TREKS- Leh to Rudok

Traversing Nostalgia – historic routes:

Another nostalgic route that was popular till the early 1950s. Rudok, in Western Tibet, was considered more a part of Ladakh than Tibet till 1850. Its trading status gone China has converted it into an important military base. It is linked by a good road to Lhasa and to Kashgar on the Chinese side. Within India there's a motorable road till Miarsmik La. Those who have been to Pangong Tso will find a part of this route familiar and the history interesting.

Abbreviations:

D.B.- Govt. Dak Bungalow with servants & board.

B- Road Bungalow, rest house or baradiri without servant or board.

F.B.- Forest Bungalow.

C.- Caravan Serai for Native Travellers.

E.- Encamping Ground.

P.O.- Post Offcie.

T.O.- Telegraph Office.

S.- Supplies or russud for an ordinary party of travelers.

G.- Grass for grazing for transport animals.

F.- Firewood or other fuel.

W.- Water for drinking.

M.P.- mountain Pass.

L.- Lake.

T.- Transport coolies, ponies, mules or yaks available for an ordinary party of travelers.

H.- Hot Spring.

Only minor editing done like changing miles into kms, feet into metres, and a few spellings into recognizable ones of today.

No. of Marches	Stages	Kms	Kms	Nature of Route	Main Valleys & mountain passes	River crossing and lakes	ASL in meters & feet	Supplies & Transport at Stages	Remarks
		Camp to camp	Total
	Leh	….	0	Road good and passable for laden animals	Up Indus valley	…..	11350' or 3460 m	S.F.G.W. & T abundant.	Large town and fort. Capital of Ladakh. Palace of Gyalpo Raja. Residence of Wazir and British Joint Commissioner.
1	Tikse	21	21 38		Up Sarkti valley			" "	Village and monastery
2	Chimre	26	46					S.F.G. W. & T. moderate	" "
	Sarkti		56	Very steep ascent from Sarkti to Zingral					Large village, well cultivated
3	Zingral	19	62					S & T nil, F, G, W available	Halting Place
			70	Ascent to, & descent from, pass easy	Chang la. Down Chang la's ravine, up Durbug ravine
4	Durbug	24	88	Road on both banks of Durgul (Durbug) river				S & T nil, F, G, W procurable	Small village, well cultivated


5	Tankse	11	99	From Tankse, road up valley, which narrows		Cross Durgul river several times		S.F.G.W. & T. plentiful	Small village, central store depot for caravans to Yarkand and Tibet
	Muglib		110	to a gorge and then opens out by Muglib, crosses grassy swamp & ascends 3 kms among rocky boulders…….	Up Pazar valley				Hamlet
	{From here			two roads to	Rudok. One N	& one S of		Pangong	Tso}
6	Chakar Talao	22	122	…..From here road continues up valley to the plain				S& T nil, F, G, & W scanty	Shallow pond, DRY [not NOW] in summer

7	Lukung	11	133	at end of Pangong Tso	Up Loonkur valley		14,130' or 4308 m	" " " "	3 kms, NW end of Pamngong Tso. W salt
8	Chagra	13	146	Road good all the way to the foot of MS pass			15090' or 4601 m	S.T. nil, F scanty, G.W. plentiful	Pasture ground
9	Charkhang	13	159	Gradual ascent to summit,					Southern foot of the pass
			160	whence road turns E over	Miarsmik La		18420' or 5616 m	S.T. nil, F.G.W. procurable
			166	elevated ground called Kieu La into the	Down Kieu valley
10	Pangur Gongma	18	177	Head of the Kieu valley, which drains	Kim stream is difficult to		17670' or 5387 m	S.T. nil, F.G.W. available	Eastern foot of the pass
	Ningri			down into the Pangong Lake	Cross in summer		16250' or 4954 m	S.T. nil, F.G.W. scanty
11	Niagzu	21	197	Good road up this branch valley to head,	Up Tso Kiok valley		15390' or 4692 m	S.T. nil, F.G.W. available	Junction of 3 valleys
12	Kaisarpo	19	216	where it			16000' or 4878 m	" " "	Halting place
			229	crosses 2 passes	Tso Kiok La
			230	& descends into the Tal valley	Demjor La & down Tal valley		17700' or 5396 m
13	Gonu	19	235	Road along river bed & then crosses Salam spur				S.T. nil, F.G.W. scanty	Frontier post
14	Chuzan	21	256	Road fair over the pass and	Up ravine	Springs	15840' or 4829 m	S.T. nil, F.G.available, W. springs	Grassy plain
			266	down the ravine	Dingo La, down Toba Ruberg
15	Pal	32	288	Stony road along northern shore of two fresh water lakes, Tso Rum and Tso Nyak	ravine			" " "	On northern shore of Pangon Tso
16	Dobo Nakpo	13	301				14020' or 4274 m	S.T. nil, F.G.W. scanty	On the northern bank of Tso Rum
17	Noh	30	331			Naichu Lumba		" " "	On northern bank of Tso Nyak, small village of 25 houses. Today a motorable road on the Chinese side.
18	RUDOK	32	363					" " "	Village & chief place of Rudok- then. Today a teeming military town and missile base

OR	ALONG		THE	WESTERN & SOUTHERN SHORE	of PANGONG TSO	64 kms long &	3 to 6 kms wide	13,936' or 4249 m	Salt water

7	Lukung		133	Fair road but stony along the southern margin			14130' or 4308 m	S.T. nil, F.G. scanty	3 kms from NW end of Pangong Tso to the left
	Spanmik		144	of the Pangong Tso, which is
8	Mang sth bank	22	156	quite open till Thakung					Hamlet
	Mirak		166						Small village
9	Kakstet Sth bank	16	172				14000' or 4268 m	S.T.nil, F.G.W. scanty	Hamlet
10	Thakung	11	183	Here the mountain spurs come down to P Tso and		Saka Lungma
11	Yula	24	207	the road along the shore is winding and rough		Yula ravine		S.T. nil, F.G.W. precarious
12	Aot south bank	24	231	At east end of P Tso, which is connected with the		Pangong ford		S.T.nil, F.G.W. plentiful	Pasture ground, about 5 kms N. W., is the ruined fort of Khurnak
13	Dal north bank	19	250	Nyak Tso by a long narrow channel fordable at Aot *. A good		Dal Lumba		" " "	Camping ground
14	Pal north bank	34	284	but stony road continues along northern shore of Nyak Tso to Pal, & thence along northern shore of 2 small lakes:		Pal Lumba
15	Noh	32	316	Rum Tso and Nyak Tso to Noh		Naichu Lumba		S.T. nil, F.G.W. scanty	Small vlg og 25 houses
16	RUDOK	32	348	Rudok is on the S side of the latter tso.				" " "	Chief place of Rudok

From Noh, there is a route northwards up the Naichu valley over the Kiang La, by the Mang Tza lake, 16,600' or , over an extensive elevated plateau 16,880', and the Diwan pass by the Ghubolik Lake and the sulphur mine at 16,960' or to Polu 8430' or and Kiria in Khotan 4580' or in length.

Col. Trotter write that according to Mr. Moorcroft, this was part of an ancient highway from Rohilkand northwards to Turkistan starting from najibabad (whence a railway line has just been made 15 miles or kms to Kotdwara at the foot of the hills) 210 miles long to the Niti pass 16,676' or , thence crossing the Satluj river at Totling 12,200' or , where there is an ancient iron suspensiopn bridge, and crossing the Bogo la 19,210' or into the Indus valley at gartok 14,240' or , it follows this river to Demchok and crosses the Jara pass northwards to Rudok and Noh about 440 kms.

From Noh to Kiria in Khotan is 549 kms. From Kiria to Kargalik 432 kms and from Kargalik to Yarkand 68 kms- Total 1824 kms.

I was first in Pangong Tso in October 1972. At that time no one could tell me much about the mountain ranges on eastern and northern and southern side of its shores. In all I have been to Pangong Tso 11 times and even now there are incorrect answers. Especially about its length, which is not 140 kms. It is just 64 kms long. At Khurnak Fort is where the border is supposed to be.

TREKS- Leh to Rudok

Only minor editing done like changing miles into kms, feet into metres, and a few spellings into recognizable ones of today.

Muglib

Pangur Gongma

Ningri

Kaisarpo

Noh

RUDOK

Spanmik

Mirak

Kakstet

Sth bank

Yula