World explorers have odd pets.
A donkey from Morocco named Sheba lives on Helen Thayer’s 12-acre Snohomish property along with her dogs and cats. She acquired Sheba while overseas with her husband, Bill Thayer.
“We’ve had her maybe 12 years,” said Helen Thayer, 69. “She’s still running our lives.”
Running their lives? That’s unlikely. The spirited adventurers may make Snohomish their home base, but they have lived among wolves in the Yukon and walked to the North Pole, trips recounted in Helen Thayer’s past books. More recently, in 2001, the couple took a trip to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, walking 1,600 miles across its expanse.
Her latest book, “Walking the Gobi,” is a tightly written and quick-moving account of that perilous journey, which she took at age 63 with Bill, then 74, and two camels loaded with supplies. Helen Thayer will discuss the couple’s 81-day hike at a talk at the Mountaineers headquarters in Seattle on Nov. 15.
Her travels have been recognized by NPR and National Geographic. In 2006, the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Explorer’s Club gave her its Vancouver Award as an outstanding explorer.
“She exemplifies the spirit of exploration and discovery and is an inspiration for everyone she meets,” chapter chairman Edwin Sobey said.
Smugglers and scorpions
“Walking the Gobi,” given a featured review by Publishers Weekly, offers a first-person look at the arid Asian terrain. Thayer recounts everything from run-ins with smugglers near the Chinese border to a Mongolian wedding celebration. The couple even caught a glimpse of an endangered species of bear and battled through 126-degree heat.
“You feel like a fried egg,” Thayer recalled.
The desert heat contributed to one potentially deadly situation. Jerry, one of the two pack camels, grew frustrated by his pack and rolled on it ruining part of their water supply. The Thayers had just five gallons left to last nine days in the brutal heat.
It was a tense moment for the couple, if not for their camel.
“I’m yelling at his face, about two inches from his face, and he just stares at me, totally uncomprehending, like, ‘What is the matter with this woman?’” she recalled.
The Thayers regained their composure, apologized to the camel and kept moving, luckily finding water a few days later, after they had grown exhausted by dehydration.
The couple also had close encounters with apparent smugglers but managed to avoid any sort of interaction.
“We’ll face animals any day of the week, but not men; not people,” Thayer said. “People can be very dangerous. They have guns, and they have ulterior motives.”
They did find, however, that creatures of the desert also could be punishing.
At one point, Bill Thayer pulled on his fleece, only to curse in pain. Four scorpions tumbled to the sand as he yanked off the jacket. He had been stung. Helen Thayer was very concerned. Despite inquiries before the trip, the couple had not found reliable information on the toxicity of Gobi scorpions.
Asked in October about the stings, Bill Thayer described them with two words and a smile.
“Bad pain,” he said.
Not retiring yet
The couple mounts their trips, which cost them about $15,000, for several reasons. Along with a love of adventure, the Thayers want to expose children and adults alike to other cultures. Nineteen years ago, the Thayers founded the school outreach organization Adventure Classroom with that in mind.
The organization is meant to inspire children from kindergarten through high school to set and pursue goals. The Thayers’ adventures can kick-start discussions on self-motivation.
“It’s sort of a waste if you don’t take it to other people,” she said of their experiences.
While the couples’ ages might seem an impediment to such trips, they show no signs of slowing down. When at home in Snohomish, they exercise daily with an hour of weight training, 45 minutes of stretching and an hour of brisk hiking up steep hills on their property.
While both of them strike a visitor as well-built individuals, neither seems superhuman. Helen Thayer stands 5 feet 2 inches, and her husband, a retired helicopter pilot, is just 3 inches taller.
“Look, just because you have reached retirement age doesn’t mean to say you have to stop,” Helen Thayer tells people. “You can go.”
“Many people stop at 40,” Bill Thayer, 81, continued facetiously. “The big four-oh. Oh boy.”
The couple plans to continue teaching by example. In May, they hope to head out for another stroll, this time across the tiny Asian nation of Bhutan and Tibet. They want to document cultures that are threatened by the encroachment of Western civilization.
By then, Helen Thayer will be 70 and will likely have no plans of retiring.
“Our bodies haven’t talked to us about it yet,” she said. “I guess we’re fine.”
Reporter Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com.
“Walking the Gobi: A 1,600-Mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair”
“3 Among the Wolves: A Couple and Their Dog Live a Year with Wolves in the Wild”
“Polar Dream: The First Solo Expedition by a Woman and Her Dog to the Magnetic North Pole”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
