We started on a trail like any other trail slowly meandering up the mountainside and heading away from the Zanksar River and the last time I would see her. I felt energized and relaxed unlokie the hike I had did a few days before. About an hour of climbing up hill a couple in the group started to really slow down to a crawl. They were feeling the effects of hiking at altitude and it is a humbling experience especially if you are a type A person to try and get your head around that your body cannot move at the pace it usually goes.
We took our time going through this barren dry landscape with the snow peaked Himalayas in the foreground and then slowly we come around a corner to an open plateau and the opening of the valley around us to green fields far in the distance from Tibetan farmers farming the land to earn a meager living from the earth.
During on our rest stops Tim the guide noticed some footprints and at first he just thought it a mountain goat but on closer inspection it was some sort of cat. It looked like a Mountain Lion print but Tim said no it was the Ladakh snow leopard and that bode well for our journey. He said that the snow cat even footprints are a rare site and he had never seen one.
By Sharon Page 2011@allrightsreserved
August 3, 2011
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