#1 Backpacking Through High Altitude Deserts of Ladakh

Dear Steemians, in this new series of blogs, I would take you guys along with me to one of the most spectacular destinations on earth, the high altitude deserts of Ladakh in India. I was fortunate enough to backpack through Ladakh for two months and got a chance to spend quality time getting to know the local people, the art and culture, the history and architecture, the food and cuisine and much more. Those two months has given me some of the richest experiences of my life which changed me as a person completely.

Ladakh ("land of high passes") is a region in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that currently extends from the Kunlun mountain range to the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir and its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. It is home to some of the highest roads on earth; that’s why it is famously known as ‘Land of high passes’.

There are three ways to reach Leh city in Ladakh; first one being by air. There are daily flights from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore etc. This is one of the most scenic flight routes in the world where we fly very closely above the great Himalayas and you get to see the changing landscape below you. From green mountains of the lower Himalayas, to snowcapped peaks and to deserted mountains as we approach Leh city.

The second option to reach Leh city is by road from the hill station Manali. The Manali- Leh highway is regarded as one of the most scenic road trips in the world. It takes two days to cover the distance of 450 km between Manali and Leh. The third option is a road trip from Srinagar city to Leh.

When I decided to go to Ladakh, there was no doubt in my mind that I would go via Manali Leh highway. Doing this road trip was in my bucket list since a very long time. I left home for Manali on 24th June 2017. I flew to New Delhi, which is a two hour flight from my hometown Mumbai. From Delhi, it’s a 14 hour overnight bus journey to Manali in the state of Himachal Pradesh. You leave the sprawling city of Delhi in the evening and you know that the next morning, you will wake up in the Himalayas leaving the city far behind and breathe the fresh air of the mountains for days to come. I woke up in the bus when the dawn cracked with a smile on my face. The mountains greeted me with some amazing views of a deep valley, towering mountains and gushing rivers below.

I was accompanied by my few of my friends who are equally passionate about travelling. They were to be with me for the next 10 days and then I had decided to go ahead on my own. We reached Manali at around 7am and at we had arranged for an Innova car to pick us up from the bus stop and start our journey to Leh. We loaded our luggage on the top and started with the much awaited journey. In this two day journey we would be crossing some serious high altitude passes. First one being the famous Rohtang pass (13,500 feet) which is just 50km from Manali. The road winds uphill in the beautiful and green Kullu Valley.

Suddenly we were stopped by traffic. We could see the cars lined up all the way up the winding roads. This sort of traffic meant landslide! I had seen a lot of these in the past few years. The roads could take anywhere from few minutes to few hours to open up. Now all we could do was to wait.

We got the news that there were a total of 3 massive landslides just before Rohtang pass and it’s going to take a minimum of 12 hours for the roads to reopen. We could not turn around now because of thousands of cars that had lined up behind us. The wait was frustrating and it was getting dark.

The roads finally opened up at 6pm and we were good to go! We had aimed to reach Jispa by 3pmpm but nevertheless, we decided to push on to Jispa itself. After crossing the Rohtang pass, we enter into the dry and erred Lahaul valley and there is a dramatic change in the landscape.

The drive upto Jispa is next to the river Chandra which eventually flows into Pakistan. We were not able to see most of the scenery on our way because it got dark; also we were pretty tired and we slept most of the journey. We reached Jispa at 10am and the driver took us to a guest house he knew. We checked in and went straight to bed. We had only covered 150km. 300km left for day 2.

I woke up at 4am and did some routine workout. Everyone was up by 5am and we left by 6am. It would take around 13 hours to reach Leh through high passes and horrible roads. There’s nothing like starting a drive in the serene atmosphere of early mornings. The scenery was unbelievable. It changed after every 20 minutes. I have never seen a scenic road such as this one. I am having trouble explaining the beauty using 26 letters.

The first pass of the day was Baralacha La. It is at an staggering altitude of 16,400 feet. There was a lot of snow around the road and it was absolutely breathtaking. We got down for a few minutes to click pictures and left immediately because a sudden exposure to such high altitudes can be dangerous.

Our driver had some amazing collection of old songs that we hadn’t heard in ages. Scenic roads, beautiful music and good company are the recipe for a perfect road trip. One of the most amazing sights during this road trip is a high altitude glacial lake called Suraj Taal.

It is a bright blue and green water lake, surrounded by snow covered peaks. Such a refreshing sight! We stopped there and took a few pictures.

The roads after this lake are horrible; Dusty and full of potholes. There are a few sections on the road where rivers flow from the road and we had to get down and dip our legs into the freezing cold water to remove huge rocks from our path. It was like nothing I had seen before.

After a small village called Paang, the valley opens up and the roads are astonishing. This was the best part of the entire road trip with huge valleys and good roads finally!

This road goes up to the final high altitude pass, Tanglang La (17,200 feet). We all felt the altitude kick in now with a sharp headache.

We were exhausted by now and couldn’t wait to reach Leh. After Tanglang La pass, it takes around 2 hours to reach Leh. Once we descended Tanglang La, maximum of the journey is next to the mighty Indus River. The flow of the river was very strong because of the rains and hot weather that melts the snow high up on the mountains.

When I saw the peak Stok Kangri that I had climbed last year, I knew we were very close to reaching Leh.

I got network coverage in the new sim I had bought specially for Leh and that was a relief. We reached leh at 7pm and checked into our guest house. The guest house was owned by a very good local friend of mine.

We went out for a little stroll in the market. It brought back a lot of memories from last year. Some really exciting adventures awaited in the coming days. Follow on to read about the days ahead! Cheers!