Chris' Blog

"A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything." -Laurence Sterne

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Just Another Day ...in Mongolia

The day started normally...

We awoke in the Mongolian countryside. We were camped on a ridge with a 360 degree panoramic view of tree covered hills, large rock formations, and herds of yaks and cattle. After a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we walked at least 100 meters to an unclimbed rock and spent an hour trying to make a first ascent.

After climbing, we decided to move up the valley to find another campsite and to see more of Mongolia. When we tried to start the Jeep, however, we discovered that we'd run the battery dead with episodes of "The Wire" and spider solitaire. No problem, right? We were on a hill, so we thought we'd roll the Jeep down the hill to the road, wait for a passing car, and get a jumpstart. Good plan in theory, but in actuality we were parked barely on the other side of the ridge. We pushed like crazy to no avail. We came up with a new plan and decided to use the climbing gear to set up a 3:1 pulley system to pull the Jeep over the ridge. Success.

Once on the other side of the ridge, we put'er in neutral and rolled down the hill. Once to the road, we were met by a nice family coming down the road. They gave us a jumpstart and went on their way. We let the jeep idle for a few minutes to let the battery recharge, then we took off down the road. The family had pulled over and were waving us down. We stopped, and they asked us if we could take two people in their car to the family's ger camp. It seemed that there were a few river crossings that their car could not handle. They had helped us out, so we thought we would return the favor.

We'd crossed three or four streams when we came to one that was a bit wider than the rest. The two guys in the vehicle with us were giving Randall, who was driving, directions in Mongolian. The older gentleman, who smelled of vodka, was obviously telling Randall to punch it through the river. Randall gave it the juice and water came over the hood. Then the Jeep died. Randy, with his rally experience, knew that trying to start it again could cause serious damage. We were in deep water, though - deep enough to start seeping through the door seals.

Our riders had cell phone and were good enough to call for rescue. A 4X4 Benz showed up and pulled us out, but not before the Jeep had flooded. Our passengers had us towed back to their family ger camp, where we spent the afternoon draining water from the air intake, removing spark plugs, and then dismantling the interior and taking out the carpet to dry. In the end, we got the Jeep running again, but still needed to let the interior dry out, so we decided to spend a night in a ger there.

The next day was nice and sunny, so we opened the vehicle and let everything dry out. In the meanwhile, Randy and I spent some time riding horses with a guide and eating traditional meals with our host family. That evening we put the Jeep back together. It ran perfectly and the interior had never looked better. Of course, after so much activity we were shot, and decided to spend another night. We did feel a bit better about our predicament, though, as three more vehicles had gotten stuck in the same spot as we did during our stay.
We attempted the return trip the following morning. This time everything went smoothly. We made it through the big stream without any problems. We said our goodbyes and thank-yous to Byemba, the head of the family, and the rest and went on down the road into Terelj National Park for another night of camping.

Our camp on the ridge. Great views!



Some wild onions we fried up.
Randall climbing an unamed toughy.

Stuck, Byemba on the phone, and the beginning of yet another adventure.


The crew that helped pull the Jeepo out of the water.


The Jeep getting torn apart.


Our ger.


View from our ger.


I got the lazy horse.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! Your time in Mongolia reads like a good adventure novel :) Glad to hear the 3:1 pulley system worked! I need to review that...seems like it can be handy. Tuesday you are home! Can't wait! - Julia

3:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ayeyaiyai!!!!! JMVC

6:49 AM  

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