Box Canyon at Mt. Rainier

After finishing up with our hike at Silver Falls we drove west, further into Mt. Rainier National Park. Our next stop was Box Canyon. It was partly because we were trying to locate the elusive Cougar Falls; reaching Box Canyon meant we'd gone slightly too far. But it was also because Dat Mountain, Tho'!



There are so many great views of Rainier. It dominates the skyline not just here in the park but even 80-100 miles away in Seattle. Its peak is at 14,410' elevation, and most of what surrounds it is lower than 4,000', so it's in the view from pretty much everywhere around.

While at Box Canyon we decided to walk the paved nature trail, enjoying views of Mt. Rainier and reading signs about Box Canyon.



Box Canyon is an interesting canyon-within-a-canyon. Up above, where we're standing, is a broad canyon carved by Cowlitz Glacier. The lower end of it is just 3 miles away. Beneath our feet is a different canyon, Box Canyon. is narrow and deep— 180' deep where this bridge crosses it, and only 13' wide at the bottom. Box Canyon formed from a crack in the bedrock. Water flows rushes through it from melting Cowlitz Glacier. But because the rock is very hard the water has carved a very narrow channel.

Movie Review: Krull (1983)

A few days ago we watched the movie Krull from 1983. It's streaming on HBO Max.

My motivation for watching Krull was an online review I read a week or two ago. The author noted that Krull was a box office and critical flop in its time and opined that failure was for three reasons that also make it a cult classic. One, the movie was a crossover fantasy/science fiction at a time when audiences were not ready for f/sf. Two, the movie is dark, and audiences didn't like movies that were dark. The smash hit f/sf movie in 1983 was Return of the Jedi, and what everyone liked best about it was the Ewoks. The annoyingly cute, so-bad-they-almost-ruined-the-plot Ewoks. Three, the movie's use of cliched tropes and over-the-top dramatics is actually a parody of the tropes and dramatics overused in swords-and-sorcery movies of the era.

Within a few minutes of starting the movie it was obvious why it was a commercial and critical flop. The movie has some redeeming qualities, but ultimately the storyline makes no sense. It's full of cliches and contradicts itself every 5 minutes.

To summarize the plot: Space aliens in a ship that looks like a rocky mountain spire land on the planet Krull. Their soldiers, called Slayers, easily decimate the sword-wielding people of Krull with laser blasters and shock-spears. They kidnap the princess and bring her back to their leader, The Beast, inside the mountain/ship. The prince, who narrowly survived the attack, assembles a raggedy band of followers and helpers to rescue her and destroy the aliens.

So, what are the redeeming qualities? Well, the movie was ambitious with its staging and special effects. Sitting here in 2022 it's easy to laugh at how primitive some of the 1983 vintage effects look, like the scene where the protagonists are navigating quicksand in the swamp. But for 1983 technology that was actually pretty ambitious. Indeed, that's part of why it was a commercial flop; they spent tens of millions (in 1983 dollars) on special effects, and the film didn't earn back its cost.

The other redeeming quality is the movie's imagination. Yes this is ultimately a good news/bad news thing. Imagining an f/sf crossover was thinking outside the box. The idea of aliens with blasters vs. swords-and-sorcery has so much potential. But the movie completely squanders that potential with a storyline that makes no sense. It's like it's a D&D adventure written by a 12 year old.

• The aliens killed almost everybody, what do we do? Oh, wait, there's a wise old man who says a magical weapon will stop them. But what does it do? Shh, you'll find out in time!


• We've got to find where the villains are hiding! Wise old guy says there's exactly ONE way to find out, it's this old seer. Oops, the seer failed his roll. Well, luckily there's exactly TWO ways to find out, the other's in this swamp. Oops, we were attacked there. Well, luckily there's exactly THREE ways to find out, the third is from this spider-queen, if she doesn't kill us all first...


• Oh, and the aliens, who flew across the galaxy in a space ship? Well, their whole ship teleports around the planet once a day. So why was the whole opening scene about it flying through space? Why not just teleport to the planet? Shhh, you're ruining it!


• That fancy weapon (5 bladed star) that it's in all the artwork does nothing until the climax, when it basically flies out of the hero's hand and then does everything while the protagonists stand back and watch. As a friend of mine quipped, mockingly, "I AM THE ALL WISE AND ALL POWERFUL. AND I HAVE NO LEGS. CARRY ME, MORTAL."

Krull does worse than simply not making sense. It tries to make sense, throwing details into plot and dialog every scene, only to contradict half those details 5 minutes later. It's like a D&D adventure written by six 12-year-olds, each one writing a different part of the adventure.

Stalking the Elusive Cougar Falls

One of several hikes we did a week ago Saturday at Mt. Rainier National Park was Cougar Falls. Cougar Falls isn't marked on the park map. We found it in Professor Smedley Q. Boredom's Very Dull Book of Waterfalls— which means there was at best a 50-50 chance of actually finding the falls. It would be less a hike to Cougar Falls and more a hunt for Cougar Falls.

Indeed that's what it was. First we searched around at the road bridge across Nickel Creek for the trail down. One led down to a dead-end spot at the base of the bridge. One on the other side of the creek was very overgrown and led down steeply to a flat spot on the other side. Then behind a waist-high fence a spotted a second trail on the near side. It seemed like it had the best chance of taking us further downstream, so we climbed the fence and headed out on that trail.



After a short bit of bushwhacking we picked our way out onto a small rocky cliff over Nickel Creek. There's a nice view here with a cascade that pours into a perfect little rocky swimming hole. The water's so clear you can see the whole bottom. We ddin't jump in, though, because this water is cold. It's not straight off a glacier— if it were it would be cloudy— but it is from snow melt.

This is not Cougar Falls, BTW. Dr. Smedley says Cougar Falls is, like, 40' tall, and this 15'. Looking for one falls and finding another instead is also kind of typical for Smedley's book.

After sitting here for a bit and enjoying the view we went back to bushwhacking further downstream. Just below this point the rocks give way to a huge dropoff. We had to backtrack up these falls and loop around. We did find Cougar Falls; it's at that big dropoff. But from this side of the creek it's mostly obscured by trees. It looked like if we'd gone down the opposite side of the creek we might've had a clear vantage point. Oh, well, we didn't care enough to go all the way back up to try again. There were still other trails we wanted to hike before the day was done.

In beauty we walk.