LAKE BAIKAL KAYAKING TRIP JOURNAL 2
- Mongol Ujin Ger Camp Khatgal, Mongolia
May 31st Friday 15th day of traveling/waiting: I spent some of the day going thru all of my gear again, repacking and packing. Then I had Dawa’s husband help me put the kayak on top of their car and he ran me down to the lake so Stormy and I could paddle around the open water there was and then on down to the outlet of the Eg River.
Dawa, had mentioned that if I wanted to, her husband and a horse handler/guide would take me on a 5-day 4-night horseback ride. Why not I said. It has been 30 plus year since I been on a horse, but it is just like riding a bike, you never forget. I did forget how sore my behind was going to end up being about the 3rd day.
June 1st Saturday 16th day of traveling/waiting: The guide showed up with the 4 horses, 3 for riding and 1 for a pack horse. We loaded up and were off thru town about 10 AM.
The 1st day was riding on pretty much flat ground and took a good way from town. Our 1st nights camp was in a good place. It was not warm by any means. They build fires to cook and of course for warmth.
The 1st thing they do is boil water for tea and rest and relax and have tea and sweet rolls or biscuits flavored with garlic. Then they set their tent up. They both sleep in the small tent. The guide is up throughout the night checking on the horses.
They don’t get up to early, so we were back on the horses at around 10. We headed up in to the mountains in no time.
For some reason, they both decided to go one way and took the wrong canyon. We ended up in a box canyon. Two choices go back the way we came, or traverse basically straight up and over the ridge. That is what we did. A challenge and an experience.
This is a Golden Eagle’s nest. Notice Stormy heading down the hill to confront the mother Eagle.
Then the father showed up and they both ran her off. There is one baby eagle in the nest. We saw several of these large nests, on the top of the larger trees and had been blown off by the wind. I saw no nests in top of trees. Several in the rocks. These Golden Eagles do not eat dead animals. They only take live animals for food.
These 2 pictures are on top of the crest of the ridge. Very cold and windy.
Once we walked the horses down to the bottom of the canyon we were where we should have been if we would have ridden a little longer and taken the right canyon.
Not the best place to camp for the 2nd night, but we were tired, it was windy, and it was cold, and I was pooped and so was Stormy. She had gotten tangled up in the back legs twice of 2 horses and she was not happy. That was after we had got down off the ridge. She did not want to go any further and wouldn’t keep up with us. I had to walk her on her leash for miles until we got to the camp site for the night.
Up the next morning at about 7. It was cold, had rained all night, everything was frozen and there was a couple of inches of snow up on the ridge we were going to ride over to go over to the lake for the ride back to town. We decided to not do that and fight the weather and rode back the way we came and took another canyon over to the lake.
Stormy likes everybody and everybody likes Stormy. The picture of the small flat rock laying up against the bigger rock has some great pictorials on it. It would be a keep sake for sure, but against the law to take them.
Here you go. For eternity you can be looking out over a beautiful Mongolian Valley.
Yaks. The 1st site of the lake, frozen over.
3rd night camp site. Ice crystals on the lake.
Nice ride back to town along the lake, with some tough spots. The trail hasn’t had any attention for years. Looking at Khatgal as we get close to town. Stormy and I walked all the way back, I was tired and sore.
Because of the box canyon and the weather, the ride turned out to be 4 days 3 nights and that was enough for me.
June 5th Wednesday 20th day of traveling/waiting: Rested most of this day, because I was obviously tired. I do spend time on the computer, trying to get things in perspective on the website for the Journals/Pics, for getting the information/pics to Julia for the book and making sure the inReach map stays updated and is working.
I have a very sore behind, but once I get moving and walking don’t notice it
I decided to get all of my gear out, lay it all out, put the tent up and make a list of it all, take a video and take some pics. Quite a site.
List of Gear/Food for Mongolia/Siberia Kayak Trip 1st 2 Weeks for 240 plus or minus miles
Kayak
Feathercraft Tandem Expedition
Life jacket
Life jacket for Stormy
2 sets of paddles
2 ropes each end for securing kayak
Piece of rebar for securing kayak at night
Light spinning pole and reel/box of lures
2 seat water tight covers
1 clear bubble for Stormy’s seat
1 rain skirt for main seat
Sail and sail mast
Landing and take off drone table
1 large bottle of water
Pee bottle
Patch kit with various glues/material
Day pack
Gloves
Rain hat
Sleeve gloves…gloves sewed on to the
arms of a new good rain coat… cut them off go all the way up to the arm pit (Had them made)
Rowing gloves/bike gloves
Thumb braces for the arthritis
Fire starter/fire starter matches
3 Bear spray
3 Air horns
Various foods for snacks, beef jerky, candy bars, protein bars, dates, nuts
Lip balm
Super glue
Leather Man
Survival Knife
Roll of duct tape
Machete stored up in the kayak
Rudder with foot petals for steering
Umbrella for light wind sailing
Walking stick
Baseball bat
High top waders with boots
Dry suit uses above boots
NRS river boots
Cooking/Food
Table
Chair
Cook set
3 pots with lids
1 frying pan
2 spoons
2 forks
1 knife
1 steak knife
1 spatula
2 military P-38’s can openers
Gas cook stove
2 large gas containers
1 fire lighter
1 kitchen towel
Scrubber for cleaning dishes
Small bottle dish soap
Cup for hot
Small bottle cooking oil
Various teas and honey
Beef jerky
Dates
Trail mix nuts
Dried apricots
Bag of rice
Bag of spaghetti
Bag of pasta
3 tins tuna fish
6 soup packages
4 packages of mashed potatoes
4 packages of pastas
4 Gravy mixes
Bag of oatmeal/nuts
Bag of Mongolian biscuits
Bag of Mongolian sweet biscuits
6 Oreo cookie rolls
20 candy bars
30 protein bars
4 potatoes
4 carrots
2 onions
1 garlic clove
Salt/pepper/seasoning salt
Soy sauce
2 water bladders
Water purifier
Electronics
Goal Zero solar system with Sherpa 100w inverter
3 panel solar receiver
Camera
Phone/for use with drone
Parrot Anafi Drone 3 batteries
inReach
Notebook/for use with inReach paring
And 20 kindle books
Laptop/mouse
Large capacity storage pack
4 Thumb drives for storage
3-way USB
All charging cables for all electronics
Tent/Sleeping
Tipi style 8’ x 8’ tent
Air mattress/slips into pouch I had sewed on the bottom of the bag
Sleeping bag/with stuff bag
2 wool blanket inserts
2 sm pillows 1 for head 1 for knees
10’ x 10’ piece of plastic for under tent
Rain cover
2nd Rain/Shade cover I made
Tent pegs/hammer/pieces of small rope
Center tent pole
6 large black plastic garbage bags
Stormy’s stuff
Collar
2 small dry bags full of dog food
Various snacks
2 canvas feed containers for water and food
Collar/leash
Service Dog cover
Warm coat cover
Clothes
1 pair of deck pants/shorts also
4 pairs of socks
2 long sleeve shirts
1 short sleeve shirt
1 pair of sweats
1 raincoat
1 wind breaker
About noon I suddenly felt my right front tooth fall out. It had cracked and just flipped out. Unbelievable.
Once I got done with all of the gear and put it away, Dawa said she had to go to Muron the next day which would be Thursday and we could mail a box off all of my bags I brought the kayak in and all of the gear to Irkusku to a Kayak/Sporting Goods store I know about and we made plans to leave at 8:00 AM.
June 6th Thursday 22nd day of traveling/waiting: We left right at 8 and arrived about 9:15. We walked into the Dentist office, had to wait about 15 minutes and I was out of there at 10:30 with a new front tooth. $20.00. Unbelievable. Dawa got a cavity filled and some work on a chipped front tooth and I think that was about $30.00.
Then we went to the Post Office and sent the box of bags off to the Sporting Goods/Kayak Shop in Irkusku. Then we went and had a pizza in a nice restaurant at a hotel. She called a friend of hers, who is the Director of the Large Park/Preserve on the Western side of the lake and he said I do not need a permit to camp on the bank of the lake along the park. He was interested in where I was going to camp, so he is going to come by and I will show him where I expect to camp on the inReach map. He also told me he knows of no water on the river that is dangerous enough that I can’t paddle, which is in direct contrary to what Ernst is telling me. That is another story unto itself I will relate when the time comes, and I know what I am talking about.
After lunch, Dawa went to get her nails done and I wondered around the town square for an hour and a half. Goes to show you women are the same all over the world.
When she was done, we went to the grocery store I got a few more things and she got some supplies for the kitchen. Then back to camp. New tooth and all.
The weather was beautiful all day, except the wind consistently comes up in the afternoon and that is why I will be on the water by 5:30 every morning. This waiting for a couple of weeks is going to put us into the beginning of the good weather.
When I got here the hills were still very brown. Now they are very green.
June 7th Friday 23rd day of traveling/waiting: There is a Frenchman here who rode a horse up from the Gobi Desert about 750 Kilometers I think it was. He had lost his phone, so all he had was a compass. A feat unto itself, because it was out thru the hills, the mountains and the steppes. Now that was a hell of a thing to do and accomplish. But here is the real part of that story. He had never been on a horse before in his life, bought one and did the trip. He just sold it in the last 5 minutes while I have been working on this Journal. Amazing. Dawa calls us both “Not Normalâ€. Seems like I have heard that before.
Went for the usual walk to the lake this morning, Stormy loves that. Beautiful day again.
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