Ash Dykes - Trekking Across Mongolia & Madagascar, Before The Age of 25

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Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. My name is Casey Adams, and on today's episode, we have Ash Dykes here with us. I first heard about Ash Dykes on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and I absolutely fell in love with his story. Ash Dykes has achieved three world records, which include trekking across Mongolia and Madagascar before the age of 25. In August 2019, he achieved his third world record, which is becoming the first person to walk along the 4,000 mile course of the Yangtze river, which is the longest river in Asia. Inside of this episode, we go over what he learned through these adventures and he talks about the journey of walking across Mongolia by himself, which was 1500 miles. And I not only learned so much from this story, but it was one of the most amazing interviews that I've ever done, so I hope you enjoyed. And that being said, before we dive into the episode, make sure you follow Ash Dykes on Instagram screenshot this podcast, post it on your Instagram story so that we can share it. And that being said, enjoy the show. All right, what's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today, today's episode, we have Ash Dykes with us. Thanks so much for coming on, man.

Good to be here. Good to talk with the Katie. It's about damn time, isn't it?

Right, so, Ash, you're someone that I'm fascinated with their story. You know, you're an adventurer. You've set two not only world records, but you've trekked across Mongolia and Madagascar before the age of 25. But before we dive into it, what do you describe as what you do?

It's a good question, isn't it? It's a good question. And I juggle between three. It's either adventurer, but adventure is quite broad. So then I tend to say extreme athlete because I'm always training. But when I take on the extremes. But then I say explorer and I'm a bit like, well, that's in the past. So I do say adventurer or extreme athlete is easy enough.

So talk to me more about these two journeys you went on across Mongolia and Madagascar. When did those begin? And how did you line your life up to take on those adventures?

Yeah, man, I'll tell you what. Well, taking you right back to the beginning pretty much again, from North Wales here, just on the coast in the uk, Normal upbringing, normal background. I went to my school, which is literally not just down the road. I went on from school to my college course, which was a diploma in outdoor education, which brought that adventurous spirit a little bit more out of me. Once the rest of the students went on to university, I found that I was more of a practical learner, kinesthetic learn from hands on practical skills, and thought to myself, okay, there's either the university option or there's the option where I can get a job which is fairly well paid, that went from being in a fish and chip shop to waiting on and then to lifeguarding and save as much as I can in the hope that I can eventually go traveling. So it was probably all of the travels that happened before Mongolia, which was my first record, which got me prepared because I was doing crazy stuff, really. You know, me and my friend, we Left, we were 19 years of age. You know, we were on a shoestring budget. We were literally budgeting every day. We found ourselves trapped on tourist track, which was fine. You know, we met tourists from all over the world, which was great, but we weren't there for that. You know, we were there for the culture, to, for the experience, to learn from the locals, see their way of life, how they live their traditions, etc. And so me and my friend came up with different adventurous ideas that we could take on, but on a shoestring budget, you know, because we just didn't have the funds. And the first adventure I talk about a lot because that's probably the catalyst. It was the Vietnam cycle. So we were literally, we was both sulking, pretty much bitching on the Mekong riverbank because we had spent way more than anticipated. You know, our funds were dropping down, but we, and we shared the same photo stories and experiences as everyone else. So we were like, right, man, let's do something so we decided to purchase bicycles for £10. We had no gears, no suspension, no pump, no puncture repair kit. We had a non waterproof tent, which cost us about $5 each. And that was it. No map, no technology. Off we went. The Vietnam cycle is 1,130 miles. The bike broke about 17 times in total. Have you been to Vietnam before?

I have not, no.

So it's quite mountainous. It is. And so pretty much these bikes, because they didn't have the gears, they just weren't equipped to take on the mountains.

No gears going up mountains.

Yeah. It was ridiculous, man. It got to a point where even our pedals fell off.

Oh, my go.

Yeah, the pedals would just drop off. And I remember my friend cycling without the pedal. So it was just on the metal bar and it just drilled. It melted through his trainer, which he had to get rid of. But, you know, chased by dogs, rammed by trucks, dodged by mopeds, you know, it was pretty crazy, pretty reckless, pretty dangerous. But that was the catalyst then. And then it was bumping the adventures. Bigger, better. We were in Thailand only three weeks after we crossed into the jungle by Thailand, through to Myanmar, and we came across a community which took us in pretty much a hill tribe. And they taught us jungle survival, how to hunt, how to gather, how to build rafts or shelter using natural resources, which was amazing, you know, and that, again, spurred the adventurous spirit. And from there, I found my passion, you know, I found my passion. I realized what I wanted to do was to take on more adventures. And so I continued.

That is so cool, man. When did you realize, like, you wanted to break a world record and how, like, what was your mindset going into that? And for those who may not know, I'd love for you to give some context into what these records are.

Exactly. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So I would say so after all of those adventures, you know, there was the Vietnam, there was the jungle survival. We tried Australia, but Australia turned out to be way too expensive to budget backpackers. We were then trekking Himalayas. We were doing all sorts. But before we left for traveling, I think it's important to say, especially for the audience, we had set up a plan for ourselves. We had invested ourselves in terms of getting out scuba diving qualifications in the hope that we could find work abroad. And we did so for the next two years. Just before the first record, which was Mongolia, I was working and living in Thailand as a. As a master scuba diving instructor and Muay Thai fighter. And so it was during this time where it was a great Lifestyle, but it became quite repetitive. And I was just. I know, man. I was just missing the adventures. You know, I was still. How old was I then? I was 21. Still young. I was like, man, let's do something. I'm only, like, I'm only. I'm only 29 now. But, you know, when I was 21, I was just like, yeah, I want to take on more adventures. And then that's when I pretty much decided on, let's go to somewhere where is extreme. Let's do something that's not a cycle, something that relies solely on myself to survive. I believe that when you cycle, as great as it is, you're on a road. Where there's road, there's people, there's water, there's food, you're relatively safe. Whereas in terms of walking, you know, we walk, trek where cars can't get to or where bikes can't get, you know. So I like the idea. And Mongolia stood out as that extreme country that I was unfamiliar with, with, you know, Gobi Desert, the Mongolian steppe, the Altai Mountains. And my idea was maybe to walk 100 meters or maybe 200 miles. Sorry, or maybe 200 miles, until I decided which. This record, it was the first to walk solo and unsupported across its length. So solo, meaning I'm on my own and unsupported, meaning I'd have to carry everything on a trailer, a wheeled desert Colt behind me, which weighed about 18 stone, 120 kilograms, which I think is about 260 pounds. But I didn't know it was a record at that time. You know, I was just doing it purely for the adventure. I thought, find those people.

So just to reiterate, so you walked across the desert independently, by yourself, and it was 200 miles long?

No, it was 1500 miles.

1,500 miles.

Yeah, that's what I was looking at. I was thinking. Yeah, no, I was. No, you're right. I was looking at maybe I could walk a hundred miles or maybe two, until I decided, you know what, go for the full length of the country of Mongolia from west to east. So it was three weeks over the Altai Mountains. It was five weeks.

And you just walked the entire time?

Yeah, so I had a tracking device as well. So about every five minutes, it would ping off my speed, my altitude, my current location, so that it was recorded as well, you know.

So how long was that journey? And like that, 1,500 miles. How long of that was your life?

It took 78 days. 78 days, 78 days. So we anticipated it take about 100 days. But due to the daylight, I had about 16 hours worth of daylight. So when I got walking fit, I just carried on walking. So I was all about smashing that distance, finishing earlier. I faced some crazy extremes out there, so I was looking to wrap it up as well. Quick as I get.

What would you say was like the most challenging part of that experience?

I would. I would say the Gobi Desert. You know, five weeks of the Gobi Desert, straight after the Altai Mountains. So the Altai Mountains, I was trying to pull the trailer up and over the mountains, you know, which was a nightmare. I had no breaks either. So I can't commit. I've got to fully commit. I can't go halfway up and then, you know it's going to pull me back down. But the Gobi Desert, I was slipping into dehydration. My water was running low. It got to such a severe point where I went from heat exhaustion to heat stroke, which is usually fatal. I could almost feel my organs drying up. I was in a bad way. I was in agony, I was hallucinating, I was delirious. And just to put that into context, it was 40 plus degrees Celsius. Wow. Not sure what that is in Fahrenheit. Over 100 Fahrenheit, I guess. There was no breeze and there was no natural shelter. The only shade that I could get was underneath my own trailer. So it was at that point that I was. Well, not just that, but for many days, for well over a week. One of the wells was dry where I was collecting water from. So that meant I was rationing the last remaining dribbles of water that I had left. But at that point, at my worst case scenario, I knew that I still had four whole days until I make it to the next community. And it was a mix of gravel and soft sand. So soft sand, meaning my tires would dig in. So it felt like I was pulling a concrete blob from. So that was a nightmare. But, you know, again, something else that I believe the audience can hopefully take from that is, although I couldn't visualize making those four days because it was just, I was in too much agony, you know, I wasn't in my mind, I was dying effectively. And I knew that if I didn't get up from my trailer, push on, that I would die in the Gobi Desert. But what I focused on was breaking my goals down and focus on 100 meters at a time rather than the four days, which just seemed daunting to me, one hour seemed daunting to me, but I could see 100 meters, you know, so I focus on walking 100 meters and then hiding under my trailer. I could sometimes hide for about an hour under my trailer. Allowed myself five minutes only, you know, five minutes, 100 meters, five minutes, 100. And just about made it to that community. Took me eight days to recover before I could continue. So that was definitely the most challenging.

Aspect of what kept you motivated throughout that process. People may be listening, they're like, why did you put yourself in these near death experiences alone in the desert, running water, your organs are drying up. Like, what kept you going through this process? Because it's something where not many people will ever do that. You set records for a reason. And like, what?

Yeah.

What kept you motivated through the process?

Man, you know, I think many things. One was, I can't come back having not accomplished it and just, you know, have people tapping me on the shoulder, you know, oh, you tried your best I can. I'm super competitive as well. And secondly, at that point, I didn't have any other option. I had missed the point. So my backup, because this was quite low budget as well. The Mongolia, unlike the pre, because there was a Navy, a Navy SEAL soldier who had previously attempted it three times, but he was evacuated on three occasions. And that's what scared me the most. You know, I held a lot of fear. I was in a lot of doubt, of course, because I was only a scuba diver living on an island. His experience compared to mine was, you know, I thought, what chance do I have? But I guess at the point where I was at my worst case, unlike the previous guy who had evacuation by helicopter, my means of evacuation was text only by satellite phone. So my agent, which he was about three or four days drive away in the capital if he found me, that's three or four days longer if he didn't, and then another day or two to get me to safety. At this point, I had missed that option. It's either six days for him to get to me and take me out or four days by walking. And so I knew that I don't think I could have lasted six days. So I guess what pushed me on is knowing that if I don't continue, I will die out here in Gobi. The second option is just that motive that I set out to achieve something and I just wanted to try my best to achieve it before I got myself into that dog situation. Because I think now if I was in such a difficult situation with the expeditions more funded Maybe I would press that button. I don't know. It's there. Use it. It's not worth. It's not worth dying for, is it? Of course. So maybe I would have. But it was the fact that I didn't. I didn't have that, so I had no option. It was like, you've got to continue, otherwise you'll just end up like a camel cock walking past, you know? But. So I think it was the discipline, the training that I put into it, you know? So how.

So when you're going through something like that, are you communicating with your team on a daily basis through the satellite communication, or how often are you updating people? Because they may be thinking, like, is he okay? Like, did he die? Like, how are they making sure that your mission is moving forward?

Yeah, no, good question. I would say predominantly it was the tracker that I had that recorded the journey. We made it live on the website. So anyone, effectively, they could go on the website and they could zoom in and they can see exactly where I am within 5 meters. That's how accurate it was. So my family, my friends, people following the journey, and my team would make sure that that tracker is still moving. And if it's not, if it's been a few hours, they'll send it a text. But I had limited amount of tests as well. I think four per day. So pretty much every other day I was.

Talk to me about Madagascar. What was that adventure like?

My man, Madagascar was more intense than it sounds. You know, you think of Madagascar and you think of the movie, don't you?

Yeah.

Beautiful wildlife. But I'd say that that was tougher than Mongolia, which is expected. You only want to go one better than your previous, don't you? But you think of it as an island. It's a small island. It's the fourth largest island in the world. And what excited me was the amount of locals and communities I'd be coming across. I'm really about that, you know, my curiosity for meeting the people of the country, exploring their traditional cultures. I believe we can learn a lot from them. And I just wanted to. I was just curious, you know. And Madagascar, 80% of all its plant life and wildlife found on the island is found nowhere else in the world. Yeah. Which is also what attracted me. It makes it incredibly unique. And with all of my journeys, I'm always working either with charities or to help raise awareness. I was with Mongolia. I was again with Madagascar, working with the Lima Network Conservation, who were helping to protect all of the species there. The biodiversity but that was a 1600 mile journey. And although it was only 100 miles longer than Mongolia, it took almost double the duration. It took 155 days.

Why was that?

And that was just because Madagascar loved throwing challenges my way on a daily basis. Okay. I mean, it was intense. So we took the interior from south to north of the island and we decided, you know, take the interior because we don't want to go the coast rock line where there's beaches. We want to go where there's tribal communities and high mountains and thick jungle. And so I made it my mission to summit the eight highest mountains along the way as well. And the challenges just ranged from the bandits that we had to avoid. We were held up at gunpoint by the military. I caught malaria only one month into the five month journey. Almost died from malaria. Only a few hours from slipping into a coma, the doctor believes. But I've had it eradicated out of my system and I was able to crack on. I became ambassador for malaria. No more UK after that. You know, you're trying to save people from the disease. And then the jungles were tough, man. A lot of the time in the north, it was machete in hand, sort of bushwhacking our way through. There's no paths. No one really goes there, not to the mountains, especially in cyclone season, which we ended up unfortunately landing ourselves that season. And we were hunting, we were gathering and you know, some days we would only cover 2 miles in a whole 12 hour day of trekking and hacking through the jungle.

What does like your. How are you when it comes to. What are you eating throughout this journey? Like, how are you staying nutritious and just what's the daily. Not routine, but what were some of the things you were doing on a daily basis to remain energized and fueled?

Yeah, sort of out there. I was doing, I was doing okay towards the first half. I was, apart from the malaria stint, which threw me. And I lost 13kg of weight within five days. So that's a lot of weight. But. And then, you know, I was back on top of it. Keeping a healthy, you know, little stuff like shaving, you know, keep it well trimmed or, or have a morning wash. Just little things that set you up for the day ahead. Plus in the jungle, you can't grow too much of a beard anyway because there's some creepy cornies that love the humidity burrow inside, which isn't the best, but that was thrown out of the window when we got lost in the jungle. And when we got a little bit more hungry. We were just focused on distance, you know, covering the mileage that we need to get closer to the next checkpoint. So a lot of the routine would just be waking up, packing the tents, having our wash, maybe a shave sometimes, and then taking it in turns. Me and Max, my guide, hacking through the bush. We would run low on food up north in the jungle. So we were relying on either hunting, which there's kind of like little rodents, little 10 wrecks that burrow under the tree, or gathering, which is what we were doing mainly. You can get stuff like coconuts, mangoes, sugar cane. And we were trying. You believe is overlooked is the positive things.

What have you learned about yourself? You know, not only from a mental perspective. Right. Because as much physical endurance you have.

To have, I'm sure.

So what have you learned about your mindset.

Into their life? I've learned to. I've learned to break things down.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it. On November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh my God. Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.