From Gorge to Dunes

Woke up to beautiful blue skies today and perfect weather for exploring Yolyn Am, a gorge in the Saikan Mountains.The valley leading the gorge is green with grass for yaks and horses, also making for an easy stroll in.

As we’re still early in the season though, parts of the gorge is still covered in snow and ice. It makes for a careful trek but picturesque as we can include the winter element in our photos. In some places fresh water runs river like, carving a path between the ice.

Lunch was in another village. One of the vans needed a radiator repair so it took a little while to get going. Our drivers are also mechanics and in this sparse countryside, sometimes you can only rely on yourself.

Once fixed, we were off onto the ‘new road’. Apparently the old one is quite bumpy. The new one is pioneering. It’s barely visible, maybe there’s tire tracks from previous vehicles but basically we were told to just aim for the valley between the sand dunes on the left and the mountain range on the right. Whole new level of respect!

The landscape is desolate but there’s a stark beauty in it as well. You truly do wonder if you’re still on earth or perhaps have been teleported into a rover on Mars.

Our ger camp tonight is situated close to the sand dunes so that we’re ready to climb and explore in the morning.Read more