Pin Valley
Pin River at Pin Valley
First, my apologies for not updating this blog for quite some time. The Internet connection at Sangla is painful and I am yet to get a Broadband connection. However, I must tell you about Pin Valley – a spectacular valley hidden in Spiti. We went there about a month back but the landscape still haunts me. Pin Valley in Spiti was declared a National park in 1987. While going to Kaza we crossed a bridge across the Spiti river approx 10km before Sichling took a narrow winding road towards this valley. It was evening as we crossed barren meadows and reached a cluster of white-washed houses at Gulling. The next village we came across was Sagnam. Unfortunately the housekeeper who earlier agreed for our stay expressed his inability as there was no water supply. This was November and he informed that water froze every morning and he had to close down toilets. However we located the PWD care taker who was kind enough to provide us two rooms for the night.
Pin valley is the home of Ibex and Snow leopards - we did not see any as our stay was just for a day. About 2km above Gulling at Kungri one can visit the the 600-year-old Ugyen Sanag Choling Gompa or Monastary. From Sagnam one can proceed further to the Mud Village which is the starting point for the Pin-Parvati trek.
Pin Valley - Mud Village
We traveled further down – about 4 Km’s from Mud Viillage but could not go further as a frozen stream which blocked our way. Pin valley is different – even in winter the valley offers a spectacular landscape which is different from the Spiti valley. Its serene and virgin in most parts with the blue-green Pin river, the dried fauna, the small villages, the snow clapped peaks, the eroded mountain faces offering an amazing view both for exploration and photography.
