Darcha to Lamayuru Trek - Day 1 to Day 2

By: satnam on 7:16 AM

INTRODUCTION

It was a typical free day for me at home. Hoonar Janu, a senior from IIMA, told me he was going for a trek from Darcha to Padum alone. Since I was fairly bored at home and had plenty of time (being unemployed!), I decided to join him.

The next morning, I arrived in Manali. Around noon, we boarded the bus to Keylong. The bus broke down very often and the journey took way longer than expected!
The trek from Darcha to Lamayuru starts near Manali and ends near Leh. It is famous among Europeans. Most trekking companies cover it in 21 days.

The route (starts from below and finishes near the top)

DAY 1: KEYLONG - DARCHA (3300m) TO PALMO (3600m) - 3 Hrs

We were greeted in the morning with rain! Thankfully, the clouds cleared by noontime. The bus to Darcha was scheduled for 1 p.m.

Hoonar with his Kindle while waiting for the bus to Darcha. You get a bus to Pangi Valley from here as well, where the guy on the right with the red towel around his shoulders was going.

Maybe we jinxed every bus we traveled in! The fate of the bus today was far scarier than of yesterday!

The screen cracked all of a sudden! No falling stones, no collision, nothing!

The driver and conductor speculated that it happened due to high pressure in the driver's cabin, leaving everybody perplexed!

By 2 p.m., we reached Darcha, and had our lunch of meat and rice. We bought another bottle of Old Monk, after which we started our legendary trek. Hoonar suggested that we should practice walking that day, hence we did a breezy walk for 3 hours.

Awesome twosome! Lame quote, good photo :)

After about an hour of negotiating curvy roads, we came across this signboard..

..and took the road less traveled by trucks!

We went straight towards Zanskar Sumdo. The Zanskar Chhu river flows calmly alongside, leaving us with gorgeous scenery around us! The walk was pretty breezy, even with my heavy rucksack.

Just before Palmo, the river shrank into a narrow and ferocious stream, surrounded by high cliffs on both sides. There was a bridge (almost a death-trap!) where the river bent by a full 90 degrees. It reminded me of the "Constriction" rapid on Zanskar river in Ladakh.

The river looked and sounded dangerous! One jump and certain death!

Around 5 p.m. we reached Palmo and made camp here.

That damn, noisy, view-spoiling yellow machine!

In the evening, we had a leisurely talk with our host, Laal Singh, who explained the route to us going further. There were other Nepali guides and Dutch tourists as well, who would walk with us for the next few days. After a short walk under the stars, we called it a night.

DAY 2: PALMO - ZANSKAR SUMDO (3950m) TO CHUMIK NAPKO (4500m) - 8 Hrs

With a breakfast of omelette, rotis and good wishes from our host, we set off to ask for a lift to Zanskar Sumdo from a BRO truck.

Laal Singh in front of his hotel

The truck ride was adventurous! It was amazing to see how BRO was constructing roads by cutting humongous boulders. During a conversation with a construction worker, Hoonar found out that only 42 km of road is left to be constructed between Darcha and Padum, which will take 3-4 years. Once the road is finished, it will link Manali to Kargil and the trek will loose its glamour forever. :(

Feeling proud after taking a lift on the second day itself

The BRO truck left us at Zanskar Sumdo, where a signpost and bridge welcomed us.

Visit visitzanskar.com

There is an initial steep ascent just after crossing the bridge. The trail then climbs gradually, with a river running on the right all the way till Chumik Nakpo. We forgot to fill our water bottles at Zanskar Sumdo, and by the time we had finished the initial ascent, we were totally parched.

This is where the road ends. The green area (top centre of this pic) is a camping place. Pretty steep huh?

After about an hour of walking, we finally found a gorgeous camping place with fresh stream water.

The road workers have built the road over the trekking trail. The road rises over the valley gradually and the river gets distant. Around noon, it started to rain, which frustrated Hoonar. We had to cover our rucksacks with rain-sheets. A few of the streams had to be crossed very carefully in that weather!

Notice the "Pateela" already ?

By lunch time, the morning breakfast started to seem inadequate and we were feeling quite weak.

Not feeling tired at all

After a quick nap and small snack, we started off again. All of a sudden, after the JCB which was cutting the road, the trail disappeared. We tried to ask the driver what was going on, but he did not reply. We continued straight ahead over the stones , until the original trail was visible further down near the river bed. The descent was not easy, but there was no choice.

I have miles to go before I eat!

We finally reached Chumik Nakpo, the base camp of Shingo La at around 5pm. We were completely exhausted, physically and mentally! It had been a very long day indeed.

Smiles of gratitude

The evening was spent chatting with a Ladakhi family returning from Kalachakra and a Nepali horseman, Mr. Sunil. He offered us a free ride over Shingo La (5090m), as this was one of the rare occasions where he had met Indian trekkers on this route.
I started to feel a mild headache, due to the ascent of 4500m in 48hours. Hoonar was fine, probably as he had done the Chandra Tal trek before and spent a few days in Manali before this trek.

Next  Post - > http://travelonyoucrazydiamond.blogspot.in/2014/10/darcha-to-lamayuru-trek-day-3-to-day-4.html

Darcha Lamayuru Map