[Boots]

Last night my wife and I went to our annual new member orientation in Tacoma. It was good to see some old friends from our scrambles class in 2003. One of the main reasons we went, was to view a presentation given by Mike Gautier (sp?). He is the lead climbing ranger for the Mount Rainier National Park. As you know, we've had some pretty wacky weather here. Some of it so severe, it's caused several million of dollars in damage. Mike is a local celebrity here. He's saved many lives, and has had to perform many grim recoveries. He's been up that mountain over 170 times and many different routes. As well, he's covered many miles all over the park and is an avid photographer. Mike is someone I've wanted to meet for some time and last night was no disappointment. He shared with us many photos of the damage in the park, and outlined some of the repairs that would be needed. It was an awesome display of natures power but somewhat sad. I love that park and we always and every year buy a NP pass and visit her regularly throughout the year. It's sad that this is the first time in over 50 years, the park has been closed to the public. He was able to show us parts that the could only reached by helicopter. He was an excellent speaker that obviously had a gift of gab and great sense of humor. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with him. Other than the packed and standing room only clubhouse, it was great to see so many people we recognized. This year will be busy for us, we are going to help out the WTA by volunteering for their trail maintenance. One of the things I love about this state is the many mountains we are surrounded by. They are beautiful and offer many different types of recreation. For us, the mountaineers is a fine club to be part of. They've taught us how to appreciate, enjoy and be as safe as possible out there in the mountains we love so much.

[grasshopper]

Boots, Did he give any details on individual areas? Was Mowich Lake protected due to the high elevation? Will the road be passable when the snow melts? Will they convert the Carbon River Road into a hiking trail only? Will Ipsut Creek campground be available to hikers for summer? Have the picnic tables and outhouses washed away? Any air assesments done to the Wonderland Trail? Lots of work to do, I know that.

[Quark]

Mike gave a slideshow to a relatively small group, Bushwhacker Climbing Club, last year. It was cool to have him in a small setting. I agree that he is a very gifted speaker/presenter, and has a brilliant sense of humor. His outlook on climbing and mistakes that people have while climbing is exactly what a rescue ranger should have - compassion, empathy, intelligence, open-mindedness. He has a live-and-let-live attitude, and will fight for that type of attitude to remain for climbers of Mt Rainier. He's a true frontier hero. He signed my book "To Quark, the love of my life*...hope to see you on the Mountain." I know that sounds cryptic and all, but I think he meant it in a nice way. *not really

[MCaver]

That's the same Mike Gauthier that runs Mount Rainier Climbing. Excellent blog, and had very informative updates and photos during the flood.

[domaz]

[Don]

Admin Note: The contents of this post were lost in a database crash.

[Boots]

I'm sorry folks. I seen sun yesterday and took off on a ride. You know, they sound of a nice Harley on a cold morning? Ah forget it, you'd have to love them like I do to appreciate it. Yeah, what Don said. There are many problems that cannot be solve with just dumping a bunch of rock and dirt then paving. Hwy 123 is going to be an engineering challenge. Maybe a bridge to span that and that won't happen soon. Federal requirements will have to be met. Allot of the backcountry trails and bridges are assumed to have been damaged or wiped out. It's a safe assumption, and won't be validated until the snow is gone. Many tributaries rerouted themselves because of the massive built up of rock, sediment and debris that have clogged them. Some places in the river, they used bulldozers to build up banks and put the river back on track. Pictures of heavy equipment in those rivers gave me an appreciation for those trying desperately to save our park. Sunshine point is gone as you know, but you have to realize, the old growth forest that was there, is simply gone. We now have new views on our drive to Longmire. Back to the rivers, they will be an ongoing challenge because of receding glaciers, more exposed ash, dirt and rock will come down in heavy rain filling them again in the future. I guess those of us who think we are not impacting our environment, had a good case made for it with his slides of the Nisqually glacier from years back to present. Seeing it's recession was a shocker. It's likely Ipsut creek road will not be repaired anytime soon but will be available to hikers and backpackers who want to walk in. There was some speculation on it's ultimate fate. I was not aware of any talk regarding Mowich, but Sunrise appears to be okay. Yeah, they rolled back opening the park, but after seeing the damage, there's too much work to be done and having visitors impacting the ability of the workers and heavy truck traffic to get back and forth would delay that work even more so their biting the bullet now in hopes of having it in better shape when opening day does come. Hope that helps.

[Magellan]

Who else is going friday night the 26th? I can't imagine it will be easy to find anyone. I expect the place to be overflowing.

[Boots]

[Boots]

[the Zachster]

For anyone interested in visiting the Park in it's limited capacity...the Longmire Inn is open on the weekends (Friday and Saturday nights only) and you can only get in by shuttle. That's the tough part because the shuttle only goes in (from Ashford headquarters) at 2, 4 , 6 and 8 PM. And it leaves Longmire at 8 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM and 2PM. We're going in this Friday for several reasons...to give the staff there something to do, to visit my most favorite place and because for the last 15 years we have gone down there for my birthday and I didn't want to miss it this year!

[Grizzy]

[grasshopper]

Interesting to see how it's going to work out this summer. I predict Longmire/Paradise/Couger Rock will get 95% of all the attention and it will be a human zoo. Sunrise and White River are ok, couple of campsites in A loop damaged. (Side note: If anyone goes car camping at White River, get site A19, best site in the whole place.) Rest of the park, will it be hike at your own risk? Roping off certain trails because of missing bridges and foot logs? Stay away totally? They certainly don't want to be busy pulling out injured people because of the extra hazards, with everything else to deal with. Time will tell.

[Stefan]

I have seen reports they are going to open the Westside Road with this money. This road has been closed for many years. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Don]

It's not true. In fact, the West Side Road has seen considerable damage. The culvert is gone at the standard washout and there is a considerable x-country hike to pick the road back up on the other side of the washout.