Gata Loops (Manali-Leh Highway)

On this day I am passing the Gata Loops. The Gata Loops are famous group of switchbacks on the Manali Leh highway in the Indian Himalayas.

The road leaves the valley here.There is a very long trail connecting dozens of remote villages though.

There are so many switchbacks, because the steepness of the road is limited by the power of the trucks.

These signs are always hilarious.

After a lot switchback, I passed this structure.

Driven by my curiousity, I decided give it a closer look: 

 I tried to find an explanation for this, but was'nt able to. Some months later back at home, I did some research, and found this blog entry.

 

After a lot of climbing, the Gata Loop section is over, but the climbing goes on for the entire day.

 

 After you reach the pass, there is a short downhill and another pass imediatly afterwards. Luckyly there is a small rest tent in the valley between the passes.

 

Tali

 

 

 

The valley between the two passes.

In the late afternoon, I reached the second pass. Nearly every pass on this route is higher than the last one.

Lachlung La

Lachlung La seen from the other side

The last section for today was a relaxing ride through this valley.

An I finally found a nice place to spend the night.

First day on the Manali Leh Highway.

After carrying and pushing the bikes for over the  Shingo La, its finally time for some real cycling. The day before, we obtained cash, food and gasoline in Keylong, we are ready to start now. 

(If you are planing you trip: There is no gas station in Keylong, I got lucky to get gas at a workshop)

 

At first you follow more or less the river, but after Dacia is the first real ascent.

Darcia ist the last permanent settlement. Everything beyond is not accessible in Winter. 

 On the next day, we towards the  first of the 4 upcoming high altitude passes.

 It's pretty easy to climb these flat roads. They were built this way because the trucks can go steeper in this altitude.

 In the early afternoon, we reached the first pass, the Darachlang La.
The view is quite scenic, and could be a trekking route. I initially planed on stopping here when getting back to Leh, and follow this valley which would finally lead me to the Spiti valley. I wasn't able to find out whether, there is a trail or not, so I disposed this plan.

 You can clearly see, that the climate after the pass is very different. It is so dry, that there is hardly any vegetation.

 There are campsites on the roads, where the buses going from Manali to Leh stay overnight. There are also some crazy taxis though, which will do the trip in one stressful day.

  In the evening, I ran out of water, and had to ride for several additional kilometres to finally be able to reach the river.

Labels:
manali, leh, highway, keylong, bicycle, touring, india, himalayas.

I just uploaded a gallery of me hiking in the Tien Shan Mountains with my warmshowers host in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Gallery

Many means of transporting my bike

I will continue my Ladakh journal soon. In the meantime, I decided to show some of the many means of transport I used with my bicycle.


The first picture shows some guys who picked me up in the Kazakh steppe when there was some strong headwind. In their village, the driver invited me for lunch.

Also in Kazakhstan, this Kamaz truck driver gave me and 80 kilometer lift to Oskemen.

 These guys had the idea to carry my bike up to the plateau in the background. (also Kazakhstan)

 This is me in India on the first day and about to enter the sleeping bus for the next 12 hours.

 From the bus, we hired a this SUV to take us to Srinagar. With such a strong vehicle, it was a nerve wracking 8 hour ride into Kashmir. When another vehicle nearly hit us, the driver went out of the car and punched the other driver into the face.

Another bus ride to Zoji La, Kashmir. The first time, I crawled up on a bus top. Link to the blog post

 When I got sick in Ladakh on 4000m altitude I decided to hitchhike, and had an amazing experience. Link to the blog post.

 That was the most luxury bus, I've taken in India. This picture was taken on the 5300m Pass Taglang La, which I already passed by bicycle a week ago.

 It is always good to have a rope with you, while riding busses in India.

 I was just to lazy to determine my position in Delhi, so I took this cap to find an accommodation.

 This was on my first longer bicycle trip in Russia. I took the train from Moscow to Vladivostok.

This is the sleeping room on the ferry from Russia to Japan. My bike is detached in the bag on the table.

 In Japan, a gardener offered me a ride to escape the strong rain in the mountains.

Crossing the Shingo La

  

This day is the 6th day on the Shingo La trail and we are finally going to cross the pass. For me, the 5000m (16400ft) pass will be the highest point I've ever been to. after one or two days, we plan to reach the Manali Leh Highway.

After the first climb, we can ride a bit further into the valley. The cloud are already revealing the weather on the other side of the pass.

 The first time, we used an  ice bridge to cross a river.

New, the track goes up a huge rocky slope which is quite a challenge with the bikes. Though we already got used to the high altitude, it is only possible to lift and carry the bike for a minute, before needing a breathing break. At this point I was glad, we hired horses for most of the luggage. Otherwise we would had to unload and carry the luggage separately.
On such high altitude everything is gray, but there are still small flowers between the rocks.

After the climb, there is an ascending plateau. You get to see the pass, but it takes some time to get there. On the way to the pass, we meet a lot of other trekking tourists. There are even organized tours, with their own guides, horsemen and even cooks.  We also saw some supply caravans, transporting goods over the pass. Though this route is faster, our horseman usually uses the longer route to Padum to get supplies. The pass is hostile for the horses, he won't find any grass for them here.

 

 Finally the pass is visible.

 

Though the impressive scene, the cold wind make us leave the area soon. We agree with the horseman to carry our luggage down to the campsite on the other side. The way down was not so steep, but blocked with many rocks and mostly impossible to ride. Going down there was nearly as much effort as the ascent.

 

We finally reached the camp in the late afternoon. After unloading the luggage, Tashi, our horseman took his horses back over the pass again, because he could not find any grass there.

The following day is rainy, and we only a go for a few kilometers before giving up and setting up the tents again. The next day is clearer, but it is excruciating hard to push the bikes over the blocked trail. At this point I am wishing I did make the Shingo La crossing at all. The valley gets steeper  at the end, and I manag, to break the small trail with my foot again. Again, the other foot and the bike as counterweight saves me from falling.

At the end, there is a construction site for a road which is planned to lead to Padum some day. I think there are at least ten years, to make the Shingo La trek as we did.  The longest singletrail, I've ever ridden has now come to an end. Another hour on a small road, we finally reach the village Darcia which is on the Manali Leh Highway and has some small restaurants.

In retrospect, this was the most amazing bicycle touring/bikepaking/bike&hike experience I ever had. Though I was cursing and regretting it on some points on the way, I am currently preparing a off road trip in Kyrgyzstan for two months. What I learned, it that a low weight of your gear and bike is the most important key to have fun on the trail. As a mountain biker, I can tell, that a bike with a lot of travel would not have worked to make this trail significantly more rideable.

Lables:
shingo la, shingo, la, bike and hike, bikebacking, bicycle, touring, india, himalayas, darcia, trekking, trail, longest singletrail