to Tsetseg Nuur Camp: awesome Mongolia

September 19, 2016

“It’s cold” Rachel says. “At least the wind has died down” Patrick adds. The edges of the river have ice and there is ice in the water bottles. We have about 250 meters left of the climb to the top of the pass. A few kilometers past our campsite the grade steepens a little.

At distance marker (DM) 87, we reach the summit. There is a cairn with lots of blue scarves, crutches and the odd wheel tire indicating the high point. Later we research and find out the blue silk scarves are Khata blessings. In Tibet the scarves are white symbolizing the pure heart of the giver. In Mongolia the scarves are blue symbolizing the sky. Mongolia is the "land of the blue skies".

Then starts the beginning of a beautiful long downhill eventually reaching 2370 meters. At DM 80, we cross the river and at DM 77 the downhill ends in a valley with gers and another small river crossing. For about 7 km we cycle across the valley, then one more climb to a half km from DM 66 back to 2500 meters.

At DM 26 there is a turnoff to the Tsetseg about 5kms off route, we can see it down lower in the valley. If we were short of food or water we could drop down there, but we think we have sufficient stuff to reach Darvi tomorrow. We can see some buildings in the distance along the road and continue on hoping to find a shop for a drink or something but find they are work camps.

We see another climb coming up ahead, the lake is to our left. We decide to push the bikes off road toward the lake and find a camp spot. We’ve carried enough water for today and tomorrow since the lake is salty and not filterable. Our spot is hidden behind a sand berm and surrounded by tall grasses. Below us along the lake a herd of horses grazes. The only drawback from all this sand is the dust it kicks up whenever you walk around, but dust is something we will have to get used to in Mongolia.

The scenery was awesome today. We had some sad news from Boise, our oldest cat Maggie “Omega” Mae has been struggling for a while now and is going downhill fast. We have internet access here and can communicate with our house sitter Jesse about what to do.

A horseman drives a herd of horses past our camp early in the morning.

The road going up to the pass we have to cross.

Ovoo with offerings scattered around. We see crutches, small money bills and the odd vodka bottle. We have reached the summit.

Genghis Khan would have been proud......

Old soviet truck laboring up to the pass.

Downhill on the other side. We can see a large snow covered mountain to our north.

A couple of horseman see us taking a break and ride over to talk to us.

Tsetseg Nuur, a large salt lake. The lake does not extend as close to the road as our map made us believe and we don't feel like pushing all the way to the shore.

So we camp amongst tall grasses nearby the lake, but still at least a kilometer away.

Cooking dinner at our campsite near Tsetseg Nuur.

Sunset over Tsetseg Nuur. Tourist taking photos.

Today's ride: 81 km (50 miles)
Total: 22,568 km (14,015 miles)

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