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The
Indus River through the Rondu Gorge
Northern Territories, Pakistan V+
Northern Territories, Pakistan V+
Episode
Five
A
good nights sleep on the beautiful Indus.
The beauty of traveling is that each day offers up the promise of the exotic. Eating beef in most countries is a rarity, and these guys look stoked about the prospect.
The beauty of traveling is that each day offers up the promise of the exotic. Eating beef in most countries is a rarity, and these guys look stoked about the prospect.
Phil
Boyer scouts the first large rapid.
Rafa
Ortiz dodges a hole.
One of the few industries on the Skardu Highway is semi-precious gem mining. From what we gathered, it’s a temporary dangerous job that pays well. Families camp out while men mine for a few months.
Children
loved to watch us figure out the puzzle pieces of the Indus.
Rafa Ortiz figures it out once piece at a time.
Ben Stookesberry out in a big rapid.
Rafa Ortiz figures it out once piece at a time.
Ben Stookesberry out in a big rapid.
Phil
Boyer.
Rafa
Ortiz finishes a rapid, dwarfed by the vastness of the Karakoram.
In route to lodgings we had seen a good chunk of the rapids from the road, and many looked intimidating. The assumption was made that we would be scouting a lot. Ben Coleman on paddling big water; “you just have to let go”.
And let go we did! We would take turns leading into long rapids, catching eddies, aggressively boat scouting as far as possible and then pushing past the point of no return. Not wanting to slow the team down we all followed as best we could, as the lead paddler would disappear behind massive waves. Drive right squeezing past a hungry hole, then quickly turn and paddle as hard as possible back to the left avoiding yet another equally scary hydraulic.
Rinse
and repeat the same cycle for many miles.
Things
had progressed off the river too, and we were given a personal security
escort from the police.
