Mt. Rainier National Park and Huck Special

After a while on the good ol' Wenatchee drainage with some big water play and creeking, I headed back to Portland to get in some classics like Bob's, Green Truss, Little White, etc...

This past weekend Rubado and I headed up to Mt. Rainier with some Portland boys to check out some park and huck possibilities within the park. Now, we weren't exactly sure if kayaking in the park was kosher or not, so we left the boats on one rig in a parking lot and piled into another to go scout. Paradise creek was the main objective, and we scored big with a 300-ish yard long series of slides that totalled between 100-120 ft high. Away from the road so as to not attract the attention of the rangers or gaping public that would think we're nuts and call the rangers.
We tossed our gear (which included many varieties of camera) over the side of the road behind a snowbank and changed while other members of the crew went to go grab boats.

Kris Wilson and I were nominated to be the first down the slide, with myself being first. Crash test dummy, I like that.

Selander between the first and second pitches...

I was suprised by the smoothness of the slide, from scouting it looked super bouncy, but it went on smooth like KY.

Everyone went on to fire it up a few times, but not before long when Dan and I were filming at the top here comes along Mr. Park Ranger. Luke is just about to run the slide when he looks at us and says "Oh, f---! Ranger! Busted!" and takes off down the drop, leaving Dan and myself.

Ranger: "Hey, are you guys the ones parked up on the road there?"
Jacob: "Yup."
Ranger: "Does one of you own a black dog?"
Jacob: "Yeah, that would be (insert random name here). He's down at the bottom filming."
Ranger: "Well, he needs to put the dog inside the car- you can't have them tied up outside. It just creates a problem for the park wildlife. Don't want a couger coming along and eating the dog..."
Jacob: "Okay, I'll let him know!"
Ranger: "You guys know about Narada falls just downstream, right?" (Narada Falls- 100+ ft onto rock)
Jacob: "Yeah, we're not even thinking about touching that."
Ranger: "Okay, You folks have a good day!"

Okay, enough storytelling. More pictures.
Rubado on the bottom of the first (and biggest) pitch

Pytel routing the second pitch

Johnny Ott on the last two drops- don't want to miss the boof on the 14- footer, pitoning will ensue...

Alright. Time for me to load up my home and head south to California. Land of endless whitewater and the place where the playboat stays on top of the car...

--Selander out!
Home. Rent is currently averaging $3.05/ gallon.


p.s.- I am in no way endorsing kayaking in national parks. If you do, be VERY careful to not disturb the native plants/ animals. Footprints in a pristine glacial meadow are an eyesore.