Gulabgarh
- 9th of September
- Keylong - Tandi - Udaipur - Killar - Gulabgarh
- 200km
We got an early start in the morning, and rode down to Tandi. Just at the entrance of Tandi is a turn to the right, towards the Udaipur, and the Triloknath temple, which was reputed to be 5000 years old. The 45km ride up to Udaipur was a breeze, and we made very good time. Beyond Udaipur, the road just disappeared from under our wheels. What was left was a very rough jeep track.
About 30km beyond Udaipur, we crossed a glacier from which a two-foot deep stream flowed right across the road. The freezing water of the stream was more than 15m wide. A bull-dozer was attempting to clear the stones under the water, but didn’t seem to have made much progress.
Prashi makes his way across the freezer. So deep and rough that even he struggled across.
About 50km from Udaipur, we passed the town of Killar (not on any map). This was the largest town in this area, not that that is saying much. We did another route check here. Our options were to push on to a town called Gulabgarh (not on any map), or take a diversion (not on any map) through a mountain pass called Sach La, and head to Chamba. The first would take about 4-5 hours, while the latter was a full day’s journey (9+ hours) in a 4x4, with no civilization enroute.
Although the route to Gulabgarh was actually heading North again into Jammu, the dual advantages were that there was tarmac beyond Gulabgarh and sparse civilization along the route. Both of these were absent from the Chamba route. We decided to head to Gulabgarh.