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3 Oct 2017
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Location: RTW, From Vancouver BC 2012
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We are headed south to the Gobi Desert and the road is now paved 611 km to Dalanzadgad. Leaving UB we again did not go thru the city, but headed east and then south to the cut off road to Zuunmod. From there we had a somewhat warmer but windy ride 311 km to Mandalgovi.
 Screen Shot 2017-09-14 at 17.25.40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Mandalgovi Contour by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Since it has been so cold at night and windy we were not that keen on camping. To top it off Orvar has had a pretty bad night with GI issues. Here in the town the options are pretty poor. We did settle for the best of the sketchy places. For us the first room was made up, but smelled terrible. The room next door looked slept in and they just started to make the bed up again! I said no way and stripped off all the bed clothes, which they then made up fresh. The place is almost clean. The bed itself is just a mat on a board and we again had to pump up our Expeds to get a good nights rest. For dinner we opted for noodle bowls from the grocery so as not to have to eat here in the restaurant. All that said we did have a good rest.
 Mandalgovi Contour-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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5 Oct 2017
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There was of course a decontamination station when we entered the next district.
 Dalandzadgad Contour-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We stopped at a road side place and tried to get food that was NOT goat!!
 Dalandzadgad Contour-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We arrived to Dalanzadgad about 230 and headed to the “best hotel” in town. We were in desperate need of a reprieve from the usual. This is the Khan Uul and is a nice western style hotel of higher standard for a whopping 60$ CDN for a very nice room, hot water on demand, and a real breakfast. They also have a fairly hip pub with very good food and very cold  s.
 IMG_9678 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_9683 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Dalandzadgad Contour-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Dalandzadgad Contour-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Dalandzadgad Contour-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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Contributing Member
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The manager of the hotel speaks some English and he was able to arrange a driver with a Land Rover for us for the next 3 days. First Sara has had enough of the sand and a trip to the Gobi Desert is out on the 650, which is a lot to handle in sand and mud. Orvar has been sick for a few days and he has decided to ride in the truck as well. This means we can all enjoy the desert and Dan and Trevor can ride with naked bikes! The car and driver is 60$ CDN a day plus diesel a deal not to have to ride the dunes with luggage. The driver arrived to the hotel the first evening to sort out the planned route and the provisioning.
We met again at 10 am and packed up the gear. It was then off to the grocery store for food for 5 for 3 days and then gas. He also toted 30 L of gas for the guys if they needed it.
 Gobi Loop by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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Contributing Member
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The first 20 km were on the paved road that leaves DZ and eventually goes to China (foreign nationals can not cross here). We turned off the paved road here on to the dirt track and into the national park.
 Gobi Loop-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Dan and Trevor were ahead and when they got to the control gate the guard came out and said the entry was 10,000 T each or 5$. That seemed steep and so Trevor ever the practical one said to the guy “ let me see the ticket”. On it was clearly marked the entry for Mongolians 300 and others 3,000! Bingo trying to rip us off. Just after this we pulled up with the truck. The driver said to him 4 tickets and the guard took the 12,00 and said nothing else!
The road into the Vulture Mouth Canyon (Yoliin Am) is about 14 km on a winding dirt road.
 Gobi Loop-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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You park and then walk about and hour to the slot canyon. This has ice for quite a few months a year, but not in summer of course.
 Gobi Loop-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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Arriving back to the parking lot some excited local ran up to show us the video of the Ibek they just saw on the hillside! We consoled ourselves by making lunch there before we headed out again. Our driver speaks no English and despite that we managed to communicate well with a combination of drawings, google translate and hand gestures.
 Yolyn Am-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
From here we back tracked to the main track and then made a left on the Dugany Am or Dungenee Valley road. This is a beautiful wide green valley to start and the road is gravel and a bit curvy. There is one steep climb that the Prado had a challenge with.
 Gobi Loop-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
The valley gets narrower and narrower and the road is one direction (south) only. About half way the road starts to be very washed out and in fact the river is flowing down it for several km.
 Gobi Loop-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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When you are leaving the valley you are dumped out onto the plain with a number of tracks. Then we continued for 20 km on a track across the semidesert grassland and you cross over the main paved road we had left earlier on the other side of the mountains. Here the track continues west.
 Gobi Loop-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We were ahead in the truck and really flying. The driver kept a keen eye for the guys to see if they were behind us. We saw the headlights lights, but just after this we did not know they stopped. Dan’s bike was dead (loose battery ground again) and poor Trevor had to book it to catch up to us. 120 km/h on the track can be hairy.
 Gobi Loop-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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After about 100 Km we could start to see some of the beginnings of the Gobi Dunes.
 Gobi Loop-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
It was now 615 and time to quit for the day. We searched around for about 15 min and found a flat spot at the base of a ridge that was out of the wind. We set up camp and cooked up a pasta dinner. The driver has his gear to bed down in the back of the truck.
We woke up to light rain that became heavy as we were packing up. Luckily we could shelter under the rear door of the truck to get some breakfast and coffee in us. The driver had a butane stove and so when we woke he had hot water ready for us. we packed all the gear in the back and all 5 of us got in the truck to wait it out. You could see the black clouds coming at us, but after 20 minutes it lightened and after 30 it stopped raining all together.
 Yolyn Am-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Who thought you would need rain gear in one of the driest places on earth.
 Yolyn Am-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Yolyn Am-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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Our plan is to get to the big dunes and then to camp at the Flaming cliffs.
 Screen Shot 2017-09-10 at 18.19.57 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We set out again west and it was about 50 km to “the big brown sand”or Khongoryn Els, which are 180 km from DZ.
 Gobi Loop-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
The dunes are up to 300 m high, 12 km wide, and 100 km long.
 Gobi Loop-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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5 Oct 2017
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6 Oct 2017
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Trevor had one sand nap and the Africa twin took about 15 min to recover before it would start. It sure was nice to have the truck as Dan was way ahead and we could turn around to see what was keeping Trevor and help him out before Dan turned back.
 Gobi Loop-39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
The worst of the sand was about 10 km and then in fact the track got better after that on the way to the big dunes. Here the guys had some fun with hill climbing the sand, but it was pretty steep and pretty soft. Certainly not like riding our dirt bikes in Oregon with paddle tires!!
 Gobi Loop-48 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-46 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-49 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-53 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-54 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-50 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Gobi Loop-51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
DAN'S HIGH MARK ON THE BIG DUNES ON VIDEO HERE https://youtu.be/9DuDKUU0F-s
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook
"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers!
break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
Cotton or synth sweat-wicking t-shirts with the cool Horizons Unlimited graphic on the front and a snappy slogan (changing every year) on the back.
Show your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
Motorcycle and travel books to inspire and inform you!
The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
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