Day 4 - Korophon to Sam Tsok

This is what the majority of the trail looked like today. A packed dirt floor, a layer of loose, dry dirt, and then a bunch of loose stones strewn on top.

We leave early in the morning. We leave the tents and the rest of camp set up, as the porters take everything down, pack it, pass us on the trail, then set it all up again at the next camp site before we even show up.

Plants are becoming fewer and farther between, and my wildflower pictures are a poor replacement for the calendar-worthy pictures on Matthew's missing camera.

There are a number of Pakistan Army posts along the route, as ownership of Kashmir is contested between Pakistan and India. Communication between posts is maintained, in part, by this hundred mile long cable. In most places it runs next to the path, and is a good landmark if you lose the trail. There are Army commandos whose only job is to run the trail between camps, maintaining the cable.

The trail here is increasingly sandwiched between the steep mountains on one side and the river on the other.

Iza enjoys a short rest break. We would take breaks every hour or so at this point, for between 5-10 minutes at a time. Ayub, our guide, was constantly on top of the schedule.

Here the path is just built on the rock face. It's disconcerting as gravel you knock off the path tumbles down the cliff to the river below. On the way back down, the part shown here had collapsed down the hillsideand we had to take a steeper trail higher up.

Misha walks among giant, very cool looking boulders.

Adil enjoys a nice rest break. He and Ignacio are often at the front of the group, leading the charge. Sometimes out of sight.

Ignacio enjoys some GORP, made specially for Anisa, which features cheerios and cocoa puffs instead of granola. Halfway through the trip she decides she doesn't like it and doesn't eat any more. The rest of us are still stuck with cereal trail mix.

Matthew gets water from his hydration pack. The hydration packs ended up being a hugely important thing for everyone. Most people had either 2 or 3 liter packs, and they were invariably drained by the end of the day. It's hard to stay hydrated in the high desert.

Our plan for lunch is to stop at a camp called Jula, run by the MGPO (Mountain & Glacier Protection Organization), which has running water and marginally nice toilet facilities. But to get to Jula, the trail diverts up a tributary river after following the main Braldu, and continues up that tributary until it is narrow enough to cross by bridge, then you have to follow the tributary back out to the main river. Jula is on that return leg out.

On the way to the bridge, Anisa finds a fantastic hollowed out rock formation. There were remains of a camp fire inside, indicating it is occasionally used for shelter.

Anisa crosses the bridge to Jula. This, our second bridge crossing, is similar to the first, just old wooden planks tied together with steel cable.

Anisa makes it back to dry land.

Dad enjoys video taping the river crossings.

After finishing his video, Dad is the last across the bridge. They tell you to keep your eyes ahead, people usually only fall off the bridge if they start watching the river, and get hypnotized by the rapids.

This is our last bridge crossing for the trip. At least until the way back down.

Once we get past the bridge, the trail follows the river for a ways. The river also happened to be in flood, meaning the rapids were quite close, and we were often getting sprayed.

Matthew strolls into Jula for lunch.

All of the MGPO camps have gates like this, and there are other indications that the camps were formerly very nice and organized. But by now, the gates have rusted, and most people walk in through gaps in the barbed wire instead of through the gates, as the trail has changed through the years.

Rich at lunch.

Our lunch is cheese and crackers (or biscuits, as they are known to both the Pakistanis and the British), olives, and mac & cheese.

Matthew enjoys a biscuit. Notice the insidious cereal-GORP and mustard in the background.

The lunch area had a couple of cots, and Mom lay down for her lunch.

Donkeys and mules were parked at Jula from a group bringing trash down from K2. Porters get paid pretty good money and are well outfitted by an NGO for this job.

"Bridge" on the way out of Jula.

Tanya can't decide if two logs are harder to balance on than one.

A recently dry river bed had some cool patterns in the mud.

Looking back across the tributary, an awesome vertical band of rock. Note the trail we had just taken, at the bottom of the picture for scale.

Ignacio hikes ahead. His pack sports one of the patches Erin designed for our expedition.

This, apparently, is a wild rose bush. There were a number of them scattered along the trail. For addition to the Baltoro Wildflower Wall Calendar.

More neat rock patterns on a cliff face, with superimposed sedimentary banding, and light and dark trails. Note the person at the bottom, center-right for scale.

For most of the day, the trail stays near the river, and again there are places where the trail is nothing more than loose rock, sliding all the way down to the river. Apparently there is a higher trail along this part of the river, for use when the river is more flooded and covers the lower trail, but it is significantly harder to climb.

Blue wildflowers.

Yellow wildflowers. I'm sure someone could provide a more accurate description.

We get our first rain today. It starts out as a light drizzle, but doesn't go away after 10 minutes, so we all get out our jackets. 2 minutes later, it gets a little harder, then stops entirely. Probably not worth the effort of getting rain gear on, but you never know.

Erin enjoys some insidious cereal-GORP while we put on jackets.

Anisa covers up from the rain.

At this point, the trail gets a little more rocky. Terrian type #4. Large rocks, with a little dirt in between. It's usually easier to just walk on the rocks, but you have to be careful to choose stable ones so you don't twist your ankle.

The weather starts to clear, but some are hesitant to remove the rain gear.

Following the trail, notice the army cable cutting over the terrain.

Ayub reties his boots.

Ignacio tries out a new look.

Iza is not amused.

We come across another army camp, which we aren't supposed to photograph, for national security purposes.

Ignacio found a pair of ibex horns just outside the army base. I am guessing the commandos get bored (or hungry) and go hunting every once in a while.