Gilgit-Skardu Road

Gilgit-Skardu Road is a road which links the Gilgit City, the administrative headquarter of the Gilgit-Baltistan with the Skardu city. This road is approximately 225 km long and takes about 5 and half hour to reach from Gilgit to Skardu. The road was constructed by the Engineers of the Pakistan Army in collaboration with Chines Engineers. It was completed and opened to the public in 1982. 

The road is one of the world's dangerous roads which has been constructed by cutting the rocky mountains of the Karakoram and Himalaya. Pakistan Army had lost a number of soldiers while completing this road. One can see the name of soldiers inscribed on stone or marble beside the road at the interval. The road follows every twist and turns of the Indus River from Gilgit up to the Skardu. 

While on the way from Gilgit to Skardu there comes a number of valleys and number of suspension bridges which connect the northern part of the Roundu Valley (a subdivision of Skardu District) with the southern part by transecting the Indus River. Roundu valley is actually the gateway to the Baltistan division where there are mighty mountains of the world and the world's second highest plateau, Desai plain. 

The Roundu valley is about 136 kilometers long and passing through this valley you will see a number of suspension bridges, small settlements at the interval and a small town, the subdivisional headquarter at Dambudas. The suspension bridges of about hundred meters long connect the Karakoram and Himalaya mountain ranges. When you are passing through the Gilgit-Skardu road, the road is on the right bank of the Indus river which is known as Karakoram mountain ranges and the valleys across the Indus River are Himalayan regions.  In simple words, these bridges connect the world's two mightiest mountain ranges. 

The road is very beautiful and dangerous as well. Beautiful in the term you would see beautiful valleys, streams, waterfalls on the Gilgit-Skardu road but dangerous in the term that the road nowadays is in very unmaintained condition. The road is in very dilapidate condition and it takes 5 to 6 hours to reach from Gilgit to Skardu. If the road is maintained it would take a maximum of 3 or three and half hours.