Today has been most wild. I woke up to the sound of pattering on my tent. I figured it was rain and just rolled over. It will finish soon enough. Much later it's still coming down. But isn't that shadows of sunlight filtering through branches overhead? My tent has a rain fly but the main body is all mesh. There's a narrow space at the bottom where I can look outside. I do so and see snow. Thick, wet, packing snow. Open the zipper and Oh Shit! Snow everywhere! It clings to all the branches in this dense wood an inch thick.
After taking pictures of this madness I pack up. Everything is wet. Everything is not better when wet. Some things are better left dry. Right glad am I to have retrieved Mom made socks. Wool continues to insulate when wet.
I head towards the way I came in, thinking I'll camp somewhere along the way so I can get to Khatgal in time. All this snow is dangerous. I can't make out landmarks from yesterdays scouting mission. I can't orientate myself to features on the horizon, snowfall continues to obscure my vision.
The passage eludes me, yet the challenge eggs me on. I find this wandering thrilling. I'm on an entirely different planet than I was yesterday. Blind luck and heedless abandon lead me onward. Perhaps histories worst escape plan.
I've wandered too far south. A slope I hadn't encountered yesterday. Head back downhill towards the lake, try to relocate previous days passage. Deer prints in the snow. I follow his path, a rocky outcropping, and the promise of a vantage point. Just what I needed.
The promise proves true, a sight of the river, my path out of here. Moving forward now, intersecting familiar ground. Past old ramshackle huts and corrals. Abandoned? A grove filled with songbirds, singing like they own the place. Return to tussocks.
Miles and miles of tussocks. Thankfully low points are frozen in this snow, no foot drenchings today. But this land is so difficult to hike. My ankles are slowly getting destroyed.
Almost out now. I can see the town across the river. A dog, menacing, chases after me barring his teeth and barking in a threatening way. Ranch children come out and chase it away with snowballs. Saved. Then the rancher calls out to me. I go to meet him and he offers his geir for the night. Double saved!
With my poor Mongolian and his poor English we manage to communicate. He will call my driver tomorrow and tell him to pick me up at the family ranch. Perfect. Now I've got everything that I need. A cozy geir to rest in and dry my wet gear. A friend to communicate my transportation needs. I am truly grateful and, after todays arduous hike, deeply in need of a rest. It's 4pm and I'm going to bed. Peace!
