The Tatshenshini-Alsek: Ice Age Jackpot
November 11, 2010.The Tatshenshini-Alsek ranks among the world’s top five wilderness river trips. It’s a scenic rival of Grand Canyon and it bisects North America’s most pristine wildlife region—A Jack London land of wolves and wolverines, moose and mountain goats and Dall sheep, and one of the world’s biggest population of grizzly bears.
Giant peaks 15,000 feet high gnawed at our vista. So many exist here that most guides cannot keep their names straight. One, however, everyone knows. Windy Craggy Mountain. This pipsqueak tops out at a mere 6,000 feet in British Columbia 15 miles east of the Alaskan border and 10 miles from the confluence of the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers, not far from our camp.
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Michael P. Ghiglieri earned his Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Davis for his pioneering research on wild chimpanzees. In addition to teaching university courses in primate behavior, human evolution and ecology, he has worked as a wilderness river guide and EMT running more than 670 commercial whitewater trips including over 150 through Grand Canyon. His books include, "The Chimpanzees of Kibale Forest," "East of the Mountains of the Moon," "Canyon," "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon," "First through Grand Canyon" and "Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite."




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