Last Updated on 14 August 2023 by Poorna & Brinda
Markha valley trek is a lovely hike in Ladakh Himalayas. After first day of our trek, we stopped at Skyu village for night.
The first night inside the tent was cold but comfortable. Fortunately, we were in a wooded area and there was not much of wind. The good part with treks in Himalayas is that you go to bed early and get up early. At 5.30 AM Tashi and team served us hot tea which was god sent. Sitting inside the tent, we sipped the tea with cookies. Stanzin was there too and said that we shall leave at 7.30 AM sharp after Breakfast.
We came out of the tent and got ourselves ready. We walked around on the banks of Markha river before Stanzin called us for breakfast. Tashi had prepared lovely porridge and had also got some fruits for the breakfast. Being the first breakfast of the trek we were curious as to what would be on the menu early in the morning. Stanzin explained that it would be porridge and fruit to start with as it is easy on stomach. Later in the morning, we would munch on sandwiches and eggs. That sounded good.
Stanzin tells us it would be a long walk today to Markha village but will be compensated by some lovely landscape. We are all excited. Let us start day two of our Markha valley trek.
Join the excitement. Join us on day two of the trek. Please click on the pictures to see them in larger size.
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As soon as we started, we could see these lovely gorges on our left. Would be great to trek through them one day!
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We descended to the river and started walking on the bed. These bushes were welcome and we stopped there for our snack break.
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A nice patch of greenery amidst barren mountains. We see the white canopy which will be our place for lunch break.
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We along the river. The landscape gets interesting. We could see the mud walls looking like a “fort”
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We enter outskirts of Markha village which is a small village with 20 houses. We walked through the barley/wheat fields on the trail – you can see in the picture – on the left bank of the river
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“We are camping there” said Stanzen! showing us the white chortems! “Another KM only”!! One more Kilometre to go……
It was a long day. The longest distance in the 5 day trek wherein we covered close to 18 KMs. It was a gradual climb walking along the river bed. At few places we had to climb which is tough at these altitudes. The sun was strong. Fortunately we had many trees where we could stop, rest and recover.
Tomorrow will be an easy day and beautiful, say Stanzin. We look at each other and smile.
This is the second part of a series of five posts on our experience of trekking in Ladakh in Markha Valley in August 2014. Please stay tuned for the remaining posts.
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