Nako is a village on a ledge above a little lake, a cluster of flat-roofed stone houses at about 3,600 metres in the upper Hangrang valley, just where Kinnaur begins to turn into Spiti. The lake sits in a cup of the hillside, ringed by willow and poplar trees, and in winter it freezes solid and people skate on it. Beyond the village, the mountains are bare, brown and enormous, and the air feels clean and thin. You are crossing a frontier here between the green, wet Himalaya of the south and the cold, dry plateau of the north.
The village has a small collection of ancient temples, which are said to have been founded by the great translator Rinchen Zangpo around the turn of the first millennium, and they hold clay statues and painted walls whose colours remain deep. Visits are usually possible by asking at the village, and the caretaker may take you inside. Footprints of a saint are shown on a stone near the lake, and prayer wheels line a path near the houses.
The road to Nako climbs in long, steep switchbacks from the Sutlej gorge, in a series of hairpins that rise past the village of Pooh. It is a narrow road with long drops and rough sections, and the surface is often broken by rockfall. Sudden weather changes can bring rain or snow, and the road can be closed for several days by landslides or heavy snow, so keep your schedule flexible.
Homestays and small guesthouses provide basic meals of dal, rice and thick bread, and the pace of life is slow. Altitude can bring headaches, so rest, drink water and walk gently. The light on the lake in the early morning, with the peaks reflected, is worth getting up for.