Chipursan valley Gojal (upper Hunza)

Introduction:

The long broad Chipursan valley joins the Hunza River from the west, just above Sost. The road goes up the valley for 35 kilometers to Reshit. The wide flat valley nourishes irrigated wheat fields, thought in the mid eighteenth century a flood covered much of the fertile land with a thick layer of clay and boulders. Legend says that the Baba Ghundi, who came begging in the valley and received only some milk from an old woman, caused the flood. To punish the valley, Baba Ghundi sent the flood and mud slick. Destroying everything except the old woman, her field and he hut thus earning great respect for the rest of his life and deep veneration after his death. The valley is still littered with high with high mounds of flood debris, and pilgrims come from all over northern Pakistan and Wakhan to Baba Ghundi’s shrine to pray and beg favors. There are several shepherds’ summer settlements up the side of these glaciers, and apparently you can cross from the Kukijerab Glacier over a technical 5,200 meter across the Lupghar Pass and come back to the Chipursan valley at Raminji. A holy rock beside the road beyond Yashkuk shows the marks of hands, knees, toes, and forehead. The rock is now a shrine and pilgrim resting place. Another holy rock along the way shows scratch marks as if clawed by a hand, which are filled with an oily substance that never dries up.