Day 7:
Pin Valley welcomes you


Pics coming sometime later in the day

Magnificent... Superb pix & Amazing log...!!!!

baba jaag uthe

After so long time finally I get to relive the journey

Thanks for the appreciation.
Was that a pun? Our log can be anything except amazing coz there is hardly any log

Take some responbility and add some life to our rather boring log for the coming days.

Yeh bhi maine hi likha hai

Actually there was a lot on mind when riding--somehow I need to take meditation classes from baba ramdev to recaptulate all those thoughts

Nopes.. not a pun..!! one can emphasize on the beautiful pix more..

Pictures speak more than words, which is aptly conveyed by this t-log. This is a nice approach. I myself can't remember all the details on a ride so taking pics often is a good work around. You don't have to explain everything in detail and let the pics do most of the talking. Waiting for the rest ...

Day 7:
Pin Valley welcomes you


DAY 7 – 22nd June – KAZA – PIN VALLEY – KAZA – 70km

This day began with leisure as we didn’t have many kilometres to cover.

Little did we know that our refusal to buy petrol at Tabo was going to create big problems for us.

As we reached the only IOCL petrol bunk in Kaza we found that there is no petrol & dry out since two days.

Both of us first thought that somewhere or the other petrol will be available. But all the search in Kaza yielded zero results.

The petrol station manager assured us that by evening the tanker would arrive but seeing other peoples reaction we weren’t sure.

To save on petrol we even decided to take only one bike up till Pin valley but than rode on two.

Completed the 30 kms in a jiffy with some photo breaks in between.

The road to Pin valley is the other side of the river & runs parallel to the normal road to kaza for sometime.

Some foreigners on bullets were also enroute on the same road.

Our pace was leisurely & quite relaxed with many a frequent break.

At one of the locations where we had stopped the bulleteers came up & pointed towards the mountains.

At first nothing was visible & than something moved. Some shapes were visible climbing the mountain side.

Upon squinting we made out a family of 4-6 mountain elks & felt really blessed to see wild animals in their natural habitat.

Pin valley as opposed to spiti is mostly green & presents a completely contrasting view for any lahaul-spiti traveller.

It is also a wildlife reserve & hence the view of the elks.

Many a small hamlets are spread around the mountain side & appear as blobs of green amidst the mountains.

Pin valley has a famous monastery at Gulling which we visited & again the main entrance to the inside chamber was locked .we explored the surroundings and made our way back.

From here also a famous trek to Manikaran begins and we saw a few foreigners making their way on foot.

The road sort of goes 20 kms beyond this & ends but due to lack of petrol we decided against it.

The return to Kaza was full of apprehensions of petrol running out of both the bikes & hence we maintained a constant speed to maximize on the fuel efficiency.

Reaching Kaza what we feared came true. The petrol tanker hadn’t arrived yet & was stuck someplace ahead of Nako.

The plan to stay in Kibber and visit the highest village at Ki was thus cancelled & we stayed in the same room at kaza.

Had dinner & slept off in the hope that tomorrow would be better with petrol being available,

Already half a day had been wasted & we were on a tight schedule.


View from our hotel room at Kaza




Just outside Kaza




Which way to take?


The other side of the river is road for Kaza. This side goes to Pin Valley






We could see only three bulleters on our way to Pin all ridden by foreigners



Pin Valley Calling


A small stream meeting the Spiti river






This is where we spotted 4-6 Mountain elks on the other side of the river


A small village named Gulling in Pin Valley






He was quite good at posing


Monastery at Gulling


I tried a lot of time but the monastery is actually tilted


View of village from the monastery




DK posing




Lost in thoughts


Kids at Monastery


DK giving some donation for the monastery to the kids


On way back we couldn't resist stopping near this field




Pictures from the beautiful field, it was so beautiful that my lens won't even do half the justice to the place














One of the many streams that we encounter in Pin Valley


This place is as wide as 1.5km or even more and the river coming from Pin Valley meets the main Spiti river. My lens was just not enough to capture the vastness of the place. We were in complete awe at that time


Last shot of the day, Kaza town entrance

bugger MG :where are the pictures of you posing huh----

Let the model hog all the limelight. I'm better off behind the lens

My posing shot will come in Pangong Tso set when I actually posed in all possible ways

DAY 8 – 23rd June – KAZA – NAKO – 100km

The next morning immediately made a beeline to the petrol bunk only to know that the tanker wouldn’t arrive till 1 pm.

With nothing else to do, had breakfast & waited at the petrol station itself.

Nawang the kid from Kaza who impressed both of us


Both of us had since many days heard about the Manali - Leh road being closed & inputs from people were none to pleasing. But the locals in Kaza assured us that it was passable now so we were a bit too relaxed.A chance meet with some bullet riders who were the only people coming down from Manali changed our perspective completely & turned our entire plan on its head. According to their input the famed Kunzum la pass was near to impossible to cross. As we were going to get down rather than climbing the pass it would be risk to life for two bikers with heavily loaded bikes.

Decided than & there to travel completely back & reach Leh via Srinagar route. But that would mean a detour of more than a 1000 kms .Both of us knew this would require us to cover more than 400 kms a day & leave us with no spare days if anything else happened.

With no other option & after a lot of hassles at the petrol bunk we finally left Kaza at around 3 pm.

Chaos at Petrol Pump


The target was to reach Nako before daylight ended. Not stopping much we raced ahead on the now known road towards Nako.

Shijling river bed one more time


As a result there was a gap between two of us. Stopping at Tabo for more than 45 minutes I was waiting for MG to show up. Upon arriving he told that the entire bike is not stable & the handle was shaking badly. As a result he was riding slow. Upon inspection we saw that the steering bearings were a little tight & maybe needed a replacement. With nothing as an option for next two days we decided to move ahead.

Malling experience at night
The looming possibility of crossing the Malling nala at night didn’t appeal to us very much so kept on riding. Something which happens to water crossings is that as the snow melts in the afternoon the water level as well as the force increases by many fold towards the evening making it dangerous to cross at that time. As we neared Malling around 7.45 pm the sight that behold us was nothing compared to what we had crossed two days back in the morning. Where it looked calm & sedate in the morning, exactly the opposite was its appearance in the evening. The water was flowing with such a great force that even a car driver was scared to cross it than. Prodding ahead with a stick we decided to ride along the mountain wall with me getting ahead followed by MG.

As soon as I started for crossing the stream revving high on 1st gear water started touching my boots. The force was such that it was pushing me from mountain side to the cliff side. The exhaust was completely submerged in water but I kept on revving lest the bike shut down & water enters the engine. With difficulty managed to cross nearly on the edge of the cliff & waited for MG. He followed suit facing the same challenges but his shoes got completely drenched in the ice cold water. So stopped, dried the shoes & socks for a bit. Took some photographs & made way towards Nako.

Malling nala conquered at 8p.m, real time photo


Actual condition (slow shutter speed zindabad), just see the force of stream behind


Stayed at the same place, had dinner & retired for the day.

Nako at night


Tiring day makes you sleep anywhere


DAY 9 – 24th June - NAKO TO RAMPUR – 190km

Started early and made way towards Pooh & than Spillow, the first place where we had enquired for mechanic to fix the puncture.

Near Sumdo


This day was uneventful & the roads were known so the progress was faster.

Reached Jeori by evening 4 & it started raining heavily. Our plan was to go ahead & stay somewhere around Jalori Pass which is like 110-120km from Jeori. The prospect of riding in in darkness coupled with rain and that too in unknown roads which is famous for its landslides didn’t excited us after a hard day’s of riding from Nako. We decided to Rampur and start early and fresh the next day.

Overlooking the Jaypee Dam site




Furious Sutlej River


Stayed in HP tourism’s hotel – Bushaher residency.A bit costly at Rs1200 per night but the wonderful ambience, nice rooms & good food made it for the price paid.

Transferred the pictures on laptop, updated status on the internet & rested for the day.

finally day 8 appended

Hi MG,
Thank you very much for this wonderful log of your Himalayan trip. Seeing such a long gap between the log of day 7 and day 8, I thought you gave. But I can realize your effort and time you spend for this log. Thanks once again and keep up the good work.
Being an obsessed photographer, I liked your pictures.
Henry

Thanks for the appreciation. You haven't realised but the Day 9 log is also posted in the same post. From Day 10 onwards log will be bigger and better and not just the mere mention of places.

Day 10 - In the land of green



Real riding days are coming ahead