Tiger Leaping Gorge

This summer back home in Talkeetna I struck up a converstaion with four Chinese tourists eating breakfast and the famed Talkeetna Roadhouse. I asked for suggestions of things to do and see in China. They wrote several suggestions on the back of a Costco receipt that I carried all the way to China. One of those suggestions was to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge.

As legend has it a tiger was seen leaping over the narrowest part of the gorge which is in the upper region of the Yangtzee River. From that day on it has been called Tiger Leaping Gorge and throngs of tourists both Chinese and foreigners come to see it each year.

Most come by motorcoach, are dropped off, walk a leisurely 2 miles on paved, flat road to see only one section. Not the Sheldon family. We were on a real adventure to travel the entire 18 miles on foot.

This is the path for motorcoach tourist.

The plan was to start early and trek at a leisurly pace before reaching our mid-way accomodations for the night. Because we misunderstood the day's plans we didn't meet our guide utill 11:00am ready to tour Old Town, not head out on our two day trek. We thought our trek was the following day.


We rushed back to our room, packed our backpacks and headed out on our two hour drive. We arrived at the starting point at 3:00pm. Our guide (OG) reassured us that we had plenty of time time since our first day was the shortest and should only take us about three hours. With spirits high in the warmth of the sun we headed off.

The gorge was stunning! I am not even going to try to describe it. I was stopping every half hour to take video and photos it was so captivating. So here is a photo instead.

Three hours down the road and remembering our guide saying the trip today was about three hours, the boys ask the question "how much further?" This is the hikers version of the road trip "are we there yet?" OG responds with a smile on his face, oh just a little further probably about an hour longer. Oh, good because by now it's 6:00pm, the boys are tired and hungry and the sun is beginning to say goodbye.

One thing OG didn't know to take into account about us Sheldon's is that we love to stop and look, take photos, throw rocks and are just slower than most. plus, we were traveling uphill at an altitude of 8000 ft and our sea level bodies were winded.

By 7:30pm the sun had said it's last goodbye and the stars and moon were out. We treked up a windy road to the top of the hill where Paul promised our dinner and beds would be waiting for us. We arrived at 8:15pm.

Tina's Tiger Leaping Gorge Hostle was a welcoms site! Everyone was tired and famished since our last meal was at 11:00 am and our pedometer registered 12 miles! We were shocked to see 12 miles since today was billed as the shortest day.

We sat down for dinner, relived our day through stories and highlights and made sure everyone knew what was instore for tomorrow's adventure then said goodnight and crashed out at 9:00pm.

Goodnight!