Middle Fork Lake, see Movescount on mobile for the movie of this day's horse trek: Middle Fork

Here are some of my pictures from my NOLS course in the Wind River Mountain range, located in beautiful Wyoming, USA. This was the Horse Packing course that I took (4 days on the ranch, 10 in the Wind River Mountains) and was my "proof of concept", where I wanted to demonstrate to myself two things: 1) that my interest in horses and riding could be maintained for more than one day, 2) that I could finish this course. Phew, I did! Most of my cohorts on this trip grew up with horses/ranches/farms or were current owners and wanted additional/supplemental training for taking packed horses deep into the mountains. Most of them, as you would imagine, were also avid campers. In fact, my tenant-mate had recently spent each weekend for one month camping by herself, up and down the mid-Atlantic section of the Appalachian Trail. A very quite and nice person who was a champ with horse gear, her horses, her gear and her Physics (she taught at one of the Maryland Universities). And then..there I was, having been on 2 horses in 12 years and camping 15 years prior...

Bucky and me at the highest pass we travelled during this trip. Bucky was the smartest horse and preferred lugging packs with our gear v. human packs. Sweet horse.

Our tent for 2 weeks! Cozy at 0˚ C. With the proper gear that is, not with my tent mate. Note what we are sleeping on--the horse pads. Yes, the very same horse pads that provide cushion and comfort to the horses, shielding them from the harsh edges of the saddle and pack saddles. Horses, like humans, sweat all day through their skin. These pads, after 3-4-5 hours of riding, get pretty soaked with horse sweat. The preferred approach is to air them and dry them outside, and we try that, but mostly, we just put them into the tent floors. After a long day you can't imagine how much more comfortable these horse pads are than those synthetic, thin, sleeping bag pads. Why bother! During the first days, I dared asked, "but won't the smell of horse stank be intense"? The response---after 2 days everything you own and even your being will smell like horse. Nobody will notice, the smell. However, the comfort was supreme. Delicious even!

Amina and Alex's trip to Pakistan (May 3 to May 28). Islamabad, Lahore, Gilgit-Baltistan. Skardu: 36.000000 75.000000. Data from this trip can also be found at: http://www.movescount.com/moves/move106850864. This is the first of several Go Pro videos (un-edited) that we will be posting (it can also be found on You Tube). Video GP 704 begins approximately 15 minutes after entering the Shimshal Road, off the Karakorum Highway on the Eastern side of the Hunza River. The Shimshal Road is carved into the North and South sides of the mountains that are along the Shimshal River. Traveling almost directly East from Pasu, it takes 4 to 4.5 hrs on the dirt and gravel road to reach the Village of Shimshal. Starting coordinates: 36.500041 74.904647

Videos GP 892 and 874 are terrifying. They are glimpses of one of the 5 bridges over the Shimshal River that required crossing. We chose to stop and walk over these two in order to stretch our bodes and to record the movements of the bridge, and to thank the heavens for still being alive. This construction is typical of mountain bridges in GB and on the Shimshall Road. Bridges on the Chinese built Karakorum Highway (KKH) are very modern and very different. Many of the local bridges, as seen on the videos, are made of concrete bunkers, steel cables (approx 1.5" thick), supporting wood C-channels and joists. By design, these bridges are meant to sway as the weight of the vehicle is added and as it moves across them. There are two movements during each crossing--lateral and vertical, which is very upsetting. The concrete landings at each end are fixed, but since the bridge itself sways up and down, the result is that each individual landing must be navigated by the driver at its termination. This leads to the uncomfortable sensation of having the bridge move when one steps on it (or the vehicle rolls on to it), then experiencing it move while the vehicle itself is crossing, and at termination, it typically would it come to a complete stop just prior the landing at the end. Why is Nadeem stopping? The stop is necessary to navigate the gap between the bridge weighted down by the vehicle's weight and the fixed concrete landing. These gaps averaged 2-3 Inches (30-50 mm) and the Toyota Land Cruiser needed to rev-up a little in order to generate sufficient torque to over-come the gap, get off the bridge and onto the concrete landing. Yeah, unhappy Alex.

My favorite bridge in Shimshal.

Note the hands of our warm and wonderful guide, Ali, who is holding on for safety! Meanwhile, I'm half-way out the rear passenger window...errr....

More Terror on wooden bridges. This one below, according to Ali, was washed away just a few months prior our trip. Without an ability to cross with a vehicle, he took his tour group (Germans, I think) on 1.5 day hike to Shimshal. Germans. Ali had implored us to not go to Shimshal in his quiet way--saying sweet things like--"You don't want to go to Shimshal, the road, the road, the road is very, very bad". Yes, I said, we want to go. Yes. Yes. Yes. Onward to the Yak Safari.

Below, what you see as perhaps a mountain of pure black rock is, in fact, a huge glacier powering the Shimshal River at this location. You must look very closely at the Western edge (left) in order to see some of the white ice (appears as stripes). On Google Maps it's shown as white for miles, however, in person there is so much debris, moraine and dirt that it appears black, with few streaks of white. See: 36°29'55.58"N 75°13'8.97"E

The back-ground consists of endless 6,000m peaks, so many (seemingly thousands), that nobody locally or internationally has bothered to name them. We're going to call one of them, Aguilar, just for fun.

Grab a vomit bag and enjoy! The best and only thing Ali gave these two poor guys on foot was a wave and a thumbs up. Thumbs up as in, "Good luck on your death march" or "We love human mountain goats" or "A Yak has nothing on you!".

Road North towards the village of Shigar and the Shigar Fort, after crossing the Indus River from the Skardu Airport. If you go to Shigar, and who doesn't want to go, the best and really only place to stay is Shigar Fort Residence, tremendous service and amazing location. Stick to the "Balti" food for superb flavors and unique items (dumplings, yes)! This road is a dream. See: 35.367109, 75.738676

The hike below is on the Hunza River down to the "Indiana Jones" swinging pedestrian bridge. Very frightening, I only walked onto it just far enough to clear the cliffs and be "over" the river, which was raging in the early spring. The Hunza River from here flows down to the Indus and the KKH mostly follows it N-S. ABC watch details: Husseini

Location: 36°25'23.2"N 74°52'53.7"E