Travelling In The Gobi Desert Day 5
White Cliffs to Ice Canyon (Yolyn Am)
Central Gobi
240km
Shower Day!

On day 5 our destination was one of the more popular destinations in The Gobi Desert. The Yolyn Am ice Canyon

All of a sudden there were other people around us – it felt very strange.

The Yolyn Am ice Canyon is a 10 km long heavily shaded canyon which has the tail end of a glacier running through it. In the winter the ice reaches a depth of 10 metres, in the summer it is only a metre or so and can be trekked on.

The name Yolyn Am translates to Vultures Month was originally established as a bird sanctuary in the southern Gobi Desert.

But before we got to the canyon we had much more important things to do – a shower. Our first in 5 days.

After the usual looong drive across vast empty plains we entered the Southern Gobi Desert, the hottest, driest and richest province in Mongolia due to Gold and Copper mining.

We stopped at the regions capital Dalanzadgad and visited the Black Market for veggies and meat. I never found out exactly why it was called the Black Market as it seemed pretty legit to me – I guess it was one of the lost in translation things.

It was then off to the public bath house for a shower. The public bath house was immaculately clean with nice hot water and good pressure, for 3000T (AUD1.66) we got a half an hour in the shower which was lovely. One could also have your laundry done and get a hair cut all under one roof.

Feeling clean and refreshed we drove the 46km to the ice canyon and then trekked into the canyon. Absolutely spectacular. We hiked a couple of kms up the canyon and a few hundred metres on the ice however due to the warm weather the ice was very soft in areas and starting to melt so we decided not to risk falling in and after numerous photos turned around back to the van.

We camped on just outside the national park in a field the wind was blowing straight from the ice canyon and jolly cold. This however did not stop us opening a nice bottle of Georgian wine we had discovered in the supermarket in Ulaanbaatar and having a glass over dinner.

Another beautiful spot to camp.