Gilgit

Leaving Pattan, we headed direction Gilgit. Although only 250 kilometers from Pattan, it is a 6 hour drive. On August 5, 2006, a 12 minute deluge caused untold landslides all along the Karakorum highway, closing it for 5 or 6 days. Most of the damage has been moved to the side, creating a one-lane track in a lot of places. Other parts were unaffected, whetting the appetite for great riding, only to be confronted shortly with deep sand, plowed in erratic lanes by trucks and jeeps.

The faint line on the left in the picture below is the KKH running high above the Indus river.

A random shot before leaving Pattan.

Some of the views along the KKH are amazing. Below is the Indus, with interesting agricultural constructions, nestled in a fertile spot below a sandy mountain.

Life clings to the mountain sides wherever you look, waiting for the next landslide.