Itinerary Followed:
Day1: Delhi - Sarahan (12-13Hrs)Day2: Sarahan - Sangla
Day3: Sangla - chhitkul & Rakcham(4 Hrs) - Kalpa (3 Hrs)
Day4: Kalpa- Tabo (10-11Hrs)
Day5: Tabo - Kaza (2-3 Hrs)
Day6: Kaza -Lasar- Kunzum (3-4 Hrs) - Kaza Detailed Route: Rangrik – Lossar – Kunzum – Rangrik – Key – Kibber
Day7: Kaza - Kalpa (12 Hrs)Day8: Kalpa - Chail (10-11 Hrs)
Day9: Chail- Delhi (7-8 HRs)
This was supposed to be one of the most adventurous days of our trip, as it was supposed to be the worst road we ever travelled,.I must say it didn't fail our expectations. Most of the travel was off-road, with no or minimum signal on the mobile. Just one village where you can freshen-up or have something to eat. If all of that was not enough, while returing back from kunzum, suddenly stones started falling from the top of a mountain and we had to stop. That was few villagers pushing stones from the top to make way for water to reach their farms, which was looking like a landslide from the far end. In our driver's words he had defeated death while driving to and fro Kunzum.
Our day started at 5.30 AM, when
I woke up with the first ray of the sun on the land. Our room had a spectacular view of
the Ki Monastery on one side while on the other side was the flat ground followed by the river
and distant mountain. Through those distant mountain the sun started peeping in
and slowly the covered the entire sky. At around 6.30 -7.00 AM we started
towards kunzum.
Enroute Kunzumla |
The views around were as awesome
as it have been throughout the trip. There was one point on the way where
we had to hop on to another hill. The tarmac was breathtaking and
exceptionally different. It gave a feeling as if we have entered the Grand
Canyon.
After 2 hrs of drive we reached
Losar to find the only signs of commercialization (though minimum) on the
entire route. Losar is the first village of Spiti Valley while entering spiti
valley through Manali and Kunzum. It is a small village on a flat plateau at an
altitude of 4,065m above the sea level. It is the only place where you can find
some munchies, basic food, small cafés with very limited options, few stay
options with minimum facilities & toilet, through the entire route. One can
take a walk around the village and relax from the tiring drive. It’s also the
only halting and relaxing place for people going for trek to Chandratal through
Kunzum.
The entire route is off-road, though the
road till Losar is still manageable. Once you cross Losar the road is
exceptionally bad. There were heaps of stones at road, huge pits in the middle of the
road, melting snow creating a lot of water puddles on to the roads thus making it
extremely difficult to drive through it. It was nearly impossible to make it to
Kunzum with small car, even though we had an Innova, we got stuck just 3 kms before kunzum
pass because of huge slush and pit on the road. Only one gypsy could make it
through, thanks to the 4X4 drive and extra high clearance level. We had to halt
there itself and remaining distance we had to cover by walking. Almost entire path was either covered with snow or drenched in water stream. But it was worth the experience of walking through the snow. We walked, ran, sat, lied down, jumped, slipped, fell and played with the snow to quench our thrust of experiencing the snow in middle of the month of June.
Road for Kunzum |
View @ KunzumLa |
After 45 mins of walk we
reached kunzum Pass situated at an altitude of 4,551m above the sea level. There
is temple of Goddess Kunzum at the top. It is said that if you stick a coin
inside the temple and it stays then you have a clear heart. And mine stuck and
stayed there.. J J
It is also the starting point
for the trek to the beautiful, serene, untouched moon lake, ChandraTaal.
It’s a 3 day trek back and forth.
We couldn’t go to Kibber as my husband, wasn’t
feeling good. So after getting fuel for our car we quickly reached back to
hotel to take some rest.
Key Monastery |
So this was the last destination of our trip. Now onwards it was the same route back to Delhi, as Kunzum Pass wasn't operational.. Return trip will be coming soon...
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ReplyDeleteYou have captured spiti valley superbly in your camera but where is Kunzum Pass pic? Key monastery well captured... Amazing Clicks!!!
ReplyDelete6th pic is Kunzum pass i guess but can't imagine amount of snow during june month at Kunzum pass..Surprising!
DeleteThanks gautham.. :-) :-) And you are right that is kunzum.. The road was blocked due to heavy snow.. So u can imagine the amount of snow.. !!
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