This 4-day trek was, as promised by our Lonely Planet guidebook, easy. All of our stuff was carried by our four horses (with one little foal following along), and we never hiked more than five hours in a day. The amenities were nothing short of luxurious; for example, every night our cook prepared a feast of at least four delicious dishes--hardly our idea of camp food!
As you can see in the pictures, the mountains in this region are (apologies for the eurocentric reference point) alpine in shape and in vegetation: forests (mainly pine) on the base, getting thinner as you go up, until you reach the tree line around 3200m; above and below the tree line, lush meadows colored by tiny wildflowers and big rhododendron bushes, used by the locals for grazing their sheep; and on the peaks, which reach over 6000m, snow and glaciers. The highest point we reached was the Chandrakani Pass at 3650m.
Our pack horses taking a break at the end of the first day
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Rhododendron
Setting up camp at the base of the Chandrakani Pass
David near the Chandrakani Pass. Behind him is the Parvati Valley
At the Pass itself the mountains were lost in the clouds
We saw two villages along the way: Rumsu, on the first day, and Malana, on the other side of the Pass, where we spent the last night of the trek. Located in an isolated, narrow valley, Malana has a rather specialized economy depending on a single cash crop: pot. And there's nothing covert about it: where most villages are surrounded by apple orchards and barley fields, Malana is surrounded by vast marijuana fields. It's among the best stuff in the world, or so we were told...
Our guide Mohan
Malana and its cash crop
Kids in Malana watching a sporting game in the main square
Malana temple
A surprise chocalate cake for David's 29th birthday!
The Malana Valley, with its brand new dam, and the Parvati Valley beyond
Extra photos from the Chandrakani Pass and Malana
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