The Markha Valley Trek
The evening sun casts an orange glow on the seasonal grass, a stream murmurs past, a few marmots are probably looking for some fodder and in the distance a flock of bharal have camouflaged into the beige hills. At 4900m near the high camp of Nimaling, with the twin peaks of Kang Yatse in the background of all of this, for a fleeting moment, I seem to be a pioneer, looking onto a promised land.
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Leh to Zingchen to Rumbak
From Leh, the pickup truck carrying the four of us came to a grinding halt on a road where the tar gave away to the underneath dust. As we alighted from the truck, I felt a hot breeze blowing through the gorge, heard the bells of yaks yonder and noted that perched on the crumbling hill slopes of the opposite hill was an accumulation of eight to ten huts. This was Zingchen - the starting point of the Markha valley trek.
As the guide Norbu and me, began to walk, the sun belied the fact that the Ladakhi summer is benevolent. Trudging on the gravel strewn path, the wide track gradually constricted itself to a three feet wide path with the hilly shrubs on one side and the vertical hill on the other.
That day, we walked for 3 hours and came to rest on the edge of a flat land bordering vast tracts of barley fields that were swinging in the cool breeze. The sun was past its afternoon prime and its rays were glinting across the swaying crops. This was the most beautiful campsite that I had ever stayed at!
A dinner of khichdi and omelettes later, it was time to sleep.
Rumbak (3,500 m) to Skiu (3,400m) via Ganda La Pass (4,500m)
As we commenced the next day’s walk, we initially rolled down from the barley fields of Rumbak to a stream that was ravaged by a flash flood in 2020. Negotiating boulders, some of which were as big as a single storey house, we climbed up the slopes of a magenta-coloured hill.
On the upper reaches of the mountain, was the Ganda La pass and it was here that we saw our first marmots, the golden tailed rodents that disappeared into their burrows on the first sight of human beings – spending their summers searching for food, while hibernating throughout the winter. An ice-cream cone like peak also appeared from a corner and this was our first view of snow.
The sights were gorgeous, but with the gain in altitude, the walk became tougher. It must have been hours later that we finally stood on the top of Ganda La. The valley divide was amply evident here: behind us lay the valley of Zingchen whereas ahead of us, we could see the cultivation fields of Markha.
Skiu (3,400m) to Markha (3,700m)
As I have mentioned before, that the sun at high altitudes can be unforgiving was hitherto unknown to me. But on the walk from Skiu to Markha - a distance of 20 kms that was covered in 7 hours – it was a nightmare. The dripping sweat was blown cold in the dusty wind. And blisters appeared on the forearm later that night.
There were numerous villages that dotted the route. And each of these villages had yurt like tents, for the trekkers to walk in and rest. At one of these yurts, we had apricot juice whereas at the other we had mint tea – both of which energized the exhausted trekker.
We had camped beside an innocuous looking stream whose gurgles throughout the day and the night filled up the ears. Added to that was the sonata of the birds, the bells of yaks –an orchestra of nature.
That night, at the camp site, I spotted the Milky way for the first time!
Markha (3,700m) to Nimaling (4,800m – base camp)
We had originally planned to trek till Thochungste. But since it was quite early that we had reached Thochungste, we planned to walk further to Nimaling – the base camp of the trek. The walk was spectacular – we sighted the 6,250m high Kang Yatse peak that stood like a guardian angel across the Markha valley. We came across bits of history – a fort that lay in ruins. Norbu told me that it belonged to the king who reigned over the Markha Valley in the early twentieth century. There were stunning geographical features too – a series of mushroom shaped rocks that were hanging on the sandy mountain slopes.
We reached Nimaling in the falling evening light. The high base camp manifested itself in the freezing air that cut through the down jacket. And then we saw the twin peaks of Kang Yatse shimmering in the moon light.
The next day we were supposed to cross the 5,100 m high Kongmaru La pass and go back to civilization. A thought cut across my mind – the journey was reaching its conclusion.
Nimaling to Chokdo via Kongmaru La (5,100m) and onwards drive to Leh
It was early September, but the stream carrying glacial water from Kang Yatse had become frozen. At 7 AM in the morning, as we started the day’s walk, my lungs seemed to burst in the thin air. And I wasn’t the only one who seemed to be suffering from the altitude. As we rose higher, the campsite became smaller, until it disappeared after a turn.
It took us a couple of hours to cover the 300m altitude gain, but at the top the privations evaporated. We could see a panorama of peaks of the Karakoram range, its mineral covered mountains, its scanty green shrubs and then the memories came back …. It was sometime in 2010, while reading an Outdoor Magazine, that I had first heard the name of ‘Markha Valley’. A picture had caught my eye – a bunch of mules, ascending through the Kongmaru La high pass – in the backdrop of Buddhist prayer flags. It took another twelve long years for me to walk on that terrain.
Back at the hotel in Leh, night having descended and looking at the air tickets to travel back home – it was a moment of reflection of the past few days within the remote villages of our vast country, with its monasteries, people and their belief - this was a tale that needed to be told!