The road tracklog 
from Skardu to Dhee, then back to Gilgit
from 18/06 to 25/06/2007 

The 18/06 I left the headland above Satpara Lake towards 09:00 to go again to Skardu to do shopping and to do my daily visit at the cybercafé. I definitively left the city towards 11:00 to go to install me at the edge of Kachura Lake to about thirty kilometres. I arrived at the junction to Shangri-La Tourist Resort. Alas around the lake there is no possibility to camp. I was satisfied with a carpark at the Tibet Motel.

Knowing experiment that it needed approximately seven hours to reach the KKH, I left 19/06 around 06:30 to cross the Gilgit River Bridge about 15:00 after the lunch pause. The Skardu Road is undoubtedly a “Scenic road” and with all variations more spectacular than the KKH. Little before Gilgit I crossed the Etienne’s 2cv and I became acquainted with the charming Julie. We exchanged practical information. They went to Islamabad then to India to go to Calcutta. I arrived at the PTDC Chinar Inn around O5:00 pm to install my bivouac on the grass. I made my daily visit at a cybercafé, Comsats. Alas I noted that I could not use my script of DOS commands to update of my website, I had corrections to make. The restaurant of the PTDC is ordinary.

The 20/06 I left Gilgit by one of Jinnah Bridges crossing the Gilgit River towards Nomal by the right bank of the Hunza River where a concrete bridge enabled me to join the KKH. While strolling I reached the Rakaposhi View Point where I admired the splendid summit. I lunched on the spot. The KKH has, in general, a good surface quality except in zones of landslide where fallen debris block the roadway. Hunza valley deserves well its reputation, true Garden of Eden with food crops and luxuriant orchards. I arrived in Karimabad around 03:00 pm where I installed my bivouac on the Polo Ground after a stiff and narrow slope.

The 21 and 22/06 I remained in Karimabad. I went for long walks along the channels supplied with the water from the Ultar Nala glacier, they irrigate fields and orchards. During these walks I made many meetings of people with whom I discussed. Thus I discovered a swimming pool dug in the ground with Diran 7270 m in background and girls in a tree picking up berries that they offered to me with grace and kindness. These two days enabled me to appreciate the cordiality of the Karimabad inhabitants.

In two days, the 24 and on June 25, I went again quietly to Gilgit to take the road to the Shandur Pass by the Gilgit River valley. En route I stopped at the village of Pasu to admire the three giant glaciers purpose of many treks. I installed the bivouac of the 24 on a platform away from the KKH at ten kilometres upstream from Ganish.