Finally, after a horrible cold sleepless night, we encounter a beautiful sunny morning. Sun shining bright over the valley like a gold, no wonder why it is Sonmarg.
Ofcourse, it is Sonmarg for a different reason. But, the beauty of this place is pure gold.
Ready to roll
After our camping tea and ready to eat breakfast, we were all ready to roll towards Leh. Sonmarg to Leh is approximately 340 Kms. But, is no way an easy road.
The journey is long, cold and filled with several challenges. However, it also offers a variety of terrain. Snow top mountains passes like Zozila, beautifuk green long valley of Drass to Kargil, Patrotic and over whelming lanscapes of Kargil and last but not the least beauty of the high passes and valley of Ladakh.
Complete route from Sonmarg to Leh is scenic and brings you goosebumps.
THE MIGHTY ZOZILA
Even before, you start your journey from Sonmarg, one must be prepared to face the mighty Zozila, at least it is there for now untill we have a tunnel which is under construction.
At times, Zozila is closed for tourists due to heavy snowfall, yes even in June. We encounter such a situation in 2023 where Zozila was closed for couple of days in June due to snow fall.
The road to Zozila is approx. 24 Kms up to the Zero Point. The route offers a cinematic view of the free flowing sind river and some heart stopping views of some glaciers like Thajiwas glacier.
The route towards the Zozila is narrow and sometimes muddy and slippery due to presence of snow. One must be careful while driving on this road. Although BRO has bricked down the full road however, there might be slush or deep water crossings due to melting snow in summer.
Zero Point (Zozila)
When you reach zero point you witness valley of snow filled mountains. There is always snow at this place, at least I have witnessed it always. You can halt here for a while for some snacks and tea. This place also offers some adventure activities like Adv riding, which you can enjoy. One can even walk on the glacier over the snow.
You must carry your sun glasses for this place as it will be very bright in case it is sunny. Take some beautiful pictures, play in snow, enjoy some maggie with tea. Overall, this place definetely bring a smile on your face and stay in your memories for ever.
Soon there will be a tunnel bypassing the Zozila will be available for travel, and just like Rohtang Zozila will be a talk of the history, till then do visit and enjoy the beauty it has to offer.
Drass and Kargil
Zozila is the doorway to Dras and Kargil. Distance to Dras is approx. 40 Kms and a very scenic one. One one side you have sind river flowing and other side are the green valley and snow filled glaciers.
At places, the river flows right next to the road, so you can relax for some time in river water. The other side is no less, it offers small waterfalls which looks so amazing that it will force you to stop and witness the beauty.
Dras to Kargil it approx. 64 Kms but in between comes a point which no Indian can ever forget and it is one reason we are very proud to be an Indian.
KARGIL WAR MEMORIAL
This one place you cannot miss on this route and one should not, even if you are not an indian. Kargil war memorial is built in memory of the brave indian soldiers who fought the great battle of Kargil in the year 1999 and save us from the cheat of Pakistan.
This place is built at a point from where you can witness all the famous battle points which were taken back by Indian army during the Kargil war. The famous Tiger hill is one of them.
This place will definetely brings you some goosebumps and tears to your eyes. We salute to all the brave soldiers who fought without even thinking about their own lives. You can witness the story of this battle with some historic battle equipment used during the battle.
I have been to this place several times but, it always brings the same excitement, goosebumps and patrotism.
Kargil to Leh – The STUPID BLUNDER
We reached Kargil around 4 PM, we had our lunch which took and hour or so. We still require to travel approx. 220 kms to reach Leh. Ideally one should stop and stay at Kargil as this is the main town which offers all the facilities on offer.
Instead of staying in Kargil, we decided to roll on and continue our journey towards Leh. A mistake which you should never make. Not because it is not safe to travel but because of the beauty this route has to offer.
The last sight which we witnessed until the light exist was the Namika La pass which was 50 Kms from Kargil. After that we travelled all through the dark.
THE MISSED BEAUTY
Travelling in dark on a straight Delhi to Chandigarh is different from travelling on a beautiful mountain range, that too in Ladakh. We missed several beautiful waypoints like the Lamayuru, Khalsi, Fotu La pass, Nimmoo, Phey and even the magnetic hill.
Not only it was unbearable cold, it was dangerous at some places to ride, and the places we missed were a blunder mistake. Specially on a tour which was first and planned for over an year. We missed some part of the actual Ladakh.
LEH
We reach Leh entry point 12 mid night, where we were required to show our Corona negative reports. The road afterwards was just like a buttery slide, it was straight and perfect for a ride. We crossed magnetic hill, Pathar Sahib Gurudwara, Leh Airport and many such place in dark.
Although we planned to cover few of them the next day. But we surely missed many which we cannot cover in this tour.
Important: Therefore, if you are travelling from Sonmarg to Leh do plan a halt in Kargil during the night otherwise you will either miss the scenic beauty of the route towards Leh or you have spent another day specially for this in case you are not planning to return from Srinagar side.
We reached Leh after mid-night around 1 AM and ofcourse what else one could do at after travelling whole day so long. We simply changed and slept.
The day was awesome even after we missing up on several waypoints, those we witnessed were simply amazing and unforgetful memories.
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Follow this journey from the beginning – Ultimate journey to the land of sensation passes
