Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a and Gol Mod I · 368 km

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a

   The deer here are made of stone and are about three thousand years old. Across the grasslands of northern Mongolia stand granite pillars carved with leaping deer, their long antlers streaming back like flames or birds' wings, with sometimes a belt, a knife or a pair of earrings scratched below. These are deer stones, raised by Bronze Age herders in the second and early first millennium BC, and Mongolia has more than a thousand of them, most in the northern provinces. Nobody is sure what they meant. One theory says they were memorials to dead warriors, another that they were altars where the soul was carried to the sky by the deer. Around them are rings and rectangles of stone and low mounds called khirigsuur, burials of the same people.

   Read the complete Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a is where the day begins. Next is Gol Mod II.

2. 2. Gol Mod II

   Gol Mod II lies in the open valleys of central Mongolia, and the first thing to know is that there is no road to it in the sense most riders mean. You reach it on tracks across the steppe, past herders' gers and grazing horses, and then the tombs appear: a field of low mounds and earthworks, and at its heart a huge square structure with a long ramp, the grave of a member of the Xiongnu elite.

   Read the complete Gol Mod II write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gol Mod II comes up 62 km in. Next is Gol Mod I.

3. 3. Gol Mod I

   Gol Mod sits in the open grass country of central Mongolia, where the land rolls away in long folds beneath an enormous sky and the only landmarks are herders' white felt tents, gers, and the occasional lonely mountain. The place is known to archaeologists for its cemeteries of the Xiongnu, the nomadic confederation that dominated the steppe two thousand years ago and rivalled Han China, and the graves of their elite are found in valleys like this.

   Read the complete Gol Mod I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   125 km in you reach Gol Mod I. Next is back through Gol Mod II.

4. 4. back through Gol Mod II

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gol Mod II write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Gol Mod II, late in the day. Next is Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a.

5. 5. Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Bronze Age complex Site with Deer Stones a. That is the ride.