Pakistan, the ride report (2025)

[N4teTheGreat]

Sheosar Lake was our first welcome to the Deosai Plane as the road leveled out at a comfortable 13,940 ft.

Caught Moin in the moment as I stopped for a shot along the road.

We were taking our time as it wasn't a long day to get to camp, plenty of time to get pictures, but, I won't over do it here.

The road would slowly descend to a reasonable 12772 ft or so by the time we got to our camp. You really didn't have a sense for how high in elevation things were given the scale of the surrounding mountains.

We stopped at a bridge over the headwaters to take in the views. There was a camp nearby, but this was not where we would be staying.

Beautiful surroundings kept me distracted will some of the others chatted with some local bikers.

As we crested a rise, views for days, and just off to the left of my shot, our camp.

We stayed just a few hundred yards further from Bara Pani at a "glamp" site. It was pretty swanky for camping.

Do not plug

Our digs for the night..

Some of the braver souls in our group decided to take a quick dip in freezing cold river. I chose to observe but not participate. After lunch we hung around and enjoyed the warm afternoon sun. It was nice to have some time to just hang around and take in the place.

Stunning

Seems like Moin and Jimmy know everyone, next thing we know a travel guitar appeared, provided by someone who I'd later learn was one of the two most famous Pakistani singer / actors.

Moin plays a good air guitar.

As the sun started to set temps began to drop. Luckily our host, the owner of the camp had come by with said famous person and some other friends. He had a few of his workers bring over firewood and we soon had a nice fire pit to enjoy.

Everyone sat around chatting and enjoying the warmth of the fire while the sun set.

We had to take a break from the fire to grab dinner, leaving our new friends to keep an eye on things. I wasn't sure I wanted to leave the fire, but, I was sure I wanted to eat.

Another spectacular meal.

After dinner I was happy to see the fire still going and fresh firewood being delivered. We all sat around enjoying the night, and before long Jimmy and said famous person (I think Butch got their name) were taking turns playing guitar and singing. It was an unexpected and amazing evening.

The stars were incredibly clear as the fire died down. I got a bad picture of them, but rest assured, you can easily make out the arm of the milky way with your eyes alone.

With the fire dying down and the reality of how cold the night was going to be setting in, it was time to retreat to our tents for bed. I stayed more or less bundled up and while I did feel the chill, managed to sleep quite well.

Tomorrow was, unfortunately, to be our last day on the bikes...

 

[John2023]

Funny we think our Sierras and Rockies here are high but it's nothing compared to the mountains in that part of the world. Again, awesome photos Nate!!!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

It's all about that relative difference in elevation, the eastern sierras definitely still have it, but the sheer scale of the Karakoram / Himilaya ranges is unique to experience...

We woke up to good weather, and a horde of mosquitoes, for what would be our last riding day. I was avoiding bug repellent since I'd be putting my helmet on soon enough so I stepped away from the river a bit to avoid the worst of them, and grab a last shot of the view of camp.

When I went back to my tent after breakfast to grab my gear I noticed one of the camp workers fishing. As I was heading to grab a photo, or mechanic Quasim and Moin showed up and were talking to the guy. Next thing you know Moin is pulling a fish out of the river.

With dinner caught (for the workers presumably) we took off to finish the trip across Deosai and down into Skardu.

The weather was slightly overcast, which kept the temperatures nice without impacting the scenery.

After a relatively wildlife free trip, I managed to spy a Marmot on the side of the road who had no problem being photographed.

Plenty of wildflowers to peep along the road as well.

And of course, plenty of sweeping views.

The road down out of Deosai was exciting, loose, rocky with plenty of tight switch backs and plenty more uphill traffic of folks headed to visit Deosai. As such, I have some GoPro footage, but no pictures until a regroup stop at the bottom.

After collecting everyone, we continued on towards Sadpara which happened to be the village our mechanic was from, eventually stopping at a cafe with a view of the lake for Chai and Pakora. We had shade, tasty snacks and Chai, it hit the spot.

As we were preparing to leave Butch noticed his tire was a bit low, and figured out he'd picked up a nail. As it was a slow leak and we were close to Skardu air was added to the tire and we pressed on.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

We dropped the bikes off at a car wash and went to see the K2 Museum which is housed in the old tent that was used at basecamp. It's a bit tent. I suspect the rock wall foundation is not original.

When we got back the bikes looked good as new, so we geared up and rode them back to the garage to say our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye to our steeds.

With the bikes dropped off, we piled into a few vehicles to get to our hotel for the night. Not everyone fit inside

Irene decided to ride like a local.

The hotel was brand new, and had a few bugs to work out but was certainly comfortable for a good nights sleep, at least until the roosters started at it around dawn.

We went back to the same restaurant in Skardu we'd gone to at the start of the trip, this time getting there before dark so we realized it had a pretty good view.

After dinner we went to a local cafe for desert, I stopped into a shop to get a few shawls for the S/O and then we surprised a friend of Moin's at his house for a brief visit so Moin could grab his passport. I got a picture of one of those things.

Once back at the hotel it was time to pack and sleep as we needed to be at the airport relatively early for our flight. After a quick final flight we headed to the airport to catch our flight.
Clearly not everyone was ready for this shot...

Good views from the plane on the way home as well

We got to our hotel in Islamabad and despite having eaten on the plane we ended up doing a lunch run. Despite not being hungry, I was curious about the mediocre bread...

It wasn't mediocre.

After lunch we all went back to the hotel to rest, enjoy some A/C and do any final packing or prepping that needed to happen. We then met in the lobby before dinner to finalize travel plans for everyone.

Dinner was an amazingly flavorful stew eaten by hand with fresh naan, it was VERY filling.

After dinner we walked around the nearby mall / shops and back to our hotel after folks did some shopping. I was pretty wiped out from the heat, but it was interesting to see a little more of Islamabad and walk off the food.

Once back at the hotel it was time to sleep as Butch and I had a early flight out the following morning.

 

[SFMCjohn]

wow ... so epic!

 

[Cabrito]

So many great shots and narration. Thanks for taking the time to get all this down for us to follow along.

I want that cheese melt! nom nom..

 

[gixxerjeff]

Nate, all of your threads are pure "work production" killers.
You really do have a gift for bringing us along.
So many awesome threads from you.
This is merely "just-one-more".
I personally appreciate the time and effort it takes you to do this.

 

[budman]

Nate, all of your threads are pure "work production" killers.
You really do have a gift of bringing us along.
So many awesome threads from you.
This is merely "just-one-more".
I personally appreciate the time and effort it takes you to do this.

+ 1

Love these.

 

[ThumperX]

What a fantastic experience!

 

[Butch]

The shoes; 10 USD

 

[Butch]

Ali Zafar, our rock star friend (said famous person) Glamping Down by the River. Fascinating conversation. On the Summer Solstice, too. It was magical.

Ali Zafar - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Glad you all liked it, and I hope Butch is still enjoying those shoes. The ride report is more or less done, but we did have to get home, and we did so by way of a 20+ hour layover in Dubai.

Butch and I got to the airport with plenty of time and settled into some coffee (made from beans even!) I was clearly focused on having actual wifi.

Butch wearing his shoes and demonstrating his excitement for coffee...

I was so good I had another..

The flight to Dubai was a mere 4 hours, I got off the plane before Butch, waited until seemingly everyone was off, figured maybe I missed him, got coffee, waited some more, and finally got a text that he had booked a hotel room at the airport, dude is sneaky. So I got more coffee and waited for my hotel transport as Emirates was giving me a free hotel stay due to the length of the layover...

Check in at the hotel was smooth and I was told I had a free meal, so I figured I'd have lunch since I was intending to go out for dinner to get some local grub. I might have gone a bit heavy, but they had some tasty options...

Butch had considered just staying at his hotel, but I convinced him that I'd come get him and we could at least see the mall and grab a drink / meal. So I went back to the airport in an Uber to collect him. While waiting to meet up, I got additional coffee from Starbucks. Making up for lost beans I suppose...

First stop was the mall, and while Butch was unimpressed with Dubai's cathedral to capitalism, he knew a good photo op when he saw one.

I did catch him snapping a photo of the ice rink so maybe a little impressed?

It is a big ass mall...

With a big ass aquarium...

I was also well over 100 degrees outside, so, indoors was the best choice. I found what I was looking for and we exited the mall towards a cigar bar I had looked up. Even the short walk there had me sweating like crazy.

It was one swanky cigar bar though, and we mostly had the place to ourselves aside from a few other fancy pants types.

We got the bill and I realized we were in Dubai and things are more expensive than SF, those were some spendy cigars, but, experiences, amiright? It was a good time, and nice way to spend a few hours. At this point I mentioned I could be persuaded to go get dinner, but also, I wasn't hungry. Butch was in the same boat, so I sent him to his hoel in an Uber and then got one for myself. I pretty much packed and went straight to bed.

I managed to snap a passing shot of the Burj Khalifa on my ride home.

Next morning I was up early with a plan to arrive 3 hours early (international flight and all).

It was still quite warm that early in the morning, but clear and calm...

Well, turns out if you have a layover, that is not necessary, my bags had been checked through to SF and I had my boarding pass, so I breezed by all the lines and was through security in maybe 30 minutes tops. So I walked to the gate, found a bar, and ordered a beer.

And a few more with plenty of time to kill. They gave me peanuts, maybe due to the quantity of beer ordered without a food pairing, but I was sure I'd be overfed on the flight.

And I was, this was dinner, but we got two meals and a snack as I recall...

Unfortunately, I was sitting next to a large extended family, and the kids varied from enthusiastically playing games to the younger one bawling here and there. Noise canceling headphones only do so much. So, I just kept ordering booze until I realized that wasn't really getting my anywhere, but I felt better about emirates paying for my drinks. I think the kids did sleep for maybe 4 hours total, so I got a little peace.

Between watching movies I'd watch the camera on the plane and doze off, I think we were near the artic circle when I saw this, I thought it was pretty neat..

After what felt like an eternity (we did have to add an hour to our already 15 hour flight to bypass Iran because someone went and did a bombing, thanks Obama! But I was eventually home returning to my role as a heated cat bed.

 

[budman]

Man... no way I want to fly that long and far.

Looks like you were well taken care of though.

That mall is sweet.

Butch's ride Pakistan shirt beats his shoes IMO.

Great ride report N4te. Thanks mucho for sharing a very cool (other than being fucking hot) adventure.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Long flights are not my favorite (unless work pays for business class). But the juice, as they say, was worth the squeeze.

 

[rebekahlynn]

Great share, thanks Nate. What phone or camera did you use? The photos look excellent.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Great share, thanks Nate. What phone or camera did you use? The photos look excellent.

Thanks! I didn't bring a proper camera as I wanted to pack light, these were all shot on my Pixel 9 Pro or borrowed from the rest of the group via a shared album.

 

[bikeama]

Well done report Nate. I enjoyed every post.

 

[CDONA]

One thing Nate, I for one would like to hear your thoughts on your Azure Unicorn, even though you treated it like a Blue Mule.
Riding my Hyper I felt like a bear on a bicycle, with your hight, you may agree.
How comfortable were you leg, seat, pegs, bars ???
I found the bike large and roomy, with an easy flat foot reach to the ground.

All the way over there just to ride THE Unicorn,
Do kiss, and tell ,

 

[N4teTheGreat]

I just posted a review here.

I will say, getting back on the Hyper felt weird, why am I way up here, why are the bars way down there. Am I sitting on this thing correctly?

 

[rebekahlynn]

Thanks! I didn't bring a proper camera as I wanted to pack light, these were all shot on my Pixel 9 Pro or borrowed from the rest of the group via a shared album.

I finally upgraded my iPhone 12 pro to a 16 pro - hoping that 48MP camera will facilitate photos that can be blown up on canvas.