Rainier Ntl. Park "Day Hike"

The ride up showed promise for a great day. Could'nt have asked for much better conditions. We had just stopped at the deserted Ranger station and was unable to get a backcountry overnight permit. Little did we know that Ranger Rick was looking for purps like us and was itchin' for some action.

The Hike Begins

We had a bee sting set us back an hour or so. Poor Steve got stung in the ear and caused some swelling and some uncomfortable allergic side effects. After some benadryl, some scratching, lunch and a thousand "how you feeling?"s we were off. At least we had this amazing view point to eat at and enjoy.

As we pass the blueberries, we run into Ranger Rick. It is obvious that we are planning on staying overnight because of our large packs. Ranger Rick asks for our backcountry permit and as soon as we inform him that we attempted to register for one but was unable to do so, with his panties in a bunch he instructs us to descend for a permit. Again we rebuttal with the "we made an effort to get one, the station moved, there was no sign, can you just call in a permit for us" line and it gets us nowhere. Eventually, Ranger Rick decides that our party is "resisting" descent for a backcountry overnight permit, and radios the station with that information. Since La Resistance was our goal, we change our 2 day backpack trip to a "Day Hike" to shut Ricky boy up; with an exasperated Ranger on our tails we continue our ascent, because you know we are not about to turn around ¾ of the way to camp. No Way RICKY!