Pamir Highway trip Day 4 - Rushan to Jizeu valley

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July 15 - Pamir Highway trip Day 4 - Rushan to Jizeu valley

Last night I had another bad night of sleep. Every single night has been the same. I wake up a lot and have trouble falling to sleep again. I also sometimes have the sensation in these new types of mattresses that some tiny insect is crawling on me, under the covers. But I see nothing and feel nothing when I brush it away. And there are no bites. No idea.

I also had some stomach pain and at 3:30am had to make a bathroom/outhouse trip. Constipation over, but more of a 180 reversal. What is happening?

We said goodbye to the Belgians at breakfast and we headed out at 9 am. Our driver (the 2nd) dropped us off at 10:30am at the start of the Jizeu valley. From here, we would hike into the valley and stay the night before heading back tomorrow. The driver seemed to want us to take all of our stuff with us, but we told him no, it would stay in the van until tomorrow. To begin the hike, we had to cross a river on a small suspension bridge. Sort of scary, but ok. Then we started to hike. It was very beautiful, but very hot. We hiked along or above a rapidly flowing river the whole way, and the initial part was all over rocks and scree. I am a bit of a clumsy walker, and tend to move the rocks or stumble a bit as I go. We didn't walk too fast, but it was difficult at times for me. It was hot, so that made it more difficult, and we were at 2500 meters, so I think that contributed as well. I felt very unfit, though I am probably at my fittest. We stopped often, especially when we found shade near the river. There was another hiker that we came across at times. Eventually we made it to the first of three villages, but village is quite a loose term. There were some mud and stone houses, and we were invited for tea at one of them. We had tea and bread and cookies and candies there, and met Irish David, the other hiker. We rested there a while, and then we went on to the third village, where we would stay the night. We finally arrived there around 3pm or so, despite thinking it would be a 2 hour hike. But along the way we had passed a few beautiful blue pools, and there was still another lake about 30 minutes beyond. We hiked another 10 minutes and then rested, and David continued on, as he was not staying the night and needed to start hiking back. The rest of my group decided to head back to the homestay to secure our sleeping spot, but I kept going to see the lake. I was hot and tired and almost turned around, but I did make it and it was very beautiful. I took some pictures and then hiked back with David.

After the hike, I joined my friends for tea and bread and waited with them until dinner. Tea and often meals are served on these large open lounging beds. I almost fell asleep, I was so tired. But eventually they brought us dinner, which was with noodles and potatoes and onions. Quite nice. We actually wanted to stay another night and just relax in the day there, but we had other plans for tomorrow that would only work on a Saturday, so we had to head back. We all stayed in the same room and it was quite cosy.

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Comments

[Mike Ritter]

Great Photos
I'm loving the photos, Jenn. Beautiful stuff!

[D MJ Binkley]

Good luck
Not my cup of tea