After a pleasant night near the river (despite the group of Mongolian campers nearby who sang until after midnight) we headed back into town to the FAIRfield Guesthouse, for some coffee, pastries, and wifi. Then it was off west. At the western border of the town there was a toll gate and the paved road gave way to gravel and a short steep climb over some rocky hills. We were not surprised by the appearance of gravel road as we had been told by many people that the road "may be sealed as far as Tsetseleg". What we were surprised by was that within 10 km good sealed road appeared again and continued for almost 100km until the bridge over the Chuluut River.

So with good road and good weather we had a pleasant day traveling through the wide open grasslands but with some rugged stone peaks to add interest. Again there was a regular smattering of Gers and herds of various animals.

We lunched beside the Gorge of the Chuluut River. The gorge is a bit like the Snake River Valley near Twin Falls, ID. The top of the gorge is level with the surrounding land and has a cap of hard stone, then falls away steeply to a beautifully clean looking river. All around there was evidence of past volcanic activity with scattered old lava fields. We watched with interest as a herd of sheep and goats made their way down the precipitous slope to the water.

From that point the road deteriorated. A very rocky road bed had been laid by work crews presumably in preparation for sealing at some future point. But the road had not seen a grader in a long time and was thus adorned with large potholes, washboards and other obstructions that made driving a real chore. After about 10 km of this we finally realized that the locals in fact generally did not drive on this roadbed but took to the grass and made numerous wheel pads in the wide valleys only returning to that roadbed when a bridge was required or when some other geographic feature forced a narrowing. So we adopted the same approach and the level of comfort improved substantially, though not the speed.

By late afternoon we drove through the small village of Tariat and were only about 10 kilometers from Terkhiin Tsaagan Nuur (also known as White Lake). We continued a little past the village and simply stopped on a likely grassy spot beside the Suman River (which empties the lake). Throughout the remainder of the evening we were passed by up to 100 vehicles coming and going across the rough roadbed or those wheel tracks in the grass. The vehicles ranged from small Japanese cars to low loaders carrying earthmoving equipment. Despite the extremely rough nature of the road it truly was a highway.

While waiting for the sun to set and night to arrive we amused ourselves watching the antics of the various animal herds and their herdsmen.