This post’s photo was taken 90 minutes after the previous chapter’s, as we continued along the road from Skardu to Khaplu.
Doubtless, most members of the current global human population have never heard of either town, but trust me: the road between them is one of “our” planet’s most spectacularly-scenic.
At 4.30 pm on15 May 2024, I simply pointed the camera out of the 4WD’s (briefly-opened) window.
A focal length of 30mm considerably “flattened” the typically-astonishing Karakoram landscape’s vertical aspect.
However, a wide-angle shot did enable an all-in-focus embrace of this landscape’s key aspects: nearby rocks and trees, the Shyok River’s vast, sandy/silty and highly “mobile” bed, massive mountains, and a very dynamic sky.
Future multi-image posts will show a deal more of what we saw on the afternoon of 15 May. (the current series is a sequence of “teasers”, not a “best of”. This series’ next post – the final “15 May” one – will, however, give you some idea of just how wonderfully-located is Khaplu)