Rumbok Trek

Every month I get two days off so I decided rather than go to Leh and spend my time trying to get an internet connection and shopping for beautiful crafts, I would go on a three day trek to Rumbak, the snow leopard capital of the world and then to Stok. James has been there before and he recommended I start out early in the morning, as it took him 6 hours to get there. I asked Laura, the volunteer from Germany, to come along so we packed our bags and left early from SECMOL on a beautiful clear skied Thursday morning. The morning consisted of walking along the Indus to the bridge in Phey where we crossed and hiked in the desert back along the Indus. Two hours later we found ourselves directly across from SECMOL on the other side of the Indus. The view of SECMOL along the river was beautiful and then out of the corner of our eyes we caught sight of 8 bharal (blue sheep) only about a soccer field’s distance away. As soon as they saw us they ran away. I’ve noticed all the animals here blend in to the surroundings so well than even at a short distance their coloring appears to merge with the rocks. We sat down and ate a delicious lunch of apricot jam, fresh bread from this morning’s breakfast and cashews. We estimated we would make it to Rumbok by 3:30 so we started out again at a fast pace steering onto an offshoot of the Indus called Jingchan Gorge.

Leaving the Indus behind we headed into a valley between steep mountains whose peaks reached into the sky in both directions. The stream’s water slowly faded turning into a wide path covered in stones with willow trees lining the path. Weaving back and forth across stone bridges we made our way upstream in the direction of Rumbok chatting about differences between Germany, India and the US. Sometimes we had to scramble up the valley side rather than walk across the slippery glacial stream. Our bags became heavier and our feet began to ache. It was 3:30 and we had yet to come across the entry point of Hemis National Park. On and on we went, taking short breaks here and there to adjust our bags and shoes. Completely exhausted we finally came across tents of Ladakhis belonging to a snow leopard tourist agency. They invited us to sit for tea and we learned that they work for a company that brings foreigners to places where they might have a chance in seeing a leopard. There were four British foreigners here to try and catch a sighting. One was a journalist who has been living in Kabul, Afghanistan for the past two years and the others were his family. The Ladakhis were telling us about whom they have brought to this place, Doug Allen from Planet Earth, National Geographic and crews from BBC. They said the clip of the snow leopard in planet earth was actually filmed right around the bend in the riverbed from where we were. We wanted to stay and chat for longer but it was 5 pm and the air was beginning to numb my fingers. Completely beat, we finally came to a valley fork in the glacial stream. There was a small sign that read “Welcome to Rumbok” and a map just underneath that gave no specific direction as to which way to turn. My fingers were completely numb and I no longer could feel my ears. I took off my bag to unsnap my pack for a hat and my fingers literally wouldn’t work together to open my bag. At first Laura thought I was joking and after a minute she had to lean down and do it for me. Sun having almost completely set, our legs feeling like jelly, looking in both directions clueless of where to go we began to laugh so hard that we couldn’t catch our breaths. I don’t think I would want to be in that situation with anyone other than this girl.

Finally, I made the decision to keep straight ahead. If we didn’t come to a village within 20 minutes we would set up our sleeping bags in a nearby cave. Fortunately, out of the corner of her eyes, Laura spotted a white house far up on the hill! My heart rejoiced as we made our way over the rolling hill to a village of 8 houses-Rumbok. A kind lady let us into her home and brought us to a warm stove where we sat and warmed our hands. 10 hours of hiking and I felt like I could just collapse. Laura looked at me and said “I am so so so happy to be sitting here.” We laughed and fell asleep after a warm cup of milk tea. The next morning we awoke and learned that the pass to Stok was not possible to cross because of the snow. I think deep down inside, we were both relieved.


We spent the day roaming the fields and sitting with a few of the village people in the warm sun learning how to spin wool. After a traditional lunch of rice and chapattis we climbed up onto the roof and I wrote an entry in my journal that I will share in this blog.:

Upon the straw thatched roof, I sit against Laura’s back
with a drying sheepskin to my side and snowcapped mountains encircling the above sky. Tibetan prayers flags surrounding us blow from the westward winds.
The mountains, so dramatic, so tantalizing are bare to my right and blanketed with shimmering snow to my left. Little birds chirp amongst one another in the distance and the baby lambs below cry for their mothers. My hands blackened by the sun now write about the present:

The wind I breathe in brings peace throughout my body.
The drying hay and cow dung surrounding me seems more comfy than anything imaginable.
The roaming horse approaching the stupa above does so with independent solitude.
And the sun’s rays reflected off the snow, the sand and the eroding rocks below.
All around me mountains are watching,
Waiting for the sun to rest,
Just so their winds can echo to the reclusive leopard,
To let him know it’s now safe.
Back and forth through the valley’s skies all day, an eagle soars above.
All I want is to never forget the solace I feel learning against my friend’s warm back.
I will return one day and these blackened hands will take to pen and write once again.



The day couldn’t have been more perfect. We played with baby lamps and walked through the fields where donkeys roamed freely and yaks fooled around by butting their horns against each other. We walked up a hill to the village’s stupa and found rocks filled with crystals covering the ground. In the late afternoon we helped the villagers bring in the yaks from the fields and herd the sheep to underneath their houses where they are safe from wolves and snow leopards. Our night ended helping our ama-le (mother) and achi-le (sister) making paranthas and listening to ama-le repeat “o-ma-ne-pad-me-ohm” while turning her prayer wheel. After dinner they brought us into the kitchen to dance to Thukjey’s singing voice on their crackling radio! The next day we said our goodbyes to the villagers. On our way back we one again came across the snow leopard crew and learned that they had seen one yesterday where we had tea! Walking back along the glacial stream we found snow leopard tracks. Buddhists believe that karma determines your next life so we each placed our hands over their prints in the hopes of receiving good karma.