Destination Pooh...
Driving
on a road in bright daylight and driving at night is like chalk and cheese.
This time, the drive from camp through Sangla to reach the main highway near
Karcham doesn’t feel nearly as bad nor the roads quite as hazardous. Hitting
the highway, we turn right towards Pooh. The road is superb and we are
delighted! Doesn’t last for more than a couple of kilometres though. Yet again,
we find ourselves on rubble paths, the road having been swept away by the
slides or at places the river.
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| Crumbling roads |
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| Landslide prone stretches |
The route winds along the Sutlej
going upstream along its left bank. Crossing the Sutlej over the Shongtong
brige, we reach Powari. Here, the road bifurcates left to Recong Peo, the
administrative headquarters of Kinnaur district, some way up the mountainside
and the highway (NH 22) continues along the river. Further up from Recong Peo
is Kalpa (earlier called the Chini village) and the highest village further up
is Roghi from where one can get stunning views of the venerated Kinner Kailash
peak. I’ve heard that the route to Roghi with narrow, cliff hugging roads is
one of the most amazing sights and rewarding places to visit. In fact Chini
village, now Kalpa, has some more significance in independent India. The people
of this village were the first to cast their votes in independent India on 25
October 1951 (since they get snowed in in winter) while the rest of India voted
in Dec-Jan. Further back in history, the old Hindustan Tibet highway used to
pass through this place on its way through Shipkila into Tibet.
It is said that Kinner Kailash is the
abode of Lord Shiva and is thus considered sacred by the Hindus. Legend goes
that Bhasmasur, after getting a boon from Lord Shiva that anybody on whose head
he places his palm would be turned to ashes, tries it on the Lord himself. The
Lord hides from him and prays to Lord Vishnu at this place after which Lord
Vishnu comes to his aid and slays the demon. The Shivling is visible atop this
Kinner Kailash peak.
Time is short and I know we do not
have the luxury of taking the detour to Recong Peo from where one can see the Kinner
Kailash peak. I wonder whether it would be visible from the highway itself...
even if just a wee bit, without going to Recong Peo. I am finally resigned to
the fact that it’ll have to keep for another time...
A
JCB followed by a few vehicles in queue ahead probably means some sort of road
block. We see nothing. Wondering what the matter is, we wait and within seconds
it is apparent that the vehicles have been stopped due to shooting stones. Some
are pretty large and cause other debris to slide down as well. BRO is
everywhere and at work within minutes wherever required.The Scorpio has been an able companion through
this journey especially over the more undulating and bumpy stretches. It has
given me a lot of confidence that at least the vehicle is more than capable of
taking any kind of road in its stride.
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| Shooting stones |
Pangi
Nallah turns out to be this enormous cascading torrent of water. Nothing could
have prepared me for this... I know that a much recommended ‘waterfall’ is
along this route (it turns out to be almost a river the water from which is
pitching and swelling across the enormous boulders in its steep path, not a
‘waterfall’) but the sheer size and scale of this nallah! Words fail me in
describing it. I’ll let the pictures do the talking!
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| Pangi Nallah. The spray from it reaches well over 10 metres! |
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| The enormity of the gushing Pangi Nallah |
Our photo ops here come at a price...
we are almost wet from the spray off the cascade. We cross the Sutlej again to
now drive along the left bank and come upon the ‘Most treacherous road in the
world’ signboard. Pictures are taken for keepsakes and we are off again.
The greenery from the Baspa valley
has all but disappeared. The vegetation is getting sparser and more stunted.
There are the famous Kinnauri orchards in some places where there is a water
source but otherwise it is just some scrub and Chilgoza trees.
We
cross the Sutlej yet again over a quaint old wooden plank bridge near Akpa. On
this entire route from Sangla, we seem to have criss-crossed the river half a
dozen times.
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| The old wooden plank bridge at Akpa |
The
valley is often very narrow and there are plenty of places where it is just a
gorge with straight walls on either side. To top it, the soil is very loose and
quite unstable, prone to come crashing down without warning. No wonder this
stretch of the NH 22 is so vulnerable to landslides 24x7, 365 days a year! It
seems like a miracle that the BRO has managed to carve out a road alignment in
these steep and nearly vertical mountainsides and keep it open for vehicular
traffic virtually all year round.
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| Roads carved out of the mountainside |
We
come upon a group of bicyclists after Akpa for the first time. There have been
a few motorcycle riders on and off. In fact even a large group of 32 from Pune
doing the Spiti, Leh, Srinagar and Jammu circuit. These are foreigners and
middle aged to senior citizens. Very motivating to see people do these routes
on ... a bicycle!
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| A group of German cyclists giving way to the vehicular traffic |
Right
here while they are giving way to us, I notice the stratified rocks on the
mountain side of the road which seem as if someone has cut through a puff
pastry, folded and lifted it up at an angle and set it out for everyone to see.
This is a good place to see why ‘fold mountains’ are called that.
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| Stratified rocks exposed on the NH 22 |
The milestone says Pooh 3 Km yet
there is absolutely no sight nor sign of any habitation. And then suddenly
round the corner is Pooh. A small settlement with pretty multicoloured houses
halfway up the mountainsides. We take the road leading up and finally reach our
destination just before dusk. Two vehicles have reached and we await the other
two. The third one also comes along and I wonder why the fourth one is so
behind since this group is one of the quickest on road. When they land up we
come to know there has been a breakdown. It is fortuitous that the breakdown
happens right at the gates of the guest house...
It
is a major breakdown. The next morning one vehicle has to be despatched to
Recong Peo to get the mechanics from the Mahindra service centre (also to
ensure that they come without any delay). This means we have an unscheduled
extra day here. No problem at all! I welcome the break since we have been
travelling every single day from Goa till Pooh and most days have been very
long.
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| Pooh town |
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| Ganchua Peak |
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| Pooh Panorama... the tiny green spots on the largest mountain across are Chilgoza trees |
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| Almonds... |
16 Jul 2014. The
enforced break is utilised in taking long walks around the place. It was clear
last evening when we drove in but this morning it is very overcast. Clouds have
veiled the top half of the mountains and the sky making the day very gloomy.
All round our guest rooms are apple, almond and apricot trees. In fact, the
only fruit that is ripe is apricot with the others still quite small. Never in
my entire life have I had such juicy and sweet Apricots and Chulis (another
variety of apricots)! It is a veritable feast for the senses! Wish I could
bottle this sweetness and freshness and juiciness.... I wish!!
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| Chulis... a kind of Apricot |
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| Leh Berries |
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| The profusion of apples on the tree... |
Late
afternoon, the sun starts peeking through and we are out with our cameras in
the hope of seeing some birds. We are not disappointed. A lifer for me, we see
the White capped Buntings and the regular Streaked Laughingthrushes and
Sparrows and the Long tailed Shrike.
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| Long tailed Shrike |
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| Streaked Laughingthrush |
.JPG) |
| White capped Bunting (f) |
.JPG) |
| White capped Bunting (m) |
In our wanderings, we trample some grasses which let out an amazing fragrance. We wonder what the smell is since it is familiar but elusive. This makes my partner start smelling every grass and bush and plant we cross. The place is a treasure... we realise that the grass is the Shahi Jeera and a lot of the other weed-like plants are Dhoop. Almost every bit of the naturally occurring flora there is aromatic. How very amazing, a place where very little grows and is considered barren but for the orchards which are irrigated from the Tinku nallah and the Chilgoza which grow on the steep inaccessible hillsides, there is so much wealth in the plant life...
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| Shahi Jeera |
The mechanics have started work by
late afternoon and will hopefully manage to repair the Scorpio before
morning. We are hoping that we can set
off really early tomorrow for Chandratal. We have had to cut out Kaza and head
straight for Chandratal to make up for the lost day. This means a marathon day
of driving and an 8 Km trek at the end starting at 4550 m and ending at 4200m to
the lake since the motorable route is still closed.
The journey continues...
