To Mile marker 4173 Free camping: pilgrims and climbing

April 20, 2007

Today we need to gain altitude, and lots of it, so tomorrow we can cross Serkhyan la Pass. We climb on gradually besides a river, see a few more snow capped mountains but not as spectacular as the last couple of days.

We pass the pilgrims with their support vehicle, two that do full prostration. The pilgrimage is to the city of Lhasa to pay their holy visit to Jokhang temple (Tsuk Lak Kang). Tsuk Lak Khang is believed to be one of the most sacred Buddhist center in Tibet. Rachel takes some pictures and offer them a bag of dried plums as a way of supporting their cause.

In Lunang we stop at a restaurant for a nice lunch of rice and vegetables, then order another dish for take out. From Luang the climb gets steeper, we gain altitude fast now. When we start a huge hairpin there is a side valley. We can see that the ridge on the other side seems to be horizontal; might make a good campsite?

We filter water at a river that comes down the valley, then struggle up the last kilometer or two. The ridge is very narrow and not as suited for camping as we thought. Just as we arrive, it starts to rain ice pellets and light snow. Patrick explores the ridge and does find a very nice site; another good news bad news site. It will take quite an effort to get all our gear up there. Rachel agrees though and we shuttle all our bags and bikes up a narrow muddy trail to a grassy flat spot about 100 meters from the road.

The road cuts through the ridge here and the Chinese drivers seem to be taught to honk their horns before they take a blind curve. So it's good to be a little away from the road. The bad part is that we have to haul everything up then down, then up again to our site.

The weather turns nasty quickly, we pitch the tent and end up with the rainfly inside out. We correct this the next dry spell and fix coffee, enjoy a beer and peanuts Patrick carried from Lunang. For dinner we have out take out Chinese food, then we settle into the tent as the rain/snow/ice comes down.

The elevation is 3983 meters just below the pass so that we can make it up and over tomorrow.