From Karakul lake I took a bus to Tashkurgan and then another bus that wound up and over the Khunjerab Pass to Sost in Pakistan. The next two weeks I slowly made my way down the Hunza valley. I would hitch rides and go on day hikes in the surrounding area. I was there during the earthquake that hit and felt the ground tremble but didn’t think much of it until we saw on the news the devastation it had caused. The quake caused landslides which took down part of the road and the phone lines, but these were repaired soon enough. There were worse places to be stranded.
It was October and already the leaves were turning yellow and occasionally bad weather would come in over the mountains. Most days however were gloriously sunny and the air that clear crispness you get at altitude, although the nights were chilly.
