Kayakasia

6 hours ago

E1 to E8 (116km) : Upper Egiin Gol

The Egiin Gol flowed out from the southern tip of Lake Khövsgöl by spilling onto a wide, flat valley plain. We started 40km downstream of that exit, to avoid the river’s braided beginnings of multiple shallow, winding outflows and channels that had no discernible main channel.

While we intended to paddle 40km on Day 1 to understand the river, her flow rate, character, and dangers, we ended up paddling 70km due to my error in reading the chart! What was supposed to be a leisurely 4-5 hour paddle to our first camp for lunch meant we only arrived around 4pm. A late lunch followed by a quick dinner and equally quick retreat to our tents, as rain felled in the evening.

For the short note on this day - we followed a clear water river cutting through rock canyons and lush steppe landscape nourished by rain. The sub-arctic larch forest grew thick on high slopes of mountains, end abruptly with a rolling steppe grassland without a single tree, that sweep all the way to the river’s edge.

Wild horses and domesticated hainags (yak x cattle) grazed on pastures of sweet grass. Soaring black kites and many unfamiliar species of puddle ducks and diving ducks. The diving ducks were especially fun to watch, as they dived and disappeared or you would be paddling and one popped up for air suddenly beside you, causing an immediate panic for the duck, which sprinted away on their legs on top of the water!

It was an interesting Day 1 because everything looked so unfamiliar and disconnected. Not only was flora and fauna different, the landscape was closer to picturesque Canada than the wide expanses of Mongolia that I thought. The rush of waters coursing through twists and turns also meant we had to constantly manoeuvre our kayaks safely.

The water flow rate was good and we planned to paddle 50+km the next day, again meeting the land team for lunch around 2pm.

The expedition was planned to mitigate adverse weather, with a daily early start at 530am and ending paddling before 2pm, where convective storms often occur. So far, the weather forecast had been great and we could maybe extend our paddling to beyond 2pm in the coming days.

I thought it was very comfortable camping for our first night on the river. A roomy private tent with a large vestibule that sheltered my packs and me. It was high enough that I could zip it up and sit on my camp chair to take off my boots and mess about my wet gear.

I lie in my tent listening to the spluttering of raindrops, tired from a long day of paddling but also excited to explore more of this beautiful river tomorrow.

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Kayakasia

1 week ago

The first hours on the Egiin Gol river. Everywhere looks like a good place to stay!

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Kayakasia

1 week ago

If there were no gasoline spilled on the floor, the tanks were not filled.

The plumb pump attendant made sure the liquid overflowed before putting on the caps. And just to make sure we were not ripped off, the driver also put his finger into the tank to feel that it was really topped up. He shook the van violently for good measure, hoping the excess gasoline somehow find their way to secret storage and empty tubes.

It took over half an hour to fill up the 2 Russian vans, each with 2 tanks, plus jerry cans for our generator.

Expeditions start slow. In the beginning humans and their gear feeling out each other, dishing each with failures here and there, pushing both to improvise, before settling into a truce, and eventually settling into a comfortable rhythm.

Our first van broke down, had to replace with a second van. We had to get all the tires checked and pumped, and buy extra tires for the off road journeys that these van have to drive on, to support the expedition.

If you had wished for something to work , it would definitely not work. If you had planned for something to happen, it would be changed. But if you had prepared and tested and tested before, it will definitely saved you time and avoid penalties.

We drove in sweeping rain and arrived at our gers on the shore of Lake Khövsgöl. It was too late to paddle and it was rainy. We ate a late dinner in the log cabin and slept in our gers.

~

This morning…Sunrise! Warmth! Light ! We start paddling !

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