Gobi March Blogs 2019

Simon Melanson
Day 6 - Crossing Muddy Waters into the Orkhon Valley

04 August 2019 08:44 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

The weather here in the Gobi is completely unpredictable.  Last night, when I went to sleep (at 7PM), it was a quiet, sunny evening with a light breeze.  When I stumbled out of my sleeping bag for a pee (at 11PM), there was a crazy energetic wind, swirling in small circles, with ribbons of lightning dancing all around and overhead.  A lightshow of hundreds of flashbulbs going off in succession.  It was beautiful!  And , it felt pretty unsafe.  But, I really had to go!  And, so I did. I prayed I wasn’t going to receive a nasty surprise.  I made it safely back into my tent.  A few moments later, it poured rain. The wind shook the tent like a bouncy castle for the next couple hours as I tried to go back to sleep.

Day 6 was no walk in the park.  The sun came out with a vengeance again. It was even hotter than the Long March. Our feud was back on.  Every time I threw an insult at the sun, she sent more open terrain and dialled up the radiation.  The first 15 kms were open and mostly flat. Zero shade.  My exposed skin was sizzling slowly like bacon in a pan.  More encounters with bulls, yaks, goats, sheep.  Today, I was close enough to jab a bull with my trekking pole, as it boldly ran straight into /split the small group of competitors I was running with.  Another competitor nearly got a horn in the bum.  I love animals, but my patience for bos taurus has been exhausted.

There were multiple river crossings today.  The water was cold and refreshing.  However, running in wet clothes and shoes is never ideal. Just when I got mostly dried off, I would go for another plunge.  (Fortunately, aLloyd of my kit was in a dry bag, inside my pack). 

CP 2 marked the entrance to the Orkhon Valley.  I was looking forward to finally seeing some trees, finding some shade, and hopefully, getting a breeze.  I was sorely disappointed.  Instead of a wide, forested valley, it was a very narrow (width of a soccer pitch),  strip of marsh with high Alp-like peeks on either side, and scant pine trees at the summits.   A swampy, upward “psycho path” of chest-high grasses and wild flowers that steadily climbed upward from 1km to 2kms above sea level.    The sun was positively giddy.  She had had ambushed me in greenhouse at elevation, and used it to maximum effect.    I really suffered for the next 10 kms.  The air was still and humid.  Like hot soup.  I had to keep telling myself “there IS air Simon, just keep breathing.”  I was in a semi-sleep state for a long time, flickering in and out of consciousness. I lost a few seconds and landed face first in some nasty black mud.  It felt good to just lie there on the cold ground.  I took a few seconds to reorient before getting back to my feet.  Thank goodness, I didn’t fall on a rock! I pressed on.  I couldn’t put any solid food in.  My throat was constricted and I choked everytime I tried to get something down.  So I pushed more powder into my remaining water.  After couple of hours, I reached, the peak of the green ramp and ran down the slope at speed.  The semi-treed valley gave way to hot dusty canyons leading to Camp 7.  

One final, very deep river crossing just before camp (on an island).  Race organizers offered to take me across in a Zodiac.  I declined. I had been been cooking sous-vide for three days.  I had  sun stroke.  I needed to get my core body temp down from +40C to a normal 37C or I would be vomitting.  So, I went into the frigid, fast-moving water, clinging clumsily to a rope strung between the two banks of the river.  The water took my breath away instantly.  So damn good!  Once, I made it to the other side, I stumbled across the finish line for the day.  And, then I stripped off my pack and shirt and jumped back in the river.  The water was cold and fast.  I let it take me a half kilometre downstream from camp, swam into an eddy and repeated this process two more times.  It was glorious! 

Comments: Total (2) comments

Yvon Carriere

Posted On: 04 Aug 2019 03:08 am

Wow, just another day in the Gobi!! I am so amazed with what you can push yourself through. So very impressive!

Edith Richard

Posted On: 04 Aug 2019 01:10 am

Wow Simon, Another intense day! Job well done!! So pleased to hear it ended on a high note! Love you! Mom