CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
On the way it passes Uvs Nuur Basin, Oroku-Shinaa and back through Uvs Nuur Basin. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Russia into Mongolia - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Ubsu-Nur, or Uvs Nuur, is a lake in a land of extremes. It lies in a closed basin on the border between Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva, in the middle of Central Asia, where there is no outlet to the sea, so the water simply evaporates, leaving it too salty to drink. It is the largest lake in Mongolia by area, shallow, with wide marshes and reed beds, and it sits between the Altai mountains to the west and the Sayan range to the north. The Tes river, which feeds the lake, gives its name to a part of the basin, and the whole area was listed by UNESCO in 2003 as the Uvs Nuur Basin.
Read the complete Ubsu-Nur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ubsu-Nur is where the day begins. Next is Uvs Nuur Basin.
Uvs Nuur is a lake in a basin, and the basin matters more than the lake. The depression lies astride the border between Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva, ringed by mountains on three sides, and it is the northern end of the Central Asian steppe and the southern edge of the Siberian taiga. Within a few hours of each other you can find desert dunes, steppe, mountain tundra, glaciers, forest and salt marsh. UNESCO listed it in 2003 as a transboundary site, and Russia and Mongolia manage their sides separately.
Read the complete Uvs Nuur Basin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Uvs Nuur Basin comes up about 189 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oroku-Shinaa.
The Uvs Nuur Basin is one of those places on the map that looks like a mistake. A huge salt lake, a ring of mountains, a dry steppe, a patch of desert and a snowfield, all within a few hours of each other. The basin straddles the border between Mongolia and Russia, and the Russian part lies in Tuva, a republic of throat singers, shamans and horse herders in the heart of Siberia. Oroku-Shinaa, in the northern part, is one of the clusters protected as part of the UNESCO site listed in 2003.
Read the complete Oroku-Shinaa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 576 km into the recorded legs you reach Oroku-Shinaa. Next is back through Uvs Nuur Basin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uvs Nuur Basin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Uvs Nuur Basin, late in the day. Next is Ubsu-Nur.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ubsu-Nur write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Ubsu-Nur. That is the ride.
Ubsu-Nur → Uvs Nuur Basin is 189 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Uvs Nuur Basin → Oroku-Shinaa is 387 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Oroku-Shinaa → back through Uvs Nuur Basin is 387 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Uvs Nuur Basin → Ubsu-Nur is 189 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.