Alone at spring camp

Day: 280

Sunrise:
05:56

Sunset:
20:42

Total kilometers:
1361

Soil condition:
Ice, snow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
2°C

Temperature – day (minimum):
minus 6°C

Temperature – Night:
minus 20°C

Latitude:
51°39’155”

Longitude:
099°21’977”

Maximum height:
1858 m above sea level

The day greets us with sunshine and no wind. It promises to be a beautiful day. Only now do I realize what a beautiful place the Tuwa have chosen for their spring camp. We are located in a high valley about 10 kilometers long and 500 meters wide. A clear view at last, at least when you look to the east. There, the valley is bordered by a massive mountain range that stretches its jagged rocks into the only slightly cloudy sky. Several snow-covered rounded mountain peaks rise in the west, while our valley is bordered by wooded mountain ranges in the south and north. The activity of the valley’s inhabitants is remarkable. It scurries back and forth. Some go into the forests with their chainsaws to cut firewood, others drive the reindeer into the mountains to eat lichen. Women fetch water from the stream that meanders through the hollow. About 70 meters to the west I think I recognize Buyantogtoh who is busy putting up a new tarpaulin on her tepee. Four of the Tuwa families set up their Indian tents at the foot of the mountain south of us. The ground seems to be drier up there. The other six tipis are set up southwest of us in the middle of the wetland valley.

I walk around and discover some old, thin trunks that would make a good floor for our awning. It is now thawing at 10 °C and is getting muddier by the hour. As I see the Tuwas taking some of the old wood, I also get a few poles to dry my tent with. I look at my work with satisfaction as Tsaya approaches. “Under no circumstances can you take the wood for your camp. That’s real trouble. It belongs to the Tuwa. If you need wood, you have to take your horses into the forest and get some yourself.” “Oh, sorry. I thought you said I could take wood from families who aren’t at spring camp this year? “Yes, yes. But what you took belongs to us and Suren,” she replies and dismantles my terrace. “Bilgee is about to ride back to the winter camp to fetch Tanja, Naraa, the foal and the rest of the equipment. “Unfortunately, I can’t fetch any wood from the forest for the next four days because our chainsaw is still at the old camp and I don’t have any horses here to carry it,” I reply. “This is the base for my kitchen,” she says, ignoring my answer and carrying the stems away. Oh yes. I’ll ask Ultsan where you can get wood from. I’ll get the rest of the wood later,” she says, pointing to her tent as she walks. I stand there for a few moments as if struck over the head. Then I clear out the wood from the awning and carry it back to where I took it from. Sitting in the mud again, I think about how to drain this swamp.

“See you in four days,” says Bilgee and says goodbye. I look after him and the horses until the tall undergrowth has swallowed them up. Then I make myself a cup of tea. Dog-tired from the sleepless night, I shuffle through the grass of the valley looking for discarded and unusable wood. I find what I’m looking for and drag the stuff frozen to the ground to the tent. I use the handsaw to cut up the partly rotten timbers and put them back in the awning. It takes me hours to do the job, but in the end the place is dry again. It doesn’t look as good as before, but it is dry. “Don’t need your wood,” I mutter to myself, grumpily.

In the late afternoon, Ultsan and Tsaya walk past my tent. “There’s an abandoned camp over there. You can take tipi poles and wood from there!” she calls to me. “Thank you very much,” I reply. “Oh, Denis?” “Yes?” “If it gets too cold for you tonight, you’re welcome to sleep in our tepee.” “Great. I might take you up on your offer,” I say, thanking you.

I don’t get any visitors all day. Nobody is interested in me. “That’s fine with me. Then I’ll just do my own thing and won’t have to boil water for coffee, which I don’t have, and tea,” I tease myself. I find two sawn-off tree stumps and a piece of board from which I build a table that I place in front of the tent. A large stone is the plate for my gasoline stove and I hang a water bag on a half-decayed sawhorse. “It’s slowly getting cozy here,” I say. Satisfied, I sit down in my awning, enjoy a few cookies and look out over the beautiful valley. I would love to empty the bag of cookies, but common sense tells me to save the rest for tomorrow. Reluctantly, I put the bag to one side and get ready to go and fetch water from the nearby stream. Before that, however, I put stones on the snow guard of the tent to prevent dogs from getting in. Then I close the zipper on the door and walk off. Eri runs into me on the way back. She licks her mouth. “Well Eri? Have you eaten some shit again?” I say. I return in a better mood, hang the water bag in the rack and enter my palace. I immediately discover the empty cookie bag and the mess that one of the shitbaiters, most likely Eri, has made here. “No! This can’t be true? I’ll turn your collar!” I scream in rage, raising my clenched fist to the sky. Despite my security, she managed to get in here in my absence and shamelessly ate my treats. I hastily check our food cartons, which fortunately are still untouched. I am aware that these would also be emptied in the event of a longer absence. I immediately reinforce the stone wall around my tent and vow not to save any more cookies and treats for the next day.

At 20:00 it is still light as the sun does not set until 20:42 at this time of year. I tidy up a bit, heat some water for my hot water bottle and slip into my sleeping bag. I think of Tanja again. “I wonder how she’s doing?” I ask myself. It’s a strange feeling to be separated from her. Especially since I know that she is alone in the middle of the wilderness. I fall asleep with the thought that Bilgee should be back at winter camp in the meantime.

We look forward to your comments!