Day 11 End of our Karakoram GG La trek
Saicho to Hushe, 5 miles (total 85 miles), 9.4k elevation
This was our last day hiking and truly the easiest day as we only had 5 miles to go with only 1200 feet mostly down hill. That’s not to say that there were no challenges, because we know that there is a new challenge every day on this mountain.
We got a little bit of a later start since we didn’t have that far to hike. There was a bottleneck where a bridge once stood. Apparently bridge don’t last very long anywhere on the mountain with all the flash flooding. The current mode for crossing the large rushing river was now a rickety wooden box being pulled across the river by cables. They let all the trekkers go first, so there was a pileup of porters waiting for their turn. Azam had paid the guys the night before to pull us across. Andy had the pleasure of going first. He got into the wooden box that was falling apart, barely held together by nails. He held onto the cables tightly just in case the box bottom fell apart. I was up next. I analyzed the river downstream where people may end up if the box failed. Of course, this is normal transportation out here so nothing really to worry about. We both made it across safely and shook our heads at the major traffic jam on the other side of the river (~60 people).
The rest of the hike went quickly, with kitchen crew hiking as fast as possible, excited to get paid and home. We did one final paper sign out at the last trail checkpoint and arrived to our destination in Hushe. We had some time to spare because the porters were still navigating the river bottleneck. We had the pleasure of Nazir inviting us and the kitchen crew into his house for some tea while we waited, as he lived just around the corner. We took our shoes off before entering the house, as you do it all residences here. We sat in a general room that had cushions to sit on as we drink our tea, he served mountain tea, Pakistani mixed tea, and Balti chai. We were also served freshly boiled eggs as well as some biscuits. His oldest daughter (~4yrs) sat with us and stared at us two foreigners in her house. Nazir encouraged her to shake her hands and she did so with great hesitation. When I got up to get something out of my bag in the hallway, I came across his young niece, and she shrieked and ran back to her grandmother and the other room, clearly not used to foreigners being in her home. We felt great privilege to be invited into his house and to be treated with such hospitality.
The porters then showed up, and we had our closing moments of giving tips and shaking hands, thanking everyone for their hard work and keeping us safe, and of course, our final picture with the crew that signified the official ending of our mountain journey. Since we had only used one of our two rest days on the mountain, we had an extra day to spare before we headed back to Skardu. This extra free day allowed us to spend a day/night in New Kanday with Ali and his family. Ali, Ibrahim and Azam were raised in Kanday and we felt quite privileged to be invited into their work. As Ali and Andy formed such a bond, Ali generously invited us to stay the day and night in his home in new Kanday Valley which was a short 30 minute ride from Hushe.
The village that Ali, Azam, and Ibrahim live in is quite small. They said 2000 people live here spread out over a great distance, but it feels much smaller. These houses are in new Kanday. Old Kanday was mostly washed out with two floods within the last 40 some years. Ali let us into his home and showed us to the room where we would be staying. It was a simple room with carpet and mats and pillows for lounging. There’s a window with a screen overlooking his family’s bountiful garden. They were growing a tone of potatoes, onions, coriander, fave beans, green beans, lettuce and apricots. After we relaxed and had some lunch that Ali made us fresh from his garden, he took us for a walk around his village. The kids were not in school, they go to school on Saturday, came out and started following Andy, asking him about his name and where he’s from. We eventually lost them as we walked down to the river, cross the bridge, and walked up the other side of the valley. The other side is where most of the people from the village were cutting grass that will be dried and fed to the animals during the cold winter. Ali’s son fetched us some fresh apricots for us to sample on our walk. We walked all the way up to the trailhead for another amazing hike to yet another huge mountain peak. The terraced hillside was thriving with wheat, potatoes, and apricot trees everywhere. Ali also took us for a quick ride individually on his motorcycle he bought in Lahore. I went first. I have never sat side saddle on a motorcycle, but so is the culture and so I did. I held on for dear life as the dirt road is very rocky, and I tried to sit in the middle as best I could without holding on to Ali. Andy was next and Ali enjoyed taking him for a speedy ride to the outskirts of town and back.
We relaxed back in Ali‘s house while he prepared us a grand dinner. We briefly met his younger son, but did not meet his wife or his daughters as they were out in the fields cutting grass with the rest of the village. Azam came back over for dinner and we feasted one last time. Ali outdid himself yet again. He is such an amazing chef.
Ali brought us pillows and blankets for our night’s sleep in the guestroom. We were so grateful of the generosity of bringing strangers into his house and him continuing to cook for us. Although it is their culture for only the women to cook in the home, he went out of his way as he is a master chef. Really honored to have been afforded this opportunity and experience.
