Pied Piper

When Kurt was about 13 or 14, Gramps and I were driving through Montesano on our way to the Wynoochee Valley uto drive up to the valley head. Well, here it was, early in the morning, and Kurt was out walking up Third Street. Gramps stopped the pickup and yelled Hello to Kurt. Kurt was lost in thought, so Gramp had to say something like "Hey Kurt! Wake Up!" (I think that is exactly what he yelled at Kurt). I cannot forget that huge grin when Kurt looked at Gramps. He yelled back words to the effect of: "Hey Amos! Wake up yourself!" (Amos was my grandfather's middle name, and almost nobody got away with calling him that). Kurt told Gramps that he was out taking a hike up to Lake Sylvia State Park. Gramps told Kurt that he and I were on our way up the Wynoochee for a little hiking ourselves. Gramps turned to me in the truck and asked if we ought to ask Kurt, and we agreed that we sure should. But Kurt said no, he was just taking a short stroll, and "thanks anyway". So, we headed down the street towards the highway. However, when Gramps looked in his rear view mirror, he just started howling with laughter... when I looked back, there was Kurt, doing these sort of jumping jacks and spinning around like a madman. He noticed that we slowed, so he motioned Gramps to come back. Typical of Kurt, he just hopped in and said: "Let's go, Gramps!" "Hello Larry!" Gramps went back to his house and got another pack out of the garage. I drove us up to the Wynoochee with Gramps in the middle and Kurt on the passenger side of the truck. I didn't really talk much to Kurt, but he just jabbered all the way up the long, dusty drive up logging roads. I wish I could remember more of the things he said. I do know he talked about the cows and how "slow" they were. Also, I remember him asking Gramps why the Hell he didn't have a radio in the truck!

So, anyway, we drove up the logging roads up into the start of alpine meadows on the National Park border. We put our packs on, and Kurt immediately started bitching about his heavy pack. Hell, his pack was the lightest! I don't think he had more than my extra stocking hat and Gramps extra coat in it. Also, a plastic water bottle and some candy bars. I think he ate 3 of the candy bars before we even got going. We started up through the timberu up this very steep creek bed, with Kurt sliding and stumbling all over the place. He just groaned and complained the whole way up through the timberline. I do remember that when we broke out into the alpine meadows, Kurt was just stunned by the beauty. I distinctly remember his yelling something like: "Holy Shit!" I do remember Gramps saying "Not bad, huh Kurt?" And, it sure was "not bad", with the alpine flowers blooming, beautiful meadows, and little waterfalls. I went over to some trees to go to the bathroom, and when I came back to where Kurt and Gramps were, Kurt was sort of "grazing" down on the ground, looking at all these little flowers and eating dwarf blueberries. Gramps just winked at me and had this huge smile, and did one of those gestures where you take your index finger and spin it around your ear to say: "He's nuts!" I don't remember too much more about the hike, at least in the perspective of what Kurt did. We did go on up to Mt. Hoquiam, and I remember we had to do a lot of waiting for Kurt; sometimes he would be a few hundred yards behind! You just weren't going to hurry Kurt, and that was all there was to it!

You know, the most vivid memory of this hike was on the way down through the steep trees after we dropped off the edge of the meadows: we were sort of crashing and sliding down the very steep terrain. Kurt was off to my right side and I could see he was just sort of looking up into the treetops as he was walking. I just cringed when he really hit hard into a big mountain hemlock. I mean, he really smashed into it. He sort of staggered over to me with this stupid grin on his face and said: "Boy, that kind of hurt. Got any more candy bars?"

I hope this story makes sense. As I said, these little memories are not earth-shattering, but at least give a glimpse into the essence of Kurt. I wish I would have kept contact with him for the past ten years, and not just because he became famous. He was hard to track down, and I tried a few times. I always wanted to sort of just sit down and talk about Gramps to him. I did write him a letter when Gramps died, but I don't think he ever got it. I miss the guy. He was so mellow and so comfortable, and so unpredictabl A fun teenager and a brilliant mind.