After three days in Leh, we wanted to do a trek – on our schedule. Markha is the premier trek in Ladakh, so we caught a cab to the start and assumed the Ladahkis wouldn’t let us starve.
Fresh new road – hard to keep up with all the construction. Mountains don’t always cooperate We get dropped off at Skyu, looking forward to this road finishing so we can walk on a trail. At least it’s not asphaltThe bundles of barley have grown legsI’m surprised India is still building these aqueducts. Solar powered irrigation seems much lower effort, and there is so little agriculture in the Markha valley in the first place. The rock quality down low is horrendous – mud covering shale, or just mud with river rock. They didn’t blast this road, the excavators just ripped at the slope. Pouring foundation for a 4G cell tower. This will use Indian produced electronics. Good cement work, but requires 4 heavy days of labour to do this pour.Our first night. Just as night fell, a local hiking the road surprised us. When he seen our guava juice, he thought we were drinking Chang, fermented barley juice. When I start drinking Chang, it’s time to go home. A variant of the orange sea buckthorn berry that we love/hate to harvest. Living room of a home stay where we stopped for breakfast. They had satellite TV to rot this kids mind. We think the family moves into this room in the winter, so they only have to heat one space. Sounds brutal. Markha village Barley harvest time. They don’t use a scythe – they just pull out the entire plant by handBarley laid out. This will be tied up into bundles and carried to the village’s threshing machine. Markha can be walked without getting your feet wet. Marta will sometimes ford the river anyway – likes the free foot washAll along the valley are the remains of trails on the cliff walls. We skipped this monastery A rain squall hits us with a few mm of rain. Gets chilly quick. And soaked all the harvest, but in this climate it will dry out quickly. 10% humidity in Leh today.
Our second night was in Hankar, at 3950m. After two days, we are still walking on road. Curiously, no one mentions when they’re selling the markha trek that two of the four days is walking on a gravel road. 
I always assumed mini donkeys were a ridiculous toy breed. They are doing real work here.Our homestay at 4000m has oxygen just in case. Homestay. This lady fed dinner and breakfast to 11 hungry trekkers. You also get a packed lunch – boiled egg and potato, chocolate bar, a bit of bread and juice. We get a bit of discount for sleeping outside. Middle of the night, very loud and aggressive barking. Finally I summon the courage to see what can be done. There is a chained dog immediately behind our tent in this cave. The solution (surprisingly) was to cover the entrance with this satellite dish. The dog didn’t make a peep for the rest of the night.Inscriptions carved on slate slabs. Mostly detention for monks – “I will not drink Chang and consort with women. I will not drink Chang etc”Interesting story with this pack train. We met 30 Indians high school students retreating. They were convinced that the mountains were too cold and snowy for them to go over the pass.  They ran into 3 mm of well forecasted rain and got chilled.
The next day we hiked with a European couple who stayed in the same campsite with the Indian students. The couple were eating at home stays, and had no food. The campground manager was not there, so they asked the Indian student/teacher contingent for some food. They were refused, But the horse packers brought them some food later anyway.
Judging from these horns, the wild blue sheep gets fairly largeUp high, Pikas are astoundingly common. They seem to have filled the niche that ground squirrels occupy in the Rockies Himalayan scale HoodoosNice to get out of the muddy scree slopes below
These cows were headed in the same direction, and we kept passing each other. There was one cow that was ~3x bigger with massive horns, so I quickly stopped filming and gave her some space Kang Yatse above camp Nimaling. There is a guide and at least one client going for it. 10pm start, 7am summit. Going the the smaller peak on the left – looks technically straightforward We tented, but sprang for supper in the mess tent. The most expensive meal we’ve had in India – $10Our ultralight tent looked out of place. Everyone else complained about the cold, we were toasty warm
We knew we were pushing our luck, going from 3950m at Harkan to 4850m at Nimaling. Sure enough, it was a hard night. Marta slept reasonable, I puffed and gasped all night.
Kongmaru La (pass) 5260mObviously Marta has to go a little higher. Kang Yatse group in the back ground, as high as 6400m. She’s super strong todayThe descent from Kongmaru La is spectacular. Would be an exciting place when the river was roaring. Blue sheep – these are wild. On the menu for the snow leopard. We didn’t have a taxi arranged, so the driver made room with another group. Best driver ever – stopped to show off animals, only passed when it made sense.
I started feeling a weird hunger on the drive back to Leh. We made a beeline for a familiar restaurant that had deep fried snacks. As I bit in, the bottom fell out. Went into some kind of shock, peed myself. Marta found a public bathroom for the first of many bouts of diarrhea. Stumbled to the hotel and collapsed.
Fever, diarrhea. Very glad this didn’t hit us at 4800m
30 hours later, I’m able to eat bananas, and Marta is going through the same thing. No idea what caused it. We both have the feeling that it’s not done with us yet.
These dudes are counting down to winter when they can take a break. They work hard – well over 12 hours a day
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 