Secretary Bison: I had a great talk with Boogie last week and have decided to change the writing format back to third person. You're welcome Ben! As Ben stated, Anne, I think you and I are the only ones that read this, but it has been another fantastic voyage through the writings of Benjamin "Boogieman" Wielechowski. Thank you Ben for letting me be a part of your PCT adventures once again. You truly are one of a kind and I look forward to reading about your Korean adventure sans Bison once again.
On to the post....
Welcome to Washington! And how does Washington welcome (besides excellent Saturday football and delicious chili and the great Macdonald family)? With a 3300ft. climb, a 2000ft descent, a 1700ft climb and a 2200ft. descent, all in 30 miles, and at the end of the day, Boogie is only 750 ft highetr in elevation than he was in the morning - 940ft. Still have to make it to 4, 000ft. the following day.
Boogieman should have learned his lesson than Washington has a very unique sense of humor. But he didn't until the rain began to fall - a lot. Ten days of Washington, 6 days of rain. Not too bad, 60%. But winter approaches. The exchange: gorgeous geography. Oh, the views. And the huckleberries. And the evergreens. But the days have grown lonely. Boogie hikes alone, stuck in a gap without many thru-hikers, which makes every single encounter more precious. Like Boots, the southbounder who spent 30 min. chatting, taking Boogie's picture, and interviewing him in the pouring rain; Mike, the sweet survivalist who brings his electric guitar into the woods to practice for his trans-alternative rock band; jeep crew from Seattle who gave sandwich, tea, chips and chicken salad to Boogie one rainy afternoon (thanks); Adam from Portland who hiked through Goat Rocks (beautiful, even in fog, rain, mist, and wind) with Boogie when it felt like Mordor from Lord of the Rings; Pam and Sam, one with a rolled ankle, and one afraid of heights, who were two of three people on the trail the day hiking through rugged and intense Goat Rocks; and Tahoma, a 2010 thru-hiker, cool guy from Tacoma and who was one of the few hikers BoogieMan knew of to be out hiking on Sept. 20th, a tiresome and trying day.
But Boogie eventually reached Seattle and finally reunited with the one and only Hamburguesa ( the Wave, Stupid Paul, etc. ). Hamburguesa and his girlfriend Melissa rescued Boogie on his birthday (what a gift!) after 10 hrs hiking in rainy, cold, windy Washington weather. At least Boogieman spent the last 8 miles trudging up and down waterfalls (what the trail turned into). But the Snoqualmie?? Pass Mountain Cafe was sweet reward - pizza, pastries, and coffee - only to be followed by two zero days in Seattle with Hamburguesa, Melissa, their friends, great home cooked food, great restaurant food, laughs, and sunny weather. Thursday, Boogie thinks, he returns to the rainy trail!
Benjamin, if we had known it was your birthday we would've given you hugs and kisses and rubbed all over you. You missed out.
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