Sierra Blogging Post Archives

Sam and Erin are a newlywed couple taking an 18-month bicycle tour of Asia and Europe… and they’re bringing Sierra Blogging Post along for the ride.

We’re sending them Sierra Trading Post gear and they’re sending us great stories and photographs from their adventure. They just sent me their latest dispatch from Pakistan…


We spent six weeks riding through Pakistan, from its cultural and historical capital, Lahore, to the modern capital of Islamabad, and then further north into the Northwest Frontier Province and the Northern Areas. Some of the place names might evoke alarm because of their proximity to ongoing militant problems in Pakistan, but we were careful to stick to areas that are safe and actually far removed from the violence elsewhere.

In fact, traveling in Pakistan at this time was one of the most eye-opening experiences of our trip, because it gave us an opportunity to dig behind the headlines and talk to locals about their feelings on the militant Islamic movement that many called a "virus" infecting their country.

Aside from current events, the mountains of northern Pakistan caused our jaws to drop at practically every turn in the road, with soaring mountain peaks lining the horizon and beautiful valleys laid out below. We rode along the main artery of the area, the Karakorum Highway, which runs from Islamabad through the Himalaya into western China. It was a stretch of road we had looked forward to exploring for many years.

We entered Pakistan near Lahore, a vibrant city with booming bazaars and bustling nightlife. While in Lahore, we stayed with old family friends, a local Pakistani family that adopted us as their own and treated us to typical Pakistani hospitality - all of our needs and wants were taken care of in grand style, a real guest of honor experience.

We reluctantly left their home to head north on our bikes, passing through Islamabad on the way to pick up visas we would need for onward travel. That task accomplished, we were free to leave behind the sweltering Pakistani lowlands and rise into the mountains of the north.

We rode through the Kagan Valley, growing accustomed to mountain roads which experience frequent landslides and rivers that take over the road. We crossed numerous rivers and streams, none with bridges so we grew used to riding with wet feet. Fortunately, the weather was warm and we never got too cold.

The valley was densely populated, and the people so warm and friendly that we always felt well looked after. Even the truck drivers that shared our road with us made sure we had food and water, and always offered a friendly wave when we rode past.

We took a couple of side trips from the Karakorum Highway to explore the high mountain areas. One time we left our baggage behind at a hotel in order to do a multi-day mountain bike ride up to Nanga Parbat base camp. The road and hike up to base camp rose 8000 feet from the valley below, up to a height of about 12,000 feet. Incredibly, the mountain towered over us another 14,000 feet, at a height of 26,656 feet! It was awesome to experience such vast scales of mountain and valley while visiting Nanga Parbat base camp.

Back on the Karakorum Highway, we continued north into the Hunza region of northern Pakistan, culturally and historically distinct from the rest of the country. Having lived in isolation for centuries, the cultures of the Hunza valley have evolved sophisticated irrigation methods that deliver glacier runoff to their abundant orchards and fields.

Hunza is legendary for the peoples' longevity, with an unusually high percentage of the population living to 100 and beyond. Much is made of their diet, which relies heavily on the apricot and apricot seed oil, and their lifestyle, which involves hiking up steep valley walls to work their fields. True to legend, we met many a spry elderly person and of course ate loads of fruit and nuts, picked fresh out of the orchards and given to us by locals we passed.

As we headed north toward the Chinese border, the peaks became more jagged and ever more staggering in height, and were covered more and more frequently with snow reaching down almost to our elevation. We managed to enjoy warm weather most of our way through Pakistan, only once experiencing rain while riding.

We eventually reached the northern border town of Sost and from there entered the far western province of Xinjiang in China. Our time in Pakistan was full of phenomenal natural beauty and stunning mountainscapes, complimented by the boundless generosity of Pakistanis and an opportunity to share and learn from them about events so critical to today's world politics. We loved every minute of the riding and the opportunity to learn so much at the same time.