The red deep dust on the road to Pang

An oil-tanker crossing the river at Pang

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2003-06-24 - Road to Leh (Day 4) - Sarchu - Pang (Day 70)

The sky has turned threatening and it looks like we will be hit with storms today. The options are to stay put in the tents and let it blow over or ride on. The last time Jo and Paul made this trip a couple of years ago, they were caught for three weeks between Sarchu and Pang after landslides closed the roads. Our biggest fear is landslides which happen after (and during) every storm and staying put leaves us open to being trapped where we are. As going back is not really an option with that road being bad before storms and will certainly be impassible afterwards, we decide that going on further is probably the safest bet. With everything double wrapped in plastic out of fear of a storm or more rivers like the day before and with all the warm gear on, we ride out of Sarchu. The road lead down into a confined valley where we meet a convoy of more then 50 army trucks that take up almost the entire one lane. We have to pull to the side to let each one pass then go on the next hundred meters until the next one is there and pull off again, all the while being suffocated by the diesel fumes which are stifling in the stagnant valley air. The road turns into deep dust a couple of feet thick, which I learn later the Australians call "bull dust". As the trucks pass, they through clouds up further making it difficult to breathe. I get short of breath and just wait for several of the trucks to pass losing sight of Jo and Paul as they go on ahead. The ride itself is high stress as there are only thin gullies to ride through with the dust filling them and covering hidden rocks, which one keeps hitting. I am by myself now and if it rains, the road will in a matter of minutes turn into a soup of mud, which may be impassable.

I see Paul out on the road waiting for me and know something bad is ahead. He has been telling me for two days about the river crossing at Pang and obviously not saying how bad it really is. As I see him, I also see the river, which is washed out the road for a good 150 meters. I stop the bike and walk down to the river to try to figure a way through, seeing Paul on the other side trying to give me hints. Down close, it looks like this is not nearly as bad as it appears, as there is a cement bottom to the river, which while running fast, seems to have a reasonably solid bottom. The concrete splits in a couple of places where I will have to drive over loose stones but at least for much of the way it will have a base. Paul offers to take the bike across as I am obviously not fond of water but I say I want to try it as after some coaching from Paul on what I was doing wrong, I am starting to get a bit better at the water crossings. I make it across and have a deep feeling of relief as it was not easy but I think the nightmare I had been dreading for two days is over - unfortunately I say so to Paul and he replies, "Uh, no, that's the easy one, the bad one is just ahead." Damn it! The sky is still threatening and we go another few kilometers down and come to the traffic jam of trucks waiting to cross what is simply a full-scale river. There is a partially completed bridge there but there is no way to get a bike across and it will be days or weeks before it is finished. We watch an Indian in a small car pull off his shoes and socks and wade into the river trying to find the shallowest way across and watch a truck go through which looks to me to be way beyond what I can do. Paul isn't in a mood to wait and think about it too much with the rain threatening and says hell with it and drives right into the river, shaking a couple of times, but managing to get through without going down. Watching how deep and fast it was for him, I have to admit that this river is just beyond my ability and I give the bike over to Paul and just have to face this would be too hard. I have just enough time to pull the camera bag off before he drives into the river, but he stalls 3/4 of the way through and there is a yell of anger as the bike stops. There were a couple of Indians who had driven through just before still in their car on the other side and they run into the river, stabilize, and pull the bike the last 1/4 of the way out of the river. I pick my way across the partially completed bridge and walk over to the other side to get the bike and drive it up to the tents of Pang. Wiped out by another incredibly hard day's riding, the altitude and my inability to get past this block on my own, I go in and take a nap in one of the tents.

After talking with a few of the locals we find that the road is in the worst shape its been in years, and that 26+ km of it is practically impassable. In addition, we are one of the first ones over with the road only opened less then 20 days ago and with the snow and associated runoff still very deep. My guess is that a few weeks later into the season when more of the snow has melted off and the road repair crews have had a chance to shore up some of the really bad spots things will be considerably better, but for now, this has been a hell of a ride and I made it through without too much damage primarily because of Paul's knowledge of the road and skill on the bikes. It would have been a disaster had I tried it alone. We still are not to Leh yet, but Pang is the last hard bit of riding, the rest is relatively easy.

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