In our Augustissue, we introduced you to Heather Accardo. The local dental hygienist was about to spend the month of August competing in the 2018 Mongol Derby. She was preparing to trek 621 miles across the Mongolian steppe, riding semi-wild horses that belonged to area herders. When Accardo got home, we caught up with her to find out how the journey went.
How would you describe your experience?
Epic—the adventure of a lifetime. It’s like you’re transported to another place in time. You feel like you are back in time, because you’re so removed from society and you have no connection with the outside world. Your cell phone doesn’t work out there. I didn’t even bring it; you can’t get service. And you are out living with nomadic people, and you’re dirty, you’re not bathing. You literally go for days without seeing a town or anything. You’re just in the mountains and the valleys and the plains. It’s crazy.
What was it like housing with the local herders?
At the start, we lived in the gers, which is like a canvas tent. It’s circular and usually they’ll put down some kind of like vinyl flooring right over the dirt. I think they layer it first with this material that’s maybe sheep’s wool. Then, they’ll have a flap in the ceiling that they open up when they have a fire. For fuel, there’s not a lot of wood, so they will use horse manure or cow manure and burn it for the stove and for heating. Half of the ger’s floor will be a thin mat, and that is where you sleep. You pick your spot with your sleeping bag and you just sleep basically on the ground. One night, one of the herders butchered a sheep to make dinner for us, because they don’t have a way to refrigerate. We look to the right, and there is half a carcass of a sheep on the table—we slept all night with the sheep carcass. We didn’t make an issue of it; they didn’t have an issue with it. It’s just their culture; it’s just how they live. As far as bathroom facilities, they had a hole in the ground. When you’re finished, you just scoop dirt on top.
We followed your journey on Facebook. We saw you suffered an injury and had to leave the race early?
On day three, I broke my collarbone. I sent my horse over a hill, and he bolted about three miles. Then he settled down and started trotting. I relax, like, ‘OK, he’s over his craziness.’ As soon as I relaxed, he spooked at something and started bucking. I just came off and happened to hit the wrong spot. I knew immediately that I broke my collarbone. I knew immediately that I broke it. I was laid out; they basically thought I was dead. But I was just laying down because it felt better. Because of that, I had to leave the race and come home. Normally you have 10 days to finish the race, but because the trackers were down one day, we only had nine days to finish. Most people finish in between seven to eight days. I was over a third of the way through. It’s funny, as you go along, every day you learn how to get quicker. At day three, you’re finally in the groove.
What’s the craziest thing you experienced in those three days?
My first horse was super slow, so I got to the next checkpoint almost dead last. I told the herders, ‘I want the fastest horse you have left.’ I was at the mindset where I just need to catch up. So I jump on this horse, and they’re all watching me, so I figured something’s about to happen. We’re in the mountains and he takes off, thankfully in the right direction, and bolts—like at a dead—run up and down the mountain. I can’t stop him. We are flying. He actually jumped over a 20 foot ravine, and literally, I thought I was going to die. I just held on and closed my eyes. He cleared it and he kept running. We finally get to the top of a path, and he slows down at the top. I’m breathing so hard like I’ve run a marathon. I can’t even describe! I was just in shock at that point because I’ve never experienced that.
Do you ever plan on doing something like this again? Would you recommend it to other people?
I actually plan to go back for redemption in 2020. They’ve already extended an invitation. I just have to raise the funds. This is not for everybody. It’s not fun. It’s an adventure of a lifetime, something you will never forget, and to experience a different culture is amazing. But it’s really hard; it’s really uncomfortable. It’s very scary at times. You could die. So it’s for people that are maybe not mentally stable. When you don’t travel, you think how you live is how everywhere is. This is not the only way to do things—there are other ways and other cultures. It definitely was worth the experience.
