Trek Route
In the interest of my assertion to start this trek from Darcha, the narration of the route below starts from Darcha as well. Overall, despite the 5000+ Shingo La, this is an easy trail. Being part of an ancient trade route and a modern trek route, its easy to find and walk on. Tea Tents and villages along the way make the task easier. Click this link to see the map of the trail on OSM (Open Street Maps).
- Darcha - Zanskar Sumdo: 1 km from Darcha towards Leh, take the road diverging left. The road, in various forms, metalled and unmetalled, paved and unpaved, continues right upto Zanskar Sumdo. It crosses the Bhaga river just before it reaches Palamo. Zanskar Sumdo is at the end of the road (as on Sep 2010) at the confluence of Bhaga and the stream from Shingo La. It is marked by a Tea Tent and very wide valley.
- Zanskar Sumdo - Shingo La: From Zanskar Sumdo, cross the scary, shaky wooden bridge over the Bhaga and start climbing the face opposite. The trail winds reaches a plateau top and is far above the Shingo La stream on its right bank. From here on, it continues along the right bank without getting overly steep. After a point, the trail is almost entirely made of landslid rocks and fords a few streams before starting the serious climb from Chumi Nako towards Shingo La. At all points, it is on the right bank. Just before reaching Shingo La and below a lake, it fords a small and often muddy water stream to the left bank and then climbs a couple of hundred metres to the pass which is amply marked by Tibetan prayer flags.
- Shingo La - Lakang: The climb down is relatively simpler and shorter than the climb up from Zanskar Sumdo. It begins on the left bank of the stream (or the snow field), continues along till it crosses the snowfield at a point where it take a sharp right in between two hill faces and then continues along the right bank. After the sharp right, the trail evens out from being steep to almost level, climbs and drops once before reaching a plateau. From this plateau, you can see the stream entering the wide valley of another one and meeting it at right angles. Across the stream, you can see a tea tent which is Lakang. A point to note though. The tea tents along the path are seasonal and weather/landslides often dictate their exact locations.
- Lakang - Testa: From Lakang, which is on the right bank of the combined stream, the trail goes over landslid rock right under the nose of an impressive peak, fords a wild stream and a wide plain through the villages of Kargyak and Table. Right across the stream from Kargyak is a beautiful village Ki. After Table, the trail continues along the right bank before crossing to the left just before Tangze. From Tangze, Testa is about an hour and a half's walk on the left bank.
- Testa - Purne: Trail along left bank to Yal. After crossing Yal, it divides into 2, the left one goes straight to Padum avoiding Phukthar Gompa. If you want to see Phukthar Gompa, which you absolutely should if you are here, take the right trail leading downhill and cross the bridge over the stream to the right bank. After the crossing is the village of Purne. Just downstream from Purne is where 2 major streams join. One of them is the stream along the trail from Shingo La and the other comes from towards Phukthar.
- Purne - Phukthar - Purne: From Purne, head East upstream along the left bank of the stream. The trail is clear and easy to follow. About 5.5 km upstream, the trail forks into 2. The one on the left crosses the stream over a wooden bridge and just as you round the corner of the hill is Phukthar.
- Purne - Reru: Cross the bridge back from Reru and turn right (South). Continue along the left bank, passing Kyalbok, Chatang and the tea tent at Pipula. 6 km from Pipula, the trail again crosses the stream to the right bank over a bridge. Just a short walk across the bridge is Ichar. As on Sep 2010, there is an unpaved road at Ichar which crosses the stream back to the left bank about 1 km downstream from Ichar and then continues on the left bank to Reru.
- Reru - Padum: Metalled road along the left bank of the Lungnyak.
This trek is close to extinction because of the efforts to make a road into Zanskar over Shingo La. As on Sep 2010, the road has already reached Ichar on the Padum side (about 30 km) and Zanskar Sumdo on the Darcha side (about 18 km). As a result of the road construction and snowfall/landslides, the trails keep changing. There are destroyed trails on both sides of the river almost all along the way. The above description is for the trail which was best for use in Sep 2010. However, given there are plenty of villages and trekking traffic on the way, it is never difficult to find which trail would suit you the best.
Remember to go by waypoints and before you use the GPS trail, read this page as well.
