Hiking the remote Spiti Valley Circuit of the Indian Himalayas

Iconic ancient monasteries. Remote untouched trails. Peaceful quaint Buddhist villages.

Spiti Valley is a lesser known hiking path in far off Northern Indian Himalayas, for a good reason: located in an area only accessible to outsiders during the span of July to October, Spiti Valley is one of the most difficult regions to access. After 14 hours of multiple busses, shuttles, and sketchy river crossings, we finally arrived in Kaza, the small town in the valley. After a few days scouring the local markets to secure rations and supplies for our trek, we made our way to the remote monastery and famous start of the far off trek.

Over 5 days we explored the backcountry of the Indian Himalayan valley, climbing up to 4000m+ at points. Altitude hit us hard — something we weren’t necessarily expecting in such a dry and arid climate. Normally altitude went hand in hand with snowy Himalayan alpine scenes of our beloved Nepal, but in India our perceptions demanded to adapt. Along the Spiti Valley Trek we witnessed some of the most remote villages and cultural heritage in this area of India. This remains one of our most precious trails on our planet.

Here’s the route:

POST VOYAGE RAMBLES

The less you carry, the more you will see.⁣⁣
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Traveling has been a journey revolving around this simple yet powerful mindset: less is more.⁣⁣ Less stuff literally means more possibility for movement and freedom to adventure.⁣⁣ Less expectations, less judgement, less fixed plans figuratively equates to an open ended latitude of choice and serendipitous horizons. ⁣⁣

Traveling has been about time — our only real commodity — and how we choose to use it.

In times like these, wandering amongst our Earth’s highest mountain range at the top of a roughly 5,000 year old ancient civilization of eastern mystics and sacred teachings, I am humbly reminded of this simple approach to life and where it can take you.⁣⁣