The next morning, to our utter amazement,it was sparklingly clear and bright. The azure blue sky was dovoid of any trace of last night's clouds. Everything in sight was enveloped in white,dazzling and pure. Teh snow on the road was beginning to melt,the residual heat within the tarmac from previous days and the warm sunlight was doing the trick. But we could only get to Rekcham village,some seven kilometeres on. The road beyong was under a foot of compact snow. So we walked,escorted around by a village dog that had apparently adopted us. The landscape around was bewitchingly beautiful,with the famed Kinner kailash and Trishul peaks forming an august backdrop to the pristine whiteness all around.
We rode out of Sangla early next morning ,intent on taking advantage of the clear weather while it lasted. From Karcham,we headed upstream of Sutlej on the Hindustan-Tibet road. Having refuelled at Powari the last petrol station till Kaza some 250kilometers further on,we rode on to Nako Lake,100 kilormeters hence,our destination for the day. This part of Kinnaur,called the Rupa valley,lies in the rainshadow area and turns increasingly desolate and barren as one deeper into it. Yet,riding through villages like Jangi,Spello,Puh and Yangthang,the happy smiling faces of people who live there belie the utter harshness of the environment they face each day. providingly electricity,water and telecom facilities in such remoteness is an almost impossible task. Kudos to the State Administration for achieving and maitaining it. The roads are excellent inspite of ubiquitous landslides and rock-falls. October onwards temperatures regularly drop below freezing at night and water,that is not flowing,usually freezes. Nako Lake was partly forzen and so was a stream close by,a trickle of water flowing underneath a thick layer of hard ice. The weather was taking a turn for the worse. So we decided against going further and backtracked to Puh for the night.
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