Landscape note
Above the valley
The road out of Skardu climbs until the Indus is no longer the scale that matters.
Skardu sits wide and stony beside the river. The road onto Deosai leaves that scale behind. In early summer the plateau is green, wet, and serious about weather. People cross it for the emptiness, and for light that has nowhere to hide.
It is a poor place to hurry. Cloud, wind, and the state of the road decide more than an itinerary does.