I realize a map is not usually the coolest first photo,
but you just can't appreciate the trip unless you get an idea of where we were.
This was a first for me, not because I haven't been there before,(which is true) but because SEAN hadn't been there before.
I had come to the solid belief there was not a place within a thousand miles that if a sled could go, he hadn't already been there!
So here is the map:
The yellow squiggly line at the bottom is the Glacier Bay National Park, and the yellow line on the left is Canada.
We started just before the sharp bend in the Tsirku (near the top right) called the "devils elbow"
followed the river to the point across from the Takhin Glacier, crossed the spine between the Tsirku and the Takhin and then rode down the river about 1/2 way. (To the left and just off the map.)
Ok, on with the trip...
Here's what the first leg of the Tsirku looks like in the morning before the sun comes over the mountain.
It was a few degrees below zero, and the wind was blowing.
It made for a good enough reason to get to where we were going!
This is the second leg of the Tsirku,
The only description for a valley like this is "BIG!"
Each leg is like a valley all it's own, A trip in itself.
Then you round the bend and find a whole 'nother BIG valley!
With a flat floor and very hard snow, the going is easy, Until....
...The river decides to use up the whole valley, right to the side.
This in not unusual, this is the norm.
The river snakes from one side to the other and there usually is just no way around.
About here is where most sleds turn around and feel they had a great trip.