I have a trail name now! As part of thru-hiker culture, many hikers give each other trail names which are used instead of real names. The CDT had very few hikers, and even though I ended up going by Tortoise for a few weeks near the end, it felt belated and never settled in quite right, so I figured I’d wait for other hikers to give me a PCT trail name that I could carry for a whole trail.

So without further ado, hello, I’m Wallflower! I’m quite pleased with how my name encapsulates how I enjoy meeting other hikers and chatting with them, but generally prefer to hike/camp by myself instead of as part of a group, or ‘tramily’ (trail family) as they’re called.

I am even more pleased with Wallflower because I very nearly became Beef instead. That’s right: Beef. It’s a long story, but the short of it is that I had the misfortune to be eating my last freeze-dried meal of beef stroganoff during a dinner where hikers were discussing trail names, and someone jokingly suggested Beef Stroganoff.

“Okay, but I would never be able to spell stroganoff on the trail logs,” I said in mild panic.

“So we shorten it to just Beef, then,” they joked. Everyone laughed, because it was an obviously ridiculous name. But after that, whenever the topic of trail names came up, someone would snicker and mutter softly, “Beef.”

Now, hikers can accept or reject trail names so they’re not stuck with something they hate, but also sometimes a story and name will take on a life of its own. And Beef was a story.

But then one hiker mentioned that I was rather like the wallflower of the trail. And just days later, we ran into each other again and and he called out, “Wallflower! Nikita!”

I called after him, “I’ll take it! Just as long as it’s not Beef!”

As the hiker walked up the trail cackling to himself over Beef, I knew it had been a narrow miss.

Besides acquiring a fantastic trail name, this last leg into Snoqualmie Pass has been just as scenic as the previous legs. I’m always convinced I’ve seen the very best of what the trail can offer, and then I’ll run across something else that takes my breath away.

For example, I crossed an unnamed stream which cascaded down from a deep gorge between two cliffs, the water caught in the evening sun in just the right way to turn the mist golden. After I had crossed (a knee-high ford with a surprisingly strong current), I sat down on a nearby rock to cold soak my dinner. I stayed for nearly an hour, mesmerized by the tumbling white water and its low roar.

There were more mountain and ridgeline views, too. The recent miles into Snoqualmie Pass were definitely highlights. I’ll leave you with some examples.