The Mystery of the Kailash Trail - Chapter 3 - Part 4

Chapter 3: Part 4: The entry from the valleys above the kora trail for the wild yaks

Sangye, the great old Qinhai nomad horseman, was restless at Dirapuk, having waited for the rainstorm to subside. He feared for the worst, for Dirapuk and the Drolma La Pass were the highest places on the kora around the Kang Renpoche. He prayed that snow or frozen carpets of water would not follow the rainstorm on the pilgrim’s trail. The yaks would slip with their luggage and could break their legs. Who would take care of them? It was difficult to get medical help in these regions and the animals had the worst of the pilgrimages.

He knew that he had taken care of the safety of his horses, yaks, mules and ponies. He had also made sure that his mastiffs were protected. The sun came out later on the hidden valleys north of Dirapuk and Sangye waited inside the shed that he had built of stones, old bricks, scavenged tin sheets, canvas cloth and camouflaged army webbing. The shed was more of a single wall that helped him and his family to stay within the mountain overhang that backed out to a series of caves. One could not see the caves from below, in the valley, or from the tented settlements at Dirapuk. The Qinhai old man protect all humans and animals in his care in the overhang.

One end of the caves and the overhang stretched out to the settlement of tented eateries, camping areas, cemented rooms that protected the foodstuffs and ducks. From his hideout, Sangye could look into the valley above Dirapuk, stretching north-west away from the Kang Renpoche, and higher towards the other peaks that were much lower. He could also see down the trail towards the Choku monastery and upwards, towards the east, to the Drolma La Pass. He called out to Yeshe and they walked to the edge of their settlement and watched the pilgrims and others move around near Dirapuk.

Yeshe called out to Bzanba and Kangryi, the Tsang Khyi mastiff dogs, who did not move out from the shadows inside the caves. Sangye remarked, “Leave them be, they must be hesitant to go out so early, after the rainstorm. Let us go out and see what has happened to all our stuff. The storm was quite heavy and has gone away just about after the dawn.” They walked out to the edge of the stone edge, above the spread of tents that had come up in the evening and night and watched. People were moving about. Some trekkers were walking up towards the tented eatery that Yeshe’s parents managed.

Sangye could see Yeshe’s parents had woken up earlier and the women-helpers were also active, beginning to heat up soup bowls, hot water and tea. The pilgrims would welcome the sugary tea and soup. Very soon, they would also be looking forward to some hot and appetizing breakfast. The old man was happy with the cup of tea that he had in his hand. He grabbed Yeshe by his shoulders and began walking to the rear end of the stony overhang. The passages from the valleys were usually good indicators of snow to come, or of sudden floods that were hiding away. Yeshe’s parents had planted vegetables in tents made of army webbing material.

The tents protected the vegetables from the sharp chill and night and morning dew. As they approached the tents, Sangye and Yeshe called out to each other, pointing out the terrible destruction that seemed to have occurred during the night. The two largest tents seemed to have been pulled down. The smaller tents were all standing intact. The largest tents were towards the mountain trail that came down from the higher valleys and were along the mountain river stream that flowed amongst tall boulders.

Yeshe spoke first, “Is that not strange, the larger tents have fallen while the smaller ones are standing and there does not seem to have been any damage to them.” The old man nodded, and rushed to the area of damage. The tent pegs seemed to have been pulled out in a row, and the tents had merely fallen over the planted vegetables. The crop was not destroyed. The tents had to merely be pulled back once again. He examined the pegs closely. He had pushed them in when they had put up the tents and he knew that he had hammered them in to quite a depth. How had they come to be pulled up? He noticed a stranger aspect. The pegs between the two tents had been pulled up. The pegs on the other sides of the tents were intact and there was no disturbance to them, or any sort of damage. So why did the pegs along the passage between the tents removed?

Sangye and Yeshe rushed to the trail between the two large tents. The trail came down from the upper slopes of the valley and went towards the lower slopes to the east of the Dirapuk tents and settlements. The trail had followed the river stream from the upper slopes and had come away because of the big boulders that had come down during an earlier avalanche and landslide that must have happened at least fifty or hundred years ago. The two tents had been established on either side of the narrow trail. There was hardly any movement in this region, and especially during the rainstorm, no person or animal would have dared to move around in the upper slopes.

Yeshe wondered, “Why would all the tent pegs be pulled up? Who would have the strength to pull them out? All the tents along this trail have been pulled up. What sort of animal, and what sort of strength would have pulled out these tent pegs, and so many of them?” The old man nodded in agreement, and looked closely and wandered about. “Yeshe, look closely. All tent pegs have been pulled out in one direction only. Something or somebody has come down this trail, and the tents have been pulled out as they came down. Whatever it was, it was very strong. Extremely strong.”

The trail was quite wide, and yet it narrowed near the vegetable tents. This was the first year that Yeshe’s parents had tried to grow vegetables in this high location. It had worked out well even though it was still an experimental challenge. The local villagers at Dirapuk or at Darchen did not know about the experiment in any detail. They had laughed about it when they heard it from the women helpers or from the shepherds who went up the trail to search for wandering sheep. Sangye looked at the trail above the tent area. There were no forests here. The grass clumps were the only vegetation.

The upper trail was almost five metres wide at the nearest spot in the valley above, when it left the river and came away because of the high boulders. It must have been a herd, moving down the slopes to escape the rainstorm. Chiru antelope would not have the strength to pull out the pegs. Kiangs were not known to hide in the upper slopes. Which other animal was known in these higher slopes, he wondered. Yeshe stood alongside the old man, and the two Qinhai nomads tried to visualize what must have happened in the night. Whatever came down, the large herd of animals was very strong, and needed a lot of walking space. This herd walked together. They needed to get away from the upper slopes.

“Where would they go?” asked Sangye, in spoken thought, almost in a whisper, “Yeshe, my boy, why would animals this strong require to get away from the upper slopes? They were not coming down because they were scared, my boy, they were coming down because they were going somewhere. Where would they go? This trail is crowded with pilgrims, trekkers and very good wildlifers and local villagers. There would be immediate mention if such a herd, of very strong animals, were to be seen moving around.”

“I think these animals waited for the rainstorm to come. They were waiting for a moment in this region of the kora, when they would be sure, absolutely sure, that nobody would be moving about. The rainstorm provided the opportunity. They were going somewhere and were in a stubborn hurry about it, and were walking in the storm in the dark night. The ropes of the tent pegs must have been just a mere hindrance to the strength of these animals. Whatever this was, it was a herd of very large and very strong animals. They could not be chiru or kiang or wild horses or domestic yaks. Even wild yaks that we know are not known from these higher valleys.”

Yeshe looked around in amazement. His grandfather was correct. There was no sign of any other damage. Even the vegetables had not been trampled upon. The tents had been left lying where they had falled down when the pegs were pulled out. He looked at the ground, where the morning dew had settled in along the river edge and pointed, “Look, there, at that dew that has collected in the edge of the grass clump. It’s a clear trail. That’s a yak’s footprint. But, look at the size and the depth of the footprint in the mud and grass. That is not a regular wild yak or a domestic one. This one was very large. This animal was very heavy. And, if it was a herd of great strength, this was a herd of wild yaks, very large, moving down this valley to the trail of the kora. Where did they go? Where did they come from? Why do they hide from one and all in this valley?”