Adventure Countries Himachal Pradesh India North Travel Trekking

Hampta Pass Trek-Day 4, Sia Goru to Chattru

Thanks to yesterday’s steep and rocky descents and the bone-chilling winds, my sprained knee had gone from bad to worse by morning. Ruchi’s was just slightly better. I was not able to join the morning-exercise session and restricted myself to doing flexion which did help but the relief was little more than temporary. The fact that it was all down-hill today, save for a few small ascents, should have made me happy after a full day of steep ascent the previous day but with the knees in bad shape, the entire situation was upside down. After-all, it is way more difficult to climb down than to walk up if your knee is not in good shape.

trekking team at sia goru hampta pass
All of us at Sia Goru, Hampta Pass Trekking

Hampta Pass Trekking – To Chattru Camp

Okay! Before I move any further let me go back to yesterday (Hampta Pass Trekking) for a moment. Remember, I talked about the steep decent yesterday which took way longer than expected to complete and where we were stuck in a hail storm? Well, the mountain you see right behind us in the photo above, the one in the center, that was the one we were walking down from. From the top of that mountain. And I would be very honest about here and accept it that, when we were finally at the base of the mountain and I looked back up, the feeling was of disbelief! Neither I nor Ruchi was ready to believe that we had actually walked down this mountain which looked huge from hundreds of feet below.

mountain peak sia goru
A much better view of the mountain, Sia Goru – Hampta Pass Trekking (PC- Roopa Prabhu)

Okay! Coming back to today, I started limping forward somehow at the end of the group and with Kama with me. But this limp came to an abrupt halt in less than a couple of hundred meters when I found myself unable to negotiate the smallest alleys between the rocks scattered rocks on both sides of the trail. Ruchi’s knee was not as bad as mine so she was trudging ahead of me. Her walking pole seemed to be of great help for her. I realized how helpful a walking stick could be only when Kama handed me the branch he had picked up somewhere yesterday. This made a great difference and I was now moving ahead much more comfortably. I guess I should have bought another trekking pole in Manali for myself as well.

mountains of spiti hampta pass
Mountains of Spiti ahead, Sia Goru – Hampta Pass Trekking

As we moved ahead, the colors around us started to change. The closer we moved towards the Spiti valley the more arid the landscape became. Dry and devoid of any vegetation. Spiti being in what is called the rain-shadow area receives very less rainfall just like Ladakh. It is due to this lack of rain, there is hardly any greenery here and the terrain is dry and gray in color.

Spiti - Manali road
The Spiti – Manali road in the distance, Chattru – Hampta Pass Trekking

Hampta Pass Chandratal Trek

Soon after the last big descent, we were walking on almost flat terrain. This was a good thing for someone like me who was having trouble walking. It would not be wrong if I say I was literally sprinting with the help of my walking stick on the flats now. The only downside however with the wooden stick was its rough surface. Unlike the proper walking pole which Ruchi was using, this was rough and caused multiple bruises on my hands. In this relatively flat terrain, there were some tricky patches where we kind of had to be one with the boulders and squeeze ourselves from between the side of the boulders on one side and the forty feet drop to the roaring Chandra river below on the other.

wooden bridge on water chattru spiti hampta pass trekking
A rickety bridge, Chattru – Hampta Pass Trekking

It was the fourth day without any non-veg and I for one was feeling starved. So, on our way down we talked to a couple of shepherds about any possibility of them selling one of their sheep or goats to us but we had no luck. Not to forget that every night we were having fantastic vegetarian food but to a hardcore non-vegetarian like me, any food which is not non-veg is well, the same. With each step towards Chattru, we had been losing altitude and though I would not say that it was warm but it was definitely not as cold as it was a few hours back, up in the mountains.

rocks Chattru Hampta Pass Trekking
All flats ahead, Chattru – Hampta Pass Trekking

The plan today was to reach Chattru campsite by 1 PM, have Maggi after freshening-up and then head to Chandertaal, a three hour’s drive. We made it to the camp by 1.30 PM which was something I had not expected I would be able to do with my sore knee but I made it!

Hardly any vegetation, Chattru - Hampta Pass Trekking
Hardly any vegetation, Chattru – Hampta Pass Trekking

Out of the many things that were significantly different from what they were just a few hours back, one stark contrast that stuck me was the color of the water of the Chandra river flowing below. Up in the mountains, even the smallest of water-streams had crystal clear water flowing through them whereas the water in the river below looked totally opposite. It was completely muddy in color, clearly unfit for drinking. Thankfully there were fresh-water streams here as well and the doubts about the river-water being used for cooking and drinking here that I was having in my mind were negated. Soon after, we left our stuff behind in our tents had bowls of piping hot Maggi to our heart’s content and then, started for the moon lake, Chandertaal.

Have you ever been to Spiti? What would you like to go on a Himalayan trek? Let me know, I would love to hear from you.

**** Like what you read? Please like, share and/or tweet then. Sharing is caring :)

14 thoughts on “Hampta Pass Trek-Day 4, Sia Goru to Chattru”

  1. Hard core non-creature … well nice reading all these things the details, your experiences, your excitement…here I see it was more a struggle with that leg and a good lesson take a pole with you… I don’t know how you remember so many details… I notice no mention of the ponies here… goodday. I suppose you can write a book on this… will have more parts to read and follow. I wanted to ask how Maggi was there, but I think it was not banned over there though I am sure guys would have had conversations on it … you seriously would have killed a goat by yourself to eat it, I don’t think so, eating something with ready made meat is something and eating something after elimination the creature you intend to eat something is different… I am glad that goat escaped that day.

    1. Haha!! Maggi was available with the kitchen team, supposedly from the old stock.
      And no, I would not have killed the goat, the kitchen staff would have been more happy to take care of it 🙂 .

      1. but you would have caught the goat for them … know meat is very tasty, coming from a person who used to eat everything but became pure veggy… but I guess you got good metabolism… I can’t digest non-veg since I don’t exercise much also…

  2. Great going Rajiv. You are mentally starved because of not having non veg food… Didn’t you have a bow and arrow? 😉
    Trekking pole definitely helps, i also learnt it hard way.
    Waiting for the Lake of Moon part, my favorite lake.

    1. Absolutely! This is one thing that becomes tough for me. Give me atleast once a day and I would be fine.

      Sure, Chandertal will be coming soon.

  3. nice and brilliant captures, highly appreciating. I always like and enjoy your images and posting, which are really worth to see and read, best wishes and love

  4. Just completed reading the entire Hampta Pass series and trust me, I got almost all the information I was looking for. Planning this trek in a couple of months and first thing I remembered when I zeroed in on this trek were your updates last year! 🙂

    1. Waah!! This is so wonderful!! Hampta is a beautiful beautiful trek and I am sure you will enjoy it! Also, because you are travelling a little early in the season, expect a lot of white gold 😉

      Any doubts or questions, feel free to shoot 🙂

      Cheers,
      Rajiv

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.