Day 2 … and then there were two

Jhula to Paiju, 13 miles (total 23 miles), 11.5k elevation.

Today was a hard day in multiple ways. We woke up at five feeling good, and we packed our bags tight as possible to fit everything inside our backpacks. When we got out of our tent, we saw Leslie in the breakfast tent and she told us that Kristen had a really bad night and that they had to make the extremely difficult decision to leave the mountain. We had to work with Azam on how they were going to both get down the mountain. He was pushing back really hard on Leslie for her to not leave and only Kristen. We all knew that would never happen and Andy had to have a conversation with the Azam to make it clear that Leslie was leaving with her. He used the satellite phone, that we weren’t originally going to get included with the trek, to call Manzoor back in Skardu to arrange their trip off the mountain. //Side-story: The tour operator wanted to charge to include a satellite phone on the trek. Andy sent a terse email to Manzoor stating that it must very unprofessional to not have the ability to call emergency services while on trek… long story short, we got the satellite phone. They told us there would be cell phone reception all along the way. Turns out that is not the case. //End side-story. They loaded up the donkey and Kristen was able to sit up well enough on the donkey and they made the long journey back. Manzoor had arranged for a car to pick them up where we had lunch on day one. We heard back later in day that the route was closed due to a strike of some sort.

Once the girls were off, we began our track about 30 minutes later than planned. The first hour was pleasant as we were still in the shade, but we saw the sun making its way over the mountains, and we knew it was going to be a really hot day. Andy and I initially hiked together and then he took off and made very good time with the porters while I hiked with Azam. The first leg of the hike before lunch was not difficult, and even in the sun it was still early enough in the day that it wasn’t sucking the life out of you. We saw a dead mule that likely broke its leg. Since a broken leg can’t be fixed and it is impossible to bring the mule down the hill, there was only one thing to do. The mercifully slit its throat off the side of the road.

We made it to our lunch spot and we were feeling pretty good. We had soup and a Pakistani version of Trail mix and we tried to drink as much water as possible. We really missed the girls at lunch. We were wondering how they were making it on their journey back. This wasn’t the first time that we would be on an adventure with just the two of us, but we were really looking forward to experiencing it with them as well. The first part of the day was going well and relatively easy, we didn’t really know what was in store for us for the rest of the day. More of the same?

We wanted to make up for some lost time so we started hiking again around 10:45. Unfortunately all the mules were leaving at the same time and we got stuck behind them. Andy was making a break for it trying to pass them and so was Azam, so I tried to follow. Me moving quickly at this altitude is not a good idea and I definitely felt it. I think one of our kitchen staff yelled at Azam when he saw me holding back and breathing hard, so Azam slowed down to hike with me, and told Andy to go on with the kitchen staff (First ones to camp). By now it was really hot. The heat plus walking behind mules is awful, so Azam and I decided just to wait it out and let the huge line pass. Shortly after, I really had to use the bathroom, and let me tell you, there really are not places anyone can go to the bathroom on this trail with porters everywhere.

This part of the trail is where we started to experience different size rocks, baby heads, and even boulders. We would hike up a steep hill and then down over and over again. A lot of the mountain is crumbling, which made the trail even more sketchy. My heart was breaking watching the mules try to make it up and down the same trail. I had to remind myself that that is what mules are used for, for hundreds of years. I walked as slow as possible up the hill and in the heat trying not to over exert myself. I drank a lot of my water and I knew I had a limited supply, and who knew if we would have a water source before we got to camp. There was no way I was going to look at my watch or asked how much further we had to go because I didn’t really want to hear any bad news.

Then right before a boulder field, we saw a lot of trees in the distance. Azam said, that is where our camp is. I said, oh, that looks pretty close. To which he replied, it’s not. While it looks like a flat plateau, there’s endless steep up and down. He was not joking when he said it was not close. It probably took an hour or more, but along the way was even more and down and uneven terrain and the heat was blasting midday. It took everything in me to make it, just putting 1 foot in front of the other. The last part getting to camp was a slog.

When we arrived, the camp was lovely and best of all, in the trees and shade (very rare around here). Really an oasis in this sea of rock. I sat, exhausted and tried to drink more water. Andy negotiated with Azam about not setting up the food tent around the dinner table since the trees provided amazing cover and a gorgeous view. We sat in our chairs under the trees enjoying the view and recovering from that brutal hike. We washed the salt off of our faces and it felt amazing, when you are traveling like this, it’s the small things that matter. Then it was time to perform surgery on the blisters on our feet. Somehow Andy got blisters all around the edges of the Leukotape. He is traumatized thinking forward to the impact to Thai foot massages. This was only day two we still have a while ago. The amount of food that Ali made for us for dinner was ridiculous. We had cheesy pasta, rice with mutton , Szechuan, chicken, vegetables, salad and for dessert we had mango. We went to bed immediately after dinner and fell asleep even faster. In the middle of the night, Andy got up to chase a rogue mule out of our camp who was trying to eat our food in sacks. An emotional roller coaster of a day 2. Today’s hike was kinda fucking awful.