Gorkhi Terelj National Park Horse Riding – 10 Days

Itinerary

Itinerary – Gorkhi Terelj National Park Horse Riding Tour – 10 Days

Day 1 – We pick you up at Chinggis Khaan International Airport and see you checked in at the hotel where you can rest or freshen up after a long flight. Depending on your time of arrival, you will have time to check out some city sights or do some last minute shopping

Day Two – Travel to the Darkhid Valley where our trip staging area is located. Here you will be assigned your horse and equipment, given preliminary instructions, orientation about the trip and about the days’ travel. A ger or log cabin will be available to change clothes and pack personal equipment for your saddle bags, while the riding and packhorses are being prepared for the adventure.

After an early lunch, we set out for the Terelj River valley in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park. We pass a number of settlements before climbing up to a pass. After a rest for the horses, we descend into the Terelj valley. Camp for the first night will be near the Terej River or a little ways up on of its tributaries.

Day Three – We set out for today’s ride over two forested passes in the morning. In the afternoon we travel at a slightly faster pace down a wide valley, passing the winter camp sites of nomadic herder families that have left the area now for summer pastures. We reach the Tuul valley and turn North up the Baruun Bayn Go valley where we make camp near the river.

Day Four – Today we ride up the wide open valley of the Baruun Bayn Gol, with the high mountains and plateaus of the Khentii Mountains ahead in the distance. We ascend a ridge marked by a Buddhist shrine (Stupa) and a stone cairn (Ovoo), from where we turn higher into the hills and up a canyon with high rock walls for our lunch break. In the afternoon, we continue riding through grasslands surrounded by high rock formations. Eventually we cross a wide valley, find a faint trail through brushland and make our way across the hills to the Princess Camp.

Day Five – Riders and pack team take different routes today. Our horsemen take the pack horses to tonight’s  campsite via a shorter route, while the riders trail takes them to the ruins of the Princess Temple, and across scenic hills. After lunch at a high point among rock formations, we return through rolling grasslands. From another rest stop we spot our camp at the Blue Rock Creek below, only 10 minutes ride from here.

Day Six – After leaving camp together and travel a ways down the Baruun Bayn Gol valley, the riders turn East after the river crossing, then ascend to the high ridges, from where we have great views, down onto the grasslands and valleys we have explored already. After lunch at a high point, we circle back, traveling down a scenic valley that brings us back down into the Baruun Bayn Gol valley by late afternoon where we arrive in camp with tents set up and refreshments waiting. We will stay two nights at this campsite.

Day Seven – We take a day ride, over a low, forested pass and down into the Tuul valley. After lunch in the park like setting of the river flats we ride down the Tuul valley, and drop over another pass back into the Baruun Bayn Gol Valley

Day Eight – We start the return ride home. Today’s ride has opportunities for a faster pace – for those who wish – trotting or cantering up a broad valley, at times through forest, often in open grasslands. In the afternoon, the trek makes its way over a small pass again and we drop down into the big open valley of the Terelj river. After a last break in a cotton wood stand, we travel a short distance to the night’s campsite near the Khurkheriin river.

Day Nine – Today’s ride will take us into the upper valley of the Terelj River, with easy riding along well-established tracks and in mostly even terrain, with several river crossings. The last picnic lunch will be near the river before we head up to cross one more pass. From the top of this pass it is only about an hour ride to the Stone Horse cabins in the Darkhid valley where snacks and drinks will be waiting. After refreshments and re-packing, and seeing our trail horses running off to join the rest of the herd, our drivers will take you back to the hotel in the city.

Day Ten – Transfer to Chinggis Khaan International Airport, or for those who have another day in the city you may explore guided tours or visits to museums, sites and souvenir shops.

The riding itinerary and route may change if the weather conditions and river water levels require. Safety is always first, and rivers in flood may cause us to wait until a crossing is safe or make adjustments to the route. Also, if there is a consensus among riders and it is feasible we may decide to extend the route, exploring the Zuun Bayn Gol valley, or we may explore the forest wilderness on the mountain tops. However, our trekking route will take in the same landscapes as the standard route described above.