Third Section; Darcha to Padum Start at Lahual valley end at Zanskar valley

Trek gradient; Moderate
Terrain; Pass crossing at 5064 metres

I am getting little lazy about writing day to day affairs of our trek. So here I am giving the important details of our journey. It is getting little monotonous for me to write of daily adventures as the end of it all we walked through some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. Dry arid landscapes, glaciers, stream crossings, some crazy bridges, picturesque traditional ladakhi villages and never seen before monastery made this one of my favourite treks.  

If you want to visit this area than time is now as road is connecting more and more villages every year. 

Zanskar Sumdo camp site. Bad weather coming in fast. 

This route is famous amongst the foreigners especially Europeans. We did not come across any Indians here except for a guy from Chennai who was to trek 'Padum to Lamayuru' solo and visited Phutkal monastery on acclimatisation trek. Trekking is going down every year due to road construction. 

We researched on the route to take and what villages we would cross enroute. One of our local friend said we would not be able to find anything on the way so carrying food is a must. We spoke to another friend who suggested there are homestays on the way and it would not be a problem finding the food. With the conflicting information and confusion in our heads, we decide to go without the food, except for everydays knik knacks that we carry with us. 

Gaddi's who helped us with not just food but also lifted our spirits.

Though this is a moderate level trek and after Shingo la the climbs are over and the walk is between the open valleys. But this high altitude trek throws a challenge of strong sun, strong winds and dust devils in the afternoon. One major river crossing that should not be tackled post noon. 

We went to the Keylong bus stand to find out the information on the buses to Darcha and came to know that we can take bus till Chikka, little ahead of Darcha. Himachal Road transport is operating till Chikka a tiny village, but it is better to check on this bus in advance as the service keep changing. This looked like a good plan as we could avoid the motorable road. The bus was to leave at 0700 am and tickets to be purchased inside the bus. 

Here is the itinerary that we followed;

Day 1 Keylong to Chikka to Zanskar Sumdo
Day 2 Zanskar Sumdo to Chumik Napo to Shingo La pass to Lakhang
Day 3 Lakhang to Kargyak
Day 4 Kargyak to Testa
Day 5 Testa to Purnee and a Day trip to Phutkel monastery
Day 6 Purnee to Dorzong
Day 7 Dorzong to Padum

Stunning geography on the way from Shinkula to Lakhang.

Route details;
The highest point is the Shingo La pass at 5064 mts. From Keylong, bus takes the Manali highway. Darcha on the highway is nothing more than few shanty shops, are regular highway eateries.  The village of Darcha is opposite of the highway. Little ahead of Darcha the bus takes a smaller road on the left side and continues towards Chikka. Bus conductor had an interesting job making sure everyone has a ticket. Bus was packed with locals and looks like nobody was interested to purchase the ticket. Then he has to remember who would get off where, as people were taking tickets for shorter routes and not getting off at the stop. In all this mayhem he seemed to have lost his memory as he checked our tickets 3 times to make sure we had the tickets. Tuff times....

Finally at Shinkula - Bad weather crossing but not unsafe. 

Chikka was the last stop and the 3 of us last passengers. We were off at the stop and were happy to have finally started the trek. 

From Chikka to Lakhang the road is being constructed. There is heavy vehicle movement of trucks and machinery till the pass. The walk from Chikka to Zanskar Sumdo is fairly easy. The road is wide and the climb is gradual. We were able to walk fast here and could reach Zanskar Sumdo in about 4 hours. 

Zanskar Sumdo to the pass is steady steep climb. The road is wide to walk but at some places you can take the trail to cut short the bends and avoid the traffic. Though sometimes it is easier to walk on the road. 

Camping at Lakhang. 

We decide to take a ride from Zanskar Sumdo in one of the army trucks till Chumik Napo as weather at Zanskar Sumdo was turning real bad and we wanted to cross the pass before the bad weather sets in. Crossing the pass was fairly easy. The road makes it easier to walk. Lots of small streams to cross so taking the shoes off is an added task. Water was severely cold here due to the cloud cover and immediate glaciers from where the streams were originating. It was so cold that we had to shout real hard to keep ourselves calm after crossing. We were trying to cross the pass with the snowfall on the peaks on our sides and rain right on our heels. We could see clear sky on the Zanskar side and kept pushing ourselves. 

From the pass till Lakhang the trail or road is downhill. There is another stream crossing at the bottom of the pass mountain. The road ends at Lakhang. Villagers are walking till Lakhang and then take to transport to move torwards Keylong and Manali. There are private operators running vehicles from Lakhang to Keylong or Manali. 

From the other side. This is between Lakhang to Kargyak.

Lakhang onwards till Padum there are no major climbs. The terrain is fairly flat and trail is running between the wide open valleys. From Lakhang to Purnee there is no vehicle traffic except locals moving on their mules occasionally.  Enjoy the walks in solitude. 

Purnee onwards till Padum the road work starts again. But from Purnee to Ichar there is a choice to walk on the trail. On the right is the road and across the river 'Tsarp'' is the trail to walk on. We chose the trail as it kept us away from any traffic. The road is faster though. 

Ahead of Ichar the trail ends and only choice is to walk on the road. The traffic is low so walking on the road is not so difficult except ahead of Mune to Padum when the road construction is in full swing and trucks and heavy machinery makes the dust to fill you eyes and nose. This section can be avoided by taking the transport to Padum as here the scenery is not fascinating and dust makes it impossible to walk. 

By the last day it was just me and Amit. Nagaraj decide to leave after Purnee and took the transport to Padum. We walked 32 kms on the last day of this section. From Dorzong to Padum, our plan was first to break the journey but later we got little anxious to make it to Padum fast. By the time we reached Padum we were covered in dust and sneezing our way into the town. 

Celebratory 100 kms selfie!

Food and stay availability;
The information that we received before start of the trek were both wrong. Here how it works - Chikka is a very tiny village. There are no shops or restaurants here. If you plan to stay here the food needs to be arranged with one of the families living here. We did not stay at Chikka and continued till Zanskar Sumdo.  On the way there are no shops or restaurants to eat either. We had read about a Nepali's shop on the way on the internet but it was closed. The guy works as a labourer at the road construction site and comes back in the evening. If you can find his shop which is one of the tent in the labour camp wait till evening for his return. There are no signs marking it so locate people who might be able to give the details. 

Other way of arranging the food is to request someone at the camp to cook some food and pay him for it. Zanskar Sumdo is not a settlement. There are no villages from Chikka to Zanskar Sumdo. At Zanskar Sumdo the road construction division of army has a small post. They were happy to feed to us and we were relieved to finally find food after a full day of walking on empty stomach.  They did not charge us for the food. We had lunch and breakfast here. The staff was very polite and their reporting officer helped us without question. 

Trail traffic - wild wild west style!

We were also lucky to have met Gaddi's - shepards from Himachal. We noticed one on a boulder calling for his flock and could not believe our eyes. Never knew they came this far with their cattle. This felt like a mirage on this day as we knew we would not go hungry now. 
They offered us tea n coffee and also fed us dinner. The icing on the cake they were from Kangra valley. Their village not too far from Bir. 

For stay we had our tents and there is ample place to pitch the tent. There are no guesthouses here so if you do not have tent request someone at the camp or at the army post. They might be able to help. 

Zanskar Sumdo till Lakhang situation is same. No villages or guesthouses. Place to camp is available and food can be arranged at the labour camps or at the army post. At the post though it is the commanding officer's discretion. We were lucky. 

Lakhang is where road ends so far. There is a shop cum restaurant run by a Nepali guy. Mostly it is open but make enquires beforehand. He can offer place to sleep as well. The prices are inflated here on. For sleeping inside his tent he asked for Rs. 600 per person. Food is separate. For pitching the tent he asked for Rs. 300 per tent we negotiated to Rs. 150. Bargaining is the key but difficult as there are no other options. But it still works. 

On the way to Phutkal monastery.

Kargyak is the first village and there is one shop and couple of guesthouses here. As August was harvesting season the villages were empty in the afternoon and everyone comes back in the evening from fields. Important to have packed lunch if you are not cooking on your own. We had to wait for the whole afternoon for food as the shop was shut and the village was empty. 

This was the situation in all of the villages with people being busy with the harvest. 

Food and stay at the guesthouses is expensive as per the Indian prices. Asking price is Rs. 1000 p.p. with food and stay. But remained almost the same for us even though we were to stay in the tent. Negotiate the deal, it is tough but needs to be done. As the food is very very basic and the people calculate the number of chapatis to be eaten. There were exceptions but mostly this is the trend. 

It better to deal with people who are not running a guesthouse. 

First view of Phutkal Monastery.

Good options to stay - Purnee restaurant before the village starts. The guy was fair with his pricing and has a clean place to camp as well. Family at Dorzong, only 2 families here, fair with the price and open hearted. Dorzong is a small settlement of 2 families, couple of kilometers before Ichar. 

Phutkal moanstery has a restaurant but was not open when we reached there.  The cook had gone for lunch 😀. Monasteries are also good place to find food and shelter. It is nice to make some donation in the box though. We stopped at Mune monastery on our way to Padum and were greeted with big smiles and some lovely food. 

For camping in the village or around the village you need to make the payment to the guy who owns the land. It is better to figure out rates beforehand as it can be unreasonable. The prevalent rate is Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 per tent per night. 

Young monks at Phutkal. 

Padum is a decent size town. Has shops, few restaurants and hotels/ guesthouses to stay. Internet is super expensive costs Rs. 5 per minute and does not work well. Phones do not work so to make calls go back in time and stand in the line at PCOs. 

River crossing;
On this section there is one big river crossing after Lakhang. This needs to be crossed before noon. After noon the water runs above waistline and river can bring big rocks with it that can cause a fracture to the feet or leg. We started at 7.30 from Lakhang and were able to cross it by 9 am. The water was little over our feets. 

Transport (If required); 
From Chikka to Lakhang there are army road construction trucks plying, can give lift. Lakhang to Purnee no transport except one vehicle is there ahead of Kargyak which can be called if booked in advance. But this can take you only before Purnee as road is not connected after that. After Purnee the road construction starts again and you can find ride either with trucks or private vehicles. With private vehicles you need to negotiate the price as it it not a free ride. The frequency is very very low might have to wait a long time for it. Nagaraj decide to leave between Purnee and Dorzong and had to wait for a whole day for the transport. 

Butterfly in the stomach bridge!

Weather;
At Zanskar Sumdo the weather turned bad pretty fast and it was raining the whole night. We were told couple of days before a glacier came down bringing big boulders and lots of waters. 

After the pass the weather was always clear with blue skies and starry nights. It is better to start walking early as by noon the sun is hot and wind picks up. The dust devils starts to form and brings in lot of sand. Having a sun hat or cap is a must with shades to cover your eyes. 

Evenings were pleasant. Once the sun goes down the warm clothing is required.   

Phutkal Monastery visit;
We did a day trek to Phutkal and I can assure you it was worth it. We were first planning on skipping Phutkal but we met a local guide and he insisted we go and see the place. Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries of Zanskar region. Perched on a mountain top the first views are mesmerising. The monastery is built around a natural cave. The trek to the monastery is beautiful. So if you are around the area the monastery visit is a must. 

View from Phutkal Monastery.

Another interesting bridge.