I'm assuming that anyone venturing here, in the dry and dangerous central Crunch, has some experience flying on Capsica on rented wings. Your shoulders have stopped hurting, you can spot likely updrafts, you're used to low gravity and high air pressure, and of course, as always, extreme heat, making the lowlands fatal.

Okay, I've stated the obvious. You've been warned.

Tralken Plateau's in the hot, dry, central Crunch; Terrans can only tour it in winter--or even reach it. So we'll start in late fall in northern Grol Plateau on the platelet to the south, then follow the R'lpok Mountains north to Tralken proper, and circle its rim widdershins sorry, counter-clockwise, then exit west through the Duath Hills into Droom. Seasons change fast on Capsica--barely nine weeks each--so it should be deep winter as we swing nearest to the equator. Sweaty, but not fatal.

In fact, the roughest bit may be leaving--crossing the desert gap between Tralken and the Duatha Hills--as it warms up early in spring. So I may move you along pretty fast; it's not that Tralken isn't scenic, it is--but it's just bad form for a guide to let tourists die.

We'll start from northern Grol Upland, also near the heart of the Crunch. We head north along the R'lpok Range...

Just ride the updrafts. The R'lpoks are an easy flyway; prevailing winds at this latitude aren't strong, but they blow west, directly into the mountain wall.

Not that it's a simple, drastic wall like so many of these plateau rims--the east face of the R'lpoks are a maze of side ridges and box canyons. The lowlands here aren't an alluvial plain equivalent to a Terran seafloor, but an old, eroded canyon complex. Capsica has many of these mazes, something like Mariner Canyon on Mars; but most are younger and more recognizable, as in south-central Chai.

Three days winding north. Castles and spires sinking into a redrock abyss, purple in shadow. Green highlands. Pale chartreuse summits; even a few with streaks of winter snow--the R'lpoks get up to 8 km (26,000'). Middle of Day One, a big spur, South Ridge, winds east to the horizon. It's a decent route to Lindara Plateau, but we haven't even reached Tralken yet. One at a time.

Late next day, on the eastern horizon, nearly 100 km off (60 mi), a green promontory comes into view, called West Ridge, even though it's east of you. Another hundred km beyond it is another canyon arm, East Arm, and an even bigger ridge enclosing it. I think you can guess what it's called.

All next day you sail up West Arm. Snow to the left, desert to the right. Not too many streams come down off the heights; this is dry country. Storms off every sea near Tralken are blocked here, in every direction. The Takla Makan of Capsica (and not the last such rainshadowed basin we'll see on this trip.) Even here in the mountains, golden dry grass not trees. Dozens of miles between stingy little green ribbons--though these creeks, at the rim, jump off in falls a kilometer tall (and more), often dispersing to mist entirely before they hit that distant floor.

Later this winter these steppes'll briefly turn green with new grass, but we're too early. We need to reach, cross and escape the north end of Tralken before spring comes. A long way to go. Glide on!

This last day in the R'lpoks, the peaks lack snow. They're a bit lower, just 6-7 km (20-23,000'), but also, we're heading toward the equator.

SInce you're on the east side of the range, where the updrafts are best, you can't see that the R'lpoks are no longer a freestanding ridge in a desert but mere hills on the rim of Tralken Plateau. Reached it without noticing.

At last, the scorching abyss on your right ends--the world's biggest box canyon, with an end 100 km wide (and at least 3 deep!). The golden steppes of Tralken, left, right and center.

Now you have choices. You haven't seen many Capsicans up here, or even traveling through, though the R'lpok flyway's easy. Unpopular country! But now you see a V-shaped gaggle of winged figures, like geese migrating... east? Yes, here a major flyway across the Crunch goes east along (dare I speak its name?) East Ridge to Lindara Plateau; it's the shortest route, so you do see regular traffic. Not flocks; most travelers stick to the rainier coasts. These stragglers are folks in a hurry.

Your path, though, is northeast over those low hills. Dry steppes falling away to scraggly, brushy mezzanine plateaus, of mixed red and green scrub. This is still rainshadowed country--mountains block storms from every compass point.

Out to Zuon Prow, a green promontory dropping in cliffs to lilac savanna nearly 4 km below (13,000'). A chain of great mesas, some nearly as high, straggle off farther southeast. They too lead to Lindara Plateau. Decent updrafts, a little more rain and vegetation, so, shade and drinking water. A perfectly viable flyway, but I don't recommend the Zuon Mesas; like the other routes, it trails off in a desert gap fully 250 km across (150 mi). You could probably cross it in one unbroken flight, but slip up and you're dead.

It's true of all the approaches in the south. Lindara's hard to reach--for Terrans, I mean.

North along a clean, straight wall. This one's a bit less arid--it faces the Eltek Sea. Though Eltek Basin's one of the dreariest in the Crunch--cut off from all sides from rain like a monster terrarium, but though Eltek's sunken, well below sea level, it survives, generating modest rains--at least up here in the highlands. This stretch of Tralken's rim is almost as cliffwalled as R'lpok Canyon was. But almost green up top! Waterfalls with muscle now, reaching the feet of the great cliffs, feeding red snakes winding out of sight to the east. Nor is the land between them desert; scrub and savanna with scattered, drought-adapted trees. You spot a few distant homes down there--ranches or riverside farms. This side of the coastal strip is at least a kilometer up; it gets a little rain. Down by the sea, though, and for 100 km inland, it's a salt-poisoned flat: the Atsu Desert.

It may seem unlikely Eltek Sea's survived; it's surrounded by a continuous mountain wall. Why hasn't it dried up completely like Central Asia's Tarim Basin? Capsica's denser, warmer air transports more moisture generally, evening out rainfall compared to Earth's extremes; so the Crunch looks more like a swiss cheese than a continent, with surviving (if sunken) Caspian Seas all over, not just Badwaters and Dead Seas far below sea level. They're not in great shape, these basins, but they are alive.

North. Near the end of the first day, you see a line of brilliant turquoise reflecting the eastern evening sky: Eltek Sea, 160 km away (100 mi).

Next morning, as you ride the mountain wall north, the sea vanishes again in the flat light of day. You can see its influence, but as usual on Capsica, it's rare to see seas directly. You're just too restricted to the heights.

Late the next day, though, a white cloud ahead speaks of some change. It doesn't move. That's snow! Mount Renrok, 8.6 km high (over 28,000'; nearly Everest) at Tralken's northeast corner. And all that height exposed, head to feet.

And at those feet, white too. You're not hallucinating. That's not snow. Salt. Eltek Sea stretches out a tongue here, unsuccessfully trying to reach its neighbors. It's optimistically called Twaps Bay, but in most years, it's dry, just a strip of salt flats. Most of Eltek's coasts have indeterminate strips, sea some years, salt flats in others. While the sea never dries up totally, its multi-year tidal variation is many yards; this year's a bit low, baring a white bathtub ring. Rainfall's not enough to flush all the salt out of the 'tidal zone' quickly, so it's sterile ground down there. And halfway up the mountain, too--salty dust suppresses growth. Here, Capsica's usual lurid red/green hues fade to pale browns. So dull it could almost be Earth! Well, except for the heat-shimmer, rare in Earth winters. It's currently 55°C down there--131°F.

It's really fun in summer.

To the north is huge Darim Plateau--and then the north coast, where there's actual water, and life. All those nice frills in short supply here in the Crunch. Sorry. Idle mention. You can't see it, even from 5 km up on the flanks of Renrok, not with Capsica's sharp curvature and short horizon--though you can just spot the first outlier, a faint blue line--Twaps Mesa, an islet of Terran climate 5 km (3 mi) above the desert. It's 320 km off (200 mi)--and that's less than halfway to Darim proper.

A day northwest. Next morning, the high plateau's dramatic dropoff breaks in two, with a sort of mezzanine 2.5-3 km up (8-10,000') with scrubby, open woods of mixed red/green: the Inaz Mesas. I warn you so often against forays downhill into the hot zone I wince to write this, but... swoop down to the easternmost mesa. Land in the spindly shade by the rim. Peer down. Escarpments 2 km high drop to desert. Dry open woods up here, no creeks in sight. It's a poor campsite, but you spot locals doing just that. Shivering of course--they're in a continental winter at 9,000', it's under 35°C (95°F), harder on them than it is on you. Why are they here at all?

Once they get over their astonishment you're not bundled up, they explain "we're heading north to Lrota-Keh," a fertile Guyana on the Crunch's north coast. "This is the shortest gap between Tralken and Darim," the next plateau. Not short, just the shortest--200 km (125 mi). Not fun. But if you want trees, fruit, shade, wildlife, people, culture, all that jazz... this is your best shot. Head north-northeast with them over deadly Twaps Gap into Darim. You won't be getting all those frills if you stick to this tour; West Tralken's just as lonely as the south and east.

And ahead's the Alkat Basin, a dead zone around a searing hot saltflat. Badwater without the water! Not even heat-loving Capsicans live here.

Well. To you who didn't bail north... I commend your loyalty. Let's fly on. Skirt the Alkat Basin. I recommend staying not on the great mezzanine but the plateau proper. A little cooler, a little more water. The peaks are much lower here, and quite snowless--just 5 km high (16,500'), with saddles below 4 (13,000'). Hmm. Quite passable. Let's. This rim, the Hook Range, is a decent flyway, but the scenery's hell. More or less literally.

Wheel south into the rim-range and over that saddle into Canyon Country. All of Tralken's huge steppes drain here, down one huge gorge. Not that the Tralken River's flow is that big; it's dry country. But deep time works wonders. The gorge is 2-3 km deep (7-10,000'). Cascades and falls; many times the altitude drop of the Colorado as it carves the Grand Canyon. Dense green gardens where the spray makes artificial rain. Glide over the gorge while it's still narrow, and head down the south rim. East a day, first in steppes and golden meadows. But the next day, the rim sags into the olive zone; a few hardy red trees and grasses appear. The canyon walls are just as tall--the river cuts deeper to match, till the groves along the river are deep red; the hot zone. The gorge widens to miles. As the sun sets, your spur runs out. A shadowy purple abyss in front of you as well as to your right. The far side looks to be higher and just 30-35 km off (20 mi). Camp here. You'll need to cross tomorrow.

Dawn light reveals it's a pocket desert down there, rainshadowed between these high walls; the lower Tiab Gorge, merging with the Tralken off to your right. Wait an hour or two; the west wall will heat in the morning sun, helping to loft you up that far side.

Head northwest, skirting the canyon. On your left, ridges and hanging valleys, greener than any you've seen in days; the first hint of rains off the Nevo Sea ahead. High ridges, leading up to a summit, cloud-hidden at first, but coming clear later in the day: a monster peak, Mt Tolba, 9.2 km tall (just over 30,000'). Snowcapped, not just streaked or dusted. Not much taller than Renrok or the highest R'lpoks, but this coast gets a bit more precipitation, frozen or not. You could almost be in gawking at Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya's dry end.

Swing around the peak at around 5 km up, and you're definitively in the Nevo Sea basin. You can even see it now, out there on the northeast horizon--just a shiny line, 125 km off (75 mi). But it makes its presence known. Good times! Well, less awful times. The Nevo has its head in the tropical strip; its level is barely that of the world-sea, and it's fairly stable. No salt poisoning. Some rain. Dry savanna coast, some (living) desert inland with riverine strips, then hills sustaining open woods; it could almost be Southern California, if LA were routinely 60°C (140°F). After Alkat and Twaps Gap, it's Eden.

Water and shade in little hanging valleys. Pleasant camps and easy flying--the huge altitude difference makes for strong updrafts. South! Let's finish this.

Next day, you fly over ZZZ Canyon... Hard work as the complex, dissected canyon has tricky currents; you can't just ride the wind.

Next midday, you reach Notsolei Point is a promontory at the southwest corner of Tralken Plateau in the central Crunch. A golden sandstone keel 4.6 km high (15,200'), with sheer cliffs 2-3 km tall in spots; some of the highest on Capsica. Follow the spur out; it drops to barely 3 km (under 10,000') and winds on west another 30-35 km (20 mi), looming over an arm of the Nevo Sea; the closest view you'll ever get. You can see quasi-coral heads out there; it's not Earth coral, depending on calcium; the water's too hot. I'm not sure of the chemistry. Inland seas like Nevo have been isolated a long time; each has solved the problem of building tought structures in different ways.

Southeast two days, at first along a typical plateau rim, but heightening into the Tiab Mountains, 5, 6, 7 km high, culminating on the second day in Mount Bleo, nearly 8 km high. Snow up there--and it's not even winter now! Early spring. And getting hot down here on its waist--up to 40°C (104°F).

Ugh! Let's loft up to 5 km where it's a hair cooler. While the mountains last.

Time to finish this tour before it heats up to 45 or 50.

We've swung away from the Nevo Sea, and it's desert down there again. A dry lake ringed in saltflats. Looks forbidding, but those unimposing mesas south of it are a flyway. Here you could peel off and head west to the Thuada Hills, the gateway into Droom. No plateau there; the only highlands are volcanic summits and some strange tilted shards of crust forming island-ranges in the desert sea. I don't recommend it. Worse than Tralken, and that's been no picnic in the park.

Still, Droom's a straightish flyway, and Capsicans get funneled into it by the surrounding lowland deserts; so there's a steady straggle of fliers. Two weeks west and you'd reach the coast--rain, forests, civilization...

But I'm a completist. Finish Tralken, that's my motto. So join the eastbound trans-Crunch travelers, if only for a few days. Not far now...

Head southeast, fleeing the spring heat, keeping as high and cool as you can. You can because the South Tiabs too are quite Himalayan--peaks 7-8 km high (23-26,000'). Not as snowy as Tolba, for they're lower and far from the sea again.

And then, off to your right, instead of the familar, relentless deserts of the inland Crunch, rough hills rise. A maze of ridges. The map shows the summits as olive forests; that gets the altitude, temperature and color right--mixed trees, more green than the foothills--but all the woods are wizened and sparse. The Sugra Hills are a land of little rain.

Just past the hills, in Sugra Basin, you pass close to the point on Capsica farthest from the world-sea, some 4000 km north, south, east and west. Not quite a Pole of Inaccessibility--not on a world of fliers!--but the most cut off from shipping--and rain. One impoverishes the people, the other, the land. Bone dry down there.

Let's not go and say we did. Sorry, I know that theme crops up a lot on Capsica. Especially the Crunch.

Not that you could anyway. I mean, you could, but you wouldn't come back. It's spring now, and cool to mild down there at 45°C (113°F). In a few months, 65-70°C (149-158°F). Stick to the plateau rim. And hurry.

Full circle! Now you've seen the back of beyond, I recommend heading east, crossing Lindara; its far east rim, a couple of weeks away, looks down on forests, farms, civilization, the sea...

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