August 18: We awoke refreshed–in part because it was a beautiful day, in part because we only had to walk 4 hours, in part because we didn’t have to sleep on the glacier any more. By now, Deedar and I had a good breakfast routine: He would make me a cheese omelette, I would make some drip coffee (Lavazza expresso) for both of us, then heat up 8-10 slices of bacon for me. Add a chapatti and that’s breakfast. We could see the green patch that lies above Urdokas from Goro 2, but I’d been suckered in by the apparent proximity of that camp before. It’s four solid hours of walking.
Good light meant some photo opportunities, so I used Deedar as a ‘model.’ We rolled into Urdokas right at noon, and just as Roland and his group of 10 trekkers was finishing lunch. I shamelessly mooched off them for three meals, and Deedar was not at all upset–he got the day mostly off. Rols and I caught up, and I chatted with his members, who were a likeable bunch. The skies stayed mostly clear and we actually saw ibex. Well, my camera saw them anyway as the locals kept telling me to look where they weren’t. But I have photographic proof so that’s enough for me.
Aug. 20: Roland’s group planned on leaving at 6am, so I got up at 5:30 to eat breakfast with them (just being sociable, of course). They left for Goro II, and we packed and left under more clear skies. The walk is rather unremarkeable, but you do have to cross a side glacier or two and the trail is easy to lose, so we lost it. We finally left the Baltoro Glacier behind us and the increase in air temperature was immediate. The 45 minute walk from the toe of the glacier to Paiju Camp is hot, dusty, and you cross a big alluvial fan with about 25 stream beds crossing it, each about 8 feet deep. Up, down, up, down, yuck. At Paiju our sirdar had some noodle soup ready (I really didn’t want any, but couldn’t refuse out of politeness). I actually wanted a Coke, but the caretaker wanted 500 rupees (about $7) for 1.5 liters. We’d been buying the same in BC for 300 rupees, so we told him to bugger off. We walked the last stretch to Bardumal in 2.5 hours or so. I’ve never camped there (it’s more of a lunch stop on the way up), and it’s flat, treeless, and dusty. The water that comes out of a pipe there looks more like dirty river water, but by this time I didn’t care. And Deedar and Saliman (the sirdar) were getting me Coke to drink anyway. The winds blew upvalley, then down-valley, and kept switching all night. I had the last swigs from the last booze bottle, then went to bed in warmth for the first time in ages.
August 21: The last stretch. It’s a long day from Bardumal to Askole, the end of the trail. At this point we justed wanted to get it over with. We were at Jhula by about 10:30 and marched to Korophon in a bit over 2 hours from Jhula. As I approached Korophon, a big dust cloud moved in from Jhula. The dust is so fine that you don’t feel it as it goes by.
After Korophon, two more hours or so saw me just outside of Askole. They’ve extended the road past Askole, having built a way through a steep side-gully. I trudged past the rock buttress that hangs out near the trail, walked the final ten minutes, and dropped my pack off outside the ATP compound. Deedar rustled up a snack (sort of a mutton fat gravy and chapatti) and I bought a Sprite. For dinner, we ate at a ‘restaurant’ and had goat chunks, some excellent french fries, rice, chapatti, and finally some jelly (or Jello to Americans). After the usual dithering with solar panels and chargers, we went to bed.
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!