Our 17-foot canoes dumped and pinned on several occasions. Fishing rods lay forgotten at the bottom of the canoes as we focused instead on paddling 40–50 kilometers a day.
Stormy weather welcomes the team into Siberia, Selenge River.
H
ALF A YEAR PRIOR, preparations for our three- month journey through Mongolia and Russia had
included shipping canoes, applying for visas, navigating a labyrinth of logistics and learning useful phrases in not one, but two languages. We scrounged for what little infor- mation existed on the route’s rivers and lakes. Among our research was rumor of the region’s piscine delicacies. In Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia’s capital, we packed our food
and purchased a few last pieces of gear. Back from shop- ping, Ulysse proudly showed me his two fishing rods and exclaimed, “We will eat fish every night!” His bearded face glowed beneath a hat that was stitched with the words, Serious Fish. He had even brought along all the ingredients required to make sushi. From Ulaan Baatar, we drove for three days over un-
marked, rough tracts in an overloaded Chinese van. After getting stuck in a bog for five hours, our driver motioned he could go no further. We portaged and paddled the last 70 kilometers to the northern tip of Lake Khovsgol in far northwestern Mongolia. From Khovsgol we could see the serrated peaks that
formed the Russian border. Our destination, Lake Baikal, was just 200 kilometers east as the lammergeier flies, but we were following the natural flow of the water on a me- andering, 2,000-kilometer semi-circle through the steppe and taiga forest. Khovsgol was nicknamed “the blue pearl” for its pris-
tine, turquoise water—so clear that we could see the fish swim up to our hooks, and right on past. Situated in a
42 EARLY SUMMER 2011
PHOTO: ERIC MCNAIR-LANDRY
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