As we
had no school today, I decided to go on a day hike. My trek took me over
the hill to the next village west of here, Phyang, a total of 14 miles.
I had done this trek during September's full moon, starting at 10PM, and
finishing at 8:30AM. Afterwards, a guy from my school told me that this
area is a good place to see snow leopards. So, with snow up there, I
decided to go back.
The trek is an extremely difficult one, and I was hesitant to return.
But, time was available, and I decided to go for it. Last time I did the
trek without ever having been there, and went the wrong way twice. This
time with daylight, I knew exactly where to go.
The route went from my apartment via roads to the village of Gyamso
north and west of Leh. This is a long village in a side valley. At the
far end, it starts climbing up a side valley to that side valley to a
set of herders huts and animal pens. Instead of going directly to the
pass between Gyamso and Phyang, I cut left up a ridge and followed that
a couple miles to the pass. This ridge is a difficult one, with steep
climbs at 16,000 feet, and big rocks to go around. But, footing is good,
and there are very few loose stones. The entire way I was keeping an eye
out for movement among the stones and snow with the binoculars, but I
saw nothing.
From the pass, I descended the snow slopes to the west to the river that
feeds Phyang. As I was off the ridge and approaching civilization, the
binoculars were away and I was route-finding. All of a sudden I got
knocked down from behind. It turned out to be a snow leopard that was
not big (3 feet not counting the tail). Being bundled up for the
near-zero temperatures, he didn't hurt me other than scrapes on my hands
when I landed. But the scarf and hood of my jacket are torn up on the
back of the neck. He backed off briefly, and made another jump, this
time for my throat. I braced myself with my arm, and got a sleeve
shredded. The third time he jumped I was ready with my trekking pole and
hit him along the side of the head. He growled and backed off. He
followed me for about two more hours, and whenever he got too close, I
got my pole into position and he backed off.
After all this, I got to the long village of Phyang. Hearing the bus,
and knowing I was still a kilometer from the turnaround I resigned
myself to a walk lasting until 1:00AM. But, the bus came right up to
where I was, turned around there, and let off four women. So, I had a
ride back to Leh.
Webmaster's Note: The story you just read is fictional, it is the only
fictional account on this website (to the best of my knowledge)
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I love the mountains! |
