It rained and snowed during the night, but cleared a bit in the morning. We seemed to be stuck in an early-spring weather pattern with passing showers and patches of sun. It has rained or snowed a bit every day we have been in the valley, but usually just for short periods.

Hangkar, the village where we had camped, had the ruins of another hilltop fort. Above town, the river split into two streams and we followed the left branch uphill. Before long, we began climbing more steeply up a dry slope, eventually reaching a high plateau with a shepherd's grazing ground called Nimaling. Marcia was still short of breath from the 4800-meter (16,000 foot) altitude, but we had no real problems with the climb.