This was going to be one of the longest and probably the toughest day on the entire trip. Karu to Jispa or Keylong is appx 300km with 2 mountain passes, wide plains, deep valleys & never ending winding loops to cover, all within the span of a single day! We were falling short of days so we just had to cover the distance within the day itself. If you have time to spare you can take it easier and also visit Tso Moriri lake. Just remember that you will need an extra day atleast if you wish to visit Tso Moriri. This entire route is on the Leh Manali highway.
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| View from our stay at Karu |
Some of the major landmarks on this route are:
- Tanglang La pass at 5,360 m (17,585 ft)
- The More plains
- Gata loops
- Sarchu also called Vomit Junction
- Stone shrine at Baralacha La pass
- Darcha village on the bank of Bhaga river
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| Karu to Jispa 300kms+ with passes, valleys, plains & more on Leh Manali highway |
ADVICE: Start really early and do NOT stop for photos! Its going to be a really long day and you cannot afford to waste time taking snaps. This was probably the only day we hardly took any photos. Since you are on the Leh Manali highway, most of the roads are good with exception of the passes and Sarchu.
Our first conquest ws the Taglang La pass. It is a high mountain pass at 5,328 metres (17,480 ft). As of August 2014, the Leh-Manali highway leading south from Upshi to Taglang La is paved, with the exception of a very short (approx 500m) unpaved section just north of the pass. The pass itself is paved and pleasure to ride on. Owing to the height, the pass is really cold and we were all freezing our asses off! You will find snow on most of the passes, during this time of the year. The paved roads were a welcome break to the other passes which had really broken roads!
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| Beautiful paved roads leading to Taglang La pass |
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| Taglang La pass |
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| Nitrojains cconquer Taglang La Pass as well! |
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| A snap of Suvinay with 'Black Snow' as requested by his daughter. |
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| Bitterly cold conditions left us freezing at Taglang la Pass! |
From the valley of Karu we rode up to Taglang la pass and then headed towards the awesome 'More Plains'. This is a beautiful tabletop plain which stretches flat for many kilometers. This stretch of 40 km falls in between Leh and Sarchu on Leh–Manali Highway. This road has an average elevation of 4800 metres and is flanked by mountain ranges on both sides. At some places the road runs along the Sumkhel Lungpa river featuring some stunning sand and rock natural formations. We could never expect to find such a beautiful place, even in our wildest dreams.
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| Roads surrounded by mountains on both sides |
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| Helping other bikers with their bikes |
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| Fixing Puneets bike's fallen silencer on the More plains! |
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| Taking a breather while bike is being fixed |
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| Gaurav resting atop a milestone! |
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| The absolutely mesmerizing More plains! |
Luckily for you, we took a panorama as well as a 360 VR of the More Plains! Enjoy bikers!
360 VR of the More plains! Watch in any VR viewer like Google cardboard
Panorama of the More Plains
Needless to say these memories are etched in each one of us forever. However the day was young and we still had a lot of ground to cover and more amazing experiences ahead of us! Another surprise for all of us was when the More plains ended and we started descending towards Pang. We realized that the entire More plains (all 40+ kms of it) is actually at quite a height and we have to descend the plains to proceed further! We could never imagine such a wide stretch of plains at such a height. Pang is a small place which has a couple of food/rest stops where most bikers stop for lunch/break / snacks, before continuing further.
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| Amit can all asleep anywhere anytime! |
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| Stopover at Pang |
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| Nitrojains taking a welcome break for lunch / tea at Pang |
The road ahead is mainly mountainous with twists, bends and sharp hairpin turns coupled with lots of army and supply trucks on the route. Being on mountains, the roads are also broken in most places and very dusty. Yet the scenery and landscape is really breathtaking and will make you forget the road conditions. Isn't that what you came to Leh / Ladakh in the first place?
Between Pang and the famous Gata Loops lies a small place called Lungalacha La Pass. It lies at 5,059 m or 16,600 ft and is located some 54 km (34 mi) from Sarchu and 24 km (15 mi) from Pang on the Leh–Manali Highway. This is one of the easier mountain passes and you will hardly notice that you crossed it. However some might have difficulty breathing, if strained, due to the height.
You will also find many army and supply trucks plying on the route and watching them in a line is a spectacle to behold. The roads are also really dusty and we all ended up being fully covered in road dust.
You will also find many army and supply trucks plying on the route and watching them in a line is a spectacle to behold. The roads are also really dusty and we all ended up being fully covered in road dust.
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| Gaurav and Suvinay completely covered in dust |
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| A long convoy of trucks was commonplace on this route |
As mentioned, this entire area is mountain region and as on passes, the roads are bad and riding conditions harsh.There are many hairpin bends and twists and turns along this stretch. Before you know it, you will be at the Gata Loops. Are you ready to come face to face with the 'Ghost of Gata Loops'?
The Ghost of Gata Loops
Years ago, it seems, a truck broke down on the same bend. The driver, mindful of the cargo he was carrying, told the cleaner to stay with the truck while he walked to the nearest village to get help. Off he went, trudging the forty kilometers of mountain roads that separated him from inhabitation.
He got there, totally spent, to find no help in sight. A storm on another pass had closed the road, there were no mechanics to be found in the tiny village and, even as the driver waited, the weather closed in. He was stranded in the village for over a week before a mechanic and a vehicle came by. By the time the party reached the truck, they found the cleaner dead, felled by exposure and thirst, high on the bone-dry mountainside. Rather than carry a decomposing body home, the rescuers buried it close by.
Then, things started happening. Travelers stopping on the loops started meeting a man who begged them piteously for water. People who refused were soon writhing with mountain sickness, and some even died of it. Those who obliged, though, saw the bottles they offered drop through the man’s hands, while he kept pleading for water. Terror struck the region and only subsided when the locals set up a memorial at the site and made offerings of water to placate the ghost.
Keeping up with tradition, bikers place a full bottle of water at the shrine for safe passage and proceed only after doing so. We were not able to take some pics so I have added pics from the blog of a cyclist.
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| Water bottles offered at Gata Loops |
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| Up close and personal at the shrine |
(both pics are courtesy http://alotofcycling.blogspot.in/2013/04/gata-loops-manali-leh-highway.html)
Gata loops itself is a mind bending twists and turns comprising of 21 continuous hair pin bends, all one after the other. Even though it might seem daunting, the roads on the bends are pretty decent (to what we have experienced so far!) and it was actually a pleasure riding the Gata Loops!
After navigating Gata Loops, you will head towards Sarchu. Sarchu is famous for the numerous tented accommodations you can choose from. Lots of bikers choose to stay at Sarchu instead of heading further for the day. However Sarchu is infamously also known as "Vomit Junction" due to it being extremely cold and at a height! Lots of travellers who choose to stay overnight end up vomiting and felling dizzy due to less oxygen and the cold! It is advisable NOT to stay at Sarchu overnight unless you absolutely need to!
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| View of the 21 Gata loops! |
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| Regrouping after successfully navigating Gata loops |
The route from Gata loops to Sarchu is mostly along the Tsarap River and even though it is very scenic with some mind boggling display of mountain colors, the roads are bad and extremely dusty! You will be shaking your bones as your ride along the route and will be left completely jarred by the time you reach Sarchu! In some places the mountain raggedness and colors seem like they are from another planet. Unfortunately, we were in a real hurry to get moving fast, as we had a great deal to cover and it was already beginning to be evening. We did not want to be stuck in this terrain so rode non stop till Sarchu, not stopping to take even a single snap.
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| Riding on the dusty road to Sarchu is an experience we will never forget |
Sarchu is really scenic and only once we reached the place, did we stop for a tea break. At this point we were all contemplating whether we should stay at Sarchu, as we were all tired by then. However, keeping in mind the wisdom from the numerous posts and bikers, we decided to plow on ahead, even tough it was becoming quite late and that would mean that we would be scaling Baralacha pass in late evening! It was already 7pm by the time we left Sarchu and it was a calculated risk that we took!
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| Small restaurants/ Stalls at Sarchu |
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| Awesome landscapes at Sarchu |
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| Sarchu also called Vomit Junction |
Keep in mind that Baralacha La pass is one of the deadliest roads in the world. Since it was late evening it was already bitterly cold at Sarchu and we would be ascending to a height of 16,040 feet at night! Even then we had no option but to go ahead as all the tents in Sarchu were full and there was no accommodation anywhere!
As we were scaling the pass, we kept thinking if we were doing the right thing and whether we should head back to Sarchu. The mountain pass is really high with considerably bad roads. The worst aspect was the cold! During the entire trip, I think that the cold we experienced at Baralacha La Pass was probably the worst, even more than Pangong Lake!
The Ghost of Baralacha La
There is another ghost story associated with the pass. At the top of the pass is a large hall type building which now stands in ruins with a stone marker in front of it reading “Shaheed Sainik Bhavan”. This mountain pass in the Zanskar range of the Himalayas was once a military post. In bad weather, those stationed there could be trapped for weeks. One particularly bad winter saw a trio of soldiers trapped there for two months. When military vehicles finally reached them, they found a stranger in the cabin, eating one of the soldiers. The other two soldiers were in pieces; all had been half-eaten. The cannibal tried to attack the recovery team, and he was shot dead. Soldiers who were posted there after would hear strange whispers, see a man with a knife, or hear the pained screams of the soldiers being eaten. Motorists would occasionally claim to see a man chasing their vehicles with a knife, or see bloodied soldiers calling for help. When they would pull over to help the soldiers, they disappeared. Some people claim that they hear eerie noises emanating from the region/building and they have even seen a bloody figure in the area!
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| The haunted building at Baralacha La Pass |
It was actually so cold at the top of the pass that we felt our fingers would freeze and drop off! Most of us stayed at the top for only a couple of minutes before rushing on to descend to a slightly warmer region! However one of our riders was slow in climbing the pass, so a couple of us, including me waited for nearly 20 minutes in the extreme cold at the top of the pass! Needless to say, we were chilled to the bone and thats an understatement!
Heading down from Baralacha La pass, you will come across a small place called Zing Zing Bar, where you can grab some refreshments. Being night, it was closed and we could not stop until we reached Jispa.
Keeping up with the unexpected nature of Leh / Ladakh, we were far from completing our ride for the day and met with a totally unexpected turn of events. The road from Baralacha La Pass to Jispa is again along the mountain (since we are descending the pass). There were also 2 major waterfalls/streams that we had to cross at night as we headed to Jispa. It was probably 9-10pm when we were crossing the streams. It was pitch black at night and Puneet actually had to cross the flowing water first and turn his bike around, to provide us with his headlight to light the stream so that we all could safely cross it. It was really tense and challenging as it was night and there was nooone around except the 10 of us. I guess most bikers did not take the risk and had stayed at Sarchu instead.
Komal's bike broke down at night and refused to start. Even our expert bike technician (so we called him) Praveen could not get the bike to start and we were left stranded in pitch darkness, at the mountain side with noone around at 11.30 pm at night!
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| Bike taillights were the only source of lights as we were left stranded! |
We were left with no choice but to pull the bike down the twisting mountain side roads. Amit rode the dead bike in the middle while 1 of us rode ahead and 1 of us rode alongside Amit to provide light on the road. Mind you, the dead bike could not even start its headlight. Riding without any light would have been certain doom on the sheer mountain walls. Somehow or the other we managed to get the bike down the mountain side safely and reached a small village, called Darcha where we could park the bike for the night! What an experience that was!
When we reached Jispa, we found that all the hotels/homestays were already booked. I guess none of the bikers from Manali - Leh route wanted to risk Baralacha La pass at night and had holed up in Jispa already. With great difficulty we did find 2 rooms and settled in for the night, 5 in a room!
What a day it turned out to be! Now that we think back at the moments, this was probably the most adventurous day on our entire trip and we all have very fond memories of this day!
ADVICE: Stay over at Sarchu if you are getting late or leave early and make sure you reach Jispa by evening! Do NOT attempt to cross Baralacha la pass in late evening! Its very risky and we were fortunate not to have any mishaps. You can even stay at Keylong instead of Jispa.