18 km. Far away a structure which seemed like
a big stone came into view and
some movement on the shore of the lake was also seen. As we moved near to the objects it
became clear that it was a camp with few trekkers. Our horseman continued
beyond this camp and crossed the Phirse Phu river flowing into the lake in a
number of channels. Seeing the horses a lone Kyang came very near to the
place we had selected for setting up the camp. The Kyangdom camp was
established at the earliest and I collected water, as rest of the team
members were feeling the affects of walking in hot sun with hardly any
water. One by one all the members trouped into the camp and lied down
exhausted. One hour's rest with water and tea brought back the energy and the
preparations for the dinner started in ernest. After good food we retired
for the night.