[McPilchuck]

Head south, to Rainier for better weather, the mountain mystic said unto us. You got to be kidding, right? Well, a last minute decision to go for a romp in the hills found us down south at Mt. Rainier: up the Lakes Trail near Reflection Lake along Mazama Ridge (Mt. Rainier National Park) Mark Boyle and I went, attaining Faraway Rock where a breathtaking vertical view of Louise Lake was had. From here, the meander past the little ponds above was intermittently interrupted by "feeding our face" upon the ripe blueberries at hand. Eventually, we gained the meadow land and found ourselves at the Slusikin Falls area (so named for the Indian guide who accompanied Stevens and Van Trump on their historic climb of Rainier in 1870). Here, a rock & concrete seat (like that of an oracle) had been constructed many years ago by the Mountaineers with historic info carved into the structure. The seat is large and resembles a sofa complete with a back rest. As we sat there for quite some time enjoying the mountain view, taking photos, and talking to the tourists as they came hiking by, I couldn't help ask a few if they had any cigars or whiskey for us to indulge in...keeping faith with Mike Swayne's traditional Trail Blazer comments to a few folks weeks previous at Golden Lakes (and yes, Mike is that mountain guy and fellow Trail Blazer member who has the first ascent of Willis Wall with Ed Cooper). "No such luck finding any cigars and whiskey say I." Seems Mt. Rainier tourists don't really know how to enjoy themselves in the mountains, eh? At any rate, a few Asian-speaking people seemed to be awed by our Trail Blazer-like mountain garb that we wore (dissimilar than the rest of the folks dress upon the mountain) we didn't figure to ask them for cigars or whiskey however...no interrupter around <grin>. One woman asked if we had been to the the top when she looked us over -- guess our appearance struck her fancy? "Why honey, (she said to her husband) look at those mountain men, they look like Buffalo Bill in a way, are there still Indians around here to fight?" He replied, "I think they are skid road bums." There didn't even seem to be any right-wing Republican's or left-wing Democrat's around to argue with, so in the evening we left the mountain in the shroud of clouds to Yeti for the night..... McPil