Mongolia - Yolym Am

Beautiful Yolym (or Yolim) Am

From Tsagaan Suvarga we drove south, stopping in the city of Dalanzadgad and then continuing on to the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park. Gurvan Saikhan is the name of the mountain range (part of the Altai Gobi mountains) which means "Three Beauties" in Mongolia. Yolym Am - Yol Valley is in the Zuun Saikhany Nuruu area - "the Eastern Beauty". Yol Valley is so called for the yol - the Mongolian word for Lammergeier vultures, which are common.

The drive to Yol Valley was pretty incredible: going across the Gobi we actually passed through some flooded areas on our way to Dalanzadgad (and the Gobi still green of course with all the rain), and reaching the magnificent far eastern edge of the Altai Mountains was really incredible. The landscape of the mountains was accentuated by the perfect weather: bright blue skies and huge, fast moving clouds. We would be freezing cold in the shadow of a cloud one moment, the wind cutting through the valley, and then when the sun came out and the wind died down it was amazingly hot. The steep rocky cliffs of the mountains were in stark contrast with the rolling foothills and the lush, green valleys.

The drive was also a bit nerve-wracking: following the road through the valley (mostly), sometimes having to drive up and around it because of rocks or mud or the overflowing river (and sometimes just driving through the river.) There was one troublesome spot where we saw two vans get stuck in the mud.. luckily we (our driver) was able to pull them out!

Yol Valley stretches all the way through the mountains - it is possible to walk the entire length of the valley and come out on the other side (if you are really ambitious, or if you have your driver pick you up.) However that is only possible if it is a relatively dry year - or if you don't mind getting your feet wet! The cliffs narrow to only a couple metres across - when we walked through we came to a point where the river completely filled the valley between the rocks. We did see some people wading to go further, but the water was rushing pretty fast and deep over the wet rocks which was not for us.

Yol Valley is also famous for its ice fields, and the steep cliffs mean that hardly any sun reaches into the valley below. While the ice and snow used to last year round, in more recent times the ice melts over the summer. We saw Mongolian pika and one lone vulture, high in the sky. The area is also home to wolves, foxes, deer, and snow leopards.

Our ger camp for the evening was perhaps 20 kilometres from the park, in the rocky foothills of the mountains. It was such a beautiful area and we really enjoyed walking around, even in the rain! It was really spectacular. As you will see from all the photos, we really loved the landscapes of this part of our trip and thought it was one of the most beautiful places we'd ever been.

Flooded areas of the Gobi. Our guide told us it wasn't like this when he had been
through the area just two weeks prior.

Back to a gravelly Gobi on our way to Dalanzadgad

Mud-cracked area

The far eastern edge of the Gobi Altai range.

An ovoo in the distance

Driving into Gurvansaikhan National Park

The road to Yol valley. Just beyond that hill was a tiny parking lot with
about 20 cars.. one of the more busy places we'd been!

Stopping to pull out a stuck van. There is a Mongolian saying that if you don't stop
to help someone when they are in need, no one will stop to help you.
Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of how bad the road was!

Everyone who drove through stopped to spectate

A group of tourists climbing up

Heading into the valley. It starts wide and slowly narrows together

Yol

The valley plunged into shadow

Continuing into the valley

We had to cross the river several times on the walk, only with the assistance
of man-made bridges a couple times. Otherwise it was finding narrow parts
to leap across or other areas of exposed rocks you could hop between.

Jagged rocky peaks on either side of the valley

An ovoo in the valley

The river rushing through the narrow cliffs

This was where we (and most of the other walkers) stopped.
But there were others who continued on..

The view from the top of a hill at our ger camp. The crevasse is a carved out
river bed from run off, used as a road when dry.

A ger camp in the distance

Looking down on a herd of goats and sheep

The next morning was drizzly but we went for a walk through the hills

Ovoo - our guide told us they were originally used as road markers to help
people find their way. Whether in the middle of the flat Gobi or in these
hills, it is easy to understand why.

Following the paths of dry run-off beds

One of the coolest things was seeing a fox running across the green. It stopped
at the base of this hill and looked back at us before running up and over the
rocks: didn't have time to switch to the zoom lens, but surprisingly you can just make it
out with a photo taken by our regular camera!

Walking over the rocks here was just the coolest thing. If we had nicer weather
(and the time) we could have walked all day exploring this area.

Little beautiful wildflower

A plain of garlic chives (again)

Of all the places to find a Japanese monument... truth be told when we saw it in the
distance our first thought was "that looks like a Japanese commemorative rock".
The story behind it is that a Japanese soldier in Manchukuo was rescued by a Mongolian
and asked to be buried here and a monument to peace erected.

A herd of goats in the distance - it may be too small to tell but there are three
monuments on top of hills on the horizon. The statues were most likely animals:
camels or horses, as were most of the statues we saw across Mongolia.

The river snaking through the hills...

A cemetery in the valley

More alpine wildflowers