Dream Trek to Stok La - "Ladakh "

Yes dreams do come true in Ladakh.

14 of us, successfully crossed Stok La ( 4900mts) and had a great time trekking, camping, and singing our hearts out amidst lonely hills , under the silver moonlight.

To my eye, Ladakh is stark beautiful. I immediately fell in love, at the first glimpse of Stok Kangri Peak from Leh. We reached Leh on the 5th June evening, exhausted and stunned by the immensely beautiful high passes road route, with cascading hills and the shadow of the clouds falling over them , changing hue

Our journey to the Moon land began on 3rd June from Delhi, where everyone gathered.
Manzoor bhai, Mubarak, Nazir , Meenakshi, Yatra , Sukrutee, Alisha, Kabira, Cassius, Raghav, Baizaad, Vipin and myself were all excited about this trek.

3rd – 4th June - Delhi to Manali
Delhi to Manali route is an usual journey where u sleep most of the time. There’s nothing much to see outside the bus window, but the evils of urbanization. It takes around 14 hours approx. to reach Manali with occasional stops for tea and dinner - 500kms approx.

4th June to 5th June - Manali to Keylong
We hired 2 Tata Sumo UV from Manali and halted at Keylong for the night. I celebrated my birthday on the Manali – Leh Highway. This route goes through 4 high alitude passes( route map is documented for the interested) The route goes through some stunning landscapes , like a dream unfolding. Occasional stops for tea and photographs were a regular feature of our journey.

Hotels made up of army parachutes provided some lip smacking tea and aloo paranthas, which in a way kept us alive for the tough high altitude journey.

“First times” – are always different from the second times and third and so on. It was my 1st time to Ladakh too. For many in the group it was first snow, first high altitude trip etc. For most of them it was a first high altitude trek to the Himalayas.We were all excited first hand. The night stop at Keylong or Sarachu is necessary. The driver needs rest for the next 20 hours long high altitude journey. The highest pass we crossed was the last one taralangla – 17,000 ft approx. A severe headache was experienced by everyone, we were acclimatizing , slowly. Reached, Leh by 8:00 pm.High altitude struck most us.

“Jullay”, greeted by Qayoom , my ladakhi friend who made us comfortable in a guest house on the Fort road in Leh.We took a day's rest before the trek day, to get acclimitised to the new height of Leh – 12,000ft. We spent most of the day aimlessly strolling in the beautiful Leh streets.Houses were built using mud and bamboo for the walls, we greeted everyone shouting “Jullay on top of our voices, yah we were excited. As adviced by Qayoom, we did some basic climbing in the evening to Shanti Stupa, a quiet and beautiful place.

We were now feeling comfortable about this new high. After a quick brief by Qayoom our trek leader, about the “do’s and don’t’s for the trek we started packing. Excited, tensed and anxious, were the mixed feeling amongst the group. Our first trek in Ladakh, was finally going to happen.
This night was my longest one to pass.I kept thinking about my dreams and how not to give up pursuing them. They sure can become reality. You have to be persistent.To fly, it requires persistence and resistance.

 

OK the dream started next day after an early drop to the village of Spituk, which lies immediately south of Leh, on the opposite side of the Indus valley.We met our wonderful cooks and 10 ponies. The Spituk gompa passed by as we reached our starting point near the wodden bridge and started out trek to Zingchen (3410m). The walk was more or less on a plateau , but passing thru some stunning landscape all around, natures own Imax screen.It was a 5 hrs walk thru deserted valleys utnil we reached a small village called Zingchen. We camped there for the night.

Day 2 of trekking
Zingchen- Rumbak (5 hrs. Trek) After an early breakfast, we walked along the stream, crossing it several times and finally reached Rumbak (3800 m) -a picturesque and agriculturally rich valley, with beautifullly decorated houses, small temple and school. Since we had gained a lot of altitude, tiredness could be seen on the face of our team members.I had to keep everyones morale high, casue tommorrow we cross Stok La at 16,0075ft - the height most of us have never been to. In the evening, we went for an acclimitisation excersise. We climbed a nearby hill to get used to that altitude - thats a very necessary exercise I learnt during my Advance course in Mountaineering.We camped overnight in tents at Yurutse. 

Day 3 trek.

The last days trek over the Stok La was a mean straight ascend, no compromise.
The trail to ascend begins towards east. The never ending, zig zag and steep trail takes you to Stok la at (4900 m).Dreams came true. We crossed the pass and walked down until we reached the river flowing from Stok Kangri & finally reached the charming Stok village, which offers panoramic view of the Indus valley. We camped for the night in a beautiful spot on the banks of the stream 
and sang our hearts out. A bit sad and happy we all were.

Day 4
Drove back bidding goodbye to the romantic hills, with memories never to forget. Those
few wonderful days of hardships , now seem so sweet and enjoyable. After the basic thanksgiving session , we decide to head back to Delhi from the Srinagar route , which goes thru Zozila pass, Kargil, Drass.Let me tell you i never saw beauty in such a raw form.This route turned out to be better than the Manali route.We all have our tales to tell about this return journey.

As i was heading back home, from my train window, i realised, someone stole my mountains.

we all remained quiet for the whole journey back to Mumbai.

Yes we missed Leh
we missed Stok La
We missed Qayoom saying " sab theek tak hai"
We missed Sharif for his innocence.
We missed Rahul our cook who made us some really delicious food.
We missed our pony caretaker who always smiled and never spoke.
we missed pitching up tents
we missed eating in the dark
we missed those guitar singing sessions
we missed those stupid "cassius' jokes sessions
we missed the early morning natures call sesions
we missed mansoor bhai saying "gai kha jayegi"
we missed yaatra sukkus giggling in tents
we missed bitching in our tents
we miss those small fights
we missed the bhajias, maggi and the camfire
we missed Alisha tumbling down
we missed Meenakshi's "mujhse nahi hoyega re"


yes, we miss something........living