The road serves as the region's unofficial border with Pakistan: from its eastern side the Taliban influence politics in local villages and use mountain footpaths to bring weapons in from the wild tribal areas.
Borderland residents say that the division marked by the thin asphalt road between Turkey and Syria never reflected life in the valley: most family trees have both roots and branches that crisscross the border, and the winding mountain footpaths between the two states are well worn by a traditional black market trade in everything from sheep to cigarettes.
(Most of the region's high mountain footpaths, and the lone jeep road heading west to the border town of Kargil, are blocked by heavy snows from November until May. For centuries, walking the ice has offered Zanskaris the most reliable winter route in or out of their valley).
Appalachian National Scenic Trail, mountain footpath in the eastern United States extending from northeast to southwest for 2,174 miles (3,499 km) along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, from Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia.
Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, primitive mountain footpath and equestrian trail in the western United States that, when complete, will extend from north to south some 3,100 miles (5,000 km), from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico, through a 100-mile- (160-km) wide corridor spanning the Continental Divide.
From £398 for three nights, sleeps 6, wonderfullywild.co.uk For an off-the-beaten-track holiday in Wales, head to the Clwydian mountains in the north of the country; you'll rarely have to share its footpaths, mountain biking trails or kayaks with more than a handful of fellow adventurers.
All around are rivers, lakes and mountains, linked by footpaths.
Myriad footpaths and mountain bike tracks made for tricky navigation, and as we argued our way through the trees we would suddenly come across bizarre installations, such as a two-metre high stile.
A 23-mile race across mountains, bogs, farm tracks, footpaths and forestry roads.
But since an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease began three weeks ago, closing rural trails and country footpaths, the mountains that the MacRaes see from their windows might as well be on the moon.
We frequently made trips to Wirikuta, the sacred desert of the Huichol people, in the eastern sierra south of Real, high up in the central mountains and honeycombed with ancient footpaths leading up into stony ruins.
