I and a buddy rode the southern route early May 2016 and while much of it was paved and under construction, there was a great deal more than 200-300 km of dirt. I’m sure more of the southern route was paved between May and October 2016… but still.

It’s 720 miles from the Russian border to Bayankhongor, from which pavement begins the rest of the way to Ulaanbaatar. I didn’t take detailed notes (wish I did) but of that 720 miles I would say about 475 miles was unpaved aka 765 km.

It’s not especially difficult riding. There is a decent bit of sand, most of it not too deep, and plenty of multiple tracks to choose from. Also a number of river and water crossings, which will vary in depth depending on rainfall. The largest river we crossed was about 100 meters wide.

I wouldn’t recommend Pirelli Scorpion 2 Trail tires. You’ll be in plenty of areas where you’ll be wishing for a proper offroad tire. And – if it rains and gets muddy, those Pirellis will suck. Do what others do, get in touch with Dean and have tires shipped into Barnaul Russia. Works like a charm and it’s relatively cheap.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...y-russia-80969

And for a tent, there’s one stretch of 275 miles between Khovd and Altai with no hotels en route. So that’s a long day of offroading. Doable, but close. If you didn’t do the full stretch in one day I’m sure you could find accommodation in a yurt, but wilding camping on the steppe in the billion-star hotel is one of the best experiences of Mongolia.

16 liters of fuel isn’t so much, I would plan on having enough fuel to cover at least 250 to 280 km. For fuel and hotels, get the free maps.me on your smartphone, it’s brilliant to size up distances between fuel and lodging…. Along with the Northern Asia waypoints findable on HUBB for a GPS if you’re using one -- the routing across multiple tracks is spot on.

Yeah the southern route is a bit boring, and the ongoing road construction was tedious… but there are plenty of areas on the route that are pure Mongolia, awesome.

To do it again I would absolutely do the central route or northern route. We stayed in the warmer, drier south it being early in the season but eh I would definitely go to the north next time.

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