The Longest Day of the Year

Near our camp site at Gorkhi Terelj National Park, Mongolia

It took us about two and a half hours of walking from where the bus went no further to find a perfect camp spot in Gorkhi Terelj, a serene national park located a couple hours from the hustle and bustle of Ulaanbaatar. There is not a person, not a ger camp in sight. Just a green meadow with wildflowers, rolling green hills in the near distance, and a babbling brook with flowing cold, clean water. On our walk here, we passed a town, ger camp after ger camp, normal tent camps, herds and herds of cows and horses with young ones, corrals, homes. But we kept walking. The meadow here even has taller, more unruly grass, evidence that animals don’t usually graze here. We made a fire ring, but being the longest day of the year and being in Mongolia, it won’t get dark until well after 10 pm.

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Scott and I disagreed about whether or not to put the rainfly on the tent. He wanted to keep it off, arguing that a tent is meant to be rainfly free on clear evenings in order to offer viewing of a star-filled sky. My argument was that it would get cold and a rainfly would help keep us warmer. He won, but we were both right. The night did gradually get cooler and cooler and, with only one proper sleeping bag, Scott was the one who suffered (but he can handle it), although who knows if the rainfly would have added that much more warmth.

When I woke up, though, inside the tent in the middle of the night, I was aghast. My eyes took a couple seconds to adjust, but when they did, I was shocked to see, right above our laying bodies, the most stars, the brightest stars I’ve ever seen. It felt miraculous. And I would’ve missed that moment completely had the rainfly been on.

The perfect camp spot.

A small glimpse of the wildflowers that were in bloom at Terelj.

Scott found this nest of treasures in the grass.

On our second day, part of the sky filled with threatening clouds. They skies never completely opened though. On our walk back to the bus stop, we were sprinkled with only small rains.

 

Wild rhubarb! We picked a couple handfuls of this delectable stalk to bake in a crisp. Scott and I haven't had rhubarb for years.