A Steep Hike led me to some Stunning Monoliths in Zanskar

It was very very tough to come up here. It's like a steep climb, never-ending climb from 3,700 meters to the last camping site was 4,880. So almost like 1,200 meters climb, relentless climb. But it was worth it, definitely definitely worth it. So I'm setting out towards the Rangtik valley in Zanskar. The valley is between the Sunny and Athing villages and a few days back I saw some amazing pictures from inside the valley. So that I'll go take a look, spend one or two nights there and get some night time lapses. And behind me you can see I think that will be the village of Sunny and then Padum in the distance and Stongbe all the way up. Amazing view, bird's eye view of the entire valley. But I have to go inside this way and it's supposed to be a nice short hike. So I met some nuns here they told me that initially that will be very steep and after that it's almost like just plain walking inside the valley. So I'm looking forward to it and it's my first hike of the season in the summer. So I will struggle a little bit but yeah that's a way for the body to get used to hiking and carrying a heavy backpack. I'm actually carrying my time-lapse gear, my Emotimo motion time-lapse controller. I'm carrying it after a very very long time, maybe after five years. So yeah looking forward to the time lapses tonight and that also made my backpack quite heavy. Doesn't matter it's not too long. I'll just climb up and once I reach the valley I can just camp wherever I can. So yeah let's go. Just a little bit more. So this region of Zanskar, the Stod valley is home to a lot of bears. So the villagers told me that a bear has never attacked a human but still you have to be careful while hiking in these parts and the best way to do so is to have a whistle and keep blowing it from time to time to just warn the bears if there are any in the area that somebody is coming and they will automatically make way for you. They will automatically run away because they're always scared of humans and most of the attacks happen when you cross paths suddenly and the bear gets scared and it attacks you. So it's always good to blow your whistle once in a while just to be safe. Amazing view out there. I think most of the steep section is over now. Now we just have to traverse the slopes and go into the valley. Oh it's getting cold now. Time should be 4.30. I think we started at 2.30 so it's like two hours of climbing. Yeah it'll get cold very fast. So I'll just walk till the next saddle and then try to find a camping spot with some water. I can't see water anywhere. I can't see any streams. So yeah wherever I find water except the main stream, wherever I find water I'll just stop there. I think it's time for me to wear some warm clothes. Oh nice and warm now finally. Let's go. Let's go. So it's almost 6 p.m now and my destination is far far away beyond the saddle you see over there. Beyond that. So at my pace it'll take me two three hours to get there. So now I have to find a place to camp now. The trouble is it's all rocks here. Fully boulder field. So yeah finding a good place will be difficult. So this is not too wide but good enough for me to sleep. I think it's on the way where people walk and animals walk but still it's fine. I'll set up my camp here. Yeah this is good. I'll go collect water and settle in for the night. Oh the water is very muddy. Thankfully I have my lifestyle filter. I'm done for the day. It's 9 a.m now. Almost 9 a.m and I'm done with my breakfast. I washed my dishes and now I'm getting ready to pack up and leave. It's a very cloudy day today. Completely overcast. But I hope it will clear up by evening. It usually does these days so I'm very hopeful. So I'm going to hike up there. I think that saddle I have to cross on hump and after that I'll have the clear view of that monolith and the glacier ahead. Looking forward to the hike but also it's a bit painful because I'm wearing my Craft and Glory Himalayan Hiker boots for the first time this summer. Yeah these boots. I actually bought them for my winter hiking trips. So usually my size is around like 10-10.5 US size but I bought size 11 for the winter because that allows me to wear thicker socks and it's very important during winters to be able to wiggle your toes a little bit for the toe box to be a little loose so that you know they're not like pressed tightly and cut of blood circulation which can lead to frostbite. So the toes have to have a little bit of free freedom of movement. So that's why I got the larger boots in size wide. But now when I used them this summer with my summer hiking socks they were a bit loose and my feet kind of you know moves inside the boots rubbing against the boots and I got a couple of blisters which made it very painful for me to walk yesterday and today I'm wearing like double socks. They're thin socks, summer socks but still double. Hopefully they'll help a little bit but yeah if I'm going to use these boots on the future trips then I should start wearing thicker socks to avoid the blisters. I always have a habit of forgetting some things on the first hike of any season. Usually I'll forget something or the other and this time it's no exception. I forgot my toothpaste and brush but I have some salt with me for cooking so yeah I can use the salt to brush my teeth and yeah it's always without fail something or the other I forget. So it's around 12.30 pm. I think I've been walking for around like two hours now and it's kind of slightly drizzling but actually a good thing because the clouds are clearing, the sun is coming out so the clouds are like just getting rid of the last moisture before they disappear. So it's very mild drizzling and it's getting sunny. It should be a good evening today. Worth it. So this here is a good camping spot. The ground is relatively flat and it's slightly elevated so that you have like a very good view of the mountains. The mountains are much more closer to me. It will be kind of sheltered from rock falls. Yeah I'll move my bag here. Good. Only thing missing is some spring with clear water because the glacier stream is quite muddy but otherwise so much flat places for me to camp. So yeah this is it. This is the place for me. Good morning. The sun is out finally. It's around 8 am now and it's a clear morning and it was a clear night. Exactly what I wanted. Only trouble is I didn't sleep properly during the night because I kept getting up to monitor my camera while it was shooting the time lapses. Hopefully they turned out good. I don't have my specs so I can't see clearly but I think they should come out nice. It's a beautiful morning but I'm like very tired, very sleepy now. So I'll have breakfast, rest for a while and then go out and explore. A little bit ahead. Go see the glacier ahead. Ideally I would have loved to spend one more day here so that you know I could take more pictures in different angles. But I got food only for two days and I'm already out of food. So this is the last meal I can eat here. Pulao and then I have to head back because I don't have anything. But it's such a wonderful place that I'm sure that I'll keep coming back. Okay time for breakfast. So my usual food while hiking is to make a one pot meal and that is usually a pulao or khichdi. Just rice, some lentils for protein and maybe potatoes, onions, tomatoes and this time I have peas as well. So my breakfast is done, my protein drink is done. Now I want to take some time lapses of these mountains. I came close to the glacier and waiting for some clouds to form so that I can do a time lapse. Clouds are forming and they're just like disappearing almost immediately. So yeah I'll just wait a little bit and see if I'm lucky. I can see some clouds coming over there. So yeah let's start the time lapse. So this was easily one of the best places I've camped ever. Absolutely wonderful place. I just wished I had bought like more food for at least one more day. I could have spent like one more night taking more time lapses of these mountains but I'm sure I'll come again some other time.