Kayakasia

1 day ago

E11 to E14 (64km) : The meandering meadows

It rained again last night. But there was also a brief period of clear sky where we could see millions of stars. Those who woke up to pee at the right time would see the stars. Those who pee in - or from - their tent didn’t!

I had proposed to the team last night that we could perhaps attempt 94km today to reach E18. We had initially planned to pack up the kayaks and bridged this distance using the UAZs, skipping the flat valley section of the river and launching the kayaks again at E18.

The river was flowing fast and the weather was good. We had 15 hours of daylight. We could make it. And chalking off 94km would give us a real shot at reaching the end of Egiin Gol, at the confluence with the Selenge river. Who’s in ?!

Not everyone was enthusiastic, as expected. The land support team was concerned. They didn’t want to go to E18 at all. Few crew had ventured beyond that and they were not familiar. After some rounds of discussions, it was decided that we would meet the land team at E14 for lunch, and then everyone can each take a decision from there. E14 was the Eg-Uur bridge, just one of only three bridges across the 500+km river. It was a 64km paddle to E14 and we agreed to meet at 2pm, with an early start.

The flat valley gave the river freedom to create multiple forested islands and narrow channels. The flow rushed the narrower channels and the vegetation - aquatic plants, shrubs, and trees - were much closer to us, creating a challenging close contact paddle.

I had to stop and remind the team to keep to the middle and avoid the sides, especially at the bends. We started to spread ourselves further between the kayaks. I was front.

I saw a wolf.

Its head moved out from the vegetation looking at me. I didn’t know why but I shouted “WOLF!”, when normally I would had observed wildlife more quietly. It was so instinctive. Maybe I was shocked? It didn’t u-turn but backed into the vegetation silently, eyes still fixed on me, and it was gone (the next days the team had another amazing wolf encounter, where we saw 2 wolf pups on a gravel beach).

The larch forests grew right to the edge of the river. For the first time I also saw growing birch trees. While at home we were paddling through mangrove forest, here we were flanked by pristine, dense forests of sub-arctic taiga forests. Again what I felt was like “Canada! Alaska!”.

The river continued to meander through a mix of marshy meadows and dense forested hills, at times just a few meters wide.

Just after a rest stop, we were not yet spread far enough when the fallen tree appeared behind a sharp S-shaped loop. The fallen tree had almost blocked almost the entire width of the river, leaving a small gap. I shouted to keep right but it was too late as kayak after kayak crashed into the obstacle.

We sadly lost a valuable GroPro at the fallen tree capsize.

-

E14 to E18 (34km) : After lunch dash

“Hello! Do you speak English”?, I asked the bespectacled boy.

“Yes yes!”

“Any cafe or places to eat in this village?”

“Yes yes!” Alagh the bespectacled boy pointed in the general direction of the village.

He was wearing his black rimmed glasses which was melted out of shape on one side, and I immediately trusted him. His 3 friends, who had been swimming naked in the river, put on their clothes and walked towards us.

Eg-Uur village (E15) was the only village situated along the river. It was set on the banks at the start of the wetlands section of the river. There were a school, banks, hospital, and an administrative building, plus thick coloured roof houses set out on a squarish grid. It was just 13km to E16, it was early, and we decided to explore this little village. Maybe they have bubble tea.

I could see now the mosquitoes were active. We had been lucky we hadn’t encounter any for the past 2 days. Our campsites were mosquitoes free. The children were scratching their arms and legs badly.

“I show you!”, Alagh declared.

He spoke to his friends and the 2 boys immediately got on their bicycles and rode ahead. The girl walked towards our kayaks and we only realised later she was ordered to provide security during our absence.

When we arrived at the middle of town we were surprised to see our support vehicles parking by the administrative building. They were supposed to set up camp already at E16. During lunch, they decided they didn’t want to go the extra distance to E18. I grudgingly agreed after making some calculations that it would not greatly affect our aspiration to the confluence.

After waiting for a bit and they failed to appear, we decided to paddle further to wait for them at E16. We figured whatever cafe here would only take cash and we didn’t have any. Arlagh even kindly suggested we draw cash at the bank.

(Later we learned why the support team were held up. The local rangers had ‘detained’ them and demanding to know if we had fished during the trip. Fishing was big business and also a highly sensitive matter on this river. Foreigners pay tens of thousands of dollars to come here to fish for the rare giant taimen, the largest salmon in the world. We had to show them photos to back up our innocence. The rangers also added that travelling in the Mongolian-Russian border region required special permit; and even visiting the village required a special permit!)

5km or so after we started, I sensed Murphy’s brewing. The landscape had changed drastically. There were no forests or meadows, just marshes on both sides and some small gravel beaches here and there. How was the land team supposed to get to us. I had initially chose E18 as there was a road access.

I better called Nara - the land team manager - when we were near the village and still have cellular.

Before I could speak.

“Its hard to reach e16, right now stuck in mud. Please try to speak radio. Where are you?”, Nara asked.

“Very near to E16. Can we meet at E18 instead? So far I don’t see how we could land.”

“Please wait us at right where you are. We ll check road till e16. It’s wetland.”, Nara said.

“We can’t wait because it will be dark. We have to go now to reach e18. Yes it’s wetlands from here to E18. Can we meet at E18 instead? You can find a nice grassy campsite near there and pick us up by UAZ.”

“One van is stuck in mud. Let me check with Ganaa. Give me one minute.”, Nara said.

Ganaa was our logistics manager who planned the land route and made the land crew synced.

“Ok, E18. See you there.”, Nara finally responded.

Another change of plans to announce to the team. It was already 5pm and E18 was 30km away. We should have just stick to the plan. We lost the time initiative and now we had to rush to make E18 before dark.

#mongolia #egiingol #expedition ... See MoreSee Less

Kayakasia

2 days ago

E8 to E11 (44km) : Upper Egiin Gol

The rain stopped just as we were about to launch our kayaks. Another day of blessed weather without worry!

The low mist veiled the surrounding mountains in white shrouds. Sunlight appeared and disappeared, illuminating different areas of the vast grasslands in yellow and shades of green. We witnessed this interplay of moisture and light from the seat of our flowing kayak, our changing position adding to the light dance.

A house attracted as much attention from us as wildlife. Often a wooden cabin with a wisp of smoke from the chimney. We could only imagined what it would be like to live within this pristine landscape. Sometimes a Toyota Prius would be parked beside the house. It was off grid living at its best - nature isolation, energy, mobility…add in a Starlink and you have connectivity!

In fact, it surprised us that we had cellular connectivity most of the time along the river. We didn’t see any cellular towers, actually not even electricity poles of any sort. Where were the signals coming from ?

The smooth grasslands were crisscrossed by dirt lines. As most of the land was not private nor fenced, anyone and everyone can drive anywhere they want, leaving countless parallel and weaving tire marks. Even the herders were replacing their horses with cheap Chinese motorcycles. So it created some excitement when a herder in traditional robes rode his horse into the river in front of us to cross to the other side.

This stretch of the river was very scenic. And we stopped multiple times to soak in the scenery. It reminded me of snorkelling in Raja Ampat - so pristine, so untouched, so much to feel for - and also if the place was not a top 10/10, there was no need to stop and just carry on.

Sometimes the rocky mountain and conifers scenery reminded me of John Denver’s songs. You know, the Montana and Wyoming settings of Leslie the dog TV and other old cowboy movies.

And it was hard to accurately describe or photograph what we saw or justify the beauty of the vast expanse before us. On the left it could be high mountains with dense conifers and on the right a flowing river through steppe grasslands. A place like this demanded presence. It required you to be fully there.

The big picture was seemingly perfect.

No violence of water or lava were visible upon these landscapes. The land was instead sculpted gently by generations of winds. That a mould of sand on a grassland would be smoothed, a wayward branch blown away…that the trees that only had a few months to grow all grew to the same height and colour, shedding no leaves except tiny needles of green that blended in. What else could our eyes do to enhance what nature had done ?

I started looking at the smaller things. Maybe I would find some imperfections among the bark of trees, the muddy banks, the fallen tree….even these I discovered the lichens, the wild flowers,…even that fallen tree that should had marred the neat strands of trees…it was held up by the soft grass, floating on eternal green; bleaching in the sun.

It was not a dead wood on the grass.

#egiingol #mongolia #expedition ... See MoreSee Less

Kayakasia

3 days 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.

#egiingol #mongolia #expedition #kayaking ... See MoreSee Less