The hike to Engels’ Meadows takes us to 4000 m. It is too cold to spend the night there this time of year so we do the 26 km there and back in one day. The only people we meet are shepherds. We have a small conversation with a mother and her young son. I wonder if he goes to school or if he has to help her with the goats everyday. An hour later we see a shepherd in the distance with a small puppy. In a few months, this black heap stumbling over the rocks will be a loyal and dangerous companion. A few metres down we see what we suppose is his house, made of the same stones as the mountains. Beside the river, where nothing grows and where no one else ever seems to go.