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 Ubsu-Nur, Tes River and back through Ubsu-Nur. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Mongolia into Russia - carry ID and check the toll rules. Rivers set the line for much of the day.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Ubsu-Nur.
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 comes up about 402 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tes River.
Where the Tes river comes down from the Mongolian highlands to the Uvs basin, in the far north-west of the country, the land is open, stony and almost without trees. It flows toward Uvs Nuur, the largest lake in Mongolia, a shallow body of salt water that has no outlet, shared with the Russian republic of Tuva, and the whole basin is a UNESCO site, listed in 2003 as one of the best preserved steppe ecosystems in Central Asia. The delta of the river is a wetland where reeds, marsh and pools attract migrating birds, including swans, pelicans, cranes and many ducks.
Read the complete Tes River write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 656 km into the recorded legs you reach Tes River. Next is back through 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 through Ubsu-Nur, late in the day. Next is 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 at Uvs Nuur Basin. That is the ride.
Uvs Nuur Basin → Ubsu-Nur is 402 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ubsu-Nur → Tes River is 254 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tes River → back through Ubsu-Nur is 254 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ubsu-Nur → Uvs Nuur Basin is 402 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.