Observation Rock: thelawgoddess and I departed from ballard Saturday morning and made our way to MRNP. The skies were clear and the weather was rather chilly, perfect conditions for Ice Climbing! The approach was mellow and went by quickly with the exception of the portion that connected the trail to the base of the climb, which we were told was "across meadows and stuff for about another mile or so to Observation Rock".
We were on the Ice later than expected, but we weren't too worried because the climb seemed pretty straight forward. The climbing went smoothly, though the impending darkness started to worry me as we were approaching the final pitches. As I was topping out in the dark I started contemplating the virtues of a 60m meter rope. Under cover of a moonless night and total darkness we casually went down the 'obvious descent gully' which at times seemed like rock, but was actually Ice with a candycoating of rock on top.

We arrived at the car around midnight, hurting hungry and tired, let's just say that the semi-frozen can of baked beans tasted very good.

High Caliber Rifles: (12:00) So I'm driving down highway 165, when the rocks on the road started looking like leaves and vice-versa, I thought it would be a good idea to take my nap stopped on the side of the road instead of while driving on it, a decision I would soon learn to regret. At around 3:00 AM, I was woken by the sound of a truck driving by at high speed, and then heard the truck slam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and moments later I was peering through the iced over windows wondering if it was a cop there to tell us to 'move along' or some hicks wanting to relive the end of "Easy Rider". I realized it was the latter when I saw silhoette of a gun through the window. I ducked and immediately the air was filled with the smell of gunsmoke, the sound of a high power rifle being discharged, glass breaking, and the truck speeding away. I knew immediatly that we had been shot at, and when the truck was out of sight I started up hte car and raced to the nearest sign of civilization to contact the local authorities, which as we would later find out were not so local. (3:30) Carbonado had no payphones or police for that matter, so we went to the next town, all the while worried that the shooters would drive back by, see the that car they had shot was gone and start looking for us. (3:45) So I hid the car behind the post office in Wilkeson, and hid behind the payphone, which was right on the road, as I called the police. I soon learned that there is no law enforcement in the area, and we would have to wait until a state trooper arrived from Tacoma. (4:30) State Trooper Sleighter arrived on the scene, inspected the bullet holes to verify that they were indeed bullet holes. Trooper Slater determined that the hole in the driver side rear window and corresponding exits holes through the frame of the car on the passenger side were a positive match for a gunshot, probably a high caliber rifle. (5:00) We sat in the car as the trooper contacted whomever he needed to contact, all the while trying to keep warm 'cause it was f'in cold out. (5:30) The trooper informed us that we had to go back to show him the scene of the crime, where he then informed us that we had to accompany him back to the State Patrol Office in Tacoma to fill out paperwork and meet with an investigator. (6:40) Detective Orf arrives and he takes taped statement. (7:15) I am informed that they will have to keep the car for ballistics testing. (7:20) I start making phone calls to find someone who will come pick us up in tacoma. After reaching my sister we are dropped off by officer Sleighter at the nearby McDonalds where we proceeded to wait for 3 hours to get a lift home. Needless to say the employees of McDonalds were starting to give funny looks to the people who were dropped off in a police car, and had been sitting around for a few hours. Finally our ride arrived and we made it back to seattle safe and alive. The moral of the story is shoot first lest you be shot yourself, it probably doesn't hurt to have NRA stickers on the car as opposed to climber stickers, and stay the fuck away from carbonado.

I will post photo's of the damage as soon as I have them.

needless to say, climbing with the colonel is exciting.

Geez, what an epic. So much for a harmless day in the mountains, eh? Sorry to hear about the bizarre and (nearly) lethal end to a good climb. I hope you get some satisfaction out of this.

I always knew ice climbing was dangerous!

Seriously, glad you two were unharmed. I always wondered about the locals in them there parts!

We can only hope those bumpkins didn't realize you guys were in the car.

As mentioned before, Obs Rock has some serious objective hazards!

you know what makes me kinda wonder...is that the only other reported activity in the area was...Steve Firebaugh.....hmmmmmm

after meeting him at the rope up, i wouldnt imagine him being the type to drive his vw vanagon around shooting into vehicles along side the road....but now i wonder?????hmmmmmm

he seems strangly silent on the gun topic too......

steve are there secrets???



[ 10-28-2002, 10:41 AM: Message edited by: erik ]

Actually, I have to admit that the good Colonel asked Trask and I to stage this shooting in an effort to score some "cuddle & consolation" time with TLG.

You guys crack me up! What a hilarious shooting incident that was!

[ 10-28-2002, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: chucK ]

The area around Mowich Lake Road/Carbonado/Wilkeson is very scary. On a Saturday afternoon, half of all drivers will be drunk.

Everytime I've been in that area, I've experienced freaky shit. Last time, a couple of months ago
1) another truck tried to run me off the Mowich Lk road, and
2) while driving through Wilkeson, the car behind me keep veering off the road and driving over people's lawns.

hmmm

interresting points there mr firebaugh...maybe your evidence of the perculier activites does incriminate the COl...wanting to give up the spanker surname......

was this a setup??? hmmmm whos story do we believe?? was there a in-the-know 3rd party???

more and more questions arise!!!

who is trask and why does gregw love dfa soo much???

Oldest trick in the world.
Ask a lady out to do some sort of innocent and enjoyable activity. Stretch it out all day into the night. Get tires or have car trouble. pull over. Have something scary happen.

Jack Dupree said: ............All you need is a good woman and you .........................

Sorry Colonel - looks like a setup.

Ok, you're all on to me. The old pull over and have someone shoot at the car trick. It works every time.

Yo Col:

That seriously sucks. I'm glad that everyone came out of it okay and stayed alive despite some inbred jackass shooting into your car as you slept. WTF!!!!

I've crashed on the side of the road all over the country but have thus far been fortunate enough to have been left alone out there. However, I hardly ever go to sleep without thinking about the something along the lines of what the two of you went through out there going down. It's usually just for a second, then I blow it off and pass out, but it's a bit chilling to hear that somebody did actually have a run in with some stupid-ass POS packing a weapon out there.

Hope you get your car back soon and this mofo is either killed, arrested, or never heard from again.

[ 10-28-2002, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: JayB ]

I have contemplated setting up a stakeout/decoy out there, and then shooting their tires out, as I am well versed in the way of the gun. Or removing them from the car at gunpoint, duct taping their hands, feet and mouth, leaving them on the side of the road and then steal their car and drive to where ever they live and put a rock on the gas, pop it in drive and use the car to "re-arrange" their double wide.

It's frustrating to hear about this sort of thing, as it sounds like there's not much for the police to go on at this point.

I know how upset I've been when someone has stolen things ouf of my car and/or vandalized it -and that wasn't even in the same league as some stupid-ass mofo firing into a car I was sleeping in at point blank range - so I can only imagine how you're feeling at this point.

Hopefully the folks who believe in karma are onto something and this jackass will be on the receiving end of some random violence before too long. I can't imagine anyone treading down the path that this bastard is on for too long before the tables are turned and he's reaping what he's sown.