Looking back from Gongmaru La towards the Indus valley and beyond. This pass we reached at noon of our third hiking day; it is 5130m high, according to our favourite map. The evening before, I had been mentally, and also physically collapsing from the hard work of carrying and climbing. The last hours up to the pass were a long, slow snaking over brown pebbles, aggravated by large troops of cheery "trekkers" with daypacks that gave us commiserating looks, bouncing ahead of local guides leading large troops of heavily loaded ponys (with whom we shared an understanding glance). This part of our way belongs to the "Markha Valley Trek", the most popular route that every agency advertises and sells.
I always thought of our trip as "hiking" - it seemed to me that the word "trekking" sounds very cool but otherwise means the same. Maybe the only evident difference I found on the spot is that "hiking" normally implies you carry your stuff yourself. "Trekking" seems to be highly correlated with somebody else, a pony or a sherpa, doing the hard work.
We met nobody else who carried everything themselves, and up to the top of Gongmaru La, I thought we were stupid. On from here, I enjoyed our independence. With some distance, I wouldn't mind ponies either, but not as part of a blindfold package deal. I would like to talk with the agent as a knowledgeable partner, to check the equipment of the guides that come along, and (maybe most important) to be able to speak with them fluently. And even then... it would not be the same as pointing to a flat spot close to the river at four in the afternoon, getting a weak nod from the companions, dropping the pack and falling flat on the back for ten minutes, and then start cooking in a semicircle of bags while the others put up the tents.