Choices of drinking water and food in Markha Valley trek

bruce · Sep 30th, 2007, 22:50

Hello all,

I and a couple of my friends plan to do the markha valley trek in the second half of June. We are planning to do this without a guide and porters. I would like information about food and drink along this trek.

I know there are some villages and parashoot tents along the way. What are the choices of food and drink? Can we expect hot rice/daal or similar foods? also, what kind of drinking water can we get? I suppose there will not be any bottled water...

Our goal is to stay as light as possible and not carry too much stuff. What is the minimum amount of food that we can get away with? (we will carry tents and sleeping bags)

Thanks for your help.
Bruce

kinnaur cap · Oct 1st, 2007, 04:51

Hi, I was lucky enough to go through here last summer. Guided group. As you likely know there are several entry and exit options; our group entered at Chilling and exited over Zalung Karpo La to Dat for kind of a long exit, a total of 3 passes including some definite no-village areas. I have a ton of photos on a Flickr site, let me know if you want to see them. With a more direct exit, your trip would be shortened and return to villages sooner, I think, so less food needed. I was not seeking out food, but only remember very basic, transitory parachute shoppes with warm beer. Not to say that with a little langauge and effort you couldn't rustle something up. "camping fees" seemed to be the norm. I think some of the population is engaged in seasonal animal husbandry and is not around in mid-summer; we saw mainly kids and women. No bottled water that is for sure, take a filter; ubiquitous horse **** around some campsites. Yes I was on a cushy group trip but I would say go for it, you are never too far from a settlement in the main valley.

bruce · Oct 2nd, 2007, 00:57

Thanks for your reply kinnaur cap.

We are planning to start from Stok and end in Hemmis, for a total of 8 days(possibly none with a side trip). This is the trek that is described in Lonely Planet's "trekking in the indian himalaya". It also goes over three passes in the 4900-5100M range.

Our main concern is freedom of movement, not money. We want to be free to be flexible and explore and not be weighted down by a group. That's why we prefer to do this on our own.

If basic warm food can not be provisioned along the way, what is the best way to achieve our goal? Should we hire a horse/mule to carry our stuff? is one horse enough to carry food and kitchen for 5 people (4 of us + the horse attendent)?

Thanks

kinnaur cap · Oct 2nd, 2007, 04:39

That sounds like a great trip. I am sorry, I do not know much about how much horses can carry. Depends on your personal loads. I was blown away how hard walking was "at altitude" and we had had 4-5 days in Leh to acclimatize and started "low" at Chilling at maybe 3200 meters. Your trip starts high and gets high faster. Stok looked like a vibrant agricultural village and Hemis certainly had dhabas (basic restaurants) up and running when we visited in July. One issue I think is do you plan to boil tons of water and if so will you use backpacker style white gas stoves, or get a kerosene local job. If the later, you need a jerry-can type of container (get a good one!) and a horse makes sense to me to carry this. Don't underestimate your hydration needs and the associated time req'd to get the water, whether filtering or boiling; we all drank TONS of water/tea/re-hydration solution every day. I am not sure if cook and horseman are skill sets that are always readily combined in the same person. I think comfy would be 2 horses, and 2 helpers, maybe a cook and horseman. The horses we had were kinda little and each horse does not carry a lot. This is a popular trek and I am sure many others have done it independently so their comments may be more useful to you, but please PM me if you'd like any more recommendations or gossip about the trip; I thought it was great.

bruce · Oct 3rd, 2007, 04:02

I see, thanks for the follow up. I think you are right, a cook and a horseman makes more sense.

By the way, I would love to see your pictures on flickr.

Thanks

kinnaur cap · Oct 6th, 2007, 03:15

Hi, I'll send you via PM a prolonged discussion that would likely bore the others, especially the experienced independent types. My flickr site though is http://www.flickr.com/photos/koelle/ and I am shameless enough to post it here. Pages 11 through 3 (sort of backwards chronological order, with a mini-pastiche of a friend's photos on page 3 I think) are from Leh and environs and then the trek.

Sep 30th, 2007, 22:50	#1
bruce Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: USA Posts: 32	Choices of drinking water and food in Markha Valley trek Hello all, I and a couple of my friends plan to do the markha valley trek in the second half of June. We are planning to do this without a guide and porters. I would like information about food and drink along this trek. I know there are some villages and parashoot tents along the way. What are the choices of food and drink? Can we expect hot rice/daal or similar foods? also, what kind of drinking water can we get? I suppose there will not be any bottled water... Our goal is to stay as light as possible and not carry too much stuff. What is the minimum amount of food that we can get away with? (we will carry tents and sleeping bags) Thanks for your help. Bruce Last edited by bruce : Oct 1st, 2007 at 00:50.

Oct 1st, 2007, 04:51	#2
kinnaur cap Occastional Himalaya trekker & Hindi student Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 5	Limited options Hi, I was lucky enough to go through here last summer. Guided group. As you likely know there are several entry and exit options; our group entered at Chilling and exited over Zalung Karpo La to Dat for kind of a long exit, a total of 3 passes including some definite no-village areas. I have a ton of photos on a Flickr site, let me know if you want to see them. With a more direct exit, your trip would be shortened and return to villages sooner, I think, so less food needed. I was not seeking out food, but only remember very basic, transitory parachute shoppes with warm beer. Not to say that with a little langauge and effort you couldn't rustle something up. "camping fees" seemed to be the norm. I think some of the population is engaged in seasonal animal husbandry and is not around in mid-summer; we saw mainly kids and women. No bottled water that is for sure, take a filter; ubiquitous horse **** around some campsites. Yes I was on a cushy group trip but I would say go for it, you are never too far from a settlement in the main valley.

Oct 2nd, 2007, 04:39	#4
kinnaur cap Occastional Himalaya trekker & Hindi student Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 5	Not too horse-savvy.... That sounds like a great trip. I am sorry, I do not know much about how much horses can carry. Depends on your personal loads. I was blown away how hard walking was "at altitude" and we had had 4-5 days in Leh to acclimatize and started "low" at Chilling at maybe 3200 meters. Your trip starts high and gets high faster. Stok looked like a vibrant agricultural village and Hemis certainly had dhabas (basic restaurants) up and running when we visited in July. One issue I think is do you plan to boil tons of water and if so will you use backpacker style white gas stoves, or get a kerosene local job. If the later, you need a jerry-can type of container (get a good one!) and a horse makes sense to me to carry this. Don't underestimate your hydration needs and the associated time req'd to get the water, whether filtering or boiling; we all drank TONS of water/tea/re-hydration solution every day. I am not sure if cook and horseman are skill sets that are always readily combined in the same person. I think comfy would be 2 horses, and 2 helpers, maybe a cook and horseman. The horses we had were kinda little and each horse does not carry a lot. This is a popular trek and I am sure many others have done it independently so their comments may be more useful to you, but please PM me if you'd like any more recommendations or gossip about the trip; I thought it was great.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Markha Valley October Trekkers Wanted	gwhalley	Ladakh & Zanskar	3	Sep 27th, 2007 21:20
Markha and Zanskar Valley trekking in August sept	Linn	Ladakh & Zanskar	2	Jul 5th, 2007 02:02
Markha Valley Trek	LaReponse	Ladakh & Zanskar	8	Jun 17th, 2007 22:43
Markha trek: markha valley route distroyed by rain?	massi	Trekking and Mountaineering in India	0	Aug 11th, 2006 14:14
Drinking water	hfot2	Health and Well Being in India	19	Sep 13th, 2004 18:44

Oct 2nd, 2007, 00:57	#3
bruce Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: USA Posts: 32	Thanks for your reply kinnaur cap. We are planning to start from Stok and end in Hemmis, for a total of 8 days(possibly none with a side trip). This is the trek that is described in Lonely Planet's "trekking in the indian himalaya". It also goes over three passes in the 4900-5100M range. Our main concern is freedom of movement, not money. We want to be free to be flexible and explore and not be weighted down by a group. That's why we prefer to do this on our own. If basic warm food can not be provisioned along the way, what is the best way to achieve our goal? Should we hire a horse/mule to carry our stuff? is one horse enough to carry food and kitchen for 5 people (4 of us + the horse attendent)? Thanks

Oct 3rd, 2007, 04:02	#5
bruce Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: USA Posts: 32	I see, thanks for the follow up. I think you are right, a cook and a horseman makes more sense. By the way, I would love to see your pictures on flickr. Thanks

Oct 6th, 2007, 03:15	#6
kinnaur cap Occastional Himalaya trekker & Hindi student Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 5	Hi, I'll send you via PM a prolonged discussion that would likely bore the others, especially the experienced independent types. My flickr site though is http://www.flickr.com/photos/koelle/ and I am shameless enough to post it here. Pages 11 through 3 (sort of backwards chronological order, with a mini-pastiche of a friend's photos on page 3 I think) are from Leh and environs and then the trek.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password