mongolia's roads conditions
 

Hallo everyone,
i'm plannig a trip for next year 2018 in august in Mongolia.

I would be know about road conditions, from Ulan Bator to the russian border in the east, near russian town named Tashanta.

I think the best way (R1200GS ADV) is the Jargalan - Altay - Hovd - Olgij , but i'm waiting from yours advices

If there are possibility of problems, I can come back from my entry border, Kjachta (to Ulan-udè)

Thank'you at all who answer me

I think you mean the western border at Tashanta.

Yes, you can take this way, should be ok on a 1200GS.
BUT: It depends on the driver!!!
You need to know what you are able to do !!!

And don't take the northern route to Ulaangom with the 1200GS

The Southern road is almost entirely surfaced nowadays, save for a pass between Khovd and Olgii which is (usually) not very difficult so anybody should be fine on a big, heavy bike.

Ohh very good news, thank'you.

Yes I want to take the southern road, from UB to Tashanta. I'm only a normal driver, I already was in Iran, Syrie Jordanien, or Russia, Morocco, and all countries of north afrfica (excluding Lybien) and I think i will have not big problems, if the weather will be ok .

If not, probably i will have problems with rivers who cross the roads

on the southern road no big Problem.

There is one rivercrossing between Khovd and Olgii.

But when you reach it, you missed the turn to the bridge with is a little bit north

The Southern road is almost paved there is little patch left from Gobi Altai to Khovd. The road from Khovd to Ulgi is paved partially already and expected to be open by July.
You still will be able to make on GS1200 both middle road and Northern road. If you take Northern road take a bridge South side of Achit nur. Middle road and Northern road is much interesting rather then Southern road.
I live in Bayanulgi 100 km from Tashanta the last major town in Mongolia before leaving to Russia swing by our bikers guest house when you are here!

Chinzo

My experience dates from 2016 but back then on the southern route it was only about 30-40% paved. There was one significant river crossing south of Olgii which was no problem in a Unimog but at that time there was zero sign of construction. And there was another (at that time dry) creek crossing further east that had a new bridge that was collapsed.
Again, this was 1.5 yrs ago.

Charlie

I definitely will not agree that it easy on the northern route on a 1200.

West of Tes there is a lot of sand and lots of water crossings between Ulaangom and Olgii

Hi Klaus,
Which northern route are speaking about?
The direct one which pass close Achit Lake or the one from Ulaangom to Tsaagannuur then Olgii?
I don't see Tes on my map, sorry.
RR.

Hi,
this is interesting, I'd like to have fresh input on the road building going on in Mongolia. I've made a map of the country which I shared here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...olia-map-88026

I'd like to keep it up to date so that everybody can rely on it. Could you tell me exactly what parts of the Southern road are now tarred ? any other update you can spot ?

I probably should make a yearly update to keep it relevant.

Thanks,
Laurent

The Black/Olive one west of Moron.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...673/Jg8Ypx.jpg

Nd from Ulangom, the green one is the nasty one.

Tes is about, where there are 2 small routes between the black and olive route.
The southern one is less sand.

Hello

For a "Dakar"-level rider yes.
For the average, experienced adventure-rider, mongolian sand/mud tracks are a challenge even on a 200kg bike, a nightmare on a 250kg bike.
For an average GS1200 owner, who just can nowhere train offroad riding under those conditions, a negligent advice.

sushi

Thanks for these infos.

RR.

Klaus - what equipment were you using for navigational purposes? I have been using maps.me and locus maps, which are quite good, but they do say that there are quite a bit of "primary roadways" (motorways and highways) that this discussion leads me to believe are not the case.

For a much larger trip next summer, I was thinking of using these applications, along with a delorme inreach explorer for if things got really tricky. Is this sufficient?

I use garmin Navigation ( in m case I have zumo 660 and zumo 590, for this for me the 660 is better ) and I use garmin basecamp as a planning software.

So I can have the same maps in the notebook and the 660. Which is important.

And you get a lot of free OSM maps for this area.

What is a major highway in one part of the world maybe classified as a track in another part of the world. Depends on the local conditions, local infrastructure.

How do you judge what a major highway is, if not by the quality of the road? By its usefulness to the local community. And that is how OSM in part classifies roads, not just by the quality of the road. There is also a 'social pressure' to fill in blank parts of the map with something .. so some tend to increase the road classification upwards.

OSM data forms the basis of maps.me ... and is used by many other apps. I would not change the road classifications without local knowledge. OSM data can include things like the surface and smoothness of the roads, some apps do show this.

Well, I´ve been riding from Olgii to UB, and we decided in Olgii which way to go, as it was unpredictable weeks in advance. It depends on how much it rained.
There was not much rain but we decided to keep on deciding a day or two in advance. We took a mix of middle and northern route. a motorcycle journalist from Germany took the northern route and drowned his bike...he believed a local saying its just knee deep :thumbdown:
And it wasn´t even raining before and he hab a light Suzuki.
I would never ride such a bike on such a trip...
But anyway, on a 1200 GS I would play it safe and stay on Tarmac if possible.

Afternoon all

Been skunking around on the net and found this, supposed paved roads!!

Anyone confirm or deny the real oil?

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/em...6&output=embed

It shows a god way where it might be asphalt or prepared to get asphalt on.

But some parts of it which do have aspahlt are not shown and some parts where there is definitely no asphalt (but construction ) are marked as ready.

Center route is much more asphalt, and southern rout ( specially east part ) much more construction

Yes. So at least from Telmen area (don't remember exactly) via Khorgo (vulcano) and to Kharkhorin (monastary) is tarmac. And of course from Kharkhorin to Ulaanbataar.

Are you going into southern Gobi?
The road on the map shown from Ulaanbataar to Bayandalai is correct and pretty good tarmac. The rest of Gobi has no tarmac, so also not to the most important tourist sites in Gobi.

Shortly after Telmen ( maybe 30km ) to Uliastay it is gravel.

And some shorter stretches with construction.

Around Tosontsengel there was also some parts with no asphalt

Thanks for the replies guys.

My intended route (which is not set in concrete) is to enter via Altanbulag, go to Ulaanbaatar, head up and along to Khuvsgul Lake and Hatgal, down and over to Olgiy then across to Tsagaannuur and exit via Alaanbaishint check point to Russia.

This is a loose plan, I am more than happy doing gravel and offroad but admit to not being a fan of huge soft sandpits, I am solo so would prefer to stay away from deep river crossings for obvious reasons and at the opposite end I don't want to be a tarseal cowboy.

My scoot is a WR250R.

I am all ears and listening to anyone that suggests nice/scenic/good routes to go as I am there to see the place not just race through.

And on a further note I will be there in August if any other riders are sifting around and would like to hook up.

Cheers Andi

See this? Accuracy is unconfirmed;

https://tomongolia.blogspot.com/2008...twork.html?m=1

Thanks monnomania

Did some street view stuff and yeap there appears to be a lot of new pavement.

Guess I will find out the real oil when I get there and report back here.

I'm in Almaty heading to Mongolia but I'm still clueless about my route.

I know that I'm entering from Russia into Ulgii and exiting about 12 days later on Altanbulag.

I was talking to a Korean rider two days ago that just crossed Mongolia in the opposite direction and he said that the north road was mostly paved and to enjoy a bit of dirt he had to take detours and come back to it.

He told me also that he rode to Dalanzadgad to see the Gobi desert and it was all paved to there but after it the sand was so deep that he had to trackback to Ulanbataar.

I guess I'm in the same boat that everybody else, I don't want to be all the time in the pavement but also don't want to drown my bike or get stuck on a sand pit. I'm riding alone on a 790 Adventure. I'd say my skill level is intermediate the Pamir highway (as an example) for me was exhausting some times but not particularly difficult except for two river crossing.

I know it would be a big ask to get my route planned but I'd love to get some advise an orientation about roads to explore. I've been reading many threads about but it seems that roads are being constructed all the time and is hard to get a full picture of the situation.

Many thanks in advance.

Martin

From Ulaanbataar there is pretty good tarmac up to Bayandali (in Gobi). You can probably drive that stretch in one day, although I'm not a biker.
However, there are a few sites. Mainly the flaming cliffs (and near to it, the petroglyphs), the ice gorge, and the high (singing?) sand dunes. To get there, you will have many corrugated roads which will take more effort. And lots of tracks to choose from, so have some maps ready. Or follow a tourist van, as it is a circle where guided tours go. There speed is pretty high, could be nice speed for a biker.
It is only very near the high sand dunes where it obviously gets sandy, but only when you are driving between them :P
If you take these highlights into account, you will not see much sandy roads.
Obviously, the Gobi has more to offer with lots and lots of sand tracks, but since you have only 12 days for the entire country, and don't like the sandy bits, it is not relevant.

It becomes a bit hard for me to tell which roads are now tarmac, because there was a lot of construction work. I do believe differences are getting smaller.
What we did was the Southern route and then from the city Altai (not the region), go up (off the tarmac again) and rejoin the tarmac again around Telmen area, to continue on the middle route.
We also visited Zavkhan area, which is all offroad. Very recommendable, but involves sandy bits and I'm not sure if you have time for it.

It depends what he means with "northern route"

I think he means the route from UB - Kharkhorin - Tosontsengel - Telmen - Songino - Ulangom

There is a lot paved, but it is not northern route.

Northern route is:
UB - Darkhan . Moron ( all paved ) later i dont know how much is paved but for sure not a lot .
2 years ago there was just a bit of construction and I can not imagine they finished all.
so then to Tes and Ulangom I am pretty sure this is not paved ( because it is paved from the middle route ) and from Ulangom to Tashanta you can get lot of fun drowning the bike.

It is possible to do this route in the far west, but you need to have a local guide with you ho knows the situation, this can change in 1 hour depending on melting water from snowy mountains and rain which fills the rivers ( and you dont need to see the rain )

And depending on the route you take you can do it the easy way or get stuck.

And I personally met and know people who got stuck there or drowned theyr bike.

Thank you guys for the answers, they are very helpful.

Besides the roads conditions which one is the most scenic route from a touristic point of view the north or the south?

Thanks again!

In my opinion the mix from Southern and middle route

Olgii - Khovd - Altai - Uliastay - Tosontsengel - Kharkhorin - UB

Between Khovd and Altai the stone Gobi starts, that is impressing for a while but if you want that all the way to UB?

And I did the northern rout after the middle route and was a bit embaraced that it was not as nice as the middle part.
More flat, less mountains

Today I rode from Khovd to Altai. One straight line of emptiness. Now I'm debating about keeping somehow south to Dalanzadgad or follow your route.
I want to see the desert and the dunes but today was quite boring honestly.

Going from that main road and directly heading for Dalanzadgad area is possible, but people who have done that are talking about horrible tracks, not easy to find, and possibly getting stuck.

Is your main interest the dunes?

What you can do is head North to Uliastay. From there you can continue the middle route, which has some interesting things. But from Uliastay you can also head north west direction to Zavkhan, which is realy nice. Lakes with coasts of made of sand dunes. Ulaagchin Khar Lake.

Along the middle route there are some interesting things to see, like Khorgo vulcano (the lake was not so interesting to me)
But of course, a lot of interesting stuff requires a detour.

The part from Khovd to Altai is stone gobi and a bit boring, but you can also see a lot of colourful mountains if you really watch.

If you continue the south route to the sand gobi, it might stay like this.

I personally recommend the middle route too

I finally headed to Uliastay where I'm right now. I liked the idea of Gobi probable more than be actually there with 100 degrees trying to find the right tracks. The road to Uliastay was really beautiful a bit hard to not get lost with all the bifurcations appearing and despairing. I saw almost no cars for hours and got on a rain storm that made the road muddy but I really enjoyed it.

I may head tomorrow to Ulaagchin Khar Lake.

Thank you guys for all the advice/recommendations. I really appreciate them.

Do you have good navigation with OSm or other maps?
There is not so much out there, in terms of people and so on. Also very little accommodations, only at the lake itself.

Southeast in this area there is a spring (mukhtaar or something) which is awesome but last kilometer is all soft sand.
Then from there you can reach the lake over a hill which features a nateral arch. And it is a really nice route in general.
Once you get to the lake, yoi can follow the south coast, which is nice and ends in dunes at the water.
From that area, where you will see some yurts at the lake, you can go east to continue to the main road again. You can also use that road as the entry road towards the lake as it may be more easy.

So if you can camp anywhere and navigate maps with tracks like OSM, then you can go. But not many people around there. And of course no signal.

I'm just following up on my question now that I experience myself some answers.

After I decided against going to Gobi and ended up with extra time on my hands when I reached UB so I changed my mind and headed to the Gobi desert.
To Dalanzadgad is an 8 hours ride, all good pavement except for the 70km after Mandalgovi, that has construction detours and big potholes.

From Dalanzadgad to Bayandalai, 100km is also new pavement. In that way you have the Yolyn Am Canyon, very beautiful.

Once you get to Bayandalai is all dirt, with the typical tracks in Mongolia going from one road to multiple ones and then merging again.
To the tallest dunes is 120km in total. The conditions are rough but not a big deal, just short sections with a bit of sand, some mud, small rocks sections, and a lot of washboards but not deep sand or river crossings. Although, I crossed several dry river beds, this was end of June, I don't now if at any other time there is water on them.
There is small gas station in Bayandalai just right at the beginning of the town on a dirt road to the right coming from Dalanzadgad (the other one is abandoned)

Please put some gas, I have more than 400km range, didn't and ended up siphoning from a car. The bike used way more gas on this 120km than on average riding. There is no gas at all after this town on this road.


The important part is to take the north road, so you get to the dunes with them on your left. I believe that the south road the one that lead to Servrei is the one reported as difficult (Didn't ride it myself I'm just speculating)

The experience is fantastic and probably is what I liked the most in Mongolia.

I have some details and pics on my ride report in advrider.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/madri...378256/page-10